In message <005a01c62a78$9b0b50d0$6600a8c0@jbundy>, Jim Bundy <jbundy48@comcast.net> writes >I'd heard that before the Union Workhouse was built, there was an >older Parish Workhouse at Eaton Socon. Would some of these people >listed here be living there, or were the inmates all covered in the >single payment to Edward Sabey below? Most of these look like out-relief, paid as small allowances to families or persons in need tempoprarily, to keep them in their homes. The workhouse master would be paid a lump sum to cover his expenses in relation to the poor who were in the house. It was possible, not compulsory, to provided a collective poorhouse (workhouse) from about 1722, and this tended to be done in larger places or viaalges/towns along a main road, since there would be more of a shifting population, therefore more need for poor relief. From 1834, each Union was obliged to provide a workhouse, and the theory was that everyone needing help was put into it. This never worked out in practice. because it would have meant building a very large place which would not be used fully most of thew time, to allow for sudden economic problems. > -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society