Documentation   Keywords  Publications  Related Studies

Title:
Great Britain Historical Database : Labour Markets Database, Poor Law Statistics, 1859-1939

Subject Categories:
Economic conditions and indicators - Economics
Population studies - Population, vital statistics and censuses
Economic history - History
Social indicators and quality of life - Society and culture
Legal history - History
Social history - History
Use and provision of specific social services - Social welfare policy and systems

Depositor(s):
Southall, H.R., University of London. Queen Mary and Westfield College. Department of Geography

Principal Investigator(s):
Southall, H.R., University of London. Queen Mary and Westfield College. Department of Geography
Gilbert, D.R., University of London. Queen Mary and Westfield College. Department of Geography
Gregory, I., University of London. Queen Mary and Westfield College. Department of Geography

Sponsor(s):
Economic and Social Research Council
Leverhulme Trust
Nuffield Foundation
Population Investigation Committee

Grant Number:
R000221314

Other Acknowledgements:
P. Furnis of the Department of Geography, Queen Mary and Westfield College input the data for all poor law unions in England and Wales from 1900 to 1912 in the file plaw_u. All works which use or refer to material from this tables should acknowledge Furnis as well as Southall, Gilbert and Gregory in the bibliographic citation.

Abstract:
The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available at:

http://www.port.ac.uk/research/gbhgis/

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the EDINA UKBORDERS service at the Edinburgh University Data Library. Further information is available at:

http://edina.ed.ac.uk/ukborders/




Main Topics:
The Great Britain Historical Database is a large database of British nineteenth and twentieth-century statistics. Where practical the referencing of spatial units has been integrated, data for different dates have been assembled into single tables.

The Great Britain Historical Database currently contains :

Statistics from the 1861 Census and the Registrar General's reports, 1851-1861

Employment statistics from the census, 1841-1931

Demographic statistics from the census, 1841-1931

Mortality statistics from the Registrar General's reports, 1861-1920

Marriage statistics from the Registrar General's reports, 1841-1870

Trade union statistics for the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), 1851-1918

Trade union statistics for the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASCJ), 1863-1912

Official poor law statistics, 1859-1915 and 1919-1939

Wage statistics, 1845-1906

Hours of work statistics, 1900-1913

Small debt statistics from county courts, 1847-1913 and 1938

There are eight tables in this part of the Great Britain Historical Database :

Plaw_c holds county-level data for England and Wales on numbers of paupers taken from the Annual Reports of the Poor Law Board and later the Local Government Board for 1st January and 1st July from January 1859 to January 1915, plus January 1919.

Plaw_c_f holds a full transcript of county-level pauperage statistics for England and Wales taken from the Annual Reports of the Poor Law Board and later the Local Government Board for 1st January and 1st July 1860, 1863, 1866, 1868 and 1879.

Plaw_u holds data taken from the Returns to Parliament made by the Poor Law Board, and later the Local Government Board listing number of paupers in each poor law union on the 1st January and 1st July. Coverage is as follows: all poor law unions in Lancashire for 1st January and 1st July from 1860 to 1871; all poor law unions in England and Wales for 1st January only from 1900 to 1912; all unions in London, Lancashire, Durham and selected major urban unions for 1st January and 1st July in 1875, 1879 and 1880.

Plaw_u_f contains a full transcript of poor law union-level pauperage statistics for selected unions taken from the Returns to Parliament. Coverage is as follows: all poor law unions in Lancashire for 1st January and 1st July from 1860 to 1871; all unions in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire for 1st January and 1st July in 1860, 1863, 1866, 1868 and 1869.

Plaw_iw holds inter-war poor law statistics taken from the Returns to Parliament for 1st January only for all poor law unions in England and Wales from 1922 to 1930, and for all counties and county-boroughs in England and Wales from 1931 to 1939.

Plaw_20 holds poor law statistics for England and Wales for 1920 and 1921 for selected poor law union for 1st January only.

Plu_gaz converts names of poor law unions as they appear in plaw_u, plaw_u_f, plaw_iw and plaw_20 into the form used in the GIS.

Plu_gis holds names and counties of poor law unions as they appear in the GIS; used for checking names and constructing plu_gaz.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

Coverage:
Time Period Covered: 1859-1939
Specifically 1859 to 1915 and 1919 to 1939
Biannual data 1859-1915
Annual data 1919-1939
Country: England and Wales
Spatial Units: (A)Counties; (B)Poor Law Unions
Observation Units: Administrative units (geographical/political)
Kind of Data: Textual data; Numeric data; Aggregate (macro) level

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:National
Population:Administrative units in the British Isles.

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Time Series
Biannual data 1859-1915
Annual data 1919-1939
Sampling Procedures: No sampling (total universe)
Method of Data Collection: Transcription of existing materials; Compilation or synthesis of existing material
Data Sources: Annual Reports of the Poor Law Board and later the Local Government Board from 1859 to 1915 and for 1919.
Returns to Parliament made by the Poor Law Board, and later the Local Government Board listing number of paupers in each poor law union on the 1st January and 1st July from 1860 to 1871, from 1900 to 1912 and from 1920 to 1939.

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.

In addition, ESDS is required to request permission from the depositor prior to supplying the data.
Availability: History Data Service, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: hds@essex.ac.uk
Please Note: Users based in UK HE/FE institutions can download the tables from this study through the CHCC system http://ahds.ac.uk/history/collections/chcc.htm.

Date of Release:
First Edition: 8 January 1998

Copyright:
Copyright H.R. Southall, D.R. Gilbert and I. Gregory

READ File

Download Acrobat PDF Reader