Poor Law Archives

Archives and Special Collections hold more than 1,000,000 applications for poor relief made by residents of Glasgow and the West of Scotland. Areas covered include:
 

• Glasgow, 1851-1948
• Barony, 1861-1898 (when it united with Glasgow)
• Govan, 1876-1930 (when it united with Glasgow)
• former county councils of Bute, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. Many of these applications date back to the beginning of the new poor law in 1845
   
   

Applications for poor relief are a rich source of information as they can contain such details about the applicant and their family as:

• name
• age
• birthplace
• marital status
• religion
• occupation
• names, ages and earnings of spouse, children, siblings and parents

However, most of the interest is in the fact that they can shed light on why an individual was applying for relief. The stories can be amusing, scandalous or heartbreakingly sad.

Boarded out/Adopted Children

Poor law authorities were also responsible for children separated from their parents and records can contain information about children who were fostered or adopted.

 
There are restrictions on these records if they are less than 100 years old. If your enquiry concerns such records, please contact Families for Children in the Social Work section for assistance.

Restrictions on Access

To comply with Data Protection legislation, records relating to adults are normally closed for 75 years and records relating to children are closed for 100 years.