English and Irish Workhouse Records

The variety and number of genealogically valuable records available can be overwhelming to a researcher. British and Irish Workhouse Records are some of the lesser known and lesser used records that are really quite readily available. Findmypast.com sends out email notices to me every week and these notices highlight classes of records that remind me of where I need to go to find my English, Scottish and Irish ancestors.

You can get a good introduction to these workhouse or poorhouse records on the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki. See England and Wales Poor Law Records 1834-1948. You can search these records on the Findmypast.com website. You will need a subscription to the website or you can search it for free in FamilySearch Family History Centers around the world. On the Findmypast.com website, you can see a list of all the records available when you do a search of the A-Z of record sets.

The link to the list of records is on the "Search all Records" page of Findmypast.com. Here is a screenshot of the beginning of the list of workhouse or poorhouse records.

There are millions of these records available.