The Diocese of Birmingham was founded in 1905; that of Coventry in 1918. However, Warwickshire County Record Office acts as the DRO for the Coventry Diocese and for the parishes in the Diocese of Birmingham outside the City.
Some of the records held at these DRO's cannot be referred to under parish headings as they cover the whole diocese or a group of parishes; in these cases it is advisable to consult the relevant DRO Handlist or a member of staff.
Overseers of the Poor were replaced by Boards of Guardians under
the New Poor Law of 1834. These locally elected Boards in 'Unions'
of parishes were to arrange and oversee the relief of the poor
through the provision of 'indoor' relief in workhouses and
'outdoor' relief for those remaining in their own homes. The idea
was to encourage people to work hard rather than to rely on
official charity, with the result that most of the inmates were the
sick, infirm and chronic unemployed who could not do so.
These Unions rapidly became an important unit in local government,
and the Boards of Guardians were asked for a further 70 years to
take on additional functions. The Poor Law Union in which each
parish lay is given (based on White's 1851 Directory) and thus the
Registration District.
Maintained for BMSGH
by Peter Abbott, Birmingham, UK
HUNDRED
The Hundred was a division of the shire of great importance in
Saxon and Norman times. There was a Hundred Court presided over by
the Hundred Reeve acting on behalf of the King. The Court, in
addition to dealing with disputes, levied taxes. Gradually its
function was taken over by parochial and manorial administration
under the supervision of the Justices of the Peace. There were a
number of Hundreds in Warwickshire in early times, but they were
amalgamated into four, by name Barlichway, Kington, Hemlingford and
Knightlow. The names lingered on and were even used as divisions in
some census records. Some documents relating to the Hundreds
survive - for example cases tried at the Knightlow Hundred Court
1694-1720 are in Warwickshire County Record Office.UNION
A Union has been defined as a combination of parishes, allowed by
various Poor Laws to erect and maintain a workhouse. It is
important to know the Union to which a parish subscribed since an
impoverished family or an old and infirm person might well be
transferred to the workhouse, which could be in another parish.
When a person died the burial might be in a churchyard near the
workhouse rather than in the parish of origin.
[Last updated: 18th March 2013 ]