Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.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 on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally published by the Poor Law Board, later renamed the Local Government Board, and cover England and Wales. They were computerised over many years by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales. The county-level data appeared in the Board's Annual Reports, while the union-level data appeared in their Returns to Parliament, within British Parliamentary Papers. The tabulations are always for the 1st of January and 1st of July. The original tables contain many columns, so two kinds of transcriptions have been made. Those labelled "full" include all columns but only for selected dates, while the other transcriptions cover all available dates but are generally limited just to total numbers of paupers and numbers of able-bodied male paupers, as the closest approximation to unemployment. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research. For the second edition (February 2024), the data was updated and extended to 1939, and former study 3713 was incorporated

Main Topics:

• Total and able-bodied pauperage in all Poor Law Counties in England and Wales, July 1859 to January 1919. - Total and able-bodied pauperage in all Poor Law Unions in England and Wales, July 1859 to January 1912 (Returns to Parliament discontinued in WW1). - All available categories of pauper (indoor/outdoor, able-bodied/not able-bodied/lunatics, men/women/children) in all Poor Law Counties in England and Wales, for January and July in 1860, 1863, 1866, 1868 and 1879 only. - All available categories of pauper (indoor/outdoor, able-bodied/not able-bodied/lunatics, men/women/children) in selected Poor Law Unions in England and Wales, for January and July in 1860 to 1871. The selected unions always include all unions in Lancashire and sometimes cover a transect linking Lancashire with Norfolk. - All available categories of pauper in selected Poor Law Unions in England and Wales, for July only from 1907 to 1911. The selected unions include all unions in London ('The Metropolis'), Lancashire and Durham plus selected major urban unions. - Poor law statistics for all poor law unions from 1920 to 1930, then for Administrative Counties and County Boroughs from 1931 to 1939 (Data for 1920 and 1921 have a different format, which is fully included in a separate file).

No sampling (total universe)

Compilation/Synthesis

Transcription