Voices of the Victorian Poor

An open database of letters from paupers, the wider poor and their advocates written between 1834 - 1900

Access over 3500 letters from paupers, and associated manuscript material such as petitions, sworn statements and advocate letters (those written on behalf of paupers).

About the New Poor Law and the MH12 Collection

The Poor Law Unions

This is a map of the Poor Law Unions of England and Wales as they were in 1881. Union boundaries shifted occasionally - frequently in London - as individual parishes joined with each other to look after fluctuating populations, so some letters may belong to a union that covered their area at a different point in time.

The unions shaded blue in the map below represent the unions covered in our sample for this project. As you can see, they span the country to offer a fair representation of a variety of areas, but letters are shown in areas not shaded blue. This is because the poor and their advocates often wrote from outside of the union they are referencing, but their letters were collated by the union they regard. This is important to note when looking at local history as some letters related to your locality may have come from further afield. You can search by union in the Research map to see all letters regarding any particular union within the sample.