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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Worcestershire => England => Worcestershire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: Saratan on Tuesday 29 March 22 15:45 BST (UK)
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The Evesham board of Guardians had representatives from the local villages including "Overseers". They also had "Poor Law Relieving Officers".
Does anyone know what was their remit and did they work together in deciding who was a pauper and therefore eligible for Workhouse admission?
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The Overseer was a parish officer, responsible for the collection of the Poor Rate in each parish. This money funded the relief granted to paupers by the poor-law union.
The Relieving Officer was a union officer, responsible for decisions about who should get relief, how much, and whether in the workhouse or outside it, and he was ultimately answerable to the Board of Guardians.
The roles of all such officers are individually described here ...
https://www.workhouses.org.uk/admin/index.shtml#post1834
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Many Relieving Officers were also Registrars of Births and Deaths. The two occupations dovetailed nicely, because Registration Districts were based on Poor Law Unions (at least to start with), and the Board of Guardians was responsible for appointing candidates to both posts.
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Thank you all for the clarification. My interest is a parochial one as I'm looking at life in Sedgeberrow near Evesham. I had the names of the officials but now I can flesh out their relation to the local inmates of the workhouses and worcester asylum where some were sent. thank you