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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: BarbW on Saturday 14 September 24 16:46 BST (UK)
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I was doing a search for Edward Harry Young whose father had been described on his marriage certificate as John Young, Gentleman. Edward was a Freemason and in the Cheshire Yeomanry so I was searching from this aspect.
A record came up in FindMyPast as Cheshire Workhouse Records (Births) for 1880, the year I knew he was baptised in church so what was this?
I had no idea this kind of vaccine register was even kept, something to think about if you have elusive births maybe? I wonder if these are nationwide? It gives place of birth, DOB, father's name and occupation too.
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For the Glasgow area, they have this, albeit an earlier period:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/scotland-glasgow-smallpox-vaccination-registers-1801-1854
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Similar records exist in Ireland though not every workhouse’s records have survived. (In Northern Ireland the surviving records are in PRONI in Belfast. For the rest of the country they tend to be in either County libraries or County museums).
I attended a series of talks about the Irish workhouse system last year at Queens University, Belfast. The lecturer explained that pre NHS, the workhouse had some basic public health obligations, and vaccination was amongst them. (You didn’t have to be in the workhouse. They administered it to everyone within the Union who was eligible).
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This explains a little about the establishment and role of Vaccination Officers:
https://www.genguide.co.uk/source/vaccination-registers-certificates/
and for some further reading:
https://www.exploreyourgenealogy.co.uk/smallpox-vaccination-lists-1583
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Thank you both, I'd never heard of it before!! Always something new to learn in our hobby/obsession 😆