The Leicestershire and Rutland People Indexes contain references to people that appear in different classes of archival material that are stored in the National Archives of Great Britain and the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, England. The Leicestershire family historian Mark Gamble has compiled the indexes. There are three indexes on this web-site. The first index is dedicated to the men of Leicestershire and Rutland who served in the British Army. The second index details the names of those men, women and children who were convicted in Leicestershire and Rutland and were transported as convicts between 1787-1867. The third index is a listing of all those paupers, individuals and families, who were subjected to a removal order made by Leicestershire magistrates between 1730-1820. Look out for other interesting information that will appear on the web-site in the future.

Are you a family historian?

If your ancestors lived in Leicestershire then this index will interest you.

"The poor always ye have with you" – The Book of St. John, chapter 12, verse 8.

From the Tudor period onwards there was a host of legislation (1598-1601) that was enacted to keep the poor in check. From the point of view of the family historian the most significant poor law that was passed was the 1662 Act of Settlement. It stated that anyone that moved into a property valued at less than £10 a year could be sent back to the place where they were last legally settled. Legal settlement was obtained by a variety of circumstances, place of birth or apprenticeship, unchallenged residency in a parish for more than a year, and for a woman by marriage when she gained the right of her husband’s place of settlement. Later legislation would further extend rights of settlement.

The complexities of settlement law meant that disputes often arose between parishes as to where a poor person was legally settled. Justices of the Peace (magistrates) resolved legal disputes that related to the settlement of the poor at quarter sessions courts. A poor person, a pauper, in need of parish assistance was the responsibility of the place wherein they had a legal settlement. Once justices had determined where a pauper was lawfully settled they would produce a removal order that would oblige parish Overseers of the Poor to accept into their authority those in need of assistance.

Copies of removal orders are often to be found amongst the records that were held by parish churches. However, court copies of these documents were enrolled amongst the papers of the Quarter Sessions Courts. The magistrates for the County of Leicester had a jurisdiction over the removal of paupers both within the borough and the shire. These magisterial records, in the main dating from 1714, are held within the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland – they are to be found in the series QS3 – County Quarter Sessions Rolls.

The entries in this growing index, presently covering the period 1730-1820, represent over 5,600 individuals. A removal order may contain a record of a single individual or a whole family. This index shows the family names (surnames) of the poor, the forename of the principal pauper, the number of people subject to removal, the parish requesting the removal of the poor, and the parish due to receive those subject to the order. A standard abbreviation denoting the county within which the receiving parish lay is also given. Finally, a date period indicating the time frame within which the order was made is given.

If you have an interest in one of the records listed you are invited to apply for more information – an example of the full details that you would be likely to receive is given below:

QS3/398/001 08 Oct 1813

Sarah the wife of Thomas Baker, a Serjeant in the twelfth regiment of Light Dragoons (which said Thomas Baker is now on duty at Riddipool [Radipole], near Weymouth and their four children, viz, Mary Ann aged about five years, Eliza aged four years, Edward aged two years, and Sarah aged eleven weeks.

Removed from St. Margaret, Leicester to All Saints, Borough of Stamford, Lincolnshire.

If you would like to receive more information on an individual send an e-mail to me using the contact form or click here. You will be advised on the cost of receiving information.