General Register of the Poor
From 1865, Parochial Boards - the forerunners of modern local government, charged with operating poor relief in their districts - were required to maintain General Registers of the Poor. These Registers had a standardised format, providing biographical detail about those granted poor relief ("paupers"), details of their family circumstances and earnings (if any), and regular updates to their status as recipients of poor relief.
We have indexed the surviving registers for Wigtonshire held at the National Records of Scotland. The following parishes are covered by our index:
The index is here:
We have indexed the surviving registers for Wigtonshire held at the National Records of Scotland. The following parishes are covered by our index:
- Glasserton (CO4/30/7, 269 entries)
- Inch (CO4/32/6-7, 736 entries)
- Kirkcolm (CO4/33/6-7, 487 entries)
- Kirkcowan (CO4/34/12-14, 432 entries)
- Kirkinner (CO4/35/4-6, 425 entries)
- Kirkmaiden (CO4/36/2-3, 366 entries)
- Leswalt (CO4/37/7-10, 589 entries)
- Mochrum (CO4/38/6-7, 705 entries)
- New Luce (CO4/39/5, 5 entries)
- Old Luce (CO4/40/3-5, 759 entries)
- Penninghame (CO4/41/4-5, 431 entries)
- Portpatrick (CO4/42/3, 247 entries)
- Sorbie (CO4/43/2-3, 247 entries)
- Stoneykirk (CO4/44/4-5, 800 entries)
- Stranraer (CO4/45/10-12, 1090 entries)
- Whithorn (CO4/46/4, 181 entries)
- Wigtown (CO4/47/11-12, 646 entries)
The index is here: