Over 115,O00 pages of Victorian workhouse and Poor Law records have been put online by the National Archives. The records containing nearly 20 million words will tell family and local historians what life was like for the poor in Victorian England.

These record shed fascinating new light on the life and experiences of the poor and provide an invaluable new resource for researchers and historians.

Dr Paul Carter, the Principal Modern Records Specialist at the National Archives, said: “The importance of this series of records cannot be overestimated. The Poor Law Union correspondence is unrivalled in giving us that window in the archives to examine the lives of the Victorian poor. At a time when Britain was the “Workshop of the World” and the major industrial and imperial power, the government introduced the feared and hated Poor Law Amendment Act. The New Poor Law of 1834 was based on the deterrent workhouse system with the able bodied pauper being offered the workhouse in times of need. Conditions were to be harsh; families were to be divided, paupers uniformed and inmates time controlled. The records cover all aspects of poor relief but also cover matters such as opposition to the workhouse system, industrial strikes, Chartism, wages, treatment of children and much more. They are essential for any study of Victorian life.”

An unrivalled source of raw history, the records contain individual letters, reports and memos that often reveal tales of family breakdown, corruption and blackmail, to stories of fraud, violence and neglect.

Visitors to The National Archives’ website will be able to read 117815 scanned images from all the original records. A selection of over 100 volumes from 21 Poor Law Unions have been catalogued noting the names, places and subject matter covered by the correspondence within the volumes. Some 4.6 million words can now be keyword searched and are free to download via The National Archives Documents Online service www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/livingthepoorlife