DESERTED FAMILIES AND THE POOR LAW UNIONS' GAZETTE

For most people the easiest way to rid themselves of a family or a troublesome wife was to simply engineer a desertion. Many tried to just walk away and did so by taking their family to the workhouse and then deserting them by absconding from the workhouse. Perhaps this may seem a strange phenomenon when availing oneself of the workhouse was voluntary (both for admission and discharge) although often an economic necessity.

The situation regarding desertion became unacceptable very early on and was getting out of hand so the authorities, both the Board of Guardians and the constabularies, wanted to do all they could to stem the trend. One way of doing this was to publicise the desertions in the Poor Law Unions' Gazette which was published weekly from 1856 until 1903. All editions are available to search using the British Newspaper Archive.

The Gazette is therefore a valuable resource for family historians because it provided information on paupers from all over the country who had deserted their wives and families, leaving them chargeable to the Poor Law Unions. Leaving a family chargeable to the Union was a criminal offence - but it did not stop there. To have deserted the workhouse meant most did so in workhouse clothing, also technically a criminal offence. Having deserted maybe they went on to establish another family elsewhere or even commit bigamy if they subsequently married whilst their “former” wife was still living.

The authorities did not want to have the responsibility for providing financial relief for deserted families so they issued descriptions or mini biographies of the deserters to help facilitate their apprehension.

Although the majority of deserters were men, it was also easy for women to desert although few ever did where children were involved. Information about men and women who deserted their families was published each week. Descriptions of the deserters appeared under the listing submitted by the Poor Law Union from whose workhouse they had deserted. The descriptions would include their last known address, their age, height, build, facial features and occupation; it would also include any information about known associates. These descriptions in the Gazette are usually a rich and fascinating source for family historians and may be the only descriptions given about an ancestor.  Some of the descriptions were very detailed. Valuable information to aid research often existed as in the following example.

SAMUEL CHAMBERS, gardener's labourer, aged 39, about 5ft 9 high, dark complexion, black hair and whiskers rather inclined to grey, light blue eyes, broad across the shoulders and rather stout, has been working at Barking, Essex; deserted his wife Martha and six children at Broom in February last leaving them chargeable to the parish of Southill in this union.

Rewards were sometimes offered for information leading to the apprehension of those listed. It was not unusual for names to appear in many editions of the Gazette suggesting that they were still at large despite the publicity. Many managed to cover their tracks successfully, some simply moving to a different area and changing their names.