Canterbury Union

Under an Act of Parliament in 1727 the Corporation of Canterbury was empowered to erect a workhouse for employing and maintaining the poor of the City and under this Act the relief of the Canterbury poor was overseen by an elected Court of Guardians. When the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act came into force most of the powers of these Guardians were exempt from its provisions. Following the repeal of the 1727 Act the Canterbury Union came into effect on 12th April 1881.

Under the Local Government Act of 1929 Canterbury Union became an independent Public Assistance authority, as a county borough, and did not transfer to the control of the Kent County Council.

Map & parishes

Canterbury Union, Kent

PARISHES WITHIN UNION

  • All Saints
  • Holy Cross Westgate Within
  • St Alphege
  • St Andrew
  • St George the Martyr
  • St Margaret
  • St Martin
  • St Mary Bredin
  • St Mary Bredman
  • St Mary Magdalen
  • St Mary Northgate
  • St Mildred
  • St Paul

Union information

Under an Act of Parliament in 1727 the Corporation of Canterbury was empowered to erect a workhouse for employing and maintaining the poor of the City and under this Act the relief of the Canterbury poor was overseen by an elected Court of Guardians. When the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act came into force most of the powers of these Guardians were exempt from its provisions. Following the repeal of the 1727 Act the Canterbury Union came into effect on 12th April 1881. Under the Local Government Act of 1929 Canterbury Union became an independent Public Assistance authority, as a county borough, and did not transfer to the control of the Kent County Council.
The normal practice for persons dying in the Workhouse was for them to be removed to their parish of settlement (if within the Union) for burial or in the parish where the Workhouse was situated. If a person died in an institution which was situated out of the Union’s area they were normally buried in the parish of that institution. Following the Burial Acts of 1852-1857 burials may also have taken place at a cemetery built and operated by the local Burial Board.
The Baptism of children born in the Union Workhouse would normally only take place under exceptional circumstances unless the licence given to the Chaplain of the Workhouse included permission to carry out baptisms in the Workhouse Chapel. Baptisms could also take take place in the parish church closest to the Workhouse or the parish of settlement. From 1 January 1905 the address recorded on the birth certificates of children born in the Workhouse was entered as ““The Home”, Nunnery Fields, Canterbury”.

Education
At different times the children were either educated in the Workhouse or sent to the local schools but by the end of 1877 both the boys and girls in 1915 attended the local schools

Accommodation
From October 1910 the girls were removed from the Workhouse and accommodated at the Union’s Scattered Home at “Woodville”, Wincheap Street, Canterbury , followed by the boys in late 1911 after than extension had been built.

Children were also sent to other specialist institutions run by other Unions, charities or private individuals.

From July 1916 some inmates were received from the Elham Union following the occupation of their Workhouse.
…
Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Canterbury, Kent.

Minutes of the Annual General Court of the Guardians – 1834 to 1841
Minutes of the Monday and Friday Committees – 1834 to 1840
Minutes of the General Courts and Extraordinary General Courts – 1834 to 1841

– SEE “LIST OF SURNAMES”

Kent Unions