Epsom Union Workhouse Admissions
Epsom Union Workhouse (Post 1834)
“… is a structure of better appearance than many of its kind, and in the Tudor style”
Admissions 01 January 1840 to 31 December 1911
The Epsom Poor Union was formed on 31st May 1836 by 15 parishes, (this grew to 16 when Headley joined the union more than 40 years later in 1879). It covered a population of 15,700 spread over an area of 40,400 acres. Each parish elected one or more Guardians to administer the workhouse and the out-relief (payments to those remaining in their own homes). To finance the new Union the Guardians charged each parish a proportion of the total costs.
Rough outline map showing the parishes that made up the
Epsom Poor Law Union including Headley which joined later in 1879.
For detailed information on the Epsom Union Workhouse please see the Epsom Workhouse page.
The project to digitize and transcribe the Epsom Union Workhouse Admission and Discharge Registers was inspired by Peter Tilley. He not only designed the database, but also supervised the data capture and generally managed the project. The amount of work that was put into the project was immense. The work consisted of taking over 10,000 digital images which then needed transcribing, proof reading and then linking the Admissions Book entries with the Discharge Book entries which amounted to some 80,000 records. The bulk of the transcription etc. was carried out by the following volunteers:
- Tony and Lyn Rozier,
- Janice Steele,
- Hugh Baker,
- Keith Poulton,
- Jean and Mic Willis,
- Jill Warwick,
- Cathleen Cole,
- Colin Ball,
- Frank Bennetts,
- Sue Halford.
In addition to the Admission and Discharge Registers some Census, Birth and Death information was supplied by the Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Centre. The Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Centre and the web master of this website are extremely grateful to Peter Tilley and all involved for letting us put the resulting information on this website.
It is important to realise that some of the registers were lost many years ago and consequently records for the following dates are not available:
- Feb 1843 – Jun 1844
- Sep 1846 – Jun 1848
- Sep 1859 – Mar 1862
- Jun 1876 – Oct 1879
For ease of use we have sorted the information into name order and split the huge file into a number of sections each covering the surnames that start with a particular letter. Where the name on the original document is illegible, the entry will contain asterisks or @ signs, the different idicators were used for technical reasons during processing but the result is the same – missing or illegible characters. There are a few records with incomplete or missing surnames and these are shown in the section called Incomplete Surnames. Where the name in the Admissions Book is different from the Discharge Book both are shown. All the sections are in .pdf format. N.B. The Book and Page number refer to the original photographs.
In more complicated cases the volunteers of Epsom & Ewell Local & Family History Centre in Ewell Library, Bourne Hall will be happy to access the database, with it’s powerful search facilities, on your behalf. For opening hours and contact details please click here.
Key to Sections
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
If you want to view the source documents please contact the Surrey History Centre quoting reference BG3.
Please Note: We believe that the information in these documents is accurate however users should satisfy themselves that the information is correct before incurring any expense or undertaking any journeys. This is particularly important when purchasing certificates from other bodies, for example the General Register Office.
The History Centre is a non-profit making community service staffed entirely by volunteers. The ‘Donate’ button on this page enables you to make a donation by PayPal using debit and credit cards. This will enable us to continue the work of the History Centre, conducting more research and adding further records to this website.
