Workhouse ancestors
Sir Ian was delighted to find a successful actor in his tree, his great great uncle, Frank Lowes. Sadly, Frank’s death certificate showed he ended his days in Liverpool workhouse and we located the records using www.workhouses.org.uk.
1Go to the website’s homepage to begin the search. The website contains a wealth of information about workhouses and the history of Poor Laws in the UK, which can be viewed free of charge. To locate the records for a specific workhouse click on ‘Workhouse locations’ on the left-hand side.
2You will be given the option to search for Poor Law unions in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland. In this case we are looking for Liverpool so click on ‘English Poor Law Unions’, then scroll down to find Lancashire. Click on ‘Lancashire’ and the option for Liverpool will also appear.
3Next, click on ‘Liverpool’ and you’ll be taken to the page covering Liverpool workhouses. To go straight to where the records are located, click on ‘Records’ at the top of the page. In this example, it’s Liverpool Record Office and Local History Service and a website is provided.