Much has been written about in the British media recently about benefits caps, with some families being forced to move away from the area where they have been living in order to take council accommodation in cheaper areas. Those receiving help from the state are regarded as having little say in where they live, regardless of where their friends and support networks are based.

This is, in a sense, nothing new. In the past, our less well-off ancestors were also moved around parishes and sometimes countries in order to reduce expenditure. This was as a result of the Act for the Better Relief of the Poor – commonly known as the Act of Settlement – which was passed in 1662. It aimed to prevent excessive migration and thus strain on parish resources by limiting movement between parishes to those who could maintain themselves. Anyone who was thought to be ‘likely to be chargeable’ to the parish could be removed if a local person made a complaint against them within 40 days of their arrival. In order to stay, they had to show that they had rented a house or land that was worth at least £10 a year. As the years went on, an individual could stay settled if they paid local rates, or were hired as a servant or apprentice for at least a year, and after 1795, removal was limited to people who had actually applied for relief, rather than those thought to be likely to.

Everyone was deemed to have a place of settlement. A newborn child would take its father’s place of settlement, unless it was illegitimate, in which case its settlement was its place of birth. Women took on their husband’s place of settlement; both male and female servants gained the settlement of the parish in which they had worked for one year, earning their full annual wages. But in some cases, widows were unsure of where their husbands had been born or settled; in other cases, employers could try and stop their servants gaining settlement by terminating their employment shortly before their year ended, or by docking their wages on spurious grounds.

So in order to establish whether an individual had the right to stay where they were living, a magistrate could make an examination of that person, asking them to detail their personal history, including details of their jobs, parents, spouse and so on. This was normally done when a person first applied for poor relief; and these examinations can shed a surprising amount of light on your ancestors’ lives and how far they travelled around the country in the 18th century.

Settlement certificates could be issued that allowed individuals to stay where they were as long as their ‘home’ parish would provide for them if they became chargeable. Settlement certificates proved not only where a family belonged, but gave responsibility for granting poor relief to that parish. A certificate enabled a person to live and receive relief in the parish where they were deemed to be settled. Malcolm Pratt’s edited collection of Winchelsea poor law records (Winchelsea Poor Law Records 1790-1841, Sussex Record Society) includes several entries for individuals who were paid relief by ‘their’ parish when they lived elsewhere. Joseph Parsons was one example. He was examined by the Winchelsea magistrates in 1809 and was found to be settled at Stalbridge in Dorset – his father being settled there. The parish of Stalbridge agreed to provide for Joseph and his family whilst he continued living at Winchelsea, with their overseer sending regular amounts to Sussex, in return for updates via letter as to how the family was, and what their earnings were. Despite Joseph having lived in Winchelsea since at least 1797, when he died in 1829, his widow and children – who had never lived outside of Winchelsea – were removed to Stalbridge at great expense.

Settlement examinations and certificates are rarely found online, although some London parishes’ records – including pauper examinations for St Martin in the Fields – have been digitised at the London Lives website (www.londonlives.org). Some county archives have put selected settlement records online and the online catalogues of some county archives at least enable you to identify ancestors who may have been involved with the system – for example, a search on Essex Record Office’s catalogue will tell you that the wife and daughter of Thomas Revell of Bocking – both named Ann – were issued with settlement certificates in 1776, as were the whole Twitchet family – husband and wife Edward and Esther, and their children Sarah, Esther, Robert, Ann, Martha and Elizabeth. These settlement certificates enabled them to settle in another parish, the parish of Bocking, near Braintree, agreeing to provide relief for them if required.

In other cases, you may need to search county archives in person, with many settlement examinations not yet having been digitised. But they are well worth a search through, as they can provide a wealth of information about the lives and struggles of your ancestors.