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23-821: York was a rural sanitary district in Yorkshire , England , until 1894. It was based on the York poor law union (minus the City of York itself, which was an urban sanitary district), and included parishes in the West Riding , the North Riding and the East Riding , forming a ring around the city. It was abolished in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894 , and split to form rural districts . It

46-508: A board of guardians . A parish large enough to operate independently of a union was known as a poor law parish. Collectively, poor law unions and poor law parishes were known as poor law districts. The grouping of the parishes into unions caused larger centralised workhouses to be built to replace smaller facilities in each parish. Poor law unions were later used as a basis for the delivery of registration from 1837, and sanitation outside urban areas from 1875. Poor law unions were abolished by

69-552: A dispensary or registrar's district. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 divided administrative counties into urban and rural districts , with each rural district corresponding to the non-urban portion of a poor law union within the county. In the Irish Free State , poor law unions and rural districts were abolished in 1925 and the powers of boards of guardians transferred to the county councils' Board of Health. In Northern Ireland , poor law unions survived until

92-488: A poor rate extracted by local poor law valuations (ratings of rate payers). The name "union" was adopted from the English model although boundaries were unrelated to civil parishes . A union was named after the town on which it was centred, usually where its workhouse stood. Unions were defined as groups of poor law electoral divisions , in turn groups of townlands . Electoral divisions returned members (guardians) to

115-648: A medical officer, but other powers were generally permissive rather than compulsory. Three years later the Public Health Act 1875 ( 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55) substantially broadened the scope of powers and expectations on sanitary authorities. Urban sanitary districts were formed in any municipal borough governed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , in any improvement commissioners district formed by private act of Parliament, and in any local government district formed under

138-537: The Irish Free State , creating a single rural sanitary district for the non-urban portion of each county, called the "county health district". The Local Government (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1934 allowed this district to be split on request of the county council; this happened only in County Cork , the largest county, which was split into three health districts. Sanitary districts were not formed in Scotland. By

161-555: The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 , by urban and rural districts . Unlike rural sanitary districts, rural districts could not cross county boundaries: so for instance, Ballyshannon rural sanitary district was split into Ballyshannon No. 1, Ballyshannon No. 2 and Ballyshannon No. 3 rural districts in Counties Donegal, Fermanagh and Leitrim respectively. The Local Government Act 1925 abolished rural districts in

184-628: The Local Government Act 1929 , which transferred responsibility for public assistance to county and county borough councils. The English Poor Laws laid out the system of poor relief that existed in England and Wales from the reign of Elizabeth I until the emergence of the modern welfare state after the Second World War. Historian Mark Blaug has argued that the Poor Law system provided "a welfare state in miniature, relieving

207-670: The Poor Law Board to include these parishes in unions. Until 1894 the guardians consisted of justices of the peace along with other members elected by rate-payers, with higher rate-payers having more votes. JPs were removed and plural voting stopped in 1894, but nobody actually receiving poor relief was allowed to vote. Their areas were espoused for other functional districts, such as civil registration of all births, marriages and deaths which became law from 1837 and rural sanitary districts established in 1875. In 1894 rural districts and urban districts were set up based on

230-721: The Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 101) public health duties were given to the town councils, commissioners or trustees of burghs , and to parochial boards . In 1890 the public health duties of parochial boards were allocated to the newly created county councils , administered by district committees. Poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for

253-453: The Public Health Act 1848 ( 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) or Local Government Act 1858 . The existing governing body of the town (municipal corporation, improvement commissioners or local board of health) was designated as the urban sanitary authority . When sanitary districts were formed there were approximately 225 boroughs, 575 local government districts and 50 improvement commissioners districts designated as urban sanitary districts. Over

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276-573: The 1930s. The Local Government Act 1972 made district councils, London borough councils, the City of London Corporation , and Inner Temple and Middle Temple sanitary authorities. A system of sanitary districts was established in Ireland by the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 , modelled on that in England and Wales. Urban sanitary districts were established in the following categories of towns: The existing corporation or commissioners became

299-577: The administration of poor relief . Prior to the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 the administration of the English Poor Laws was the responsibility of the vestries of individual parishes, which varied widely in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements. From 1834 the parishes were grouped into unions, jointly responsible for the administration of poor relief in their areas and each governed by

322-443: The areas of urban sanitary districts. Any subsequent change in the area of the union also changed the sanitary district. At the time of abolition in 1894, there were 572 rural sanitary districts. The rural sanitary authority consisted of the existing poor law guardians for the rural parishes involved. The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) brought an end to sanitary districts in England and Wales. In boroughs,

345-570: The board of guardians, to which ratepayers who paid higher rates had more votes . During and after the Great Famine , the impoverished west was redrawn to create more unions for easier administration and for computation of where suffering was most endemic. When the Irish General Register Office was established in 1864, each union became a superintendent registrar's district, thus electoral divisions together formed

368-551: The corporation was already the sanitary authority. All other urban sanitary districts were renamed as urban districts , governed by an urban district council. Rural sanitary districts were replaced by rural districts , for the first time with a directly elected council. It was a requirement that whenever possible a rural district should be within a single administrative county , which led to many districts being split into smaller areas along county lines. A few rural districts with parishes in two or three different counties persisted until

391-482: The elderly, widows, children, the sick, the disabled, and the unemployed and underemployed". The functions of poor law unions were exercised by boards of guardians , partly elected by ratepayers , but also including magistrates . Some parishes, many in the metropolitan area of London, were able to avoid amalgamation into unions because of earlier local acts that regulated their poor law administration. The Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 6) allowed

414-421: The next nineteen years the number changed: more urban sanitary districts were formed as towns adopted legislation forming local boards and as additional boroughs were incorporated; over the same period numerous urban sanitary districts were absorbed into expanding boroughs. Rural sanitary districts were formed in all areas without a town government. They followed the boundaries of existing poor law unions , less

437-472: The sanitary districts (and therefore indirectly on the unions). In 1930, under the Local Government Act 1929 , the poor law unions were finally abolished and their responsibilities transferred to the county councils and county boroughs . Under the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 , three Poor Law Commissioners divided Ireland into poor law unions, in which paupers would receive poor relief paid for by

460-423: The urban sanitary authority. The Local Government Board for Ireland , created by the same act, could designate other towns with commissioners as urban sanitary districts. Rural sanitary districts were formed in the same way as those in England and Wales, from the poor law unions with the boards of guardians as the rural sanitary authorities. The urban and rural sanitary districts were superseded in 1899, under

483-612: Was carried out in Ireland in 1899 by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . Sanitary districts were formed under the terms of the Public Health Act 1872 ( 35 & 36 Vict. c. 79). Instead of creating new bodies, existing authorities were given additional responsibilities. The sanitary districts were created on 10 August 1872, when the act received royal assent , and the existing authorities were able to exercise their new powers from their first meeting after that date. The powers and responsibilities initially given to sanitary authorities in 1872 were relatively limited. They had to appoint

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506-414: Was governed by a sanitary authority and was responsible for various public health matters such as providing clean drinking water, sewers, street cleaning, and clearing slum housing. In England and Wales, both rural and urban sanitary districts were replaced in 1894 by the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) by the more general rural districts and urban districts . A similar reform

529-630: Was succeeded by the Bishopthorpe Rural District (West Riding), the Flaxton Rural District (North Riding) and the Escrick Rural District (East Riding). 53°57′29″N 1°04′55″W  /  53.958°N 1.082°W  / 53.958; -1.082 This York location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rural sanitary district Each district

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