Surrey Poor Law Union Boarding Out Committee minute books

The Boarding Out Committee (later the Children's Committee) was responsible for the fostering and placing in care children within their jurisdiction. The minutes document the type of care given which varied from placing children with foster parents to institutional care (including training ships and industrial schools) and placing teenagers in employment (often including the names and addresses of their employers) as well as providing clothing and even travelling expenses. They occasionally mention medical expenses, including the provision of glasses and dental treatment.

Boarding Out Committee minutes do not mention all the children in their care, and some are only mentioned very briefly but they can give clues as to where children spent their formative years. There are scant records relating to children in local authority care during the early half of the twentieth century so these minutes can be vital to family historians. We occasionally hold minutes up to 1930 in our collections, but these are restricted under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. If you require any further help or advice on this matter, please contact us directly.

To search the indexes to the Guildford (BG6/12/-), Kingston (BG8/12/-) and Reigate (BG9/12/-) Poor Law Union minute books, simply select the filenames below:

Minute books of other Surrey Poor Law Unions are being indexed by our volunteers and will go online soon.


Files available to download


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