Parochial Board and Parish Council records

In 1845 the Poor Law (Scotland) Act created a parochial board for each parish. It was made up of the heritors and kirk session. If a Board wished to raise a poor rate they had to include some elected members. They reported to the Board of Supervision in Edinburgh.

The inspector of the poor for the parish was in charge of the day-to-day administration of relief. He interviewed applicants, and kept track of people on the poor roll. The able-bodied unemployed were not eligible for poor relief until the Poor Law Emergency Powers (Scotland) Act of 1921.

After the Public Health (Scotland) Act 1867 the minutes also deal with public health issues like the regulation of lodging houses, construction of sewers, water supply and infectious diseases. They were able to appoint medical and sanitary inspectors and to form special drainage districts and water districts. The public health powers of boards in the landward parts of Fife were transferred to Fife County Council by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. Special drainage districts and water districts were transferred to sub-committees of county councils.

In 1894 the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 replaced Parochial Boards with Parish Councils. Parish Councillors were elected every 3 years. The Parish Council reported to the Local Government Board for Scotland. The new councils acquired a few additional functions, including the power to acquire buildings for public offices, ground for recreational purposes and the administration of rights of way. They could also take over the administration of some parish trusts.

Some Parish Councils were responsible for the burial grounds in their parish.

Parish Councils were abolished by the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1929. The act transferred their functions to the County Council, District Councils and Town Councils.

Apart from Aberdour 1845-55 (in Dunfermline Carnegie Library), no registers of poor or registers of applications for relief have survived. From most of the - Minute Books you can piece together some information about the people on the poor roll. Most of the - Minute Books are not indexed so searching can be quite a slow process.