Board of guardians

Boards of guardians were ad hoc authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930.

Each board was composed of guardians elected by the owners and bona fide occupiers of land liable to pay the poor rate.

[2] In Ashton-under-Lyne, Bertha Mason was the first woman to be elected to the board and served until she moved to London in 1904.

A similar system of Poor Law to that in England and Wales was introduced to Ireland in 1838, with boards of guardians elected by rate-payers.

The Irish system differed from that in England and Wales, as the civil parish was not used as the basis for the election of guardians.

[5] Following the partition of the island in 1922 the guardians were abolished in the Irish Free State in 1925, being replaced by County Boards of Health.