| Description | Under the 1834 Poor Law legislation, all Unions were required to have at least one clerk, and in many of the larger unions, the role was shared amongst several individuals. King's Norton Union employed one man in the post, on a yearly salary of £70. The clerk's main duties were to take minutes at the meetings of the Board of Guardians, deal with any incoming correspondence to the Union, particularly from the central governing authority, keep up-to-date financial records and ledgers, showing all income and expenditure within the Union, maintain the Relief Order Book, which detailed the names of applicants for poor relief, and the Order Check Book, containing all orders given by the Guardians re: provisions and stores for the workhouse, and to conduct the elections for the posts of Guardian. The clerk was also responsible for keeping records relating to those children who had been apprenticed by or were under the care of the Union. |