Thursday 7 November 2013

In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part Two

Following on from my post “In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part One” I am going to write today about some of the surviving Old Age Pension (OAP) records I have found.

In various local Scottish Archives, such as the Dumfries and Galloway Archives at the Ewart Library in Dumfries, there are Old Age Pension Committee Registers. The example (which I have viewed) held in Dumfries is that of Moffat Town Council (reference CB842/1/2/9). It is entitled “Town Council Old Age Pension Committee : Register” and runs from 1908-1948. 

The headings in this register are as follows:

Consecutive number 
Full Name of Claimant, or of Pensioner in regard to whom a question is raised 
Address of Claimant, or Pensioner 
Date on which claim received when made direct to Committee 
Date on which claim referred to Pension Officer 
Date on which claim or question and report received from Pension Officer 
District and Station of Pension Officer 
Number in Pension Officer’s Register 
Date or dates on which claim or question considered by Committee 
Date (of any) on which Claimant or Pensioner (or person appearing on his behalf) heard by Committee 
Decision of Committee and Date (If claim disallowed, give reason) 
Date of notification of decision to (a) Claimant or Pensioner 
Date of notification of decision to (b) Pension Officer 
Date of receipt of notification of appeal 
Name and Address of Appellant (If the Claimant, pr Pension, or the Pension Officer s the Appellant, insert “Claimant,” “Pensioner,” or “Pension Officer,” without address 
Date on which documents relating to claim or question sent to Local Government Board [in correspondence this is often referred to as the LGB] 
Date of notification to Claimant or Pensioner of appeal having been made 
Decision of Local Government Board and date of receipt 
Date of notification of decision of Local Government Board to (a) Claimant, or Pension or other Appellant 
Date of notification of decision of Local Government Board to (b) Pension Officer 
Amount of Pension and date on which Pension becomes payable 
Date on which documents relating to claim or question sent to Pension Officer 
Remarks, e.g. : Note of disqualification or death of Pensioner, or reference to any later entry relating to the same person. 

There are two things I would like to note here. Firstly, relatively few of these registers survive: the only examples held in Dumfries and Galloway Archives seems to those for Moffat and Langholm. Up and down Scotland and in even at The National Archives in Kew there appear to be a few similar examples, but covering only a small fraction of Scotland.

The second thing is that they do not tell us a lot from a genealogical standpoint. There are no dates of birth, for example. They do give addresses, which could occasionally be useful, but it is likely that this information could more readily be gleaned from other sources, such as valuation rolls.

In summary, if you are reading this blog whilst studying the history of the welfare state in the UK these volumes might well be of interest to you. If you are researching your family tree, however, you may find their usefulness is minimal.


UPDATE: Read part three

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