The First Century of Welfare

Poverty and Poor Relief in Lancashire, 1620-1730

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 17th Century, British
Cover of the book The First Century of Welfare by Jonathan Healey, Boydell & Brewer
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jonathan Healey ISBN: 9781782043706
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Publication: September 18, 2014
Imprint: Boydell Press Language: English
Author: Jonathan Healey
ISBN: 9781782043706
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Publication: September 18, 2014
Imprint: Boydell Press
Language: English

The English 'Old Poor Law' was the first national system of tax-funded social welfare in the world. It provided a safety net for hundreds of thousands of paupers at a time of very limited national wealth and productivity. The First Century of Welfare, which focusses on the poor, but developing, county of Lancashire, provides the first major regional study of poverty and its relief in the seventeenth century. Drawing on thousands of individual petitions for poor relief, presented by paupers themselves to magistrates, it peers into the social and economic world of England's marginal people. Taken together, these records present a vivid and sobering picture of the daily lives and struggles of the poor. We can see how their family life, their relations with their kin and their neighbours, and the dictates of contemporary gender norms conditioned their lives. We can also see how they experienced illness and physical and mental disability; and the ways in which real people's lives could be devastated by dearth, trade depression, and the destruction of the Civil Wars. But the picture is not just one of poor folk tossed by the tides of fortune. It is also one of agency: about the strategies of economic survival the poor adopted, particularly in the context of a developing industrial economy, of the support they gained from their relatives and neighbours, and of their willingness to engage with England's developing system of social welfare to ensure that they and their families did not go hungry. In this book, an intensely human picture surfaces of what it was like to experience poverty at a time when the seeds of state social welfare were being planted. JONATHAN HEALEY is University Lecturer in English Local and Social History and Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The English 'Old Poor Law' was the first national system of tax-funded social welfare in the world. It provided a safety net for hundreds of thousands of paupers at a time of very limited national wealth and productivity. The First Century of Welfare, which focusses on the poor, but developing, county of Lancashire, provides the first major regional study of poverty and its relief in the seventeenth century. Drawing on thousands of individual petitions for poor relief, presented by paupers themselves to magistrates, it peers into the social and economic world of England's marginal people. Taken together, these records present a vivid and sobering picture of the daily lives and struggles of the poor. We can see how their family life, their relations with their kin and their neighbours, and the dictates of contemporary gender norms conditioned their lives. We can also see how they experienced illness and physical and mental disability; and the ways in which real people's lives could be devastated by dearth, trade depression, and the destruction of the Civil Wars. But the picture is not just one of poor folk tossed by the tides of fortune. It is also one of agency: about the strategies of economic survival the poor adopted, particularly in the context of a developing industrial economy, of the support they gained from their relatives and neighbours, and of their willingness to engage with England's developing system of social welfare to ensure that they and their families did not go hungry. In this book, an intensely human picture surfaces of what it was like to experience poverty at a time when the seeds of state social welfare were being planted. JONATHAN HEALEY is University Lecturer in English Local and Social History and Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

More books from Boydell & Brewer

Cover of the book The Front Line Runs through Every Woman by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Christopher Okigbo 1930-67 by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Conserving and Managing Ancient Monuments by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Population, Welfare and Economic Change in Britain, 1290-1834 by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book "The Space of Words" by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Speculations on German History by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Mark Twain under Fire by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Race, Decolonization, and Global Citizenship in South Africa by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Kafka after Kafka by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Servants in Rural Europe by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Ploughing New Ground by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book The Supernatural Voice by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book The Development State by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Gerald Finzi: His Life and Music by Jonathan Healey
Cover of the book Harry Partch, Hobo Composer by Jonathan Healey
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy