English Poor Laws, 1700-1930 (2001)

The English Poor Laws, 1700-1930 traces the laws' development from localized measures of poor relief designed primarily for rural communities to an increasingly centralized system attempting to grapple with the urgent crises of urban poverty. Some of the topics covered are the deterrent workhouse, medical care, education, assisted emigration, family maintenance, vagrancy, and the relationship of the poor laws to private charity.