These essays present a statement on the long-term development of welfare policy in Britain. Relating to current issues such as the cost of pensions, this work examines provisions for the poor, infirm and aged over four centuries of British history.

The Neale Colloquium in British History, Notes on contributors, 1 Introduction, 2 Charity, self-interest and welfare: reflections from demographic and family history, 3 Some recent trends in the history of charity, 4 Charity and poor relief in early modern Italy, 5 Aged and impotent: parish relief of the aged poor in early modern Suffolk, 6 Old people and their families in the English past, 7 The “mixed economy of welfare” in early modern England: assessments of the options from Hale to Malthus (c. 1683–1803), 8 “Grasping gratitude”: charity and hospital finance in late-Victorian London, 9 Women, social work and social welfare in twentieth-century Britain: from (unpaid) influence to (paid) oblivion?, 10 Risk, redistribution and social welfare in Britain from the poor law to Beveridge, 11 Some concluding reflections, Index