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Home > Social History Studies in Regional and Local History > Poor Relief and Community in Hadleigh, Suffolk, 1547-1600
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Poor Relief and Community in Hadleigh, Suffolk, 1547-1600

Author: Marjorie Keniston McIntosh

Price: £18.99 (free postage)

"

“Marjorie McIntosh, Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a respected social and cultural historian of late medieval and early modern England. This book, volume 12 in the well-established Studies in Regional and Local History series published by University of Hertfordshire Press, which has developed a reputation for producing high-quality works of local and regional history under the general editorship of Nigel Goose, in many respects complements her recent national study of poor relief in late medieval England.”

-Dr James P Bowen,
Reviews in History

About the book

“A comprehensive and absorbing study.” Richard Stone, The Historical Association

“A fascinating micro-study that works both as a local companion to her earlier survey published in Poor Relief in England, 1350-1600, and as an uncommonly detailed investigation in its own right. It is a book that is important not just because it is the earliest really detailed study of poor relief in a small community, but also because it is one of the best.” Jonathan Healey, Community and Change

“I am exceptionally impressed by this splendid case study, the like of which barely exists for the well-documented Old Poor Law era and certainly not for the pre-1601 period. McIntosh's ability to reconstruct the family circumstances and other demographic attributes of those receiving relief is unparalleled in any study of Tudor poor relief. This remarkable local study will be of interest to a large number of both local and national historians.” Professor Richard M. Smith, Emeritus Professor of Historical Geography and Demography, University of Cambridge

At the cutting edge of 'the new social and demographic history', this book provides a detailed picture of the most comprehensive system of poor relief operated by any Elizabethan town.

Well before the Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601, Hadleigh, Suffolk – a thriving woollen cloth centre with 2,500-3,000 people – offered a complex array of assistance to many of its residents who could not provide for themselves: orphaned children, married couples with more offspring than they could support or supervise, widows, people with physical or mental disabilities, some of the unemployed, and the elderly.

  • More about the book

    Hadleigh's leaders also attempted to curb idleness and vagrancy and to prevent poor people who might later need relief from settling in the town. Based upon uniquely full records, this study traces 600 people who received help, including their family situation, and explores the social, religious, and economic considerations that made more prosperous people willing to run and pay for this system.

    Relevant to contemporary debates over assistance to the poor, the book provides a compelling picture of a network of care and control that integrated public and private forms of aid.

  • View the table of contents

    Contents


     List of Figuresviii
     List of Tablesix
     List of Appendicesx
     Acknowledgements and conventionsxi
     General Editor's prefacexiii
     Abbreviationsxv
     Introduction1
    1The context of poor relief in Hadleigh9
     Hadleigh's physical setting and neighbourhoods9
     The estimated population and demographic information16
     Economic life19
     Religion30
     Town government36
    2Hadleigh's system of assistance40
     Officers and decision-making40
     The forms of aid, in-kind distributions and services44
     Financing poor relief48
    3Recipients of relief and their households63
     Individual recipients of assistance63
     Recipient households and family relationships75
     A sample year: individuals and households in 158280
    4The care and training of poor children83
     Aid while living at home84
     Short-term boarding in another household85
     Assistance when entering service or apprenticeship88
     Training and discipline in the workhouse90
     Granted to a different family or expelled from Hadleigh100
    5Aid to ill, disabled and elderly people106
     Care for people who were ill or disabled106
     Help for old people110
    6Why?119
     The impact of Rowland Taylor and opposition to him, 1544–54119
     Relations between clothiers and workers127
     Worry about control and cost, 1576–85130
     Civic identity, civic competition135
     The ongoing influence of Christian social teachings141
     Appendices151
     References177
     Index183

  • About the Author/s:

    Marjorie Keniston McIntosh

    Marjorie Keniston McIntosh is Distinguished Professor of History Emerita, University of Colorado at Boulder. Her previous publications deal with the social history of England, 1350-1600, and African women.

ISBN: 978-1-907396-92-2 Format: Paperback, 224pp Published: Sep 2013

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