Poor Law in England

www.workhouses.org.uk - The Workhouse Web Site: "From its beginnings in the fourteenth century, up to the inauguration of the National Health Service in 1948, the evolution of England's poor laws is the story of one of the most significant and far-reaching strands of the nation's social policy and administration. . . . . . "
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?poorlaws/poorlaws.shtml