This early work by Beatrice Potter Webb was originally published in 1906 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'English Local Government: English Poor Law History' is a fascinating work on social history and the law in relation to the lower classes. Beatrice Potter Webb was born in Gloucester, England in 1858. Both her mother and brother died early in her childhood leaving her to be raised by her father, Richard Potter. He was a successful businessman with large railroad interests and many influential friends in politics and industry whose company the young Beatrice would become accustomed to. Upon reaching adulthood, Potter moved to London and helped her cousin, Charles, a social reformer, research his book The Life and Labour of the People in London. It was during this time that she was introduced to Sidney James Webb, who later became her husband and collaborator. The Webb's, together, wrote eleven volumes of work which arguably shaped the way subsequent scholars thought about sociology. They also collaborated on more than 100 books and articles on the conditions of factory workers, and the economic history of Britain, among other subjects. "

Excerpt from English Local Government, Vol. 1: English Poor Law History This volume deals with The Old Poor Law so drastically reformed in 1834 and it will be followed by another giving in detail the story of The Last Hundred Years of Poor Law Administration, down to 1927. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.