Poor relief, labourers’ households and living standards in rural England c.1770–1834: a Bedfordshire case study1
本文利用贝德福德郡两个社区的教区记录与家庭重构数据，估计了贫困救济对劳动者家庭收入的贡献，揭示了工业化时期英格兰东南部农村居民的生活水平变化。
This article estimates the contribution of poor relief to the household economies of the labouring poor in the two case‐study communities of Campton and Shefford, east Bedfordshire, and thereby throws further light on the standard of living of workers during industrialization in the south and east. Utilizing the technique of nominal record linkage between poor law sources and family reconstitution for the period c.1770—c.1834, the article charts the growth in social welfare and estimates the proportion of inhabitants benefiting from regular relief payments, the changing family circumstances of recipients, and the proportion of total income made up by poor relief.