Poor relief, labourers’ households and living standards in rural England c.1770–1834: a Bedfordshire case study1

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.