The State of the Poor 3 Volume Set: Or, An History of the Labouring Classes in England, from the Conquest to the Present Period(Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, General)

Sir Frederick Morton Eden (1766–1809) was an English writer and a pioneer social researcher. Eden studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and subsequently worked in banking and insurance, inheriting a baronetcy from his father, who had been the governor of the American province of Maryland, in 1784. Arguing that poverty could not be tackled without knowing what it actually meant to be poor, this innovative three-volume work is an attempt to define what poverty meant in concrete terms. The work is packed with data from across England, divided by county, and covering factors such as food prices, wages, diet and mortality rates. It begins with an explanation of the methods of data collection used, and outlines the various measures taken against poverty at different periods. Scotland is considered in an appendix.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1: Preface; Book I. Of the Poor, from the Conquest to the Present Period: 1. Of the poor, from the Conquest to the Reformation; 2. Of the poor, from the Reformation to the Revolution; 3. Of the poor, from the Revolution to the present period; Book II. Of National Establishments for the Maintenance of the Poor: Of the English Poor System: Proposed Amendments: Of the Diet, Dress, Fuel, and Habitation of the Labouring Classes in Great Britain: And of Friendly Societies: 1. Of national establishments for the maintenance of the poor, of the English poor law, and of Mr. Pitt's proposed Bill for the better Relief of the Poor; 2. Of the diet, dress, fuel, and habitation, of the labouring classes; 3. Of friendly societies. Volume 2: Parochial Reports - England: Bedfordshire; Berks.; Bucks.; Cheshire; Cornwall; Cumberland; Derbyshire; Devon; Dorsetshire; Durham; Essex; Gloucestershire; Hampshire; Herefordshire; Hertfordshire; Kent; Lancashire; Leicestershire; Lincolnshire; Middlesex; Monmouthshire; Norfolk; Northamptonshire; Northumberland; Nottinghamshire; Oxfordshire; Rutland; Shropshire; Somersetshire; Staffordshire; Suffolk. Volume 3: Parochial Reports - England: Surrey; Sussex; Warwickshire; Westmoreland; Wiltshire; Worcestershire; Yorkshire; North Wales: Denbighshire; South Wales: Pembrokeshire; Radnorshire; Appendix: 1. A comparative and chronological table of prices; 2. Wages appointed by statute, in 1495; 3. Wages of labourers, rated by justices at different periods; 4. Compositions paid by the different counties, in lieu of purveyance, in 1593; 5. Extracts from the Houshold Book of the Earl of Surrey, in 1523; 6. Extracts from Sir Edward Coke's houshold accounts, in 1596; 7. Regulations of a House of Correction at Bury, Suffolk, in 1589; 8. Principal Acts of Parliament concerning the poor; 9. Catalogue and titles of the statutes relating to the poor; 10. Account of the poor in Scotland; 11. Mr. Pitt's speech on 12th February 1796, and heads of his Poor Bill; 12. Expences and earnings of agricultural labourers, in various parts of England; 13. Prices of provisions in Suffolk, for five years; 14. Poor's rates, houses paying and exempted from window-tax, and population, in several parishes; 15. Mr. Bailey's computation of the quantity of meat, etc. necessary in work-houses; 16. Forms of registers for admissions, births, deaths, and apprenticeships of parish children; 17. Account of broad and narrow cloths, manufactured in the West Riding of Yorkshire, since 1726; and county expences in the West Riding, for several years; 18. Catalogue of English publications concerning the poor; 19. Proposal for a County Bank in Cumberland; 20. Dr. Price's tables for regulating contributions and allowances in friendly societies; 21. Mr. Pitt's Poor Bill, as amended by the Committee of the House of Commons; Index.