Theme Intriguing People

Jane Austen 1775 – 1817

Over two hundred years ago, Jane Austen wrote about contemporary society with such passion and subtlety that her novels remain as vivid and fresh as when they were first penned. Her writings give family historians great context as we try to imagine life in the early 1800’s.   She died on 18th July 1817, at…

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Workhouse Test Act 1723

This entry is part 10 of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals
This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Poor Law through the Ages

Workhouse Test Act of 1723 was more of the same in terms of oppressive laws thinly disguised as a programme of social welfare that worked in reality more as a form of repression and implied punishment. The plight of the poor was not as yet something that governments saw as anything but a problem and cost to be minimised. Find out more in this article and a series of connected posts tell the story of the history of lay in respect of the poor.

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