Gathers together new research by local historians into aspects of welfare in Hertfordshire spanning four centuries and focusing on towns and villages across the county. In so doing it makes a valuable contribution to the current debate about the spatial and chronological variation in the character of welfare regimes within counties.

1 Introduction: Hertfordshire in context Steven King 2 The Old Poor Law and medicine in and around Hertford, 1700-1834 Robert Dimsdale 3 Caring for the Sick and Poor in Eighteenth-century Royston Carla Herrmann 4 Madhouses of Hertfordshire 1735-1903 Gary Moyle 5 Caring for the poor in East Hertfordshire c. 1620-1650 Alan Thomson 6 Pensions and the care of the elderly in Ashwell 1670 to 1770 David Short 7 Looking after the poor: Cheshunt parish workhouse in the mid-eighteenth century Sheila White 8 The Old Poor Law in a rural North Hertfordshire parish, 1731-1831 Helen Hofton 9 Foundling Hospital children at nurse in Hertfordshire in the eighteenth century David Allin 10 Prudence West and the Foundling Hospital in Barnet 1757 to 1771 Yvonne Tomlinson 11 The last years of the Foundling Hospital - Berkhamsted, 1935-55 Jennifer Sherwood 12 Hertfordshire's relationship with certified industrial schools 1857 - 1933 Gillian Gear