Preface

Summary

The present volume attempts to give an historical survey of the working of the Poor Law in the county of Cambridge from the time of the final codification of the law under Elizabeth to the new era ushered in by the famous Amendment Act of 1834.

It is true that the interest attaching to the activities of an industrial or more urbanised area is lacking in the case of Cambridgeshire, yet the county presents to the student of pauper and vagrant history not only problems typical of agricultural England but also problems distinctive in character, which reward investigation by throwing upon the subject many suggestive sidelights. The existence of the important franchise of Ely within the county borders; the numerous “open” villages and the wide stretches of fen inviting the settlement of stranger and squatter; the late date at which much of the county was enclosed; the deplorable condition of the roads which, together with the paucity of towns and large villages, rendered abortive most attempts to group areas for the purpose of administration; the connection nevertheless maintained with the Metropolis by means of the great Roman Road, and the consequent dependence of Cambridgeshire upon Metropolitan vagrancy policy; the vital significance of the university town and the keen interest taken in it by the central authorities during the period of Privy Council supremacy; the presence in early times of the world-renowned Sturbridge Fair; the importance of the border town of Royston as an index of the relative extent of vagrancy at different periods—all these features give peculiar interest to a study of the county.