A rediscovered people: the poor,the very poor and the destitute in the Northwest

The author of this piece, Dr Margaret Hanly, died before it could be refereed or published. The editors subsequently sought referee comments and these were very positive. Changes to the text were undertaken by the team at Family and Community History but the article remains largely as it was submitted to us. At its core is an engagement with the idea of the process of poor relief, with a particular focus on Lancashire. The article argues that in this spatial context, the poor law had a significant exclusionary impetus, seeking to keep down the numbers accepted for relief and the amounts paid to them.