ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the complex relationship of the Poor Law and the origins of the British welfare state within three broad contexts. What has probably been crucial in the formation of the British ideology of welfare is the background of the extremely harsh nineteenth century Poor Law. The chapter explains the development of the welfare state discusses the theory that the welfare state originated the harshness and inadequacies of the Poor Law, self-sustained bureaucratic development and an instrument of social control. The great object of the poor law board is to ensure a constant unvarying and efficient discipline during the entire residence of the pauper within the workhouse. Pauper education is a good example of the provision of welfare services within the Poor Law. Poor Law medical relief, however, posed far more problems for Guardians intent on maintaining the less eligibility principle.
