ABSTRACT
Some scholars have given Thomas Robert Malthus a central role in the creation of the New Poor Law, viewing him as one of the most influential thinkers in the rise of liberal capitalism. The publication of Malthus's first work – An Essay on the Principle of Population — in 1798 could not have been more timely. Poverty had been rapidly increasing in England and expenditure on poor relief had reached unprecedented levels, generating an intense public debate on the subject of pauperism. Malthus's anonymous 1798 Essay immediately attracted widespread public attention. In terms of Malthus's impact on specific social groups, Peter Mandler and Boyd Hilton have made important contributions to our understanding of how Malthusian ideas permeated the mental world of influential sections of the aristocracy and gentry in the decades before 1834. Regarding the diffusion of and hostile reaction to Malthus's ideas among the working class, the writings of William Cobbett provide the best focus of analysis.
