Poverty & medicine under the Old Poor Law

In this talk Prof Sam Williams explores medicine under the Old Poor Law. 

This video celebrates the launch of our free digital resource, The People's Dispensary. 

By the mid seventeenth century, the poor could live off poor relief and by the eighteenth century the poor law was a major provider of medical relief given to the poor for free. Workhouses also became significant sites of medical assistance as they devoted wards to the sick poor and built purpose-built infirmaries.