Richard Smith
In two previous blogs on older adults in the English past, we established that only a minority of older people enjoyed the luxury of a well-funded retirement, and that they rarely lived in extended households with married children to provide for them. So, who did look after the elderly when they were not able to work and had acquired few life-time savings?
Simon Szreter
Most people know that this memorable phrase is associated with the modern welfare state created by the first majority Labour government under Prime Minister Clement Attlee, elected in 1945 after victory in World War II. But was it in fact the first time that a universal social security and welfare system had been legislated in British history?
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