Description

Pauper inventories were made by poor law officials to record the possessions that people on poor relief owned. These inventories have been known to exist for decades, yet they are notoriously difficult to find and have been under-utilised by generations of historians.

For the first time, this book contains transcriptions of 230 pauper inventories from Norfolk. The sources are fully contextualised and indexed, alongside four comprehensive chapters which outline the source's importance and usefulness to readers. Pauper inventories are powerful documents which reveal new insights into the living conditions of the destitute and show that being poor did not necessarily equate to owning very little. The sources will be of use to economic, social and cultural historians who study a wide range of topics including consumption, material culture, production, everyday life, poverty and welfare.