Work, Health and Poverty 1780-1945 looks at the effects that economic changes had on people’s lives and the ways in which social reform evolved. It explores the ways in which the nature of work was transformed, the character of urban growth, how the changing environment impacted on people’s health and the nature and extent of poverty in nineteenth century society. The problems caused by the changing nature of work, the need for housing, concerns about the public’s health and about the effects of poverty led to growing government intervention in people’s lives. This resulted in legislation to determine working conditions, standards of housing, public health and a new Poor Law system and, from 1900, the move towards what would be the Welfare State as well as voluntary action to improve the conditions in which people lived and worked.