A comparative study of the origins of the welfare state in England and Germany from 1850 to 1914. Peter Hennock analyses policies on social security and the public provision of medical care, dealing with public poor relief, industrial injury, with sickness, invalidity and old age, and with unemployment. He demonstrates that national insurance has played a larger role in Germany than in Britain from the beginning. The book will appeal to students and scholars of British and European political history, social policy and the welfare state.

A comparative study of the origins of the welfare state in England and Germany from 1850 to 1914. Peter Hennock analyses policies on social security and the public provision of medical care, dealing with public poor relief, industrial injury, with sickness, invalidity and old age, and with unemployment. He demonstrates that national insurance has played a larger role in Germany than in Britain from the beginning. The book will appeal to students and scholars of British and European political history, social policy and the welfare state.