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The article discusses the effect of social networks and family relationships on poor people living in England during the first half of the 19th century, with information on the historiography of social conditions for the English poor during this time. Topics include debate regarding the density of local kinship networks; the functionality of English kin with relatives dependent upon welfare relief from their communities under the English and Welsh Old Poor Law; and letters written by the poor demonstrating their rhetoric and strategy for accessing their entitlement.