The House Of Commons Introductory Survey Constituencies Appendices Vol 2 Members A J Vol 3 Members K Y

First published in 1999, this rewarding volume offers a close and systematic analysis of the General Infirmary at Bath, which was founded in 1739 to grant ‘lepers and cripples, and other indigent strangers’ access to the spa waters. Four main themes are pursued in order to locate the hospital within its economic, socio-cultural and political contexts: arrangements for management and finance under the conditions of a prospering commercial economy; the rewards and restrictions experienced by the physicians and surgeons who donated their professional services free of charge; and the constructions of an integrated social and political élite around the physical and moral rehabilitation of the sick poor. In this way, the example of Bath – a stylish resort whose visitors and residents exemplified the dynamic of fashionable philanthropy – is used to open up issues of significance to our understanding of Georgian Britain as a whole.

Contains biographies of the 1,782 members of the House of Commons from 1604 to 1629, surveys of elections in the 259 constituencies of Britain over the same period, and an introductory survey of the early 17th-century House of Commons as an institution.

A major scholarly reference work describing the members, constituencies and activities of the Parliament of England and the United Kingdom.