'The poor are ever with us' is a common phrase, but one that usually evokes images of an amorphous, anonymous mass. Rarely do we get beyond grim registers yielding stark statistics on people, money, food and clothing. Yet through the use of an amazing and unusual collection of letters, this volume puts stories. faces and individual identities to the poor of Winchelsea of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In doing so, it also conjures up the life of this small town at that time, the work of its inhabitants and the duties of those in authority who took responsibility for the poor. In particular, it highlights the dedicated and highly efficient work of one man, Charles Arnett, the master of the workhouse and the only salaried official, as he struggled for five years to both care for the poor and balance the books.