Chapter 5 - The Dwellings of the Poor -
From Poverty by James Platt

Most people probably believe that the first Council Houses were a provision of the 1945 Labour Government. Wrong! The Whig (Liberal) Government enabled the building and purchase for conversion of houses for the labouring classes in 1851 (94 years earlier). Unfortunately, though doubtless well intentioned, the Act did not work as intended. Read the contemporary viewpoint here.