Surveys of happiness in Britain reveal that it has declined throughout the twenty first century. Historically leisure has been thought important to happiness; to Aristotle leisure was the key to welfare and well-being. This book traces the progressive adoption of Aristotle’s idea of eudaimonic leisure in British social policy from the industrial revolution to the Welfare State. The changing meanings of leisure in the transition of Britain from an agrarian to an industrial economy are reviewed through exploration of the distribution and consumption of leisure. This includes an interpretation of the conflicting values of leisure found in the Cambridge and Oxford schools of Welfare Economics. The role of the state in the regulation of leisure is discussed through analytical reviews of social policy and the ideological shifts of a developing industrial and democratising country. While the focus is on Britain, there is also discussion of leisure and welfare in the United States of America.