In their own write : contesting the New Poor Law, 1834-1900 / Steven King, Paul Carter, Natalie Carter, Peter Jones, and Carol Beardmore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

King, Steven, 1966- author.

Carter, Paul, active 2003, author.

Carter, Natalie (Researcher), author.

Jones, Peter (Historian), author.

Beardmore, Carol (Carol Anne), author.

Series:

States, people, and the history of social change ; 6.

States, people, and the history of social change ; 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834.

Great Britain.

Poor laws--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Poor laws.

Poor--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Poor.

Poor--Great Britain--Social conditions--19th century.

Public welfare--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Public welfare.

Poor--Social conditions.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xx, 450 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Few subjects in European welfare history attract as much attention as the nineteenth-century English and Welsh New Poor Law. Its founding statute was at once considered the single most important piece of social legislation ever enacted, and the coming of its institutions--from penny-pinching Boards of Guardians to the dreaded workhouse--has generally been viewed as a catastrophe for ordinary working people. Until now it has been impossible to know how the poor themselves felt about the New Poor Law and its measures, how they negotiated its terms, and how their interactions with the local and national state shifted and changed across the nineteenth century. In Their Own Write exposes this hidden history. Based on an unparalleled collection of first-hand testimony--pauper letters and witness statements interwoven with letters to newspapers and correspondence from poor law officials and advocates--the book reveals lives marked by hardship, deprivation, bureaucratic intransigence, parsimonious officialdom, and sometimes institutional cruelty, while also challenging the dominant view that the poor were powerless and lacked agency in these interactions. The testimonies collected in these pages clearly demonstrate that both the poor and their advocates were adept at navigating the new bureaucracy, holding local and national officials to account, and influencing the outcomes of relief negotiations for themselves and their communities. Fascinating and compelling, the stories presented in In Their Own Write amount to nothing less than a new history of welfare from below."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Finding and hearing 'voices'

Pauper agency

Contestation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-439) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: King, Steven, 1966- In their own write.

ISBN:

9780228014324

0228014328

9780228014331

0228014336

OCLC:

1308394239