Pauper Voices, Public Opinion and Workhouse Reform in Mid-Victorian England : Bearing Witness

This book represents the first attempt to identify and describe a workhouse reform 'movement' in mid- to late-nineteenth-century England, beyond the obvious candidates of the Workhouse Visiting Society and the voices of popular critics such as Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale. It is a subject on which the existing workhouse literature is largely silent, and this book therefore fills a considerable gap in our understanding of contemporary attitudes towards institutional welfare. Although many scholars have touched on the more obvious strands of workhouse criticism noted above, few have gone beyond these to explore the possibility that a concerted 'movement' existed that sought to place pressure on those with responsibility for workhouse administration, and to influence the trajectory of workhouse policy. 1. From Resistance to Reform: Changing Attitudes to the New Poor Law Workhouse in England and Wales.- 2. Not That Joseph Rowntree: An Amateur Workhouse Inspector.- 3. Pauper Letter Writers, Public Opinion, and the Workhouse Experience.- 4. Bearing Witness. Peter Jones is a Research Associate at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Steven King is Professor of Economic and Social History at Nottingham Trent University, UK. "This book is important for the fresh sources it uncovers, the methods it combines, and its core arguments. ... This study suggests many promising paths for further research, and scholars of the Poor Law, poverty, welfare, and the press will find it valuable reading. I think it would also be an excellent book to teach about historiography, historical methods, and, of course, the Poor Law." (Marjorie Levine-Clark, Victorian Studies, Vol. 64 (4), 2022)