Joined June 2018
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53 Photos and videos
#History_Teachers. A free CPD event for using primary sources in your 19thC #history teaching – join us in Nottingham! we will introduce letters written by paupers. We have made 1000s of such letter transcripts & resources freely available online. See tinyurl.com/vicpoorcpdday
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Editing pauper and advocate papers last night: all fascinating stuff! Abergavenny paupers (1869) petition the Duke of Beaufort that they get only the cheapest of food ‘of the worst description’. Beaufort passed the complaint on to the Poor Law Board who ordered an investigation.
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Usually, investigations were set up with the relevant local poor law authority – not this time! It was to be done ‘ without notice’. Great example of pauper agency: enlisting the aid of a powerful advocate to make the PLB examine local practice
#British_Academy
#AHRC
@UKNatArcEdu
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Elizabeth Hurren's new book has dropped: #The_Pauper_Body_in_England_and_Wales_1750_to_1914_Histories_of_Nobody. Focused on stories of how ordinary people in #poverty lived with 'broken' bodies. Packed with first-hand archival accounts. A cracking read!
academic.oup.com/book/62272
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New Book - #Workhouse_Lives. Eds - Steve King & Sam Shave. Beyond the bricks & regulations, English and & Welsh #workhouses (and lives of #pauper inmates) were shaped by those who ran them - workhouse staff: masters, matrons, nurses, porters etc.
#history
mqup.ca/Books/W/Workhouse-Li…
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Free CPD event for primary/secondary #history_teachers using primary sources in their 19thC #history teaching.
This CPD day introduces poor law letters (and context) to teachers - we have made 1000s of such letter transcripts & resources free.
tinyurl.com/vicpoorcpdday
@TheirWrite
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Case from @TheirWrite f'coming book on #Petty_Tyranny_and_Oppression(#New_Poor_Law).Aug 1859 Fanny Hitchins, #pauper, wrote she was refused taking milk & oranges to her brother (inmate in the #Abergavenny #workhouse) and ‘was struck & nocked away by the Master & turned from the..
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24 Apr 2026: #Festival_of_Social_History (organised by Social History Society & Inst of Historical Research. A great team of speakers is set up (inc. our own Paul Carter, speaking on the #New_Poor_Law/ #pauper letters/correspondence/resources).
Details: socialhistory.org.uk/events/…
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At the moment Bernard is working on #pauper_punishments under the #New_Poor_Law (example here from the #Swansea_Union). Looking forward to it coming out.
Apr 14
A page from the Swansea Workhouse punishment book... (West Glamorgan Archive Service).
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Case from @TheirWrite forthcoming book on #Petty_Tyranny_and_Oppression (#New_Poor_Law) concerning #Bedford in 1863.
‘Whole families were found lying on straw with nothing to cover them; and no furniture in the house – all the furniture had been sacrificed for food. They were...
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asked, why did you not apply for help? The answer was they had been struggling and enduring, thinking that a better state of things would come and they would be able to manage without asking for relief or going to the parish; they would rather die than go into the #workhouse'.
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We (Paul Carter & Steve King) are finalizing proofs of our forthcoming book (May/June 2026) on #tyranny & oppression in #English & #Welsh #workhouses 1790-1914 - covers accusations of
#beatings/#reduced_diets/#complaints_ignored/#negllect.
Book launch details to follows
@LPPbooks
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'Writing under stress': meaning and materiality of pauper letters. Free workshops by the Nottingham Trent University and Cumbria Archives.
Wed 15 Apr 2026 and Thurs 16 Apr 2026, 10am to 4.15pm, Carlisle Archive Centre, Petteril Bank Rd, Carlisle CA1 3AJ
cumbriaarchives.org.uk/news-…
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(We) Paul Carter & Steve King at @TheirWrite are now proofing our next book - examining petty #tyranny towards #paupers in #English & #Welsh #workhouses c.1780s-1914. We have sourced 000s of cases in the archives over the years. We'll keep you up to date!
#poverty
#poor
#history
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Join us at @TheirWrite for Olwen Purdue (Queens University Belfast) on ‘To the ends of empire: the migration of Belfast's #workhousechildren to Canada 1900-1914’. Free online seminar: 3 Feb at 5pm.
@UkNatArchives
@UKNatArcEdu
#Workhouses #poverty #Poor
ntu.ac.uk/about-us/events/ev….
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Paul Carter and Steve King: 'Tyranny observed'. Free seminar on #pauper cases from the forthcoming book 'Petty Tyranny & Oppression: Lives Under the Long 19th Century Poor Laws'. Tues 6 Jan 2026, 5pm
@UkNatArchives
@UKNatArcEdu
#Workhouses #poverty #Poor
ntu.ac.uk/about-us/events/ev…
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From @UkNatArchives "Stories from the Collection". Thomas Henshaw's (from Ilkeston) letter to the Poor Law Commission, 1842, complains of treatment by officials denying him relief.
#Testimony_of_the_Victorian_Poor: @BritishAcademy funded.
#Pauper_letter.
nationalarchives.gov.uk/expl…
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Recently, the #Testimony_of_the_Victorian_Poor, c.1834-1900 project staff & volunteers led by @UkNatArchives & @NottmTrentUni have been uncovering English and Welsh #pauper_letters for transcription & loading to the Web.
For update see:
intheirownwriteblog.wordpres…
#Poverty
#Workhouse
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Did this a little while ago - to highlight the voices of #paupers & other #poor #working_class people in 19thC. #England and #Wales - it deserves a wider airing. We went through the #New_Poor_Law archives at TNA and chose 4 accounts by the poor (from 000s). Click below to listen.
27 Mar 2025
We have released a new video: Spotlight On: Poor Laws! In this video, records specialist Paul Carter takes us through several examples of documents where we can directly hear the voices of the Victorian Poor.
View the video and lesson resource here: nationalarchives.gov.uk/educ…
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