Teaching the "Voices of the Victorian Poor"
Lead Research Organisation:
National Archives
Department Name: Collections Expertise and Engagement
Abstract
During the AHRC project grant 'In Their Own Write' we have collected a rich canvas of the voices of poor people and their advocates between 1834 and 1900, showing that even the very poorest members of society were literate, understood the poor laws, regulations and rules, and were able and willing to resist or contest the power of the national and local state. Moreover, we have established that there were substantial chronological and spatial variations in the nature, depth and tone of the voices that we have uncovered. Such material is allowing us to write the New Poor Law history from below envisaged as the core academic output from the original grant proposal. Yet our engagement with volunteer groups, those running workhouse museum sites, users of TNA, and the teachers and schoolchildren with whom we have worked as part of our engagement and impact activities from the original grant also reveals a much wider appetite for relevant teaching resources, including an easy-to-use and visual tool for understanding, accessing and representing (through tables, graphs or maps) the vast amount of raw data that we have generated during the project.
To meet this demand, a key part of the project will be a Teacher Scholar Programme, in which we will select a group of teachers from KS2 to 5 to train and develop in order for them to produce publishable lesson plans and other resources based upon the project's data. The PI, CI, other TNA staff and an Education Consultant will work with the teachers to produce detailed lesson plans, teacher notes and associated materials for different key stage levels. The group will then engage in a wider exercise to engage with and train other teachers in their use, creating a snowball effect and allowing us to have a deep and targeted impact on the school community.
The cohort of teachers from the TSP and other engaged teachers will also advise and guide the project on the development of an online data visualisation tool. The use of this digital initiative was not available to us when we wrote our initial application and developed its engagement plans. Because our data on the pauper voice is so rich and extensive it is suitable for use by teachers and school students at different Key Stages. Teachers will be able to tailor the resource to the different ages, capabilities, locations and curriculum interests of class participants. Employing a series of filters the user will be able to ask questions (for example) about the place of residence, age or gender of letter writers within the collection. Having annotated the data, constructed the online maps and simultaneously made available the base data in terms of pauper, would-be pauper and advocate letters and petitions, we will publicise the tool widely through existing TNA networks and mailing lists, TNA website, volunteer groups, workhouse websites, and the workhouse network, giving the project national and international reach and impact. All products of this project will be available for free online in perpetuity.
To reach the wider public the learning resources will be written into existing TNA research guides which are already well known. Indeed the four relevant TNA research guides on public health, poverty and workhouses, reach almost 30,000 researchers annually. We would update these guides to advertise the resource to researchers outside of the teaching community. These would include people in tertiary and long life learning.
To meet this demand, a key part of the project will be a Teacher Scholar Programme, in which we will select a group of teachers from KS2 to 5 to train and develop in order for them to produce publishable lesson plans and other resources based upon the project's data. The PI, CI, other TNA staff and an Education Consultant will work with the teachers to produce detailed lesson plans, teacher notes and associated materials for different key stage levels. The group will then engage in a wider exercise to engage with and train other teachers in their use, creating a snowball effect and allowing us to have a deep and targeted impact on the school community.
The cohort of teachers from the TSP and other engaged teachers will also advise and guide the project on the development of an online data visualisation tool. The use of this digital initiative was not available to us when we wrote our initial application and developed its engagement plans. Because our data on the pauper voice is so rich and extensive it is suitable for use by teachers and school students at different Key Stages. Teachers will be able to tailor the resource to the different ages, capabilities, locations and curriculum interests of class participants. Employing a series of filters the user will be able to ask questions (for example) about the place of residence, age or gender of letter writers within the collection. Having annotated the data, constructed the online maps and simultaneously made available the base data in terms of pauper, would-be pauper and advocate letters and petitions, we will publicise the tool widely through existing TNA networks and mailing lists, TNA website, volunteer groups, workhouse websites, and the workhouse network, giving the project national and international reach and impact. All products of this project will be available for free online in perpetuity.
To reach the wider public the learning resources will be written into existing TNA research guides which are already well known. Indeed the four relevant TNA research guides on public health, poverty and workhouses, reach almost 30,000 researchers annually. We would update these guides to advertise the resource to researchers outside of the teaching community. These would include people in tertiary and long life learning.
Organisations
Publications
| Description | The work undertaken on this award have thrown up three key findings (these are outside of the historical findings from the initial In Their Own Write project on which this project "followed"). Firstly, how complex and multiple data tagged historical items (letters/correspondence by it very nature hold multiple subject matters within them) can be integrated into a dataset capable of sophisticated manipulation to produce various visualisations of maps, graphs and/or tables, using ArcGIS Online. In this way cutting edge historical/archival research from the original research has found its way into schools from primary to A level students. Secondly, it became clear to the project team as the work progressed that now the online infrastructure has been created, new data items (that is further letters from paupers, the wider poor and their advocates) can be inserted following other research projects to enrich the educational resource. Although this work might be undertaken by members of the Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor team there is no reason that other welfare researchers cannot take on this or similar work inclusion. Thirdly, looking through the maps following poor law union place name searches demonstrates the importance of "out of county" letters. Many letters were sent on behalf of paupers by advocates that lived many miles away from the specific locality - something that might now be studies by school students looking for "local history" projects. Although this letter writing phenomena was something we were aware of - it was previously difficult to demonstrate. We have met all of the award objectives. |
| Exploitation Route | The 3,500 searchable and browsable letters (with their maps, graphs and/or tables) from paupers, the wider poor and their advocates might be used by undergraduates, masters and doctorial students, as well as early years academics and experienced researchers. We have identified that they might be used by students and researchers in various disciplines including history, law, sociology, linguistics, literary studies, gender and women's studies. |
| Sectors | Education Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | The project was completed and the online educational resource published in 2023. Since our first narrative impact summary we have continued to drive awareness and relevance of the educational online and interactive resources. We have given talks/run workshops for: Teachers: 509 people PGCE Trainees: 365 people Archivists: 340 people Other GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums): 2050 people Total: 3264 This continuing face to face as well as online communications with teachers are importance for demonstrating the usefulness and utility of the educational resources we have devised under Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor. We know this from the traffic recorded to the project products. The various teaching resources had over 11 thousand views total - 11533, with punishment in the workhouse lessons one and two proving most popular (886 and 733 views respectively) followed by the primary resources of children's clothing and going to school in the workhouse (623 and 618 views), and then workhouse women (562 views). All seeing fairly healthy consistent use for the first year after creation and we expect this to grow further next year with more time to build them into curricula. In the reporting period January 2024 to March 2025 the numbers of views: 1. on the Esri site is 94,255 2. on TNA website 11,089 (for all pages under the TVVP heading) |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | 'Poor Law Teaching Workshops' x 2: onsite booked teaching sessions for two schools. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | These were two workshops lessons run for two secondary school classes of history students (for 63 students in all). The focus is on the pauper letters taken as exemplars to explain what the nineteenth century poor felt about the poverty in their lives and the welfare that was on offer at the time. The sessions were run by Rosie Morris (Co-I Teaching the Voices) and Paul Carter (P-I Teaching the Voices) - and as well as exploring cases studies and how students might use them in their work - we wanted to connect the transcripts in the 'Teaching the Voices' online resource to the touch and smell of the originals in the minds of the students, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | 40 minute podcast titled 'Pauper Voices' based on the 19th century pauper letters now contained within the 'Teaching the Voices' online resource (research maps) for The National Archives podcast series. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I wrote and delivered a 40 minute podcast explaining the way if which these letters - now available on the 'Teaching the Voices' online resource (research maps) . We produced a trailer (released on the 22 April 2024) followed by the podcast itself (released on 25 April 2025). The primary audience was the general public and the numbers indicate we reached them: 1306 listened to the trailer and 3740 the podcast as a whole by 24 October 2024 - a total of 5046 in 6 months. This hold 'the record' for TNAs podcast series. It's often impossible to find direct accounts of poor people in the historical record, especially the further back you look. But an extraordinary collection containing thousands of letters written by people in poverty between 1834 and 1900 provides an insight into their lives. In this episode, Chloe Lee speaks to specialist Paul Carter about letters held by The National Archives which were addressed to the Poor Law Board, the British central poor law authority. Together they use these accounts to glimpse into the factories, the workhouses, and slums in which so many vulnerable people lived out their lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/pauper-voices/ |
| Description | Bringing the Voices of the Victorian Poor into the Classroom. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk/presentation at the 35th National (online) 2023 Schools History Project Conference, 7-8 July 2023. This was a keynote session by Andrew Payne and Ben Walsh, introducing the records resources (teachers note and lesson plans, interactive map, transcripts of pauper letters etc.) created under TVVP. There were 130 delegates at the event which was recorded and uploaded to YOuTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADx_39xrGC8 |
| Description | Continuing Professional Development: 33 talks/workshops for teachers/PGCE Trainees, archivists and other GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums), 2023-24 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | c.3200 attended a series of talks/lessons/presentations as part of their continuing professional development. We used the Voices of the Victorian Poor as an exemplar in all of these both 1. a new resource and new content, and b. as a resource utilising "big data" (1000s of letters). Most of the sessions were face to face and held at: University of Oxford UCL, London Charlottetown, Canada Ottawa, Canada University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus Edge Hill University, Ormskirk Virginia Tech, Online Abu Dhabi (x 2) PTI Greenwich Primary Hub, Meridian School, Greenwich University of Nottingham, Nottingham Middlesex University, Hendon Teach First, The National Archives University of Cumbria, Lancaster BCU, Birmingham Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Chichester University, Bognor Regis Campus Manchester Met University, Manchester University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield UEA, Norwich University of Reading, Windsor Castle Roehampton University, TNA Bath Spa University, Bath University of Sussex, Brighton/Fulmer Bishop Grossteste University, Lincoln University of Birmingham Birmingham University of Chester, Chester I have classed these as "not aware of any impact" (below) as each section of the audience would look import difference impacts to their professional development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Interactive ArcGIS map and data online - for user searches as well as the production of maps, graphs and tables which users will be able to manipulate. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This activities comes under two general headings: 1. The building of the online educational map resource and 2. the tagged data that came from the AHRC Standard Project Grant "In Their Own Write, ITOW; AH/R00770/1). 1. The web build has been in close consultation with the ESRI Education Team who have been very supportive throughout and included several meeting on site here at The National Archives. The build has included the capacity for searches, map browsing and the creation of , . The build was based on 19th century poor law union boundaries but also allows school students and teachers to create maps, graphs and tables based on the tags with which each letter has been assigned. 2. Each of the letters from paupers, the wider poor and their advocates have been a) individually geographically marked up and b) individually tagged by subject/s before uploading. Together this allows for sophistication in searching: e.g. "Yorkshire", "1850s", "female letter writers". We are getting to grips with accessing usage but the ArcGIS's tracking shows 2,333 views of victorianpoor.org in the 7 days: 7 to 14 March 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.victorianpoor.org/ |
| Description | Keynote at Practical Histories conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Andrew Payne and Ben Walsh were invited to present, as keynote, the project at the professional practice conference for history teachers and other interested parties, organised by Practical Histories online magazine (www.practicalhistories.com) and the University of Sussex. This generated interest in the launch of the project's resources, and in TNA's practice of Teacher Scholar Programmes as subject led CPD. The conference was open to all career level teachers, and free to trainee teachers at the University of Sussex. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/ite/pgceandschooldirectsecondary/history/practical-histories-conf... |
| Description | Launch of Teacher Scholarship Programme to establish a teacher cohort to co-create lesson plans using website and social media channels. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We said we would set up a Teacher Scholarship Programme (TSPs) to build a group of teachers who would work up the lesson plans for this project. TNA tweeted out the link (below) that set out the details for the project (and also set out how teachers could apply). That particular tweet had 12,346 impressions (views) and 160 link clicks (and was one of four we did that month.). Overall on Twitter we had 14,841 impressions (views) and 444 link clicks, on Facebook the same posts had 13,264 impressions and 534 link clicks. During January 2022 the webpage page advertising the programme and how to apply had 1,097 page views. From the 24 formal returns we had (a greater number than any of our other earlier TSPs). We were looking to select 10 teachers but increased this to 11 as we had an application from a teacher trainer who in the course of their work would be able to enhance the reach of the project. This was then the teacher cohort we would work with to meet our ambition to produce lesson plans and materials for school students from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 5. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/teachers/professional-development/teacher-scholar-prog... |
| Description | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Teacher Scholarship Programme cohort workshop: Southwell Workhouse (2) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This was a two and a half day workshop (25 to 27 March) for the TSP cohort based at the National Trust Southwell Workhouse in Nottinghamshire. We began with a session run by the Southwell Workhouse staff who provided a full introduction and tour of the Southwell workhouse and their own archival collection. We also included a walking tour of Southwell for the TSP which pointed out its historical connections to the workhouse such as the local magistrates court (where paupers were often sent for punishment), local church (where paupers were sent to pray), local inns (where assistant poor law commissioners wrote up their reports etc.). We also included a visit for the TSP to the nearby Framework Knitters Museum at Ruddington to look at the working life of those at the lower end of the "labouring poor" who often slipped between pauperism and poverty. We also included workshops that focused on what we saw at the workhouse and these included: - TSP members beginning to sketch out lesson plans in teams, and reporting to the cohort for feedback. - a session on pauper health and death - and on the sale of pauper bodies for medical research (session led by Professor Elizabeth Hurren, University of Leicester). - a follow up session on how the "evidence" within pauper letters might be used in teaching at different Key Stages in the curriculum - a follow up discussion (following the work of this particular set of workshop/events) on the further development of tagging/headers for the online educational resource interactive map. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation/talk on TVVP Teaching Resources at the ESRI UK Annual Conference titled Unsealing the Vaults to Bring History Alive |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A short presentation from the ESRI UK Annual Conference in May 2023 by Rosie Morris of the National Archives. The presentation describes how The National Archives is providing meaningful digital access to its archival materials and creating new teaching resources that bring history to life for students of all ages. There were 120 in the room and 2000 signed up online for the session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbHkkTJWVk |
| Description | Project Launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We formally undertook a project launch onsite at The National Archives of both the In Their Own Write book and the Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor Educational Resource. We created an Eventbrite page for this (and this is given as a URL below - you will need to click on "view details" as the event has of course now passed). The event/launch included the key research takeaways from the initial research as well as specific sessions on the pauper letter archive, the formal running of the Teacher Scholars Programme, showing the various teacher lessons plans and a demonstration of the workings of the interactive educational resource maps. Below is a copy of the programme for the event: Tea/coffee available from 12.30pm. The main event started at 1pm (to 3pm): 1. Introduction - Jeff James, The Keeper: The National Archives 2. Key Research Takeaways from In Their Own Write - Steve King, Professor of Economic and Social History (Nottingham Trent University), Paul Carter Principal Records Specialist (Collaborative Projects) 3. The 'Pauper Letter Archive' - Paul Carter 4. Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor Teacher Scholarship Programme - Andrew Payne, Head of Education and Outreach 5. Interactive Online "Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor "Maps - Rosie Morris, Education Web Officer 6. Questions & Answers Session )Chaired by Jeff James). In addition TNA's Library Team showed some of the paper and online welfare historical resources available at TNA for similar research, a collection of some of the original letters were laid out for people to examine, and the book shop laid on a stall. There were 74 attendees in person at TNA and over 100 more on line (we streamed the event live). The event drew numerous questions from attendees on the nature and content of the educational resources. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-their-own-write-teaching-the-voices-of-the-victorian-poor-tickets-... |
| Description | Running a stand at the Historical Association Conference 12-13 May 2023. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We ran a lively stand at the Historical Association Conference at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, on 12-13 May 2023 speaking to teaching and handing out c.350 leaflets to delegates. May 2023 and distributed approximately 350 leaflets to delegates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Seminar Paper: "Investigating Complaints of Sexual Impropriety under the English and Welsh Poor Law: Staff vs Paupers", Dr Paul Carter (The National Archives). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a seminar paper looking at how letters of the poor (included in the 'Teaching the Voices' online resource) help us to understand how complaints of, investigations into, and outcomes delivered into sexual impropriety in 19th century English and Welsh workhouses. This paper led to a lively debate with discussions with how the subject matter might taken forward into a grant application. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/events/events/2025/2/workhouse-lives-v-investigating-complaints-of-se... |
| Description | Talking to History Teachers Workshop: Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | In October 2024 Rosie Morris, TNA Education Manager, (Co-I who built the website and technical aspects of the 'Teaching the Voices' online resource) spoke to 70 teacher of history and English (primary and secondary school teachers). The teacher brought their lap tops wo work with the online resource. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Teacher Scholarship Programme cohort workshop: New Poor Law and Pauper Letters workshop at The National Archives (1) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This was a two day workshop (11 and 12 March) for the TSP cohort. The workshop covered: - an introduction to the New Poor Law and it's current historiography - an in-depth (immersive) examination of a varied selection of original pauper letters (both transcripts and original 19th century letters) - a session on how pauper letters might be interpreted in terms of welfare history - a session on how pauper letters might be used in teaching at different Key Stages in the curriculum - a discussion on the development of the online interactive data and mapping tool we were going to build - specially about what tagging/headers would be needed by teachers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Teaching session for English PGCE: trainee English teachers at Worcester University, 28 February 2024. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This was a teaching session with 22 trainee teachers (English teachers). We used the pauper letters to explore the context for "A Christmas Carol". This worked really nicely and we hope to write it up into a full resource for the website . Several teachers they they would use the activity with their students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | The Testimony of the Victorian Poor, c. 1834-1900 (this is a grant application - please note under further funding the British Academy was not listed and I could not put it there). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As stated above this is a grant application - set down here as I could not find British Academy listed in the Further Funding section). I have therefore levered this in here and hope this is all right as it is a significant piece of work and heavily allied to the Teaching the Voices' project The grant application is titled 'The Testimony of the Victorian Poor, c. 1834-1900' We will identify, list and transcribe c.14-15,000 letters written by Victorian English and Welsh paupers, wider poor and their advocates, found within the Poor Law Union Correspondence volumes (MH12 at The National Archives-TNA). We will geo-reference and subject-code each letter, and upload each transcription to the open research database "Voices of the Victorian Poor": https://www.victorianpoor.org/ (research tab). The infrastructural creation of this database came from the Teaching the Voices' project and already contains c.3,500 pauper letters. The additional letters will means some c.18,500 letters will eventually be accessible globally through ArcGIS software for free in perpetuity. As part of the programme of work we will develop and submit two major nineteenth-century poverty/welfare research applications over the projects lifetime. We wrote the application in August/September 2024 , submitted the application in November and informed we were successful this February (Carter as PI and Steve King (Nottingham Trent University, Co-I). This is a British Academy 'Kite mark' project that affords us £5k each year for five years to which we will add organisational funds as well as committing us to produce additional grant applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Voices of the Victorian Poor co-created lesson plans launched on the TNA website. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This activity relates to the uploading of the completed lesson plans written by members of the TSP cohort (with support of the project team) to The National Archives Education Department web pages. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/voices-of-the-victorian-poor/ |