At Home in the Institution? Asylum, School and Lodging House Interiors in London and South-East England, 1845-1914.
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: History
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jane Hamlett (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Hamlett J
(2013)
Comfort in Small Things? Clothing, Control and Agency in County Lunatic Asylums in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century England
in Journal of Victorian Culture
Hamlett J
(2015)
Childhood, Youth and Emotions in Modern History
Hamlett Jane
(2013)
Residential Institutions in Britain, 1725-1970: Inmates and Environments
Hamlett, J. And Preston, R.
(2013)
Residential Institutions in Britain, 1725-1970: Inmates and Environments
Jane Hamlett
(2019)
"Rotten Effeminate Stuff": Patriarchy, Domesticity, and Home in Victorian and Edwardian English Public Schools
in Journal of British Studies
| Title | Homes of the Homeless: Seeking Shelter in Victorian London |
| Description | We tend to imagine the Victorian home as a family affair, a place of stability and a retreat from the outside world. And that was the ideal for the Victorians themselves. But for huge numbers of Londoners the reality was very different. Tens of thousands made their homes in lodgings and lodging houses, renting a room - or often just a bed - by the week or the night in a building shared with strangers. And there were countless others who could not even scrape together the few pennies for this and who turned to the workhouse or refuges or who slept rough in whatever shelter they could find. This special exhibition at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton told the story of these 'other' London homes in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the places and spaces the poor inhabited, bringing them to life through paintings, photographs and objects, and, importantly, through the memoirs and oral histories of the men, women and children who sought shelter in the capital. While the poor undoubtedly struggled, Homes of the Homeless will draw on recent research to show that they also exercised choice and agency. The exhibition considers how people fought against the notorious workhouse system or used it to their own ends. It reveals the excitements and camaraderie as well as the privations of living in a common lodging house. And it looks at how the inhabitants of London's new philanthropic and municipal 'model' lodging houses managed to make themselves 'at home.' The exhibition ran in Spring and Summer 2015 and was co-curated by Jane Hamlett, Lesley Hoskins and Rebecca Preston with the Geffrye Museum. The ideas for the exhibition and some of the content was drawn from research conducted for the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project that Hamlett, Hoskins and Preston worked on together between 2010 and 2012. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | There were 7133 visitors to the exhibition. |
| Description | The idea of home, and upper- and middle-class domestic practices, was a major influence on the decoration of the three institutional types. The Commissioners in Lunacy, housing reformers and headmistresses shared a language of domesticity, stressing "comfort" and "cheerfulness". In asylums, this was crucial to attempts at cure. Domesticity was supposed to civilise poor lodgers. Girls' schools drew legitimacy from domestic social practices. In contrast, headmasters emphasised that boys should not enjoy feminine comforts, but they too drew on domesticity, defining themselves against it. Institutional governing bodies had diverse aims - cure, education, reform, sanitisation and control -- but home was a common point of reference. The drive for domesticity led to a close attention to the material environment. Common lodging-house keepers were compelled to clean and whitewash. Model lodging-houses offered coffee- and reading-rooms, and sleeping cubicles. Rowton and LCC houses were decorated to a high standard. Asylum dayrooms and galleries, both public and private, often overflowed with ornaments and draperies. Girls' boarding-houses were decorated like middle-class homes, but were also modelled on the public schools whose power they sought to appropriate. In contrast, boys' houses were sparsely furnished, with sporting trophies and portraits, emphasising their collective, institutional nature. How successfully domesticity transferred to inhabitants is questionable. Attempts to create home-like material worlds often failed. Institutions might not deliver - some asylums were badly managed, and many common lodging-houses evaded inspection. Inmates might damage institutional décor, or they might ignore their surroundings. Some asylum patients did feel comforted, and were grateful. But others were too unwell, or disturbed, to engage with the environment. Lodgers were often indifferent to décor, instead defining home through duration of stay and their relationships with other inmates. Schoolboys were the most at home, often creating almost fanatical material traditions. The material world was an essential part of the operation of institutional power. Surveillance, as outlined by Foucault, was present in all the institutions surveyed, but it differed in meaning and consequences. In asylums, close surveillance was as much about patient safety as discipline. Lodgers in LCC houses recognised that surveillance was sometimes in their collective interests. Boarding-school girls come closest to Foucault's theory, as teachers, struggling to discipline without corporal punishment, constantly watched them. Dormitories had viewing holes for passing headmistresses. In contrast, a sharp line was drawn in boys' houses between pupil space and the 'private side of the house', leaving boys to discipline themselves. However, inmates also used the material world to exercise agency. Older schoolboys and some patients had their own rooms. Boys decorated their studies, and the ability to quickly domesticate, proved useful later, in chambers, barracks and the colonies. Others had to resort to smaller strategies. Female patients could find satisfaction in their needlework. Inmates created meaning through shared material cultures. Schoolboys and lodgers pooled food and drink - small hospitalities challenging the limits of institutional provision. Material jokes (e.g. apple-pie beds) were common to both. However limited an individual's control, the material world was almost always open to small acts of self-fashioning. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Other |
| Description | The ideas and proportion of the research from the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project was used for a series of public engagement activities (see list for full details). The most substantial use of the research was in a special exhibition for the Geffrye Museum of the Home in Hoxton. This was co-curated by Jane Hamlett, Rebeccca Preston and Lesley Hoskins and recieved c. 7,000 visitors. Description of exhibition: We tend to imagine the Victorian home as a family affair, a place of stability and a retreat from the outside world. And that was the ideal for the Victorians themselves. But for huge numbers of Londoners the reality was very different. Tens of thousands made their homes in lodgings and lodging houses, renting a room - or often just a bed - by the week or the night in a building shared with strangers. And there were countless others who could not even scrape together the few pennies for this and who turned to the workhouse or refuges or who slept rough in whatever shelter they could find. This special exhibition tells the story of these 'other' London homes in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the places and spaces the poor inhabited, bringing them to life through paintings, photographs and objects, and, importantly, through the diaries and oral histories of the men, women and children who sought shelter in the capital. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | "No room for this rotten effeminate stuff here"? : space and material culture in schools for middle-class girls and boys in South East England, from 1845 until the First World War |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Seminar paper delivered at the Art and Design Departmental Seminar at Kingston University n/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | 'An aspect of cheerfulness and comfort'? : material life in public and criminal lunatic asylums in England, 1845-1910 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper delivered at the History Departmental Seminar at Swansea University. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | 'Like a home under kind rule'? : the material world of the North London Collegiate School for Girls, 1850-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper given at the Education in the Long Eighteenth Century Seminar, Institute of Historical Research. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | 'None of that rotten effeminate stuff here?' : space and material culture in schools for middle-class boys in England, 1845-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Seminar paper delivered at the Long Nineteenth-Century Seminar University of Oxford N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Accommodating inmates in schools, asylums and lodging houses in London and South East England, 1850-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Joint talk and workshop delivered to the Geography Department at Royal Holloway N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | At home in the institution: asylum, school and lodging house interiors in nineteenth and early twentieth century England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper given at the IHR Studies of Home seminar. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Billiards at Bethlem 1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Discussion of the significance of billiards at Bethlem Hospital for patients in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Blog post hosted by the Bethlem Blog, run by the Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum Services. Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://bethlemheritage.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/billiards-at-bethlem-1-2/ |
| Description | Care and cure? : the material world of Victorian and Edwardian asylums in Surrey |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk given to the public at Surrey History Centre. This talk opens up the doors of the 'lunatic asylum' (as it was known to contemporaries). It looks at how-and why-such institutions in Surrey were laid out and decorated and considers the kind of life lived there by patients and staff. Not known |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Comfort in Small Things? Clothing, Control and Agency in the Public Lunatic Asylum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper delivered at the Fashioning the Body Seminar, Centre for the History of Bodies and Material Culture, Royal Holloway University of London N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Historical research and knowledge exchange |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Delivered talk as part of HistoryLabPlus Knowledge Exchange Workshop, covering the use of historical research in curating and knowledge exchange activities planned for the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Living away from home : life in some of Surrey's Victorian and Edwardian residential institutions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Living Away from Home featured some of the findings from the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project on schools, lodging houses and asylums in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Surrey. The exhibition was on display at Surrey History Centre in early 2012 and had 2029 visitors. It is also available online, as a part of Surrey History Centre's Exploring Surrey's Past website. NB This was a physical exhibition/display and a contribution to a website. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Lodgers and Lodging in Victorian and Edwardian London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article produced for the London Metropolitan Archives Newsletter Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://217.154.230.196/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Events/Lod... |
| Description | Lodgers and lodging in Victorian and Edwardian London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The streets of Victorian and Edwardian London were crowded with lodgings and lodging houses. From well-to-do bachelors residing in the smarter parts of town to less well-off spinsters and poor families making do in London's shabbier districts, a range of lodgings emerged to cater for the many classes of weekly and nightly lodger in the city. From the mid-nineteenth century the common lodging-house was subject to increasing statutory control as social reformers raised concerns for the moral and sanitary conditions of the houses. At the same time, 'model' common lodging houses were established and controlled by charitable organisations, and at the end of the century by the London County Council. The session, run by Dr Jane Hamlett and Dr Rebecca Preston of Royal Holloway University of London, with contributions from LMA Archivists, will introduce the subject of lodging-house life, 1840 --1914 through a variety of historical sources from LMA's rich collections. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | No room for this rotten effeminate stuff here? : material culture and space in secondary schools for middle-class boys and girls in South-East England, 1840-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Seminar paper delivered at the Women's History Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Research in progress on Victorian schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jane Hamlett from the ESRC At Home in the Institution project talks about research in progress on Victorian schools on History Extra podcast N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://77.243.189.54/cdn.bbcmagazinesbristol.com/bbchistory/audio/BBC_History_8thJuly11.mp3 |
| Description | Spaces and material cultures in charitable lodging houses in London, 1840-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper given at the Inhabiting Institutions Symposium, Royal Holloway University of London N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Spaces and material cultures in charitable lodging houses in London, 1840-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This podcast showcases papers given at the Inhabiting Institutions in Britain 1700-1950 conference, organised by the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project in September 2010. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/archive/audio/2010_09_14/2010_09_14_InhabitingInstitutions_JaneHamle... |
| Description | The 'house system' in public schools for boys in South East England, 1845-1875 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper delivered as part of From Uniformity to Reform: Education in the Very Long Eighteenth Century (1660-1870) Workshop organised by the Education in the Long Eighteenth Century Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | The Material World of the Asylum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article for London Metropolitan Archives Newsletter Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://217.154.230.196/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Events/The... |
| Description | The Moral Discipline of Common Life?" Space and Relationships in Dormitories for Public School Boys in South-East England, 1845-1918. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Conference paper given at the Childhood, Youth and Emotions in Modern History conference, Max Planck Institute for Human Development N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | The interior of the North London Collegiate Girls' School in the nineteenth century |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk given to the History Society at the North London Collegiate Girls' School. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | The material culture of public schools for boys in South East England, 1845-1914 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Seminar paper given at the Royal Holloway History Departmental Seminar n/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | The material world of the Victorian asylum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jane Hamlett and Lesley Hoskins from the ESRC At Home in the Institution Project gave a talk on the material world of the asylum at London Metropolitan Archives' Public Research Day A Place in Mind. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | The material worlds of Victorian public schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk given to the History Society at Winchester College. N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Writing from the interior : inmate experiences of lunatic asylums and lodging houses in autobiographies of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century life |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Narrative Lives Seminar, Brunel University, (Brunel Centre for Contemporary Writing, Department of English), (invited paper) 10 June 2011 N/a |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |