Pauper Letters and Petitions for Poor Relief In Germany and Great Britain 1770-1914
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Historical Studies
Abstract
Historical research has shown a new and intensified interest in life testimonies and documents of the lower classes. In this context German historians have so far paid little attention to sources which have met with increasing interest in British research over the past years, namely letters, applications and petitions written by or for paupers to their home parish in order to apply for relief. Such 'pauper narratives' are preserved in British as well as in German archives, often in large numbers and alongside begging letters and other narratives.
This project proposes: to collect and edit on-line a range of pauper narratives from comparable British and German communities over the period between 1770 and 1914; to analyse the linguistic structure and content of these narratives. This will be accomplished at three levels: an IT-based analysis of the linguistic similarities and differences between narrative forms; the quantitative study of recurring phrases, rhetorical forms and strategic reasoning within each narrative form; and the systematic comparison of the linguistic content of narratives with a corpus of other material written by or for ordinary people, including autobiographies, radical speeches and familial letters; the use of these sources and the linguistic analysis to explore issues such as the degree to, which the British and German poor claimed or developed agency when it came to entitlement; the use of political language and participation in the political process by the poor; and-the strategic and rhetorical methods (including for instance claiming belonging or Christian duty) used, by the poor to establish or maintain deservingness.
This project proposes: to collect and edit on-line a range of pauper narratives from comparable British and German communities over the period between 1770 and 1914; to analyse the linguistic structure and content of these narratives. This will be accomplished at three levels: an IT-based analysis of the linguistic similarities and differences between narrative forms; the quantitative study of recurring phrases, rhetorical forms and strategic reasoning within each narrative form; and the systematic comparison of the linguistic content of narratives with a corpus of other material written by or for ordinary people, including autobiographies, radical speeches and familial letters; the use of these sources and the linguistic analysis to explore issues such as the degree to, which the British and German poor claimed or developed agency when it came to entitlement; the use of political language and participation in the political process by the poor; and-the strategic and rhetorical methods (including for instance claiming belonging or Christian duty) used, by the poor to establish or maintain deservingness.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Steven King (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Gestrich, A.
(2012)
Poverty and Sickness in Modern Europe: Narratives of the Sick Poor, 1780-1938
Gestrich, A.
(2013)
Pauper letters and petitions for poor relief in Germand Great Britain 1770-1914
in Bulletin of the German Historical Institute
Jones P
(2016)
Voices from the Far North: Pauper Letters and the Provision of Welfare in Sutherland, 1845-1900
in Journal of British Studies
King S
(2015)
Constructing the Disabled Child in England, 1800-1860 1
in Family & Community History
King S
(2017)
Thinking and Rethinking the New Poor Law
in Local Population Studies
King S
(2016)
Testifying for the Poor: Epistolary Advocates and the Negotiation of Parochial Relief in England, 1800-1834
in Journal of Social History
King S
(2015)
Nursing Under the Old Poor Law in Midland and Eastern England 1780-1834.
in Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences
King S
(2021)
Women, Migration and Textile Work in West Yorkshire, 1800-1851
in Family & Community History
King Steven
(2019)
Writing the Lives of the English Poor, 1750s-1830s: Volume 1
King, S.
(2016)
The English Pauper Letter 1790-1830
in Groniek
| Description | This grant had three original intents: 1. To collect pauper narratives and associated data for England, Wales, Scotland and Germany. 2. To select from the resulting database a corpus of letters that could form an online edition; 3. To analyse the construction, intent, outcome and meaning of the letters. Our online edition has been through a number of beta version and will be ready to go live in the next quarter. In addition to that material we have collected a wider corpus which we are making available to scholars and family historians via a database. In terms of the research on the material itself, three key findings emerge: 1. That while the poor lacked legal rights for most of the period covered in our grant, they nonetheless retained considerable agency, founded on the basis of customary or moral right, the limitations of statute law and the locally negotiable nature of welfare. 2. That agency meant certain groups of the poor came to be treated well in the historic welfare system or at least in a manner that should lead us to question ingrained senses of the past. Nowhere is this clearer than in the area of disability ,where the evidence from pauper letters is that the extension of legal rights led to the erosion of moral rights for the disabled and consequently to more marginalisation and worse treatment. 3. That the ability to talk ones way through the welfare system was a crucial variable in the exercise of agency. Form-based welfare systems, on the other hand, left fewer avenues for an honest conversation about the limits of state obligations and the extent of individual responsibilities. |
| Exploitation Route | We envisage thee further steps forward: 1. The use of the material collected for the edition ad underlying database to prompt or contribute to further radio and television programmes in both English and German. 2. The material itself raises absolutely key questions about the agency of those trying to navigate the welfare system. While the data is historic, the key questions that it raises - how might the poor exercise agency; how did they establish belonging and entitlement; how did the poor navigate the law - are as relevant today as in the past. The EU grant won by King and reported elsewhere in thus submission, has this matter of belonging at its core and we envisage more policy contributions of this sort. 3. The material offers the chance to bring historical perspective to debates which are seen as somehow modern. Our evidence on patient case records reported elsewhere in this submission points to the need to inject historical understanding into modern policy debates and we intend to do more of this work. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | One of the key goals for our project was the bringing together or a major comparative online edition of pauper letters. 'Publication' of the edition and a related website will be reported in the next submission to ResearchFish but in the meantime beta versions of the edition and individual packages of material have been shared with more than 100 other scholarly users. In addition the material has informed the public and policy engagement and further funding applications reported elsewhere in this submission, and the reporting noted. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Industry Parliament Trust evidence |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | I was invited to give evidence to a meeting of the Industry-Parliament Trust, a body designed to bring together industry and other stakeholder figures and parliamentarians from the Commons and Lords so as to improve political decision-making. In particular I was asked to talk on the use of patient case data,a theme which has emerged as important in our research. My advice - essentially that patient case data has only very recently been seen as personal data and that its sale and transmission has real historical precedent but also fatal political pitfalls - was cited in the IPT report and fed into the policy ultimately to suspend plans for the sale of patient case records. |
| Description | EU |
| Amount | € 1,600,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 01/2013 |
| End | 04/2015 |
| Description | Economic History Society Conference Support |
| Amount | £650 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic History Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2012 |
| End | 09/2013 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust PhD funding |
| Amount | £85,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2013 |
| End | 09/2016 |
| Description | BBC Radio 4 Series on Disability |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BBC Radio 4 series on disability with Peter White. I appeared three times as an interlocutor and the material from my research project was used extensively throughout the 3 month series. Extensive press coverage, personal feedback and subsequent invitation to film for the BBC, outputs of which will be reported in a subsequent posting to research fish. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Media Engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | One of the books form this project - Navigating the Old English Poor Law - was launched by The British Academy on 24 December 2020. The book received a full page review in The Observer newspaper on 21 December and was reported on the BBC News main site on 26 December. An associated BBC Radio interview was broadcast on 24 December. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-55440158 |
| Description | Paper and support for National Lottery bid |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Large scale attendance of the discussion day and the generation of significant content for the project over and above that already collected. As well as outputs above, the project team is a signatory to and part of the management board of the Heritage Lottery Bid submitted by Norfolk County Council in 2014 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |