Douglas Brown
Print versionResearch
Profiting from Pauperism? The Business of the New Poor Law in England and Wales 1834-c.1901
The new poor law, which came into effect in 1834, was the basis of welfare and of local government in England and Wales for nearly a century. It was responsible for a significant proportion of public spending during that period, but expenditure varied widely between localities and over time. Some of this variation can be explained by differences in demand for poor relief, which are related to demography, industry, land ownership, local and central government policy and other such factors.
My research focuses on the supply side of poor relief, an area that has until now been neglected largely in favour of demand-side approaches. After 1834 most poor law unions had their own workhouses, many of which bought enough goods and services to make them important entities in their own local economies. Variations in expenditure may have been the result of the different local costs associated with providing relief both inside and outside the workhouse. My research focuses on two main issues: the extent to which variations in expenditure depended on the prices charged by suppliers to poor law institutions; and the kinds of business networks that existed to supply the local poor law with goods and services.
Alongside this research I work with leading specialists at The National Archives on a project to digitise and catalogue correspondence between poor law unions and central government contained in the MH12 series of original documents. This outputs from this digitisation project will be made available to the public via The National Archives website at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
The new poor law, which came into effect in 1834, was the basis of welfare and of local government in England and Wales for nearly a century. It was responsible for a significant proportion of public spending during that period, but expenditure varied widely between localities and over time. Some of this variation can be explained by differences in demand for poor relief, which are related to demography, industry, land ownership, local and central government policy and other such factors.
My research focuses on the supply side of poor relief, an area that has until now been neglected largely in favour of demand-side approaches. After 1834 most poor law unions had their own workhouses, many of which bought enough goods and services to make them important entities in their own local economies. Variations in expenditure may have been the result of the different local costs associated with providing relief both inside and outside the workhouse. My research focuses on two main issues: the extent to which variations in expenditure depended on the prices charged by suppliers to poor law institutions; and the kinds of business networks that existed to supply the local poor law with goods and services.
Alongside this research I work with leading specialists at The National Archives on a project to digitise and catalogue correspondence between poor law unions and central government contained in the MH12 series of original documents. This outputs from this digitisation project will be made available to the public via The National Archives website at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Supervisors
Dr David R. Green and Dr Paul Carter (The National Archives).
Funding
ESRC CASE award in collaboration with The National Archives
Biography
I was born in London and graduated with an MA in history from the University of Edinburgh in 2000. On returning to London I worked as a journalist, specialising in public policy, finance and the healthcare sector. I completed an MA in the history and theory of medicine, science and society at Birkbeck in 2009, where I researched medical services under the new poor law for my dissertation. My PhD is a collaborative award funded by the ESRC and The National Archives. I began my doctoral studies at KCL in October 2009.
