What is it about?
A comprehensive, illustrated collection of information about workhouses - the residential welfare institutions that existed in Britain from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. It includes an alphabetically organized series of entries relating to specific topics, e.g. Architecture, Food, Poetry, plus an extensive set of Appendices containing detailed reference and statistical information, for example lists of workhouse locations, annual figures for the national workhouse population etc.
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Why is it important?
It brings together information on a very wide variety of topics relating to the workhouse and the welfare system of which it formed a pivotal part. The compilation of statistical should be of great value to researchers, for example exploring links between the levels poor relief and other events, or looking at trends in workhouse provision in different areas of the country.
Perspectives
People often have very tunnel-visioned conceptions about the workhouse (for which Charles Dickens may take much of the blame). I hope that this book will show that it was a very multi-faceted institution which evolved considerably over the time of its existence.
Peter Higginbotham
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This page is a summary of: The Workhouse Encyclopedia2013138Peter Higginbotham. The Workhouse Encyclopedia. Stroud: The History Press 2012. 478pp., ISBN: 978 0 7524 7012 2 £19.99, Reference Reviews, April 2013, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/09504121311320107.
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