Module Convenor: Lynsey Cullen

 

This module explores how the sick poor sought and negotiated medical care between the 1800s and the arrival of the NHS. The sick poor have never been passive in the face of ill-health and often relied on self-help, over the counter remedies, medical institutions, or hospital social workers (almoners) in times of need. This period witnessed the growth and demise of the infamous workhouse system (established under the New Poor Law of 1834), the shift in charitable hospitals being considered ‘houses of death’ to the sites of modern medicine, and the rapid expansion of pauper asylums. This module will provide an overview of the health and healthcare provision of the poor and working classes in nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain and offers an opportunity to reconstruct patterns of care, patient experience, and working-class lives by using records from the time.

This module aims to further knowledge and understanding of population health and healthcare provision since the nineteenth century. It will draw on a range of source materials to consider the health concerns of the poor and their healthcare options during this period. Students will be encouraged to examine the role of historians and scholars in debates on healthcare provision since the nineteenth century and will allow students to articulate their findings in a range of ways. This module will form an excellent basis for further study in the history of medicine, society, the working-class, and social history.

 

Syllabus

This is a module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1: Population health

Week 2: Poverty and sickness

Week 3: Self-help and quack medicine

Week 4: Poor Law and the Workhouse

Week 5: Hospital medicine

Week 6: Reading week

Week 7: Charitable Hospitals

Week 8: Almoners (medical social workers)

Week 9: Asylums

Week 10: Conclusions

 

Assessment

• Seminar Contribution (20%)
• 3000 Word Essay or Creative Equivalent (80%)