The Workhouse - Softcover

Longmate, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712606378 ISBN 13: 9780712606370

Publisher: Pimlico, 2003

Synopsis

The British workhouse is the stuff of literature and legend. But what exactly was it? Surprisingly, no full-scale history of the workhouse has ever been written. Here, historian Norman Longmate tells the full story, from its beginnings in Elizabethan times until its demise in the 1940s, though mainly concentrating on the Victorian workhouse in the years of its tarnished glory. He describes the circumstances in the 1830s that led to the opening of 600 new workhouses—an event that met with astonishingly little opposition among reformers. He also records the riots, the protests, and the pleadings with which the poor challenged their virtual enslavement, and the misery of their daily lives when they were finally incarcerated within the workhouse walls.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

“Norman Longmate has a reputation for careful research among original documents and a lively sense of anecdote, and this history of the Victorian workhouse amply demonstrates both qualities.” -- The Times

About the Author:

Norman Longmate was born in Berkshire, and educated at Christ's Hospital. After war service he read modern history at Worcester College, Oxford. He subsequently worked as a journalist in Fleet Street, as a producer of history programmes for the BBC, and for the BBC Secretariat. In 1981 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 1983 he left the BBC to become a full-time writer. He has written more than twenty books, mainly on the Second World War and on Victorian social history. He has frequently been employed as an historical adviser for film and television.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pimlico
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0712606378
• ISBN 13: 9780712606370
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320