Before the Welfare State: New Perspectives on Welfare in Britain 1800-1940

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Date / time: 30 April, 10:30 am - 5:00 pm

Location
Centre for Medical Humanities, University of Leicester


Before the Welfare State: New Perspectives on Welfare in Britain 1800-1940

Organised by Dr Samantha Shave (University of Leicester) and Dr Kate Bradley (University of Kent)

This workshop brings together postgraduate and early career scholars from any discipline to consider new perspectives on British welfare provision before the birth of the ‘traditional’ welfare state. We will discuss a range of topics: the nature of welfare provision, the relationships between welfare providers and welfare recipients, the quality and scale of welfare provision, topics such as eligibility and stigmatism, and concepts such as collectivism and universalism. Papers might focus on a particular form of welfare, such as healthcare, housing, education, institutionalisation and early forms of social security, how welfare was experienced by particular groups, or how welfare was provided, for instance, within or by a parish, community, family, institution, mutual aid society, voluntary organisation or charity. The papers might have a new methodological insight to share, or an unseen or digitalised collection of records to showcase which enhance our knowledge of welfare in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century. We welcome paper submissions from postgraduate and early career academics from all disciplines. We hope that this is the start of fresh, interdisciplinary conversations on welfare provision in modern Britain.

Workshop format
This workshop will consist of 15 minute papers. An academic advisor will be assigned to each session to offer comment on the papers and there will be time for questions. The workshop will end with a roundtable discussion with the aim of drawing together the themes and issues which arise throughout the day. The roundtable will start with reflections on the papers by Professor Steven King, Director of the Centre for Medical Humanities. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. We will be encouraging the use of Twitter at this event. Our hashtag is: #b4welfare

After the workshop
We would like to continue our conversations after the event and allow people unable to attend on the day to learn more about the workshop. As such, paper presenters and discussants will be asked to write a short blog piece about their research and any insights they gained during the workshop. These will be placed on the University of Kent’s research blog.

THIS WORKSHOP IS KINDLY SPONSORED BY THE HISTORY WORKSHOP JOURNAL, THE ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER CENTRE FOR MEDICAL HUMANITIES