Petty Tyranny and Oppression

Paul Carter is the Principal Records Specialist for Collaborative Projects in the Collections, Expertise and Engagement Department at The National Archives, UK. Steven King is Distinguished Professor of Economic and Social History at Nottingham Trent University, UK. With others, they co-authored In Their Own Write: Contesting the New Poor Law, 1834–1900 (McGill-Queens University Press, 2022), which won both the 2022 North American Victorian Studies Association Best Book of 2022 Prize and the American Historical Association Morris D. Forkosch Prize 2023.

• List of Figures Glossary Preface Acknowledgements Chapter 1. The Continuities of Tyranny Chapter 2. Places and Spaces Chapter 3. Frameworks: Centre and Locality Chapter 4. Frameworks: The Poor Law Inspectorate Chapter 5. Division and Animosity Chapter 6. Staffing the Workhouse and Managing the Poor Chapter 7. The Pauper Punished Chapter 8. The Responses of the Tyrannized Poor Chapter 9. Public Opinion Chapter 10. Conclusion Bibliography Index

‘This remarkable study makes a very significant contribution to modern social and welfare history. By systematically uncovering and exploring the myriad petty tyrannies to which welfare recipients were subject and establishing these as the foundation on which workhouse power rested, it transforms our understanding of power and resistance over centuries of welfare history. It will be essential reading for any scholar of welfare history and a staple of modern social history curricula everywhere.’— Olwen Purdue FRHistS, Professor of Social History, Queen’s University Belfast and Director, Centre for Public History‘This book – the first to explore petty tyranny and oppression across both the Poor Laws of England and Wales – clearly demonstrates the potential frameworks of oppression and the different landscapes of resistance. It will be an essential volume for anyone interested in the power struggles between state and paupers as each sought to navigate the welfare system.’— Dr Carol Beardmore, Associate Lecturer, The Open University‘What was “tyranny” to a pauper in nineteenth-century Wales or England? Cutting dinner portions. Not answering requests. Enforcing rules capriciously. This thoughtful, careful volume finds variations from place to place, and among officials, both local and central. Steeped in words written by or about those in need, Petty Tyranny and Oppression gives a nuanced, richly sourced portrait of how the poor laws felt and functioned.’— Gabriel Loiacono, Professor of History and Associate School Director of Public Affairs & Global Engagement, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh