HI2L5-15 In Poor Health: The Sick Poor and Health Provision 1800s-1948
Introductory description
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.
Module aims
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.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
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
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of population health and healthcare provision in Britain, 1800 – 1948.
- Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
- Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material for the study of the history of health and healthcare.
- Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
- Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing multidisciplinary scholarship.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Subject specific skills
See learning outcomes.
Transferable skills
See learning outcomes.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Seminars | 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Tutorials | 2 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
| Private study | 130 hours (87%) |
| Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay or related creative task.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Essay or creative equivalent. | 80% | Yes (extension) | |
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3000 word essay or creative output equivalent (i.e. podcast recording, video documentary, etc). Teaching on this module will include meaningful in-class support and feedback to help students prepare for their substantive assessment. This may include, for example, class exercises on essay plans or source analysis; work-in-progress presentations; use of peer feedback. |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Seminar contribution | 20% | No | |
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Seminar contribution. |
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Reassessment component |
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| 1000 word Reflective Essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution | Yes (extension) | ||
Feedback on assessment
Written feedback provided via Tabula; optional oral feedback in office hours.
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list D for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list E for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)