W26 - Poverty & Policy in the Victorian Age (HIST*4280)

Code and section: HIST*4280*01

Term: Winter 2026

Details

Department of History

HIST*4280*01

Winter Semester 2026

“The Cold Hand of Charity:” Poverty and Philanthropy in England

The notion of the ‘cold hand of charity’ reveals the influence of evangelical ideas of sin and salvation and blames poverty on the moral condition of its victims. By implication, nineteenth-century writers on the poverty problem chose to define it in terms of the conditions of  ‘pauperism,’ a consequence of an individual’s chosen lifestyle: idleness, drunkenness, irreligion, imprudent marriage and sexual promiscuity. By the mid-Victorian period social welfare policies and practices emerged to reflect this way of thinking. However, competing approaches to the problem of poverty emphasized self-help as illustrated by the formation of charities, the co-operative movement, friendly societies, and even Marxist influenced labour organizations. The subject matter of this course deals with the social history of the experience of poverty in Britain from the late-1800s to the First World War. The focus will be the rise of major social welfare institutions and the developing field of social work.

Evaluation

Overall Class Participation              20%

Student Facilitator Presentations    20%

Essay presentation                         10%

Research Essay                              50% 

*Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.