Dickens & the Workhouse
Historian Ruth Richardson – author of Dickens & the Workhouse: Oliver Twist & the London Poor, The Making of Mr. Gray’s Anatomy and Death, Dissection & the Destitute – talks about her involvement in a campaign on the streets of London the research processes for which led her to a discovery that was to have a major impact on public history.
In 2010 the Outpatients’ block at the Middlesex Hospital was threatened with demolition. The main Hospital had already been reduced to a field-size area of rubble. Local people called on me to help because I had written about a Victorian doctor who had worked in the building when it had been the Strand Union Workhouse. We had 5 weeks to save the building from the bulldozers. Listing had been rejected by the Minister, and there seemed no hope. But fiction came to the rescue, and the building is still standing.
This talk will tell the story of the Workhouse and its eventual listing, and after the talk we can take a walk to see it and its setting.
Please note the new venue: The Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY.
Nearest tube stations are Euston Square (Circle, Hammersmith and City & Metropolitan lines), Euston (Victoria, Northern lines and the overground) and Warren Street (Victoria and Northern lines). There is also disabled badge holders parking immediately outside the front door of the Institute.
Come along for coffee at 11am with the session starting promptly at 11.30. Room 612 on the 6th floor – there are lifts and stairs to all floors. Follow the Public History Group signs on the outer door of the Institute and in the lobby by the lifts.
Follow this link for a map of the Institute and public transport guide
Public History Group 