The Pauper Body in England and Wales 1750 to 1914: Histories of Nobody

The Pauper Body in England and Wales 1750 to 1914 is based on a unique collection of 8 million words of pauper letters. It features fascinating body biographies of ordinary people living in deepest poverty who used their voices to secure welfare support. The Old and New Poor Law authorities often tried, and frequently failed, to label the poorest of people 'Nobodies'.The bodies of paupers were branded as the contaminated body; those who experienced regular sexual abuse; and people medically certified as mentally ill. Paupers in writing resisted being characterised as a nameless broken body, campaigning for official recognition. In three parts, Elizabeth T. Hurren reveals a surprising range of relatable human stories and explores how pauper bodies retain trauma, weathered by poverty and stress. The chapters contain a mosaic of welfare lessons that endure, despite their historical distance. A striking feature of the millions of body biographies are their familiar physical symptoms and psychological predicaments. Hurren also traces the historic migration of unwanted immigrants who travelled thousands of nautical miles to try to re-create community and belonging.

• Publication date: 12 February 2026
• Page count: 334
• Dimensions: Height 241 mm; Width 167 mm; Thickness 27 mm
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9780192884237