Caring for the poor

Derby had been caring for its poor, after a fashion, long before the Victorians. Robert Liversage, a wool dyer, left money in 1529 to house the town’s poor, and the charity that bears his name still houses older Derby residents today.

The nineteenth century brought a harder approach. The Union Workhouse opened on Osmaston Road in 1838 and was replaced by a larger one on Uttoxeter Road some forty years later. Alongside it ran the Infirmary, the almshouses, the parish charities and a great deal of quiet neighbourly help. This talk follows all of them, and asks what “caring” meant to the people on the receiving end.

Includes the story of Derby’s oldest charity.

• LengthAbout 45 minutes, plus questions
• WhereAt your group’s usual meeting place, or at a public talk