The Workhouse

'A readable and impressively-researched history of the workhouse...comprehensive and moving' Punch

Excellent... Longmate's achievement in this moving history, like Henry Mayhew's in London Labour and the London Poor, has been to record the experiences of people who, friendless and despairing, otherwise left few traces of themselves behind

Norman Longmate has a reputation for careful research among original documents and a lively sense of anecdote, and this history of the Victorian workhouse amply demonstrates both qualities

It is a strength of Norman Longmate's finely researched book that it is filled with such human reminders that the people who lived out meagre lives behind the high walls were living beings

Norman Longmate was born in Berkshire, and educated at Christ's Hospital.  After war service he read modern history at Worcester College, Oxford.  He subsequently worked as a journalist in Fleet Street, as a producer of history programmes for the BBC, and for the BBC Secretariat.  In 1981 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 1983 he left the BBC to become a full-time writer.  He has written more than twenty books, mainly on the Second World War and on Victorian social history.  He has frequently been employed as an historical adviser for film and television.

Everyone has heard of the workhouse. But what exactly was it? Who went there? And how did an institution so universally hated come to be set up? Surprisingly, no full-scale history of the workhouse has ever been written. A year after the re-opening of the workhouse at Southwell by the National Trust, this book fills the gap and tells the full story from its first beginnings in Elizabethan times until the final reluctant demise of 'the union' in the 1940s. 
 
The book concentrates, however, on the Victorian workhouse in the years of its tarnished glory. It describes the combination of circumstances which in the 1830s led to the opening of 600 new workhouses, against astonishingly little effective opposition, and it explains why radicals like Francis Place and humane reformers like Lord Brougham supported the New Poor Law, while a handful of Tories like Disraeli and arch-reactionaries like Colonel Sibthorpe fought against it. It records the riots, the protests, the pleadings, with which the poor challenged their virtual enslavement, and the misery of their daily life when they were finally incarcerated within the workhouse walls. 
 
What did gruel taste like? Why was workhouse uniform so uncomfortable to wear? How did it feel to pound bones all day, or grind corn, or scrub floors? How was Christmas Day in the workhouse celebrated in reality? Norman Longmate has, by exhaustive research into long-neglected sources, managed to answer all these and many more questions, in the words of those who experienced the workhouse regime. All the essential facts - of legislation passed and numbers admitted - are here, presented in a concise and lucid form which will make this book valuable to the serious student, but they are illustrated throughout by a wealth of anecdote, which reveals in human terms the meaning of the laws and regulations which previous historians of the Poor Law have so often merely catalogued.

History of Everyday Life During the Second World War, A

How We Lived Then

'Minutely detailed, accurate, skilfully marshalled and engagingly written, it is quite the best social chronicle of the period I have read' Spectator

An immense and impressive assembly... Must surely remain an invaluable essay in the remembrance of things past

Superbly detailed and illustrated... From stirrup pumps to Spam, Norman Longmate's marvellously comprehensive panorama misses nothing. Excellent

A landmine of information covering every field of civilian life in wartime from the grandeurs of the blitz to the miseries of dried eggs and the six-inch bath

Much of it is extremely interesting; some of it is fascinatingly out-of-the-way; and all of it contributes to building up a true picture of everyday life in England from September 1939 to August 1945

Mr Longmate has recruited an enormous volunteer army of home-front veterans who sent him their wartime recollections... He has brilliantly sifted and assembled the precious debris

Norman Longmate served in the army in World War II, and then went to Oxford University in 1947 to read Modern History. He subsequently worked as a Fleet Street journalist, as a producer of history programmes for the BBC, and for the BBC Secretariat. In 1981 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 1983 he left the BBC to become a full-time writer. Norman Longmate is the author of more than twenty books, mainly on the Second World War and Victorian social history, and of many radio and television scripts on historical subjects. He has frequently been employed as an historical adviser by film and television companies, most recently on the series The 1940s House.

Although nearly 90% of the population of Great Britain remained civilians throughout the war, or for a large part of it, their story has so far largely gone untold. In contrast with the thousands of books on military operations, barely any have concerned themselves with the individual's experience. The problems of the ordinary family are barely ever mentioned - food rationing, clothes rationing, the black-out and air raids get little space, and everyday shortages almost none at all. 
 
This book is an attempt to redress the balance; to tell the civilian's story largely through their own recollections and in their own words.

From Caesar to the Armada

Defending The Island

The definitive history of England versus invasion - comprehensive, accessible and highly entertaining.

Here is a book Shakespeare would have loved - a fine, old-fashioned, drum-beating history of our island fortress... Longmate weaves the medieval chronicles into a compelling modern story, full of rich and often blood-curdling detail

A rich history of the invasions of Britain... that, by relying on the words of contemporary historians, possess a freshness and immediacy

An enthralling account of the defence of Britain... a solid and conscientious piece of work

Norman Longmate was born in Newbury, Berkshire, and educated by scholarship at Christ's Hospital, where he was deeply influenced by an inspiring history teacher. After the war service in the army he read modern history at Worcester College, Oxford. He subsequently worked as a journalist in Fleet Street, as a producer of history programmes for the BBC, and for the BBC Secretariat. In 1981 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 1983 he left the BBC to become a full-time writer. 
 
Norman Longmate is the author of more than twenty books, mainly on the Second World War and on Victorian social history, and of many radio and television scripts on historical subjects. He has frequently been employed as an historical adviser by film and television companies.

In a brilliantly imaginative blend of military, social and diplomatic history, Norman Longmate retells our island story from the perspective of its defenders, in a narrative which stretches from the Celtic tribes who unsuccessfully fought against Ceasar to the great seabourne defence against the Armada of Philip of Spain. 
 
He has gone back to the original sources and investigated the original battlegrounds and weak spots in Britain's defences. But the real strength of his book is its seamless narrative of history, which uncovers the truth behind the legends. A mass of solidly researched fact, not readily found elsewhere, is seasoned with lively, humorous and occassionally gruesome anecdote. 
 
The result, providing at once an invaluable sourcebook for the specialist and an enthralling narrative for the general reader, is by far the most comprehensive and accessible history of England versus invasion ever published.

Norman Longmate

The Defence of Great Britian 1606-1945

The British Isles, it is often believed, have not been invaded for nearly a thousand years. In fact, as Norman Longmate reveals in this highly entertaining book (the successor to his acclaimed Defending the Island), foreign soldiers have landed on British soil on many occasions.In this definitive study of a long-neglected subject Norman Longmate make constant use of original sources, including contemporary eyewitness accounts. These are woven into an enthralling narrative, packed with fact - about weapons, ships, armies and fortresses - spiced with anecdote, and ranging over international and political as well as military and naval history. The result is above all an exciting story, which shows how, against all the odds, the British people managed to retain their freedom from the days of James I to those of George VI.

Norman Longmate

Island Fortress

Summary

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