Module details
HR951-7-SP: THE PATTERNS OF VICTORIAN LIFE: RECONSTRUCTING NINETEENTH-CENTURY COMMUNITIES
Year: 2013/14
Department: History
Essex credit: 20
ECTS credit: 10
Available to year(s) of study:
Available to Study Abroad / Exchange Students: No
| Staff |
| Supervisor: |
Prof Edward Higgs |
| Teaching Staff: |
Prof Edward Higgs |
| Contact details: |
Graduate Administrator, Department of History, Telephone: 01206 872190 |
| Module is taught during the following terms |
| Autumn |  | Spring |  | Summer | |
Module Description
This module focuses on the study of communities, both urban and rural, in nineteenth century England. In terms of emphasis it will have a high practical element with a concentration on examining aspects of community life through selected sources. The ten lectures associated with the course will explore central themes in understanding communities and link this to an investigation of the key sources used and approaches adopted in the historical reconstruction of nineteenth-century communities. Issues to be addressed will include migration, residential patterns, demographic, household, occupational and class structures, and the institutions of religion, education, and welfare. This course will rely heavily on the use and examination of the nineteenth-century census enumerators books. This key source will be supplemented, however, by a number of other sources which exist for most nineteenth-century communities parish registers, trade directories, enclosure awards, tithe apportionments, housing records, and so on.
The broad aims of the module are to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of community structures in nineteenth-century England and Wales. The secondary literature will be examined to identify the main historical themes, methodology and approaches taken in the reconstruction of nineteenth-century community structures. In combination with this, selected historical sources will be explored and analysed within the framework of the associated classes. As an outcome of the module, it is expected that students will acquire a working knowledge of key source materials, and how to use and interpret these within historical research.
Learning & Teaching Methods
1 x 2 hour seminar per week
Assessment
100 per cent Coursework Mark
Exam Duration and Period
Bibliography
- Snell, K. D. M. English Rural Societies and Geographical Marital Endogamy, 1700-1837
-
Pooley, C. G. The residential segregation of migrant communities in mid-Victorian Liverpool, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, new series 2 (1977), 364-82
-
Szreter, S. The Idea of Demographic Transition and the Study of Fertility Change: A Critical Intellectual History, Population and Development Review, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Dec., 1993), 659-701
Further information
External Examiner Information
- Name: Prof Keith Laybourn
- Institution: THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD
- Academic Role: Professor of History
Should you have any queries about the Module Directory pages, please contact the Course Record Team, Systems Administration Office, Academic Section; email: crt (non Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk)