The Working Class at Home, 1790–1940

“The main achievements of The Working Class at Home, 1790–1940 mark a key shift in thinking about the Victorian home from space to users; from architectural analysis and social history to the emotional arena of domesticity; from the production of space to the users and their agency in the making of a home. ... this book reframes the issues in Victorian terms and opens new directions for study and publication.” (Lynne Walker, Victorian Studies, Vol. 67 (1), 2024) 

“The Working Class at Home 1790-1940, uncovers hidden aspects of the domestic lives of the working-class in the long nineteenth century. ... The Working Class at Home both combines and builds upon these scopes and sources it reminds us the diversity of working class people … . Bearing in mind the complications of uncovering authentic histories of working-class people but navigated so well in this book ... .” (Tanya Hawkes, The Charles Lamb Bulletin, charleslambsociety.com Issue 176, Winter, 2022)

Vicky Holmes is Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, UK in association with the Centre for Studies of Home. Her Palgrave Pivot,  In Bed with the Victorians: The Life-Cycle of Working-Class Marriage , was published in 2017.

Joseph Harley is Lecturer in History at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. He has recently published Norfolk Pauper Inventories, c.1690-1834 (2020) and has articles in various journals including Agricultural History Review , Historical Journal and Social History .