All our pension forms have now been fully transcribed. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our project, your help is very much appreciated. Our results page contains some preliminary findings and more can be found on our website and our data mapper.
Research
Addressing Health: Morbidity, Mortality and Occupational Health in the Victorian and Edwardian Post Office
This a three-year research project funded by Wellcome which focuses on understanding the health outcomes of workers in service sector employment in the UK in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The project is a collaboration between King’s College London, Kingston University, University of Derby and University College London, with the Postal Museum.
We're transcribing the records of workers who retired from the Post Office. When they retired, details of their employment and health histories were sent for approval to the Treasury, the government department responsible for spending. The forms themselves are kept in the archives at the Postal Museum in London. By transcribing the data noted on the forms, we can answer questions including: At what ages did people retire? From what causes? What effect did being an indoor or outdoor worker have on health? What about living in an urban or rural environment? Did these things change over time? Did they differ in different places?
The results of our work will be shared in several ways, including the blog on our website and in open-access academic journals. We'll also be holding volunteer events, publishing podcasts and more.