Birmingham’s untold stories of old age and the welfare state captured in new published research.
Lench’s Trust, one of England’s oldest charities, has teamed up with Bournville Almshouse Trust and the University of Birmingham to capture the previously untold lives of older residents in poverty.
Professor Nick Crowson, Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Birmingham, led the research project which offers unprecedented insights into the lived experiences of residents at Birmingham’s historic almshouses, including detailed case studies from Lench’s properties.
The resulting academic study, which has been published in the journal of Cultural and Social History, helps fill an underexplored area of research around older people facing hardship. In a UK-first, it explores how Birmingham’s older residents have reshaped what it means to age from the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century, and the future importance of the Almshouse model in society.
Nick Crowson explains “'Through exploring the every day lived experiences of the residents of these iconic Birmingham almhouses we see how these institutions, intended for some of society's most vulnerable, were shaped as homes as much by the residents themselves as by staff and trustees.”
The research, titled ‘Almshouses, Old Age and the Welfare State in Modern Britain,’ reveals the hidden-in-history stories of individual residents and demonstrates how almshouses like Lench’s Trust provide not just housing, but vibrant communities that supported independence and dignity in later life.
Founded in 1526 by William Lench, the Trust has been serving Birmingham’s elderly community for nearly five centuries.
Dominic Bradley, chief executive of Lench’s Trust, said: “This research provides invaluable documentation of our long history of caring for Birmingham’s residents.
“It shows that our almshouses were never simply ‘final destinations’ but rather enabled older people to maintain active, independent lives within supportive communities – a vision that remains true today.
“As we mark our 500th anniversary, it is work such as this that allows us to fully understand the lessons and lives of the past, to understand our next innovative steps. It is incredible in a way to reflect that 500 years on from now, someone will be reviewing our milestone year and all the new schemes, new services, partnerships and residents’ lives we’ve captured.”
Using newly-available material from the 1921 census and 1939 register, the research brings to light extraordinary stories of Lench’s residents, including Ellen Rebecca Vale, who lived at the Ladywood Road almshouse and famously responded to the 1911 census marital status question with poetry: “Single I am, Which pleaseth me best – I had several good offers – You may Guess the rest.”
Another untold life is that of Birmingham born Clara ‘Lizzie’ Lishman (née Robinson, 1864–1943) who appears as a ‘retired’ widow living at Lench’s Conybere Street in the 1939 Register. In the late 1870s, while Lizzie was in her teens, she worked as a domestic servant alongside her maternal Aunt.
She left Birmingham some point in the 1880s for Kent, where it is likely she met her husband-to-be William, a former assistant school master and Coldstream Guardsman.
The couple then moved to Norfolk with Lizzie working as a ‘mental nurse’ in an asylum whilst raising five children before returning to Aston, Birmingham in the early 1900s.
In December 1916, upon discovering one of her sons had enlisted, under-age, with the Coldstream Guards, Lizzie successfully petitioned the army to ensure that he was held back from active service until his seventeenth birthday. After her husband died in 1924, Lizzie continued to live independently until she entered the almshouse around 1935.
The research also documents the evolution of care at Lench’s properties, tracing the transition from community-based matrons like the celebrated Ann Starling (1788-1891), who served at Ladywood Street for over 50 years, to professionally qualified nursing staff by the early 20th century.
Historical records show that exceptional longevity among Lench’s residents dates back centuries. In 1840, Rebecca Hodgetts died aged 97 at the Dudley Street property, while Jane Upton lived to 100 at the same address in 1914. This mirrors contemporary research suggesting almshouse residents enjoy increased life expectancy, attributed to strong community bonds and reduced isolation.
The study positions almshouses like Lench’s as pioneers of “independent living” models that have influenced modern approaches to elderly care. As the welfare state faces increasing pressures, the study suggests that the community-focused, small-scale model pioneered by organisations like Lench’s Trust offers valuable lessons for modern elderly care provision.
The study used innovative methodology combining census data, genealogical research, institutional records, and digitised newspaper archives to reconstruct the individual life stories of almshouse residents.
The research for this article was, in part, made possible with funding from the
University of Birmingham QR Policy Support Fund for the ‘Utopias in Crisis’ project and University of Birmingham’s College of Arts and Law Graduate Scholar Scheme.
For more information about Lench’s Trust, visit: www.lenchs-trust.co.uk
To access the full academic paper, visit: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2025.2550071?src=
