Historical Perspectives of Homelessness Exhibition

In October 2024, The Rowntree Society was proud to participate in the Historical Perspectives of Homelessness Exhibition. This remarkable event was developed as part of a local history project by Good Organisation (Social Ventures) CIC, engaging individuals currently experiencing homelessness or substance addiction while accessing support services at Bowes Morrell House.

Bowes Morrell House, a Grade II listed building dating back to 1396 on Walmgate in York, has long been associated with homelessness. Since 2012, it has served as a hub for homelessness support charities, but its connection to this issue stretches back centuries. During the Victorian era, it operated as a cheap lodging house, informally known as the “doss house,” with a sign above the door reading “good lodgings.” However, the conditions were notoriously poor, often consisting of “twopenny hangovers,” where people slept hanging over a rope, or “fourpenny coffins,” coffin-shaped boxes used for sleeping.

The building underwent partial restoration in 1932 when York Civic Trust acquired it and renamed it after John Bowes Morrell, one of its founders. Bowes Morrell himself collaborated closely with Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, whose pioneering 1901 research on poverty focused on the surrounding Walmgate neighborhood, then one of York’s most notorious slums.

The exhibition also coincided with the 200th anniversary of the Vagrancy Act of 1824 and inspired participants to create a detailed timeline tracing legislative responses to homelessness. The timeline spans from the Statute of Cambridge in 1388—the first formal legislation addressing homelessness in England—to modern-day interventions like Public Space Protection Orders, which frame homelessness as a societal nuisance rather than addressing its root causes.

Funded by Historic England through the Everyday Heritage programme, the project highlighted untold local stories and empowered communities to narrate their own histories in their own words. This focus on amplifying marginalized voices aligns closely with the Joseph Rowntree values of dignity, equality, and social justice.

Our involvement in events like this underscores the importance of learning from the past to foster a more inclusive and compassionate future. By reflecting on York’s rich social history and the efforts of individuals like Bowes Morrell and Seebohm Rowntree, we can contribute meaningfully to ongoing conversations about poverty and homelessness, ensuring these issues remain at the forefront of community awareness and action.