Bernard Harris

My research is concerned with various aspects of the social history of health and welfare since circa 1700.

I have worked on a wide range of topics within this field, including work on the history of height, morbidity and mortality; unemployment and poverty; the relationship between statutory and voluntary welfare provision; and the origins and development of the British welfare state.

I am currently working on a number of different topics, including various issues associated with the use of anthropometric indicators to study the health and wellbeing of past populations, the history of sickness and morbidity, the impact of sanitary intervention on mortality decline and the comparative history of social policy in the different parts of the UK and the English-speaking world.