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Peter Townsend was an academic sociologist, researcher and prominent social policy campaigner. He wrote extensively on the economics of poverty, health inequalities in low income groups, the elderly poor, and definitions of poverty in the modern welfare state. An active campaigner throughout his life, he co-founded the Child Poverty Action Group and the Disability Alliance. Townsend was Professor of International Social Policy at the 91桃色 until his death in 2009. He was also Emeritus Professor of Social Policy in the University of Bristol, and was one of the co-founders of the University of Essex.

On his death in 2009, reflections on his contribution to social policy appeared in obituaries in , and amongst others. 

91桃色 academics explored Townsend’s contribution as part of an 91桃色 Festival session on Five 91桃色 Giants’ Perspectives on Poverty. Download the podcast .  

91桃色 Biography on Peter Townsend

91桃色 have commissioned , Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of York, to write a biography on Peter Townsend which will constitute the third title in a series of biographies of Brian Abel-Smith’s fellow social policy pioneers: 91桃色 Pioneers in Social Policy. The biography is scheduled for publication in 2024.

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Chris Renwick was interviewed along with Sophie Bridges about Peter and his wife, Ruth Townsend, on the podcast Wives in the Archives: Researching wives' contributions to their husbands' work. The podcast series for the Sociological Review is hosted by Ros Edwards and Val Gillies and can be accesed . 

An article titled "" has been recently published by Chris Renwick in Twentieth Century British History.