Lancashire Cotton Famine

The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as The Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–1865), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by the interruption of baled cotton imports caused by the American Civil War. The boom years of 1859 and 1860 had produced more woven cotton than could be sold and a cutback in production was needed. The famine of raw cotton and the difficult trading conditions caused a change in the social circumstances of the Lancashire regions's extensive cotton mill workforce. The factories ran out of raw cotton to process, large parts of Lancashire region's working society became unemployed, and went from being the most prosperous workers in Britain to the most impoverished.

Local relief committees were set up. They appealed for money both locally and nationally. There were two major funds, the Manchester Central Committee and the Mansion House Committee of the Lord Mayor of London. The poorest applied for relief under the Poor Laws, through the Poor Law Unions. The local relief committees experimented with soup kitchens, and then direct aid. In 1862, sewing classes and industrial classes were organised by local churches, and attendance triggered a Poor Law payment. After the Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act 1864 was passed local authorities were empowered to borrow money for approved public works. They commissioned the rebuilding of sewerage systems, cleaning rivers, landscaping parks, and surfacing roads.

In 1864, cotton was restored, the mills became larger, some towns had diversified out of cotton, and many thousands of operatives had emigrated.