Lancashire Cotton Famine - Relief Effort

Relief Effort

Relief in times of hardship was governed by the Poor Law Act, which required the Poor Law Guardians to find work for the fit. In rural communities this was stone breaking in the quarries, the mines etc. Outdoor work was quite unsuitable for men who had been working in the humid, heated mills, whose lungs had been damaged by cotton dust. However the act only required that men be set to work as long as he continued to receive relief

The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 had required parishes to come together to form Poor Law Unions to administer the relief. Their job was to minimise the cost to the parishes which must finance their own poor. Paupers should be returned to their parishes of origin. Charles Pelham Villiers MP, the Poor Law Commissioner who represented an industrial constituency, wrote to the Poor Law Unions in Sept 1861 warning them of potential famine and instructing them to fulfil their duties with Compassion. Funding for this, had to be raised locally on the parish rates. H.B. Farnell, was appointed by parliament to investigate the effects in Lancashire, where he started in May 1862 in Preston. He laid down a liberal interpretation of the Act, and instructed gifts from charity should not be taken into account when assessing need. As an alternative to outdoor work, sewing classes were run by the churches which entitled the participants or "scholars" to receive benefit. Bible Reading classes followed and then industrial classes which taught reading, writing, and simple maths with carpentry, shoemaking and tailoring. The Poor Law Unions were limited in moneys they could raise through rates, and had no powers to borrow. Two measures were passed through parliament to assist. The first was the Union Relief Aid Bill 1862 which allowed the burden be shared between the parishes and the county, and then Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act 1864 were authorised borrowing.

All those in work were encouraged to subscribe to charity, and lists of subscribers were published. Local relief committees were set up to administer these funds, and receiving other donations from the Mansion House Committee of London, and Central Relief Committee of Manchester. The Mansion House Fund, more properly named the Lancashire and Cheshire Operatives Relief Fund, was set up on 16 May 1862, when £1,500 (equivalent to about £100,000 as of 2012) was sent to the distressed districts. Benefactors all over the United Kingdom, the Empire, and across the world, raised money for the appeal. Between April 1862 and April 1863, £473,749 was collected and distributed (about £34.5 million as of 2012).

The Central Committee was formed 20 June 1862, composed of mayors of the affected towns; it put out an appeal letter to other towns across the country.

A third fund, set up in June 1862 for slightly different purposes, was the Cotton Districts Relief Fund. It became part of the Central Committee.