The Cotton Famine Road

Alexandra Park

A blue plaque in Oldham's Alexandra Park, commemorating its origins.

Photo: Ian Roberts - Flickr • Licensed for reuse under CC BY-SA 2.0

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.

KK

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.

K

In March 1863, there were some sixty or seventy thousand women attending sewing school, and twenty thousand men and boys attending classes. They were thus defined as doing useful work so could legally receive aid under the Poor Law legislation. There remained a further twenty five thousand men receiving aid but not doing any work. To Victorian thinking this was a difficult problem, and some means was needed to provide paid work. Local authorities did have work that needed to be done- but no legal way to borrow to pay for it. The Public Works Manufacturing Districts Act 1864 became law 2 July 1863. This allowed public authorities to borrow money for public works. Cotton operatives could now be employed on useful projects.

KK

The Lancashire area has a legacy of municipal parks that were created in this period such as Alexandra Park, Oldham. More important were the main sewers that were commissioned to replace the collapsing medieval drains and to bring sanitation to the hundreds of millworkers' cottages that supported the mills. Canals were dug, rivers straightened and new roads constructed such as the cobbled road on Rooley Moor above Rochdale known as the "Cotton Famine Road". All-in-all, the public works commissioned in this period, left a major impression on the infrastructure of the towns of Lancashire and the surrounding cotton areas.

KK

The Poor Law Act

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.

KK

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.

Source: Wikipedia.org