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Workhouses in Bradford and Leeds

Workhouses in Bradford and Leeds

Source 1

A parliamentary report of 1777 recorded local workhouses in operation at Bradford (for up to 70 inmates), Chapel Allerton (2), Calverley with Farsley (40), Clayton (20), Heaton (8), Horton (40), Idle (60), Manningham (36), North Bierley and Bowling (70), and Thornton (30).
Eden, in his 1797 survey of the poor in England, reported of Bradford that:
The Poor are maintained in a Workhouse, in a convenient, airy situation at a little distance from the town. There are 74 inmates, mostly old women, old men and children.

In 1812, Bradford was one a several urban workhouses to issue poor relief in the form of specially minted workhouse tokens. These were useable at local shops and could be redeemed by shop-keepers at the workhouse or union offices. These were intended to try and ensure that monetary relief was not spent on unapproved goods such as alcohol.

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Bradford/Bradford.shtml

Source 2

Following the creation of the Bradford Union in February 1837, the town was the scene of vigorous anti-Poor Law campaigning. This peaked in November 1837 during a visit of Assistant Poo Law Commissioner Alfred Power — his meetings with the Guardians were disrupted and he was attacked by a crowd. A contingent of six London police officers was sent to maintain order. On 18th November, cavalry troops from Leeds were called in to quell a mob attacking a meeting at the Courthouse. The Riot Act was read, and over five thousand protestors, armed mainly with stones, fought a running battle with the troops who responded with sabres and, eventually, muskets.

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Bradford/Bradford.shtml

Public Health in the Industrial Revolution

Impact of new machinesWorkhouses in Bradford and LeedsTyphoid outbreaks 1830 – 1836Cholera, 1831 OutbreakPoor Law Commission [1834, Report 1837]Poor Law Commission 1835Bradford Woolcombers Report, 1837Report on the conditions of workers in Leeds, 1842Report on the sanitary Condition of the Labouring Classes, Chadwick 1842Health of Towns Association, 1844Health in Bradford in the mid 1840’sHealth in Manchester, 1844Public Health Act, 1848Working Conditions in Bradford, 1850Census figures: UK Population statistics 1831 – 1851John Snow’s work on Cholera, 1854Nightingale School of NursingBradford Sewage Works, 1862Louis Pasteur: Germ Theory, 1865Second Reform Act [External]Royal Sanitary Commission, 1869The Public Health Act, 1872 [External]Public Health Act, 1875 [External]Artizans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875 [External]Tuberculosis Germ identified by Robert Koch, 1882Cholera Germ identified, 1883Health in Bradford, Margaret McMillan’s Report, 1890Report into the health of Children in Bradford, 1907 – Timeline of Public Health over time – Medicine and Treatments c1350-2018 – Themes in Medical History

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