Financial Pressures

• The ending of the wars with France (1783-1815) led to greater demands for poor relief.

  • Cheap foreign corn could be imported from Europe, forcing English farmers to keep prices low. This created problems as farmers also had to pay taxes and interest on loans, causing many to go bankrupt, causing unemployment. Even farmers who survived were forced to reduce their labourer's wages.
  • Parliament introduced Corn Laws (1815), which wouldn't allow the import of foreign corn until the price of British corn reached 80 shillings a quarter. Although not the intention, this made the price of bread high.
• The ending of the wars in France (1783-1815) led to greater demands for poor relief.

  • Post-war distress meant more people claimed relief, especially as soldiers were returning home. This meant expenditure on poor relief had reached £8 million per year, 12-13 shillings per person.
  • There was an increase in radical protests, forcing the government to suspend habeas corpus in 1817 and introduce Six Acts in 1819, confirming a policy of repression.
• Swing Riots (1830):

  In over 20 counties, mainly in southern and eastern England, the rural poor burned barns, smashed threshing machines and intimidated their employers. Their demands were mainly for higher wages and the removal of steam-powered threshing machines. All petitions and threats surrounding this were signed 'Captain Swing', giving the impression of an organised revolt under one leader, which wasn't true. Although the government was worried, the riots didn't demonstrate revolutionary intent.