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Introduction

The object of this book is to supply teachers and students of English Economic History with a selection of documents which may serve as illustrations of their subject. It should be read in conjunction with some work containing a broad survey of English economic development, such as, to mention the latest and best example, Professor W.J. Ashley's "The Economic Organization of England."[1] The number of historical "source books" has been multiplied so rapidly in recent years that we ought, perhaps, to apologise for adding one to their number. We ventured to do so because in the course of our work as teachers of Economic History in the University Tutorial Classes organised by the Workers' Educational Association, we found it difficult to refer our students to any single book containing the principal documents with which they ought to be acquainted. That Economic History cannot be studied apart from Constitutional and Political History is a commonplace to which we subscribe; and we are not so incautious as to be tempted into a discussion of what exactly Economic History means. It is sufficient for our purpose that a subject which is called by that name is being increasingly studied by University students, and that while the principal documents of English Constitutional History are available in the works of Stubbs, Prothero, Gardiner and Grant Robertson, there is no book, as far as we know--except Professor Pollard's "The Reign of Henry VII. from Contemporary Sources"--which illustrates English economic development in a similar way. We are far from comparing our own minnow with these Tritons. But it may perhaps do some service till more competent authors take the field. It is hardly necessary for us to apologise for translating our documents into English, and for modernizing the spelling throughout. We are likely not to be alone in thinking that it would be a pity if a passing acquaintance with the materials of mediæval economic history were confined to those who can read Latin and Norman-French.

A word of explanation as to the selection and arrangement of our extracts may perhaps be excused. Our object was not to produce a work of original research, but to help students of economic history to see it more intelligently by seeing it through the eyes of contemporaries. Hence, though a considerable number of our documents are published here for the first time, we have not consciously followed the lure of the unprinted, and have chosen our extracts not because they were new, but because they seemed to illustrate some important aspect of our subject. For the same reason we have not confined ourselves entirely to "documents" in the strict acceptation of that term, but have included selections from such works as Roger of Hoveden, The Libel of English Policy, The Commonweal of this Realm of England, Hakluyt's Voyages, and the Tours of Defoe and Arthur Young, when they seemed to throw light upon points which could not easily be illustrated otherwise. The arrangement of our selections caused us some trouble. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to urge that a document must be studied with reference to its chronological setting; and the simplest plan, no doubt, would have been to print them in strict chronological order. We felt, however, that the work of all but the more expert readers would be lightened if we grouped them under definite, even if somewhat arbitrary, headings of period and subject, and added short bibliographies of the principal authorities. This seemed to involve the writing of short introductory notes to explain the contents of each section, which we have accordingly done. But no one need read them. No one but students beginning the subject will. If an excuse is needed for stopping with the year 1846, we must plead that to end earlier would have been to omit documents of the first importance for the study of modern economic history, and that to continue further would have caused our book to be even more overburdened than it is at present.

That the attempt to produce in one volume a satisfactory selection of documents to illustrate English Economic History from the Norman Conquest to the Repeal of the Corn Laws can hardly be successful, that we have neglected some subjects--taxation, colonization, and foreign trade--and paid excessive attention to others--social conditions, economic policy, and administration--that every reader will look for a particular document and fail to find it, of all this we are sadly conscious. We are conscious also of a more serious, because less obvious, defect. Partly through a pardonable reaction against the influence of economic theorists, partly because of the very nature of the agencies by which historical documents are compiled and preserved, the natural bias of economic historians is to lay a perhaps excessive stress on those aspects of economic development which come under the eyes of the State and are involved in its activity, and to neglect the humbler but often more significant movements which spring from below, to over-emphasize organisation and to under-estimate the initiative of individuals. If a reader of these selections exclaims on putting them down, "How much that is important is omitted!" we can only confess ourselves in mercy and express the hope that they may soon be superseded.

It remains for us to thank those who have helped us with suggestions and criticisms, or by permitting us to reprint extracts from documents already published. We have to acknowledge the kind permission to reprint documents given to us by the Clarendon Press, the Cambridge University Press, the London School of Economics, the Department of Economics of Harvard University, The Royal Historical Society, The Early English Text Society, the Co-operative Union, Ltd., the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office, the Corporation of Norwich, the Corporation of Nottingham, Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench and Trübner, Messrs. Duncker & Humblot, Dr. G. von Schanz, Professor G. Unwin, Professor F.J.C. Hearnshaw, The Rev. Canon Morris, Miss M.D. Harris, Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Hammond and Mr. F.W. Galton. Among those who have assisted us with suggestions or in other ways we must mention Mr. Hubert Hall, Mr. M.S. Giuseppi, Mr. S.C. Ratcliff, all of the Public Record Office, The Ven. Archdeacon Cunningham, Mr. W.H. Stevenson, of St. John's College, Oxford, Mr. A. Ballard, Miss Putnam, Mr. R.V. Lennard, of Wadham College, Oxford, Mr. K. Bell, of All Souls' College, Oxford, Mr. H. Clay, Mr. F.W. Kolthammer, Miss O.J. Dunlop, Miss H.M. Stocks, and Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Hammond. For reading our proofs, or part of them, we are indebted to Mr. E. Barker, of New College, Oxford, Mr. C.G. Crump and Mr. C.H. Jenkinson, of the Public Record Office, Dr. Knowles, of the London School of Economics, and Professor G. Unwin, of the University of Manchester.

We desire especially to express our gratitude to Mr. A.L. Smith, of Balliol College, Oxford, to whose encouragement it was largely due that this book was undertaken, and to Professor Unwin, who has not only read through the whole of it in proof, but by his advice and inspiration has laid us under an obligation that we cannot easily acknowledge.

[Footnote 1: Messrs. Longman Green & Co.]

A.E.B. P.A.B. R.H.T.

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I. 1000-1485

SECTION I

THE EARLY ENGLISH MANOR AND BOROUGH

1. Rights and Duties of All Persons (Rectitudines singularum personarum), c. 1000 5

2. The form of the Domesday Inquest, 1086 9

3. The borough of Dover, 1086 10

4. The borough of Norwich, 1086 11

5. The borough of Wallingford, 1086 13

6. The customs of Berkshire, 1086 15

7. Land of the Church of Worcester, 1086 15

8. The manor of Rockland, 1086 16

9. The manor of Halesowen, 1086 16

10. The manor of Havering, 1086 17

SECTION II

THE FEUDAL STRUCTURE

1. Frankalmoin, temp. Henry II 22

2. Knight Service, 1308 23

3. Grand Serjeanty, 1319 24

4. Petty Serjeanty, 1329 25

5. An action on the feudal incidents due from lands held by petty serjeanty, 1239-40 25

6. Free socage, 1342 26

7. Commutation of a serjeanty for knight service, 1254 27

8. Commutation of service for rent, 1269 27

9. Subinfeudation, 1278 28

10. Licence for the widow of a tenant in chief to marry, 1316 29

11. Marriage of a widow without licence, 1338 30

12. Alienation of land by a tenant in chief without licence, 1273 30

13. Wardship and marriage, 1179-80 30

14. Grant of an heir's marriage, 1320 31

15. Wardship, 1337 31

16. Collection of a carucage, 1198 32

17. An acquittance of the collectors of scutage of a sum of £10 levied by them and repaid, 1319 33

18. Payment of fines in lieu of knight service, 1303 34

19. The assessment of a tallage, 1314 35

20. A writ Precipe, c. 1200 36

21. Articles of enquiry touching rights and liberties and the state of the realm, 1274 36

22. Wreck of sea, 1337 40

SECTION III

THE JEWS

1. Charter of liberties to the Jews, 1201 44

2. Ordinances of 1253 45

3. Expulsion of a Jew, 1253 46

4. Punishment for non-residence in a Jewry, 1270 47

5. Grant of a Jew, 1271 47

6. Ordinances of 1271 48

7. Removal of Jewish communities from certain towns to others, 1275 50

8. Disposition of debts due to Jews after their expulsion, 1290 50

SECTION IV

THE MANOR

1. Extent of the manor of Havering, 1306-7 56

2. Extracts from the Court Rolls of the manor of Bradford, 1349-58 65

3. Deed illustrating the distribution of strips, 1397 76

4. Regulation of the common fields of Wimeswould, c. 1425 76

5. Lease of a manor to the tenants, 1279 79

6. Grant of a manor to the customary tenants at fee farm, ante 1272 81

7. Lease of manorial holdings, 1332 82

8. An agreement between lord and tenants, 1386 84

9. Complaints against a reeve, 1278 84

10. An eviction from copyhold land, temp. Henry IV.-Henry VI 85

11. Statute of Merton, 1235-6 87

12. An enclosure allowed, 1236-7 88

13. An enclosure disallowed, 1236-7 89

14. A villein on ancient demesne dismissed to his lord's court, 1224 89

15. Claim to be on ancient demesne defeated, 1237-8 90

16. The little writ of right, 1390 91

17. Villeinage established, 1225 92

18. Freedom and freehold established, 1236-7 93

19. A villein pleads villeinage on one occasion and denies it on another, 1220 93

20. An assize allowed to a villein, 1225 95

21. A freeman holding in villeinage, 1228 96

22. Land held by charter recovered from the lord, 1227 97

23. The manumission of a villein, 1334 97

24. Grant of a bondman, 1358 98

25. Imprisonment of a gentleman claimed as a bondman, 1447 98

26. Claim to a villein, temp. Henry IV-Henry VI 100

27. The effect of the Black Death, 1350 102

28. Accounts of the Iron Works of South Frith before and after the Black Death, 1345-50 103

29. The Peasants' Revolt, 1381 105

SECTION V

TOWNS AND GILDS

1. Payments made to the Crown by gilds in the twelfth century, 1179-80 114

2. Charter of liberties to the borough of Tewkesbury, 1314 116

3. Charter of liberties to the borough of Gloucester, 1227 119

4. Dispute between towns touching the payment of toll, 1222 121

5. Dispute with a lord touching a gild merchant, 1223-4 123

6. The affiliation of boroughs, 1227 124

7. Bondman received in a borough, 1237-8 125

8. An inter-municipal agreement in respect of toll, 1239 126

9. Enforcement of charter granting freedom from toll, 1416 126

10. Licence for an alien to be of the Gild Merchant of London, 1252 127

11. Dispute between a gild merchant and an abbot, 1304 128

12. Complaints of the men of Leicester against the lord, 1322 131

13. Grant of pavage to the lord of a town, 1328 133

14. Misappropriation of the tolls levied for pavage, 1336 135

15. Ordinances of the White Tawyers of London, 1346 136

16. Dispute between Masters and Journeymen, 1396 138

17. Ordinances of the Dyers of Bristol, 1407 141

18. Incorporation of the Haberdashers of London, 1448 144

19. Indenture of Apprenticeship, 1459 147

20. A runaway apprentice, c. 1425 148

21. Incorporation of a gild for religious and charitable uses, 1447 148

SECTION VI

THE REGULATION OF TRADE, INDUSTRY, AND COMMERCE

1. Assize of Measures, 1197 154

2. Grant to the lord of a manor of the assize of bread and ale and other liberties, 1307 155

3. An offence against the assize of bread, 1316 156

4. Inquisition touching a proposed market and fair, 1252 157

5. Grant of a fair at St. Ives to the abbot of Ramsey, 1202 158

6. Grant of a market at St. Ives to the abbot of Ramsey, 1293 158

7. Proceedings in the court at the fair of St. Ives, 1288 159

8. The Statute of Winchester, 1285 160

9. The recovery of debt on a recognisance, 1293 161

10. Procedure at a fair pursuant to the Statute for Merchants, 1287 162

11. The aulnage of cloth, 1291 163

12. The Ordinance of Labourers, 1349 164

13. Presentments made before the Justices of Labourers, 1351 167

14. Excessive prices charged by craftsmen, 1354 169

15. Fines levied for excessive wages, 1351 169

16. Writ to enforce payment of excess of wages to the collectors of a subsidy, 1350 170

17. Application of fines for excessive wages to a subsidy, 1351-2 171

18. Labour Legislation: the Statute of 12 Richard II, 1388 171

19. Labour Legislation: a Bill in Parliament, 23 Henry VI, 1444-5 176

20. Organisation of the Staple, 1313 178

21. Arguments for the establishment of home staple towns, 1319 180

22. Ordinances of the Staple, 1326 181

23. The election of the mayor and constables of a Staple town, 1358 184

24. Royal letters patent over-ruled by the custom of the Staple, c. 1436 185

25. Prohibition of export of materials for making cloth, 1326 186

26. Commercial policy, temp. Edward IV 187

27. The perils of foreign travel, 1315 188

28. Grant of letters of marque and reprisals, 1447 190

29. Grant of liberties to the merchants of Douai, 1260 192

30. Aliens at a fair, 1270 193

31. Confirmation of liberties to the merchants of Almain, 1280 194

32. Alien weavers in London, 1362 195

33. The hosting of aliens, 1442 197

34. An offence against Stat. 18 Henry VI for the hosting of aliens, 1440 198

35. Imprisonment of an alien craftsman, c. 1440 199

36. Petition against usury, 1376 200

37. Action upon usury, c. 1480 201

SECTION VII

TAXATION, CUSTOMS AND CURRENCY

1. Form of the taxation of a fifteenth and tenth, 1336 204

2. Disposition of a subsidy of tonnage and poundage, 1382 206

3. The king's prise of wines, 1320 206

4. The custom on wool, 1275 207

5. The custom on wine, 1302 208

6. The custom on general imports, 1303 211

7. Administration of the search for money exported, 1303 216

8. Provisions for the currency, 1335 217

9. Opinions on the state of English money, 1381-2 220

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II. 1485-1660

SECTION I

RURAL CONDITIONS

1. Villeinage in the Reign of Elizabeth, 1561 231

2. Customs of the Manor of High Furness, 1576 232

3. Petition in Chancery for Restoration to a Copyhold, c. 1550 234

4. Petition in Chancery for Protection against Breach of Manorial Customs, 1568 241

5. Lease of the manor of Ablode to a Farmer, 1516 245

6. Lease of the Manor of South Newton to a Farmer, 1568 246

7. The Agrarian Programme of the Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536 247

8. The Demands of the Rebels led by Ket, 1549 247

9. Petition to Court of Requests from Tenants Ruined by Transference of a Monastic Estate to lay hands, 1553 251

10. Petition to Court of Requests to stay Proceedings against Tenants Pending the Hearing of their Case by the Council of the North, 1576 254

11. Petition from Freeholders of Wootton Bassett for Restoration of Rights of Common, temp. Charles I 255

12. Petition to Crown of Copyholders of North Wheatley, 1629 258

13. An Act Avoiding Pulling Down of Towns, 1515 260

14. The Commission of Enquiry Touching Enclosures, 1517 262

15. An Act Concerning Farms and Sheep, 1533 264

16. Intervention of Privy Council under Somerset to Protect Tenants, 1549 266

17. An Act for the Maintenance of Husbandry and Tillage, 1597 268

18. Speech in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1597 270

19. Speeches in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1601 274

20. Return to Privy Council of Enclosers furnished by Justices of Lincolnshire, 1637 275

21. Complaint of Laud's Action on the Commission for Depopulation, 1641 276

SECTION II

TOWNS AND GILDS

1. A Protest at Coventry against a Gild's Exclusiveness, 1495 282

2. A Complaint from Coventry as to Inter-Municipal Tariffs, 1498 282

3. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Norwich, 1518 282

4. The Municipal Regulation of Markets at Coventry, 1520 283

5. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Coventry, 1524 284

6. An Act for Avoiding of Exactions taken upon Apprentices in Cities, Boroughs, and Towns Corporate, 1536 284

7. An Act whereby certain Chantries, Colleges, Free Chapels and the Possessions of the same be given to the King's Majesty, 1547 286

8. Regrant to Coventry and Lynn of Gild Lands Confiscated under 1 Edward VI, c. xiv (the preceding Act), 1548 291

9. A Petition of the Bakers of Rye to the Mayor, Jurats, and Council to prevent the Brewers taking their trade, 1575 294

10. Letter to Lord Cobham from the Mayor and Jurats of Rye concerning the Preceding Petition, 1575 295

11. The Municipal Regulation of the Entry into Trade at Nottingham, 1578-9 295

12. The Municipal Regulation of Markets at Southampton, 1587 296

13. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Chester, 1591 296

14. The Company of Journeymen Weavers of Gloucester, 1602 297

15. Petition of Weavers who are not Burgesses, 1604-5 299

16. Extracts from the London Clothworkers' Court Book. 1537-1627 300

17. The Feltmakers Joint-Stock Project, 1611 302

18. The Case of the Tailors of Ipswich, 1615 305

19. The Grievances of the Journeymen Weavers of London, c. 1649 307

SECTION III

THE REGULATION OF INDUSTRY BY THE STATE

1. Proposals for the Regulation of the Cloth Manufacture (temp. Henry VIII) 317

2. Administrative Difficulties in the Regulation of the Manufacture of Cloth, 1537 319

3. An Act Touching Weavers, 1555 320

4. Enactment of Common Council of London as to Age of Ending Apprenticeship, 1556 323

5. William Cecil's Industrial Programme, 1559 323

6. The Statute of Artificers, 1563 325

7. Proposals for the Better Administration of the Statute of Artificers, 1572 333

8. Draft of a Bill Fixing Minimum Rates for Spinners and Weavers, 1593 336

9. Draft Piece-list Submitted for Ratification to the Wiltshire Justices by Clothiers and Weavers, 1602 341

10. An Act empowering Justices to fix Minimum Rates of Payment, 1603-04 342

11. Administration of Acts Regulating the Manufacture of Cloth, 1603 344

12. Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with other than Textile Workers, 1604 345

13. Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with Textile Workers, 1605 351

14. Administration of Wage Clauses of Statute of Artificers, 1605-08 352

15. Administration of Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1607-08 353

16. The Organisation of the Woollen Industry, 1615 354

17. Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1615 356

18. A Petition to Fix Wages Addressed to the Justices by the Textile Workers of Wiltshire, 1623 356

19. Appointment by Privy Council of Commissioners to Investigate Grievances of Textile Workers in East Anglia, 1630 357

20. Report to Privy Council of Commissioners appointed above, 1630 358

21. High Wages in the New World, 1645 360

22. Young Men and Maids ordered to enter Service, 1655 360

23. Request to Justices of Grand Jury of Worcestershire to assess Wages, 1661 361

24. Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1669 361

SECTION IV

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR AND THE REGULATION OF PRICES

1. Regulations made at Chester as to Beggars, 1539 366

2. A Proclamation concerning Corn and Grain to be brought into open Markets to be sold, 1545 367

3. Administration of Poor Relief at Norwich, 1571 369

4. The first Act Directing the Levy of a Compulsory Poor Rate, 1572 372

5. The first Act requiring the Unemployed to be set to Work, 1575-6 373

6. Report of Justices to Council Concerning Scarcity in Norfolk, 1586 373

7. Orders devised by the Special Commandment of the Queen's Majesty for the Relief and Ease of the Present Dearth of Grain within the Realm, 1586 374

8. The Poor Law Act, 1601 380

9. A note of the Grievances of the Parish of Eldersfield, 1618 381

10. Petition to Justices of Wiltshire for Permission to Settle in a Parish, 1618 382

11. Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Cloth-making Counties, 1621-2 382

12. Letter from Privy Council to the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace in the Counties of Suffolk and Essex concerning the Employment of the Poor, 1629 383

13. The Licensing of Badgers in Somersetshire, 1630 385

14. Badgers Licensed at Somersetshire Quarter Sessions, 1630 385

15. The Supplying of Bristol with Grain, 1630-1 385

16. Proceedings against Engrossers and other Offenders, 1631 386

17. Order of Somersetshire Justices Granting a Settlement to a Labourer, 1630-1 386

18. Report of Derbyshire Justices on their Proceedings, 1631 387

19. Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Rutlandshire, 1631 390

20. Judgment in the Star Chamber against an Engrosser of Corn, 1631 391

SECTION V

THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

1. Letters Patent granted to the Cabots by Henry VII, 1496 400

2. The Merchant Adventurers' Case for Allowing the Export of Undressed Cloth, 1514-36 402

3. The Rise in Prices, the Encouragement of Corn growing, and the Protection of Manufactures, c. 1549 404

4. Sir Thomas Gresham on the Fall of the Exchanges, 1558 416

5. The reasons why Bullion is Exported (temp. Eliz.) 419

6. The Italian Merchants Explain the Foreign Exchanges, 1576 420

7. An Act Avoiding divers Foreign Wares made by Handicraftsmen Beyond the Seas, 1562 424

8. An Act Touching Cloth Workers and Cloth Ready Wrought to be Shipped over the Sea, 1566 426

9. Incorporation of a Joint Stock Mining Company, 1568 427

10. An Act for the Increase of Tillage, 1571 428

11. Instructions for an English Factor in Turkey, 1582 431

12. The Advantages of Colonies, 1583 434

13. Lord Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton on the State of Trade, 1587 438

14. A List of Patents and Monopolies, 1603 440

15. Instructions Touching the Bill for Free Trade, 1604 443

16. The Establishment of a Company to export Dyed and Dressed Cloth in place of the Merchant Adventurers, 1616-17 454

17. Sir Julius Cæsar's proposals for Reviving the Trade in Cloths, 1616 460

18. The Grant of a Monopoly for the Manufacture of Soap, 1623 461

19. The Statute of Monopolies, 1623-4 465

20. An Act for the Free Trade of Welsh Cloths, 1623-4 468

21. The Economic Policy of Strafford in Ireland, 1636 470

22. Revocation of Commissions, Patents and Monopolies Granted by the Crown, 1639 472

23. Ordinance establishing an Excise, 1643 475

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III. 1660-1846

SECTION I

INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

1. Defoe's account of the West Riding Cloth Industry, 1724 482

2. Defoe's account of the Woollen Trade (temp. George II) 483

3. Defoe's account of the Corn Trade (temp. George II) 487

4. Defoe's account of the Coal Trade (temp. George II) 491

5. A description of Middlemen in the Woollen Industry, 1739 492

6. Report on the Condition of Children in Lancashire Cotton Factories, 1796 495

7. Newcastle Coal Vend, 1771-1830 497

8. The Old Apprenticeship System in the Woollen Industry, 1806 499

9. A Petition of Cotton Weavers, 1807 500

10. Depression of Wages and its Causes in the Cotton Industry, 1812 501

11. Evidence of the Condition of Children in Factories, 1816 502

12. Change in the Cotton Industry and the Introduction of Power Loom Weaving, 1785-1807 505

13. Evidence by Factory Workers of the Condition of Children, 1832 510

14. Women's and Children's Labour in Mines, 1842 516

15. Description of the Condition of Manchester by John Robertson, Surgeon, 1840 519

SECTION II

AGRICULTURE AND ENCLOSURE

1. Enclosure Proceedings in the Court of Chancery, 1671 525

2. Advice to the Stewards of Estates, 1731 526

3. Procedure for Enclosure by Private Act, 1766 528

4. Farming in Norfolk, 1771 530

5. A Petition against Enclosure, 1797 531

6. Extracts on Enclosure from the Surveys of the Board of Agriculture, 1798-1809 532

7. Arthur Young's Criticism of Enclosure, 1801 536

8. Enclosure Consolidating Act, 1801 537

9. General Enclosure Act, 1845 541

SECTION III

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WAGES, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1. An Act against Truck, 1701 545

2. A Wages Assessment at a Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1738 546

3. Spitalfields Weavers Act, 1773 547

4. A Middlesex Wages Assessment under the Spitalfields Act, 1773 551

5. Agricultural Labourers' Proposals for a Sliding Scale of Wages, 1795 552

6. Debates on Whitbread's Minimum Wage Bill, 1795-6 554

7. Arbitration Act for the Cotton Industry, 1800 568

8. Amendment of the Arbitration Act, 1804 570

9. The First Factory Act, 1802 571

9 A. Minutes of Committee on Children in Factories 573

10. Calico Printers' Petition for Regulation, 1804 573

11. Report on Calico Printers' Petition, 1806 574

12. Cotton Weavers' Petition against the Repeal of 5 Elizabeth, c. 4, 1813 576

13. Debates on the Regulation of Apprentices, 1813-14 577

14. Resolutions of the Watchmakers on Apprenticeship, 1817 588

15. Report of the Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818 590

16. The Cotton Factory Act of 1819 591

17. Oastler's First Letter on Yorkshire Slavery, 1830 592

18. Factory Act, 1833 594

19. Proposals for a Wages Board for Hand-Loom Weavers, 1834 596

20. Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1842 598

21. Debate on Factory Legislation, 1844 599

22. Factory Act, 1844 612

23. Recommendations of the Commission on the Health of Towns, 1845 614

SECTION IV

COMBINATIONS OF WORKMEN

1. A Strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers, 1696-99 619

2. A Petition of Master Tailors against Combination among the Journeymen, 1721 622

3. A Dispute in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Industry, 1765 625

4. Sickness and Unemployment Benefit Clubs among the Woolcombers, 1794 626

5. Combination Act, 1799 626

6. Combination Act, 1800 627

7. The Scottish Weavers' Strike, 1812 631

8. The Repeal of the Combination Acts, 1824 633

9. A Prosecution of Strikers under the Common Law of Conspiracy, 1810 635

10. An Act Revising the Law affecting Combinations, 1825 636

11. The Conviction of the Dorchester Labourers, 1834 638

12. An Address of the Working Men's Association to Queen Victoria, 1837 641

13. A Chartist Manifesto on the Sacred Month, 1839 642

14. The Rochdale Pioneers, 1844 643

SECTION V

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

1. Settlement Law, 1662 647

2. Defoe's Pamphlet "Giving Alms no Charity," 1704 649

3. The Workhouse Test Act, 1722 650

4. Gilbert's Act, 1782 652

5. Speenhamland "Act of Parliament," 1795 655

6. The Workhouse System, 1797 657

7. Two Varieties of the Roundsman System of Relief, 1797 660

8. Another Example of the Roundsman System, 1808 660

9. A Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1834 661

10. The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 663

11. Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order, 1844 664

SECTION VI

FINANCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

1. Act abolishing Tenure by Knight Service, etc., 1660 670

2. Navigation Act, 1660 670

3. Proposals for Free Exportation of Gold and Silver, 1660 671

4. An Attack on the Navigation Act, c. 1663 672

5. Free Coinage at the Mint Proclaimed, 1666 674

6. The East India Company and the Interlopers, 1684 675

7. Foundation of the Bank of England, 1694 676

8. The Need for the Recoinage of 1696 677

9. Speech by Sir Robert Walpole on the Salt Duties, 1732 678

10. Pitt's Sinking Fund Act, 1786 679

11. The Suspension of Cash Payments, 1797 681

12. Pitt's Speech on the Income Tax, 1798 683

13. Foreign Trade in the early Nineteenth Century, 1812 689

14. Debate on the Corn Laws, 1815 692

15. The Corn Law of 1815 697

16. Free Trade Petition, 1820 698

17. The Foundation of the Anti-Corn-Law League, 1839 701

18. The Bank Charter Act, 1844 702

19. Debate on the Corn Laws, 1846 705

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