A cartoon mocking the Poor Law from a publication called The Glorious Working of the Whigs, published in 1836.
‘… we may lie and die in a land of plenty …’
Thomas Henshaw’s demand for redress in the “Hungry 40s”
1841
In early 1841, Thomas Henshaw, who lived in Ilkeston in Derbyshire (part of the Basford Poor Law Union), wrote an uncompromising letter to the Poor Law Commission in London, essentially accusing the local welfare/poor-law officials of leaving him and his family to starve. Thomas was an unemployed framework knitter, a poorly paid trade in decline and an occupational watchword for poverty and desperate living conditions.
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 established the Victorian ‘workhouse system’ and sought to transform welfare by curtailing, or at least restricting, the rights of the able-bodied poor to outdoor relief. It also established a central authority to oversee and ‘supervise’ poor relief across the country. It is to this ‘authority’ that Thomas writes.
He sketches out the position of the family and his inability to earn enough to feed them. He sets the scene by stating that he has ‘…been for A length of time nearly out of employment and now entirely so…’. In his brutal introduction he refers to his wife and children who ‘…have been completely destitute of food since February the 1st to the present time’. This would mean the family had gone without food for some four to five days. The root of his complaint is that he has followed the rules as set out by the 1834 Act, but that local officials, in this case Mr Stotten, the relieving officer, and Mr Bennett, the assistant overseer, had refused to help. Undeterred, Thomas then walks some six miles to see a Mr Radford, who was a magistrate at Smalley, who provided a positive order to Bennett to see Thomas and his family; again Thomas was refused. Here things take a legalistic turn and Thomas quotes from the 54th clause of the 1834 Act which should have ensured Thomas and his family relief as they were destitute. Not to be defeated Henshaw challenged those in charge asking whether he and his family ‘may lie and die in A land of plenty’ and once again used his knowledge and understanding of the system to remind the Commissioners of their obligations in cases of neglect. His reference to the Chadwick circular showed not only an awareness of the circulars and their content but also of Edwin Chadwick, secretary to the Poor Law Commission and one of the architects of the 1834 Act.
Thomas appears as an articulate, well-informed and confident man. He quotes his rights and the law which gives them to him and his family. Living through the ‘Hungry 40s’ the background to his letters speaks to us of the political and economic differences between the rich and poor (even the moderately well-off and the poor) which were enormous. ‘Rights’ were also on the local Basford agenda in the early 1840s – it was a place where active Chartists sought the vote for working men and Henshaw would have been very much aware of this.
What is fascinating here is that it is a letter not about the Victorian poor (which is common) but one written by one of the poorest. He asks for redress not favour, he claims his rights not charity and he is blunt in his assessment of the local authorities whom he finds wanting.
A cartoon mocking the Poor Law from a publication called The Glorious Working of the Whigs, published in 1836.
Gentleman,
I beg leave most humbly to submit my case to you for your consideration and pray that you will aford me redress in my most distresing case - I am a poor Men by trade a frame workknitter and have been for A length of time nearly out of employment and now entirely so,- I have A wife and 3 children and we have been completely destitute of food since February the 1st to the present time – I applied on the 3rd to the relieving officer, Mr Stotten for relief or an order for the union workhouse and he refused to do either – I then applied to Mr Bennett assistant overseer and he refused likewise. I then applied to Mr [Radford] A Magistrate at Smalley who sent A positive order to Mr Bennett to see to my case as I was destitute, according to the 54 clause in the poor law amendment Bill, but still he refuses to allow me any thing so that we may lie and die in A land of plenty – tho I saw A circular sometime ago from Mr Chadwick clark to the poor law commissioners stating you would hold officers responsible for any [bad] consequence arising out of such neglect – Gentlemen I submit my case to you and hope you will aford me that asistance as Speedy as possible my case needs wich will oblige your Humble Servant
Thomas Henshaw.
