SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



carefully to see that the funds to which they contributed should not be 

 squandered on unworthy objects. 888 



At Bingham a similar effect was produced by somewhat different means. 

 The authorities took upon themselves the entire support of applicants for 

 relief and their families, but insisted on their working at appointed tasks. 

 Such work was not arranged with a view to profit ; the chief object was 

 that it should be somewhat more irksome than was the case with ordinary 

 labour. 289 In this parish also applicants for relief diminished, those desiring 

 outdoor relief from seventy-eight to twenty-seven, and those in the work- 

 house from forty-five to twelve. 290 And whereas previous to the regulation 

 * scarce a night had passed without mischief,' subsequently disturbances 

 almost ceased ; while a circumstance not recorded of Southwell ordinary 

 wages had greatly improved. 291 



Such results certainly seemed to imply that one great source of evil 

 was removed by the introduction of the new Poor Law ; but the state of 

 Nottinghamshire for the next thirty years was far from satisfactory. The 

 increase of population already noted had continued ; it rose 1 5 per cent, 

 in the decade from 1811 to 1821, and 21 per cent, between 1821 and 

 1 83 1. !92 Thus at the latter date there were 225,327 persons, comprised 

 in 47,117 families, in Nottinghamshire. About one quarter of the whole 

 population lived in Nottingham town. How great a preponderance indus- 

 trialism had now gained over agriculture appears in the fact that nearly 

 twice as many families were employed in trade and manufacture as in 

 agriculture. 293 Under these conditions the money panic of 1837 seriously 

 affected the condition of the people. Perhaps the best proof of the depres- 

 sion which marks the period is the fact that though the population increased 

 between 1830 and 1840, the number of persons engaged in trade and 

 manufactures actually decreased. In especial the ever fluctuating lace trade 291 

 was affected. Not only in Nottingham itself, but in the villages round 

 about Basford, Beeston, Radford 296 lace-making was an important industry, 

 and the suffering was intense. In 18378 thousands of families were thrown 

 out of employment, 296 and the wages of workmen remaining in work were 

 reduced 30 per cent., and in some trades much more ; so that, whereas 

 30^. had been a low wage for a man in the bobbin-net trade in 1824, 

 twenty years later 12s. was not uncommon. 297 



For these evils numerous remedies were suggested, statutory and other- 

 wise wages boards, a minimum wage, the limitation of output, the 

 prohibition of the export of lace machinery. This last suggestion was 

 fiercely combated by the machine-makers, who, as has been pointed out, 

 were an important class. Their export trade had been prohibited ever since 

 the reign of William and Mary, but licences to trade had been frequently 

 given, and when these were not obtainable the machine-makers proved very 

 successful in smuggling their goods. This species of commerce the lace 

 manufacturers (themselves very successful in smuggling in their own trade) 

 attacked energetically. A committee was formed in Nottingham and a 



188 Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1831 (1894. ed.), zio, 211. *" Ibid. 189. 



190 Ibid. 193. M1 Ibid. 196-9. M * Population Abstract, 1831. 



*" Population Abstract, 1831. m W. Felkin, Hist, of MaMne-wrougbt Hosiery, &c. 346. 



96 Ibid. 333. " Ibid. 376. 



"' W. Felkin, Acct. of Machine -wrought Hosiery, &c. 



303 



