The intention of this document is to report on life in Manchester in the Industrial Revolution, using only written sources from the time (official reports and statistics, textual information from doctors and other professional persons, general information in newspapers, etc.). This has never been done before. The period investigated is from 1841 to 1851, in which the amount of official documentation increased considerably, and thus made this project possible.

The project has been successful, as a number of interesting data have been found, which do not appear in text books. These data may well affect the “image” that we have of Manchester. The totality of information collected should make it clear that there was a great distance between different segments of the working classes, as to incomes and housing/sanitary conditions.

It should be noted that life for the working classes in Manchester in 1841-1851 was much easier than in earlier decades. In those earlier times, the working day was much longer (more than 12 hours for adults and children), the physical force required from the human being was much more (the men who pushed the mules for finer threads, retired at maximal 30 years, and afterwards could not do any physical work), and the small children were horribly overworked (around 1820, young girls died of overwork before reaching puberty).

Further, the leisure possibilities reported by Mr. Reach of the Morning Chronicle in 1849, were considerably better than those of 1840-1846. This was due to the Ten Hours Act of 1847, which reduced the working day from twelve to ten hours. The working classes could now: clean their houses each day (“before, I just did not the strength to do it”), learn to read and write, and take part in cultural activities. But they had had time before 1847, to work in the political activities in support of the Anti-Corn Law League, the Ten Hours Bill, and the People’s Charter!

We should also put aside some facile beliefs:

The fact that the workers and their families lived in small houses with insufficient drainage and sanitary equipment, does not mean that they were all badly paid. It means that this situation was what there was, caused by the extreme density of the housing and very rapid growth of the town. The cotton workers particularly had wages of about 30 – 33 shillings per family per week (in the theoretical case that they used the money to buy only meat, that would be 50 pounds weight). There is no statement from the period 1800 to 1850, that the cotton workers were poor or suffering (only in the Depression of 1838-1842).

The fact that many of the workers lived in horrible housing, and thus that they gave an impression of being poor, does not mean that they could not have cultural or political interests. About 2,500 workers were members of Mechanics’ Institutes and Lyceums in Manchester.

The fact that the death rate in Manchester was over 3.0 % p. a. does not mean that the majority of the people died due to the insanitary cnditions. Half of the deaths were of children under 5 years old, and these, at least the half died because the mothers put them in hands of children of 8 to 10 years old (aprox.), because they had to be working in the factory; another segment died from being given opiate “cordials” or dangerous medicines by druggists.

The other half of the death statistics was of adults of whom the “cohorts” died off slowly. The young persons and adults in the “cohorts” from 5 to 40 years had a mortality rate of 1.0 % to 1.8 % each year.

The fact that in Manchester, there was a fairly large number of very poor people, does not mean that their presence and their condition were caused by the Industrial Revolution. The Irish, who were a large part of the poverty question, and who did a lot of informal work, were in Manchester because in front of Liverpool (which is close to Manchester) was a large island with many poor people, who decided to emigrate to England. The Irish and the criminal classes and the persons who had no fixed employment, were not necessary for the manufacturing processes and the service industries.

The workers were not uniformly bad people. But a large percentage were not used to a town life, and to constant work. Many did not save money, did drink a great deal, and had unhygienic circumstances in their houses. These were often Irish from the poorer parts of Ireland, or English persons from poor country regions who had recently arrived. The majority of the working classes (men and women), were hard-working people who wanted a life with enough food and good housing etc.

This document shows that the working-class (plus the non-workers) in Manchester in 1841-1851, can be divided into three blocks:

• The direct workers in the cotton mills (spinners, weavers, dressers, and overlookers) with their wives and children, and the specialised workers in the engineering companies;
• Semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the cotton mills, services (food, clothing and shoes, building, road works, etc.), the wives would be “taking in other people’s washing”, and the wives and daughters could be domestic servants;
• Informal jobs (Irish!), unemployed, criminal classes and prostitutes.

The first block would have been living in the suburbs (Hulme, Ardwick, Chorlton-upon-Medlock), or in the best houses in the Township. The second block would have been  living in the average houses in the Township and Salford. The third block would have been living in houses with little or no furniture and inexistent drainage, or sleeping in common-lodging houses or in a bed in a charitable institution.

The first block and part of the second block were the people who went to concerts and/or sang in choirs, were members of Mechanics’ Institutes, read a lot of books, took part in charitable organisations and/or made donations, and took part in political fund-raising or meetings.

But we also have to, as it were, draw a vertical line through the second block. This would divide the “disciplined” and the “wasters”, as defined in the section of “Working Population” That is, between those who spend less than their wages and thus have enough food and a decent life, and those who spend all of their wages (drink!) and thus do not eat well and have little furniture.

The “waster” part of the second block, plus the third block, are those who give the negative image of the working classes in Manchester. But they are not 100 %!

In 1842, there were 12 horse-drawn omnibus routes, from Market-street to the suburbs, and return.

There were eight hackney coach stands in the centre of the town.

There were termini of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Water-street), of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway (London-road), and the Manchester and Leeds Railway (Oldham-road). ^2.67

“The private carriages in Manchester and Salford numbered 1,009, drawn by 1,300 horses. There were 64 omnibuses, drawn by 387 horses; 974 horses for riding, and 2,108 draught horses; 187 hackney coaches and cabs, drawn by 408 horses—making a total of 1,260 public and private vehicles, drawn by 3,877 horses.” ^2.68

In 1842, there were 8 Fire Engines with 44 firemen. According to Mr. Love, the establishment was perhaps the most effective in the kingdom; his description of the equipment and organization extends to 4 pages. ^2.69

Return of the Number of persons apprehended ^2.62

Year	Taken into Custody
1841	13,345
1842	8,841
1843	12,147
1844	10,702
1845	9,635
1846	7,629
1847	6,587
1848	6,477
1849	4,687
1850	4,578
1851	4,890

^2.62 Chadwick, 1861, Table No. 20, p. 28.

Offenses, Manchester, 1850 ^2.63

Offenses		Male	Female	Total
Manslaughter		12	0	12
Common assault		426	89	515
Assault on Police Constables		137	4	141
Burglary		20	4	24
Breaking into Dwelling-houses, etc.		57	3	60
Robbery from the Person		72	18	90
Larceny in Dwelling-houses, etc.		385	227	612
Larceny from the Person		113	210	323
Larceny by Servants		50	57	107
Larceny, miscellaneaous		172	36	208
Pawning or disposing of Property illegally		29	31	60
Persons having property, supposed to be stolen		80	28	108
Wilful damage		92	56	148
Drunk and incapable		239	34	273
Drunk and incapable, Breach of the Peace		415	89	504
Sober and creating a Breach of the Peace		68	17	85
Vagrants, disorderly Prostitutes		0	197	197
Vagrants, reputed thieves and suspicious characters		289	92	381
(smaller numbers)		603	127	730
TOTAL		3,259	1,298	4,578

^2.63 House of Commons, Accounts and Papers, Statement of Crime, Manchester, Taken into Custody, 1850, p. 182 [Google = “Manchester, Statements of Crime, 1850”]

[The document of the House of Commons for 1851 is not findable]

“The lower classes of the workers in Manchester found time and money enough, to go to drinking saloons, beer-shops and “dram-shops” (gin-palaces). Benjamin Love reports that in 1840, from own investigation and from a report published by an academic institution, “in all our large towns, the principal taverns and gin palaces have now attached to them spacious saloons, in which, four or five evenings a week, and principally on the Sunday, the operatives assemble in crowds to listen to vocal and instrumental music, generally speaking, of superior character. Those who spend a certain amount in liquor have admission free, so that the expenses, which are large, must, of course, be amply covered by increased custom, i.e. from those who go there for the music and not for the drink.  The number of such places of resort in Manchester and Salford is upwards of fifty, which display themselves in all directions at an average of not more than a quarter of a mile’s distance from each other. Reckoning one hundred persons at a time in each place, would give five thousand, principally young people of both sexes, nightly exposed to these contaminating influences. The nature of the scenes sometimes enacted, and the effects upon the character of those who frequent them, may be readily imagined”. ^2.64

^2.64 Love, 1842, pp. 144-146

These expenses often impacted the family budget: “Beer shots are considered debts of honour.” The operative paid these first, before giving the rest of his salary to his wife, to cover the weekly expenses. One of the mills made the Saturday payment of the week’s salary to the workers in large amounts of small change, so that the worker would not have the excuse to go to the nearest public house “to change the large coins”.

The male workers also had the time, energy, and money to frequent prostitutes. Quantitative and descriptive data come from a report written by a Mr. William Logan, a “City Missionary”, i.e. a Christian social worker, in his book. ^2.65

Mr. Logan gives his estimate of the size of the “industry” in Leeds and Glasgow (“only the third-class houses”):

^2.65 Logan, William, “An Exposure from Personal Observation of Female Prostitution in London, Leeds and Rochdale and especially in the City of Glasgow”, 1843

But we must not forget the other side of the equation. Many of the women in prostitution had miserable lives. Some were prostitutes by choice, but many were workers in badly-paid jobs, or in times of reduced work possibilities, and who had to “go on the street” in order to eat.

“The police report, for the year ending December 31, 1843, states that the number of brothels in Manchester (within the police limits, containing a population of 235,139), is 330. The number of bedrooms is 722, and these contain 973 beds. The number of prostitutes living in these brothels is 701. But these numbers give a very inadequate idea of the extent of prostitution, for there is certainly a large number of females who work in factories, and also, of dress-makers, umbrella-stichers, stock, cravat, and shirt sempstresses, &c., who resort to this practice, to eke out the deficiencies of their ill-remunerated labour. If we suppose that these are only as numerous as the professed prostitutes – the result would be 1,444 – a number, which, accords very nearly with Mr. Logan’s estimate. From information, which he states he had derived from the Manchester Town Missionaries, and which was corroborated by a medical gentleman who had paid particular attention to the subject, he gives 1,500 as the number of prostitutes in Manchester, at a probable cost to our town of £470,000 per annum! (*) And, out of this number, he estimates that at least 250 are annually cut off by intemperance and disease. He affirms the average duration of a life of prostitution is not more than six years. In London, Mr. Logan thinks, there may be about 15,000 of this unfortunate class – in Liverpool, 2,000; in Hull, 300; and in Paisley, 250.”

(*) £ 7 per adult male client per annum! ^2.66

^2.66 Faucher, 1844, p. 42, footnote 18, added by the translator, a native of Manchester

“But Mr. Logan has omitted one feature, which I am convinced, is a powerful cause in extending prostitution. I mean seasons of commercial distress, when trade becomes paralysed – the mills closed – and honest labour denied an honest livelihood. During the last panic, the increase of prostitutes was enormous; and it was impossible for a resident to be ignorant that this increase was owing to the awful destitution which then existed. In seasons of prosperity, this class is contracted to the professed prostitutes, whose dress and demeanour declare all too plainly their vocation; but in seasons of distress, the homely garb and timorous deportment of a large number of females, tell, in language not to be mistaken, that the increase consists of females who are driven to walk the pavement for a livelihood.”

(op. cit., p. 43, continuation of footnote 18)

The Factories Act 1847 restricted the working hours of women and young persons (13-18) to 10 hours per day; it did not explicitly define a figure for the men. But as the men could not work without the women and young persons, this meant that they would be working 60 hours per week, reduced from 69 hours per week. BUT THE WEEKLY WAGES WERE REDUCED IN PROPORTION TO THE HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED.

see David Chadwick, Tables (N), (O), (P))

Mr. Angus Reach interviewed more than 100 workers (men and women) on the subject of the Ten Hours Act; below we have what he thought were the most representative comments. Only two people were against. ^2.59

MEN

1. Prefers ten hours, and for two reasons – on account of the time it gives the children to be educated, and on account of the additional time, which it gives women, especially mothers, to be at home. Would have been a different man himself if he had schooling when he was young. But he worked fourteen hours a day before he was ten years of age. 2. Likes the ten hours fine. Thinks it’s better for trade than twelve; because if they’d been working twelve last summer, they would be working regular short time now. 3. Thinks the Ten Hours Bill a blessed thing to poor people. They have time now to clean themselves and their houses, which they hadn’t time to do before – they were so tired. 4. Hopes the great people in Lunnon will not allow that relay system to go on, for it’s very tyrrannous to the poor.  5. Would like, of course, that his wages be kept the same, but thinks it wouldn’t be reasonable – like to accept as much for working ten hours as for working twelve. 6. If he must tell his opinion, would say that he is for the Ten Hours Bill, because he considers ten hours long enough for any man to labour. His health is better since the ten hours and he has more energy to do soommut of an evening. All the workpeople who dare tell you what they think will say as he says. 7. Was a great deal better and a great deal happier since the ten hours. 8. Could write his name now, which he has learned since the ten hours. His mother used also to be pressing him to go to school, but he never could see that he had time for it until the ten hours. 9. Was all for ten hours. Would be very pleased if he could have the old wages, but the additional time and comfort at home was pretty nigh worth the money. 10. Went to night school since the ten hours to learn writing, which he wanted to learn very much. Would not go back to the twelve hours for anything. He thinks that change did good and hears that the brewers are complaining that haven’t so much custom as they had. (This piece of information is very apocryphal).  11. The Ten Hours bill disappointed them very much in the wages; but even if it never gave them more than they had, would prefer it to the twelve hours.

WOMEN

1. The Ten Hours Bill was the greatest thing that ever came into operation. Every woman in the shed (the weaving room) willtell you the same as me. Thinks everybody in the mill prefers the ten hours, all but one man. 2. Can do her washing now, which she always put out before, and saves money that way. The Ten Hours Bill is a good thing, and she’ll always say so. 3. Has learned crotchet work, “a many patterns”, since the Ten Hours Bill. Thinks it a great improvement, for she has time to do lots of things about the house she couldn’t look at before. 4. Goes to a night school to learn writing sine the Ten Hours Bill and likes it very much (copy book produced). 5. Makes her own dresses, “polkas y visites as smart as you like”. Would decidedly not go back to the twelve hours, even though she did make more money then than now. 6. Likes the ten hours very much, because she does her housework after she gets home. Her place is much more comfortable than it was before, and she is glad to say that her husband thinks so too. 7. Believes that ten hours work a day is enough for any Christian. At least it’s enough for her and don’t care who knows it. 8. Likes ten hours better than the old plan, because it gives more time to look abouther before she goes to bed at night. 9. Was too much knocked-up in the twelve hours time to do any housework; but it’s quite different now and hopes it may continue. 10. Is sure it’s a great blessing to a woman to get home to her children sooner than she used. All the women in her street are for the ten hours.

^2.59 Reach, “Morning Chronicle”, pp. 113-126, here pp. 117-119

The Inspector of Factories and the Sub-Inspectors interviewed 1,153 persons in October 1848, with respect to their opinions on the Ten Hours Act. 713 persons  (62 %) preferred ten hours’ work; 147 (12 %) preferred 11 hours work; 293 (26 %) preferred 12 hours’ work.

The sales of books in bookshops did not increase, as might have been supposed.

The number of copybooks [exercise books] sold increased considerably, which caused a decrease in the price. The number of adults attending night schools increased materially    [i. e. these people were learning to read and write]

Mr. Reach received, through a committee of defence of the Ten Hours Act, a report of the new activities the workers had taken up in their new free time (March, April, May 1848). ^2.60

Heywoods, Lancashire“ … and to show how they are spending their time, they have got a number of gardens. Where there was one previously, there are ten now, and the people take great delight to spend their time in these gardens, not to labour, but as recreation.”  Astley Bridge “There are a school and library established here. The school is open three nights a week and last quarter it had 25 members beside the committee, chiefly operatives. The piece hands have not felt the reduction of time much. The females attend more to their domestic duties, and the men are more comfotable than before.”  Burnley             “The young people are generally employing their leisure years very profitably; many adults employ their leisure time in cultivating land or gardens. Wages have fallen about 1s 6d except in the mills where the machinery is rapid. Females have attended better to their domestic duties and the men have in consequence been more comfortable.”  Staleybridge             “The men are often employed instructing their fellow-labourers or cultivating small plots of ground. The women are more engaged in their households. The weekly hands have only ten hours pay, piece hand are getting more money, according to the time, than they used to earn.”  Preston             “One mill here has piecers who go to work in it for two hours, after having worked in other mills for ten. Many of the people their two hours in schools, one of which is attended by 300. A great improvement has taken place in the health of the workpeople, and a vast number have learned the arts of reading and writing; and the improvements in the homes of many factory workers would not be believed, except by those who were well acquainted with the facts.”

^2.60 Reach, “Morning Chronicle”, pp. 113-126, here pp. 122-123

“As I was anxious to ascertain the actual effect of the cutting down of time, and consequently of wages, upon the physical comforts of millhands, I applied to a great many butchers, to know whether the sale of meat had materially fallen off since the short time commenced. The universal answer, which without a single exception, I received, was in the affirmative. The sale of meat fell in a marked manner immediately after the Ten Hours Bill came into operation, and has not, or only in a very slight degree, rallied. Yet meat has been cheaper by 1d and 1 ½ d per lb. “The Ten Hours Bill” said one butcher, “cuts at the luxuries of the poor, and the principal of these luxuries is meat.” “Families”, said another, “that used to buy four pounds a week, now but only two or three. They say that they must have tea and sugar, and bread, and they must pay their rent and get clothing, and then they have nothing left for the butcher.” ^2.61

^2.61 Reach, “Morning Chronicle”, pp. 113-126, here p. 126

The Corn Laws were import tariffs, which increased the price of imported wheat to the population, and thus allowed the landowners to sell their domestic wheat at a higher price than would normally have been the case.

The League (ACLL) was operated principally by the middle classes, and was founded in Manchester in 1839.

It was a high-volume operation, in 1843 nine million tracts were distributed; it had a large funding base as it “worked for” the industrial companies, who wanted cheap bread for their employees, which would then be content with lower wages. It was the first national lobbying group.

“A great Anti-Corn Law Bazaar was held at the Theatre Royal, which had been fitted up for the purpose. The proceeds amounted to £9,000.” ^2.49

“A petition, praying for a repeal of the Corn Laws, was despatched to London, signed by 75,000 women, and at the same time 1,300 other petitions were sent, emanating from as many different companies in the town.” ^2.50

^2.49 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, January 1842, p. 216.

^2.50 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, February 1842, pp. 216-217.

Herr Kohl had letters of introduction to the leaders of the League, was received by them in their offices, and was very impressed by the efficiency of their high-volume operation.

“George Wilson and other well known leaders of the League, who were assembled in the committee-room, received me as a stranger, with much kindness and hospitality, readily answering all my questions, and making me acquainted with all their operations. I could not help asking myself whether in Germany, men, who attacked, with such talent and energy, the fundamental laws of the state, would not have been long ago shut up in some gloomy prison, as conspirators and traitors, instead of being permitted to carry out their operations thus freely and boldly in the broad light of day; and secondly, whether in Germany, such men would ever to admit a stranger into all their secrets with such frank and open cordiality.” ^2.51

“They have committees of working men for the more thorough dissemination of their doctrines among the lower classes, and committees of ladies to procure the co-operation of women.” ^2.52

“All the publications of the League are not only written, but printed, bound, and published, at the League-rooms in Market-street, Manchester. I went through the various rooms where these operations were carried on, until I came at last to the great League Depôt, where books, pamphlets, letters, newspapers, speeches, tracts, and wafers, were all piled in neat packets of muslin and calico, in the great warehouses of Manchester.” ^2.53

^2.51 Kohl, p. 143

^2.52 Kohl, p. 144

^2.53 Kohl, p. 145

The ACLL was successful in its task, as the Corn Laws were abolished by Peel in 1846.

“A grand fancy dress ball, in aid of the funds for the formation of public baths and wash-houses in Manchester, was held in the Free Trade Hall. The display was very picturesque and made a great impression.” ^2.54

“A grand fancy dress ball, in aid of the funds for the formation of public baths and wash-houses in Manchester, was held in the Free Trade Hall. The display was very picturesque and made a great impression.” ^2.54

“The Anti-Corn-Law Bazaar, held in the Free Trade Hall, began October 15, and continued for several days. The articles sold were the remains of the great bazaar held in London, at Covent Garden Theatre. The proceeds were devoted to the £100,000 fund.” ^2.55

^2.55 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, December 1845, p. 234.

“The repeal of the Corn Laws was commemorated by a general holiday and an immense procession, followed by great festivities and an illumination.“

^2.55 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, August 1846, p. 238

“A great banquet was held at the Free Trade Hall, to celebrate the triumph of the Anti-Corn-Law League.” ^2.56

^2.56 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, January 1848, p. 243.

“A banquet was held at the Free Trade Hall, January 31, in celebration of the final repeal of the Corn Laws. Upwards of three thousand persons were present, including twenty Members of Parliament and two hundred merchants and persons of influence.      Mr. George Wilson presided.” ^2.57

^2.57 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, January 1849, p. 249.

“In consequence of fears that the Conservative Government would resort to Protectionist measures, a meeting of the Council of the Anti-Corn-Law League was held in Newall’s Buildings, March 2. Mr. G. Wilson was in the chair, and the subscriptions promised amounted to £27,520.

A meeting of the Council of the League was held in Newall’s Buildings, March 2. Mr. George Wilson presided, and it was resolved to reconstitute the Anti-Corn Law League, under the rules and regulations by which that body was formerly organised, and £27,700 was subscribed, within half-an-hour, by the meeting towards carrying out the objects of the revived league.” ^2.58

^2.58 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, March 1852, p. 260

There were three large public activities in the country, which had an important effect on Manchester.

The agitation of the Chartists, to have the People’s Charter accepted by the Government.

The abrogation of the Corn Laws, finally carried out in 1846.

The Ten Hours Act of 1847.

Chartism

This movement, which was focussed on a change in the laws on voting (and particularly on universal male suffrage), was a reaction to the failure of the 1832 Reform Act, to open the possibility of voting for the working classes.

The Six Demands of the Chartists were:

Universal Manhood suffrage (voting rights for all men over 21)

Equal-sized electoral constituencies

Voting by secret ballot

Abolition of property qualifications for Members of Parliament

Payment of salaries to MPs (allowing non-wealthy individuals to serve)

Annual parliamentary elections

The Chartist movement was basically formed and advanced by working class persons (male and female), who were particularly interested in having voting rights for at least a part of the working class. It had a maximum of 50,000 active members, with 400 branches. It published the newspaper “The Northern Star” in Manchester, with a circulation of 40,000. There were mass meetings on open spaces, for example 150,000 on Kerstal Moor, at the outskirts of Manchester.

“Women played a significant part in Chartism. Although the Charter failed to include women in its demand for the vote, many female Chartists were active as speakers, organisers and demonstrators in support of the cause. In places such as Ashton-under-Lyne and Carlisle, women accounted for one in five signatories to the first Chartist petition, presented to Parliament in 1839, and there may have been as many as two hundred female Chartist organisations.”

www.Chartistancestors.co.uk , Chartist women

The name comes from the “People’s Charter” which was signed by 1,200,000 persons in 1838, requesting Parliament to make changes in the electoral laws, in the direction of the points noted above. The document was physically presented at the entrance to the House of Commons in July 1839, but the Members of Parliament – by a majority – refused to consider it.

In July 1840, the National Charter Association was established in Manchester, to combine the activities of the individual local groups. On the 4^th May 1842, a second petition of three million signatures was presented to Parliament, but rejected by the Members of Parliament. At this stage, the requirements of the members of the Chartist movement were increased to include emergency financial measures to correct the decrements in purchasing power, and thus make possible less hunger.

“The Chartist demonstration held on Kersal Moor was estimated by the Northern Star to have been attended by half a million people. This was, of course, a gross exaggeration, but it was larger than its predecessor of Sept. 25, which was said to number 300,000.” ^2.45

^2.45 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, December 1839, p. 208.

“The strike for the People’s Charter began in the Ashton, Stalybridge, Dukinfield and Hyde area near Manchester on Monday 8 August 1842 following Chartist-led public meetings held between 26 July and 7 August and following a turnout of Bayley Brothers’ cotton factory workers in Stalybridge over a wage reduction on Friday 5 August. From the start the aim of the strike was to pressurise the government into enacting the People’s Charter by a forceful display of public opinion. However a second aim was to obtain a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, and there were divisions over these aims among the original Chartist leaders of the strike. The strike was taken by the Ashton and Stalybridge turnouts to Manchester on Tuesday 9 August. It was spread to Bolton, Rochdale, Stockport, Oldham, Bury, Preston, Blackburn, Glossop and many other towns ranging geographically through Southeast Lancashire, Northeast Cheshire, Northwest Derbyshire and North Lancashire.

The strike was spread by crowds marching from town to town turning out the workers in the factories and workshops and pulling out the plugs of the steam boilers which powered the factories to temporarily disable the machinery. From this drawing of the boiler plugs by the turnouts the strike gained its contemporary name of the ‘Plug Plot’, which emphasised the view of many contemporaries that the strike had been planned in advance by either the Anti-Corn Law League (ACLL) or the Chartists. The strike was also spread by delegate missions performed by six of the original leaders of the strike in the Ashton and Stalybridge area. Working people in many different occupations took part in the strike. These included not only factory operatives but also handloom weavers, skilled artisans, engineers, labourers and miners. Trades delegate conferences sat in Manchester from Thursday 11 to Saturday 20 August and declared in favour of the aim of the strike being the enactment of the People’s Charter. During this time the strike throughout the Northwest was overwhelmingly for the enactment of the People’s Charter. From around Saturday 20 August the civil and military authorities began to regain control. The return to work in many places began soon after 20 August, with those who remained on strike, in some cases up to October, merely calling for higher wages..” ^2.46

Attempts to separate wage demands from the Charter were soundly defeated – with 120 votes in favour of a resolution that explicitly linked the two. Of the 85 delegates who spoke or indicated their constituencies’ views, 58 were for the Charter, seven for making this a struggle for wages alone, 19 had been instructed to abide by the decision of the conference, and one had no mandate.

“The distress in the manufacturing district led to a great strike. Thousands of men flocked into Manchester, August 9, with banners and bludgeons, and for three days turned the workpeople out of the mills. On the 12th there was a meeting of 358 Chartist delegates of the factory districts held at Manchester, when 320 voted for the continuance of the strike until the Charter was repealed. Another meeting was held on the l5th, and on the 16th the delegates were dispersed by the police. The original reason for this gathering was the completion of a monument to Henry Hunt.” (9 to 16 August, 1842) ^2.47

^2.46 www.ChartistAncestors.co.uk , General Strike 1842

^2.47 Axon, “The Annals of Manchester”, p. 218.

“A Chartist meeting was held on Sunday, April 16, at Smithfield [Manchester], and was said to have been attended by 100,000 persons. On the 17^th it was stated in the National Convention that the Chartist petition from Manchester had received 170,000 signatures.” ^2.48

PICTURE

Chartist Meeting, Kennington Common, London, 1848

^2.48 Axon, Annals of Manchester, April 1848, p. 245

The original mistake was the construction of many new mills in the North, which cost 8 million Pounds, and required the employment of 87,000 additional workers, plus their families, to utilize the capacity. This orchestrated a glut in the market. Then, failures of American banks decreased the liquidity in the country, and made it impossible to import cotton in the same quantities as in the previous years. The American Government increased tariffs on manufactured goods for 20 % to 30 %, so as to protect their cotton industries in Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Several countries in Europe followed this policy, which hit the exports of woven goods by England. In another dimension, due to the bad harvests in 1839, 1840, 1842, 1843, the price of wheat reached 66s. 5d. the quarter. Wages decreased by from 20 % to 25 %. It was necessary to import wheat; this required the Bank of England to use part of their gold reserves. But this had the effect of reducing the money in circulation, and therefore a number of companies fell into bankruptcy.

The proportion of paupers rose from 380 per 10,000 population in 1840 to 700 per 10,000 in 1843 (industrial regions). The proportion of marriages in industrial areas decreased from 1,783 per 100,000 males in 1839, to 1,545 per 100,000 in 1842. Emigration, which was 90,000 in 1840, rose to 118,000 in 1841 and 128,000 in 1842. The real effect on the people is reported by a Mr. Ashton, as in the paragraph below.

“Mr. A. S. Ashton, of Belmont Park, Leeds, gives several interesting facts about the state of trade in Lancashire and elsewhere in 1841. He says: “There were 2,000 houses empty in Preston in 1841, and in spite of the Corn Laws the farmers were badly off; the labourers were poor — so poor that they were driven to desperation, so that there were in one and a half years 300 to 400 incendiary fires, destroying corn and hay ricks. In Leeds, in 1841, there were 20,000 persons whose average earnings were under 1/- a week. In Birmingham, one-fifth of the population were in receipt of parochial relief. In Birmingham many of the masters were near ruin. The state of Paisley was a source of alarm to Sir Robert Peel. In Manchester 12,000 families, after having pawned every article of furniture and of dress with which they could possibly dispense, were supported by voluntary contributions. In the winter of 1842 the state of things in Bolton was terrible. As many as 1,500 houses in the borough were unoccupied. The earnings of 1,000 families averaged only 1/- per head per week ; more than half the beds in their possession were filled with straw, and they had among them 466 blankets — not quite one to every ten persons — whilst only one-half could boast the humble luxury of a change of linen.”” ^2.41

In Manchester, there was an extreme decrease in wages, and particularly in employment. This lead to a great deal of hunger. People died from starvation. We know that, because the physician to the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, Dr. Richard Baron Howard wrote a study on these cases: ^2.42

^2.41 Mrs. Jane Cobden Unwin, The Hungry Forties, Life under the Bread Tax, 1904, pp. 201-202.

^2.42 An Inquiry into the Morbid Effects of Deficiency of Food; chiefly with reference to their occurrence amongst the destitute poor, also practical observations on the treatment of such cases (1839).

There is a statistical report of the sufferings of the persons who had very little to eat: ^2.43

And an analysis by years from Mr. Tougan-Baranowsky, which shows that the effects were at a maximum in the industrial counties in 1839/1840, measuring by the death rate, and in 1840/1841/1842, measuring by commitments to trial (we suppose, particularly for robbery). ^2.44

Year             Agricultural Counties                     Industrial Counties                               Total England

	Deaths	Committ to Trial	Poor Law Relief	Deaths	Committ to Trial	Poor Law Relief	Deaths	Committ to Trial	Poor Law Relief
	Per 10,000	Per 100,000	Pounds/ inhab.	Per 10,000	Per 100,000	Pounds/ inhab.	Per 10,000	Per 100,000	Pounds/ inhab.
1838	203	155	0.412	261	167	0.149	224	154	0.289
1839	188	158	0.439	288	186	0.159	219	158	0.295
1840	210	165	0.439	300	224	0.168	228	173	0.303
1841	207	159	0.438	258	239	0.181	216	174	0.309
1842	197	180	0.442	257	265	0.216	217	194	0.324
1843	205	174	0.431	254	218	0.193	212	181	0.305
1844	201	141	0.448	243	168	0.172	215	160	0.305
1845	208	151	0.443	246	159	0.171	209	145	0.296

(Agricultural counties are Cambridge, Essex, Norfolk, Oxford, Lincoln, Suffolk, Wiltshire;

Industrial counties are Lancashire and Cheshire)

The sufferings for lack of income, and lack of food, were one of the moving factors for the Chartists’ General Strike in August 1842.

^2.43 Adshead, Joseph, “Distress in Manchester: Evidence (tabular and otherwise) of the State of the Labouring Classes in 1840-42”, 1842

https://archive.org/details/distressinmanche00ahsh

^2.44 Extracted from Tougan-Baranowsky, “Les crises industrielles en Angleterre”, 1913, p. 295; his data taken from Registrar-General’s reports)

Libraries and Institutions ^2.36

Name of Institution or Library	Date of Establishment	1840 Members	1840 Books	1850 Members	1850 Books
Chetman’s Library (free)	1653		16,000		19,300
Old Subscription Library	1765		20,000		30,000
Newell’s Buildings, Subscription Library for Promoting General Knowledge	1771		10,000		16,000
Exchange New Subscription Library	1800		12,000		20,000
Portico Library and Newsroom					14,000
Law Library	1820		3,000		4,000
Foreign Library	1830
Manchester Mechanics’ Institution	1825	850	5,884	1,482	12,341
Literary and Philosophical Society	1781	180
Royal Institution	1823	400		420
Natural History Society	1821	547	200		300
Geological Society	1838	230		186
Statistical Society	1834
Phrenological Society	1829	40	Very few
School of Design (Art)	1838
Architectural Society	1767
Royal Victorial Gallery of Science	1840	198
Manchester Atheneum	1837	843	5,000	1,281	10,000
Ancoats Lyceum	1837	715	1,700	163	2,600
Salford Lyceum	1838	365	3,000	200	3,000
+ Salford Mechanics’ Royal Institution
+ Salford Literary and Mechanics’ Institution
+ Salford Mechanics’ Institution
Salford Library (King-street)				274	3,180
Pendleton Useful Knowledge Society	1829	142	817
Pendleton Mechanics’ Institution	1851			140	593
Christian Institution, Manchester	1840		600
13 small institutions in the Townships				Av. 150	Av. 800
Miles Platting Institution	1840			147	1,000
Manchester Free Library	1852				21,318
Salford Free Library	1849				7,000
Chetham Publication Society	1843			350

^2.36 Chadwick, 1861, Table No. 34, pp. 43-44

Number of Public Institutions in Manchester and Salford ^2.37

Type of Library or Institution		1840	1850
Commercial Institution		9	6
Literary, Scientific, and Artistic Institution		14	7
Libraries		10	6
Educational Institutions		35	25
Religious and Benevolent Institutions		8	34
Medical Institutions		12	16
Public Charities		7	7
Miscellaneous Institutions		12	35
Total		107	156

^2.37 Chadwick, 1861, Table No. 35, p. 46.

Parks and Places of Amusement ^2.38

Park or Place of Amusement	Date of Establishment	Extent Acres	1840 Members	1850 Visitors
Zoological Gardens	1838	15	600
Botanical Gardens	1827	16	800
Peel Park	1846	40	Free	600,000
Queen’s Park	1846	30	Free
Philips’ Park	1846	31	Free
Salford Royal Museum	1850		Free	100,000
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens	1842
Pomona Gardens		140
Victoria Park

^2.38 Chadwick, 1861, Table No. 36, p. 46.

MANCHESTER ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS These delightful grounds are upwards of fifteen acres in extent, and are situate at Higher Broughton, about a mile and a half from the Exchange, on the New Bury Road. The Gardens have only been recently formed, but they are rich in animals; and the position of their site, with the tasteful manner in which the land is laid out and adorned with the products of the vegetable kingdom, render them one of the most of the most attractive objects in the neighbourhood. It would be out of place here to give a catalogue of the animals, as a descriptive acoount may be purchased for a trifle on the spot. The following is a list of the principal arrangements about the grounds: –               Entrance lodges                     Bears’ pit                                Moveable cages           Menagerie for carnivorous    Eagles’ aviary                        Winter repository and                Animals                              Refreshment house                     store rooms             Monkey-house                       Lake                                      Garden curator’s house            Aviary for the gallina-           Polar bears’ den                    Keeper’s house                 ceous birds                         Pelicans’ pond                       Geological museum             Aviary for foreign birds         Dahlia bed                             Archery ground             Elefant’s house                      Flower garden                       Rockery             Maze, or labyrinth              The Gardens are open at an admission fee of one shilling each; children sixpence. There is an interesting spectacle of Herculaneum and Pompeii, as these cities existed prior to the first known eruption, A. D. 77: – On two evenings in the week is represented the eruption of Vesuvius destroying the two towns.  Love, 1842, p. 274

PICTURE

The Manchester Races were held at Kersal Moor, about two and a half miles from Manchester, in Whitsun Week every year. They were established first in 1730, and continued for one week in each year. In our period, up to 100,000 persons attended the event. Of these 100,000 persons, obviously the great majority were of the working class; so as to be able to take one week off from work, the workers agreed each year with the employers that they would work a number of extra hours in the weeks before the Races.

PICTURE

N. Burton, Leisure in the City: The entertainment sector in the Manchester Central Business District, 1770-1930, 1987, Manchester Geographer, Manchester Geographical Society, Figure 2, p. 22.

The Manchester Central Business District (this is an academic neologism; the phrase was not used in the 19^th century) was bounded: on the north-east by Market Street its continuation Piccadilly; on the south-east by the Rochdale Canal; on the south-west by Peter Street and Oxford Street; on the north-west by the River Irwell.

The geographical position was fairly close to the totality of Police Districts 5, 6, 8, and 9.

Public baths, temperance hotels, libraries, billiard rooms were found in many parts of the city. Tea and coffee rooms and clubs were in the centre. There were 45 libraries, of which the half in the central area. Gentlemen’s clubs were concentrated in the centre. The Atheneum was a meeting place for middle class persons with cultural interests. There were four Mechanics Institutes / Lyceums. Two theatres; the Queen’s Theatre and the Theatre Royal. Concert Hall at the junction of Peter Street and Moseley Street (1831). As there are a number of concerts mencioned in the texts as for working class, we may assume that the Concert Hall was used indiscrimately for the better classes and the working classes. The Manchester Choral Society was principally organized by members of the better classes, but there were seasons of public concerts; the singers were active in church and chapel choirs.

In 1842 there were 14 good hotels in the centre of Manchester, generally in Market Street, Picadilly and King Street.

Austin, S.; Lancashire Illustrated, 1832, Market Street after reconstruction, from each end, plate facing p. 29

A depiction of St Peter’s Church and the Theatre Royal on Peter Street, Manchester, around 1855.

(Manchester Library)

The working classes were very interested in singing, and in going to concerts.

“The first great meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Workmen’s Singing Classes was held at the Free Trade Hall, June 10. There were 1,500 performers, led by Mr. John Hullah, the inventor of the system.” ^2.39

“The first of a series of concerts for the working classes, conducted by the committee of the Lancashire and Cheshire Philharmonic Institution, was held in the Free Trade Hall”. ^2.40

^2.39 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, June 1843, p. 222.

^2.40 Axon, “Annals of Manchester”, April 1845, p. 233.

(Report of the Proceedings Connected with the Grand Soirée of the Manchester Athenæum, Held on Thursday, October 3rd, 1844: From the Manchester Guardian of Saturday, October 5th, 1844, Printed by Cave & Sever, Manchester, 1844; p. 6)

In Manchester in 1851 there were 32 Church of England buildings, 19 Independents, 17 Wesleyan Methodists, 10 Wesleyan Association, 7 Roman Catholic, 4 Unitarians, 1 Society of Friends, 5 Primitive Methodists, and 2 Jewish Synagogues.

There was also a Town Mission for Manchester, which carried out activities intermediate between the present-day ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ and the Salvation Army. The active members came from the Church of England, Methodists, Independents, Presbyterians and Moravians. According to their report of 1841, they had held five thousand meetings, in which one hundred thousand people heard the Gospel.

(Religious Census 1851, pp. 148-151)

Approximate return of the Increase of Churches and Chapels, With the amount of Seat Room, …, in the City of Manchester, Borough of Salford, and adjoining districts. ^2.34

1840                                    1850

Denomination	Churches and Chapels	Seat Room	Population Conurbation	Churches and Chapels	Seat Room	Population Conurbation
Church of England	28	34,248		48	46,896
Dissenters	77	46,246	315,000	120	70,605	405,000
Roman Catholics	4	6,000		7	8,850
	109	86,692		175	126,351

^2.34 Chadwick, David., On the Social and Educational Statistics of Manchester and Salford, Manchester Statistical Society, November 1861, Table No. 46, p. 43

Medical and Social Charities

All the medical institutions were without charge to the patient. The original cost of buildings was covered by donations; the running costs of medicines etc. was covered by  monthly donations, the doctors gave their services free.

Royal Infirmary and Dispensary

The institution was founded in the year 1752; the building costs were four thousand Pounds. In our period, there were six physicians and six surgeons, chosen by ballot from qualified candidates. The income to be applied to operating costs, was, in 1840, 9,000 Pounds; this came from yearly subscriptions, dividends, and individual payments. As the doctors did not charge for their services, the whole attention to the patient (who had to be a person in need, or who had had an accident) was without costs. In 1840, there were 1,800 in-patients, 14,000 out-patients, and 4,000 home patients.

Royal Lunatic Asylum

This was adjoined physically to the Infirmary. From the opening of the establishment in 1766, to the year 1841, there were 2,900 unfortunate individuals admitted, of whom 1,100 were discharged cured. The expenditure in the given period was 2,300 Pounds.

The House of Recovery

This was founded in the year 1796, as a solution to the large number of fever cases in the town. The medical profession decided that the best idea to reduce the transmission of the infection, was to recollect all the cases in a separate hospital building, i. e., not leave the persons in their houses, where they could infect other members of their families. In two years from the beginning of the project, the number of fever cases went down by a half.

The number of cases treated in the year ending June 1840 was 848. The detail information of the domiciles shows clearly the poorest areas of the town: Angel Meadow 211, London Road 167, Ancoats 201, Deansgate 114, Middle District 110, Salford 45. The yearly expenditure was nearly two thousand Pounds.

The Salford and Pendleton Royal Dispensary

Dispensaries supplied medicines and medical advice free to the poor. In the year up to July 1841, 4,453 persons were treated, of which 696 was cases of accident. The income in the same period was 561 Pounds, and the expenditure was 693 Pounds.

The Chorlton-upon-Medlock Royal Dispensary

3,245 patients during the year. Income 463 Pounds, expenditure 700 Pounds

The Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary

4,318 patients in the year. “This institution includes in its district, nearly 100,000 souls, mostly in the humblest circumstances”. The annual subscription towards its support amounted to three hundred Pounds.

The Eye Institution

Afforded relief to poor persons with diseases of the eye. In the year 1827, 1351 patients were discharged cured and relieved.

The Lying-In Hospital

This was established in 1790. Trained midwives were sent to poor women (not unmarried!) at their houses, to assist in delivery of the baby. Without cost to the patient. In the year to May 1841, 3,455 women were helped in their time of need; probably one-half of the births in the town. Receipts 1,121 Pounds, expenditure 1,292 Pounds.

The Lock Hospital

Treatment and help for women with venereal diseases. Six to seven hundred women helped each year.

Soup Kitchen

Started in January 1841, and installed near St. Peter’s Church, to help the hungry people during the recession up to 1842. The amount was about 16,000 quarts a week. Each 100 gallons contained 100 pounds of beef, 67 pounds of barley, 53 pounds of whole white peas, 10 pounds of onions, 10 pounds of salt, 10 ounces of black pepper. With these amounts, per week 32,000 persons were relieved, “many of whom assured the directors, when fetching the soup, that it was their only mode of sustenance.” The cost of the equipment and of the meat, etc. was covered by private subscription.

The Boroughreeve’s Charity

This was a charity, formed by a number of charitable bequests in the past, which directed that the yearly interest in each case should be used for the needs of the poor. In 1841, the income was 1,763 Pounds, and the outgoings were also 1,763 Pounds, with which were bought: 3000 blankets, 3250 pieces of calico, 1000 counterpanes [bedspreads], and small sums of cash equal to 247 Pounds.

The Night Asylum for the Homeless Poor

The object was to “provide an asylum, during the rain and the chilling blasts of a winter’s night, to the aged, the destitute, and the stranger in distress.” In the year 1841, 16,935 males, 5,178 females, and 2,341 children were given entrance. Of these, 11,313 were artizans and mechanics, and 5,622 were labourers, who were temporarily out of employment. Suscriptions and donations were about 800 Pounds.

The District Provident Society

The main object of this institution was “to elevate and improve the condition of the working classes, and to assist in conveying the offerings of private benevolence into a proper and desrving channel. Through the medium of domicilary visiting, the society seeks to cultivate a kindly feeling between the rich and the poor; and to improve the condition of the latter, by encouraging cleanly, provident, and contented habits.” The mechanism was that the visitors collected the weekly savings of the poor, which were returned to them with a premium. In 1840, the sums so collected, were 4,698 Pounds.

The Asylum for Female Penitents

This was a building where the females (“fallen women”) were given accomodation, clothing and food, and were employed in needlework, family washing, etc. Those who conducted themselves well, could remain in the asylum for two years, after which period, they would be restored to their friends or found work in domestic service. Funds were not really sufficient (eight hundred Pounds), so the number of inmates could not go above 40 persons.

The Ladies’ Jubilee School

“This charity had its origin in 1806, in the benevolence of several ladies. In 1809, a house was procured in Broughton-lane, and ten girls were educated. Over the centre door of the present building is the following inscription:

“JUBILEE FEMALE CHARITY SCHOOL,

Erected 1801

BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE

50^TH YEAR OF HIS MAJESTY, GEORGE III.”

Shortly after the completion of the building, the number of girls was increased to thirty. The children are instructed in reading and writing, in knitting, sewing, and in the duties of kitchen and house servants; and the regularity to which they are accustomed, makes them most valuable, their age and strength considered, when they are put out, under the protection of the Committee, to service.” ^2.35

^2.35 Axon, William Edward Armytage, “Annals of Manchester”, 1886, ref. 1810. p. 77

School for the Deaf and Dumb

The accomodation was for one hundred children, besides containing apartments for the masters and private pupils (cost of construction: eleven thousand Pounds). If the parents were in “indigent circumstances”, the children would be instructed and maintained without charge. In other cases, the cost would be between 2 Shillings per week and 20 Pounds per annum, after revising the financial possibilities of the parents. The total period of education was five years. The numbers of pupils at March 1841 were: boys 53, girls 29.

The Blind Asylum

This occupied a second part of the building of the Deaf and Dumb School; the construction costs were 30,000 Pounds, 20,000 from a bequest of a Mr. Henshaw of Oldham, and 10,000 by public subscription. Up to 1842, 53 persons had been admitted, of which 8 had left to take up employment; the asylum would be able to take up 150 patients.

Chetham College

This was founded in 1653, in accordance with the will of Humphry Chetham. His executors bought the building of the manor house of Manchester. Chetham’s will stipulated the establishment of a free public Library, “for the use of schollars and others well affected”, and a School for the education of forty poor boys from honest families. It is the oldest free-access library in the United Kingdom.

The Blue Coat School

This was housed in the same building as the library. There were 80 students in 1840 (all poor children, without charge).

Referring to the distribution of mortality in the Manchester Conurbation, we see that this is less in the suburbs, as there the houses and the drainage are better constructed, and the inhabitants are of a higher level.

“Although the occupations of the people, ascertained in the late Census, are not as yet published (from which the social condition of each of the townships might well have been inferred with more accuracy than can at present pretended to), it may safely be assumed that the townships of Cheetham-with-Crumpsall and Broughton, besides the advantage of salubrious situations, are chiefly occupied by the comfortable classes; that Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Ardwick, and Pendleton contain a considerable of the same; that Hulme, Salford, and Manchester are, to a very large extent, peopled by the labouring class; and that each of these townships again differs very considerably as to the more or less comfortable conditions of its inhabitants; for while Pendleton, Hulme (a newly-peopled township), and the parts of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and of Ardwick, bordering on the Medlock, are occupied by the skilled or best-paid labourers, the township of Manchester, and that portion of Salford lying along the river Irwell, attract a large proportion of those of the lowest and poorest condition; of those whose habits. .  of life, food, and lodging are, upon the whole, the least favourable to health.” ^2.29

^2.29 Second Report of Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Large Towns and Populous Places, Volume II, Appendix, Part II, p. 106.

Births and Deaths in the Townships of Manchester

Township	Births	One in …	Per cent	Deaths	One in …	Per Cent
Manchester	6,263	26.16	3.82	5,499	29.79	3.35
Salford	2,308	23.05	4.34	1,644	32.36	3.09
Chorlton-upon-Medlock	1,085	26.11	3.83	727	38.97	2.56
Hulme	1,231	21.91	4.56	801	33.68	2.96
Pendleton	444	24.84	4.02	271	40.70	2.45
Ardwick	437	22.66	4.41	282	35.12	2.84
Cheetham-with-Crumpsall	270	32.69	3.06	159	55.51	1.80
Broughton	104	36.48	2.74	62	61.19	1.63
Total	12,142	25.16	3.97	9,445	32.39	3.08

Data are average of three years ending December 1842.

Extracted from Ibidem p. 107.

Birth Rates and Death Rates

[The low figures for Birth Rates in Manchester and Liverpool for 1838/39/40, probably were due to incomplete registration of births in the General Register Office, as many people did not understand that they had to go to the offices of the GRO and make the declaration]

Manchester, Salford, Chorlton (Registration Districts), General Registration Office, 1838-1870.

	Persons	Births	Burials	Birth Rate %	Death Rate %
1838-1839 (+)	340,000	10,700	9,276	3.14	2.73
1839-1840 (+)	348,000	10,192	8,667	2.93	2.49
1841	356,000	14,051	10,378	3.94	2.91
1842	365,000	13,857	10,748	3.80	2.94
1843	374,000	14,109	11,057	3.77	2.96
1844	383,000	15,194	10,470	3.96	2.73
1845	393,000	15,802	10,898	4.02	2.77
1846	403,000	16,758	14,095 Typhus+ Irish	4.16	3.50
1847	413,000	15,482	15,114 Typhus+ Irish	3.75	3.66
1848	423,000	14,949	13,841	3.53	3.27
1849	433,000	16,686	14,426	3.85	3.33
1850	443,000	14,403	11,383	3.25	2.56
1851	453,000	17,570	11,855	3.88	2.62

Births and Deaths in Manchester Registration District (Township) in 1837-38 and 1838-39, detailed by Sub-district.

1837-38

Sub-districts	Births	Deaths	Population 1841	Birth Rate	Death Rate
Ancoats	1,446	1,216	42,000	3.44	2.90
St. George’s	1,084	903	31,000	3.50	2.91
Market-street	815	1,300	27,000	3.02	4.81
London-road	1,163	1,088	29,000	4.01	3.75
Deansgate	950	1,104	33,000	2.88	3.34
Total	5,438	5,611	162,000	3.35	3.46

1838-39

Sub-districts	Births	Deaths	Population 1841	Birth Rate	Death Rate
Ancoats	1,691	1,444	42,000	4.03	3.44
St. George’s	1,375	1,155	31,000	4.43	3.72
Market-street	897	1,338	27,000	3.32	4.96
London-road	1,153	1,184	29,000	3.97	4.08
Deansgate	1,242	1,113	33,000	3.76	3.37
Total	6,358	6,234	162,000	3.92	3.83

Without the smaller areas of: Newton, Cheetham, Failsworth, Blackley, Prestwich

“The number of deaths in the Infirmary, which is situated in the Market-street district, was 520 in the two years, the number in the workhouse, which is in the same district, was 550; and the number in the fever wards, which are in the London-road district, was 427 in the same period.” ^2.31

“It has been suggested that this difference [the number of deaths under 6 years is greatest in Ancoats, and fewest in Market-street] may be in part owing to the circumstance, that Market-street district contains a large number of warehouses and shops tenanted only by adult apprentices and warehousemen, and that consequently the proportion of children residing in it and subject to casualties is considerably below that exisiting in the Ancoats district.” ^2.32

“Comparative Deficiency in the number of Deaths registered.- The average proportion of births to deaths throughout the kingdom has been estimated as 28 to 20 in 1000 of the population. The births registered in the Manchester district during the first year were to deaths as 19.45 to 20; in the second year as 20.39 to 20. Although therefore the registry of births is becoming more general, yet the births registered annually do not bear a proper proportion to the actual number of births. The registry of deaths is obligatory, but that of births is to a certain optional, and is consequently neglected. Until therefore the registration be made compulsory in both cases, no certain or satifactory results with regard to the increment of the population can be obtained.” ^2.33 [This happened in all the country, in the first years following the introduction of the General Register Office. The reason was that a proportion of the people, believed that that they could continue reporting births only in the church, and that the number would automatically appear in the documents of the General Register Office.]

^2.31 Johns, Footnote to p. 199.

^2.32 Johns, Footnote to p. 194.

^2.33 Johns, p. 192

Causes of Death

Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases		1837-38	1838-39
Small-pox		358	424
Measles		103	618
Scarlatina		21	144
Croup		88	58
Hooping Cough		72	247
Diarrhoea		154	87
Fever		515	346
TOTAL		1311	1924
Diseases of the Nervous System
Cephalitis		65	54
Hydrocephalus		130	147
Convulsions		578	537
Apoplexy		41	31
Paralysis		62	47
Epilepsy		5	20
Insanity		20	29
Delirium Tremens		3	9
Disease of Brain, &c.		12	20
TOTAL		915	894
Diseases of the Respiratory Organs
Asphyxia		2	13
Bronchitis		45	26
Pneumonia		462	464
Pleurisy		8	18
Hydrothorax		21	27
Asthma		161	136
Haemoptysis		0	12
Decline		314	525
Consumption		686	435
Disease of Lungs		36	31
TOTAL		1735	1707
Disease of Heart, &c.		49	48
Diseases of the Digestive Organs
Teething		246	294
Enteritis		85	94
Tabes Mesenterica		6	11
Ulcer of Stomach		0	18
Worms		1	11
Disease of Stomach		19	39
Hernia		15	0
TOTAL		372	467
Disease of Liver		38	24
Child-bed		39	45
Rheumatism		21	15
Disease of Joints		18	0
Caries		15	0
TOTAL		54	15
Sporadic Diseases
Dropsy		162	166
Mortification		12	21
Cancer		12	18
Intemperance		11	11
Atrophy		30	22
Debility		49	152
Premature Birth		19	29
TOTAL		295	419
Decay		125	76
Old Age		142	185
TOTAL		270	261
Violence		231	234
TOTAL OF ABOVE		5309	6038
Other Diseases		302	196
TOTAL DISEASES		5611	6234

Johns, pp. 191-200

The population of the Township in the [future] Census of 1841 was 193,000, so that the death rate was about 3.1 %.

As we know, the reasons for deaths for the segments “age under 5 years” and “age 5 years and more” were very different. Unfortunately we do not have a detail of the above statistics by age at death.

“Convulsions” were caused by use of “Godfrey’s Cordial” or by medicines irregularly prescribed by druggists.

“Consumption” was pulmonary tuberculosis.

“Dropsy” was retention of fluids.

“Decline”, “Debility”, “Decay” and “Old Age”, with a total of 938 in 1838-9, means that the persons did not have a dangerous illness!

Birth Rate and Death Rate, Manchester Conurbation, changes for 1841 to 1851

	Population Census 1841	Births 1841	Birth Rate 1841		Population Census 1851	Births 1851	Birth Rate 1851
Didbury	4,000				4,000	113	2.82
Ardwick	18,000				29,000	1,144	3.94
Chorlton-upon-Medlock	28,000				35,000	1,253	3.58
Hulme	27,000				54,000	2,440	4.51
Chorlton	78,000	3,792	4.86		122,000	4,950	4.05
Pendleton	13,000				17,000	580	3.41
Broughton	4,000				7,000	197	2.81
Greengate	31,000				35,000	1,587	4.53
Regent Road	23,000				28,000	1,140	4.07
Salford	70,000	3,001	4.28		88,000	3,504	3.98
Ancoats	42,000				54,000	2,293	4.24
Deansgate	33,000				33,000	1,234	3.74
London Road	29,000				31,000	1,283	4.14
Market-Street	28,000				27,000	1,256	4.65
St. George	32,000				41,000	1,816	4.43
Newton	7,000				13,000	563	4.33
Cheetham	9,000				14,000	480	3.43
Failsworth	4,000				5,000	197	3.70
Blackley	4,000				4,000	146	3.65
Prestwich	4,000				5,000	154	3.08
Manchester	193,000	7,161	3.71		227,000	9,422	4.15
Conurbation	341,000	13,954	4.09		437,000	17,876	4.09

	Population Census 1841	Deaths 1841	Death Rate 1841		Population Census 1851	Deaths 1851	Death Rate 1851
Didbury	4,000				4,000	93	2.32
Ardwick	18,000				29,000	627	2.16
Chorlton-upon-Medlock	28,000				35,000	802	2.29
Hulme	27,000				54,000	1,482	2.74
Chorlton	78,000	2,676	3.43		122,000	3,004	2.46
Pendleton	13,000				17,000	347	2.04
Broughton	4,000				7,000	85	1.21
Greengate	31,000				35,000	1,080	3.08
Regent Road	23,000				28,000	706	2.52
Salford	70,000	1,971	2.81		88,000	2,218	2.52
Ancoats	42,000				54,000	1,654	3.06
Deansgate	33,000				33,000	1,011	3.06
London Road	29,000				31,000	904	2.92
Market-Street	28,000				27,000	981	2.39
St. George	32,000				41,000	1,080	2.63
Newton	7,000				13,000	281	2.16
Cheetham	9,000				14,000	238	1.70
Failsworth	4,000				5,000	88	1.76
Blackley	4,000				4,000	80	2.00
Prestwich	4,000				5,000	186	3.72
Manchester	193,000	6,821	3.53		227,000	6,503	2.86
Conurbation	341,000	11,468	3.36		437,000	11,725	2.68

Births and Deaths 1851: Annual Report Registrar-General 1851, Abstract of Births and Deaths, VIII North-Western Counties, Sub-Districts, p. 71.