per lb. under the market price, which then ruled at 3d. to
6d. per lb. In November, 1799, wheat was 15s. per bushel. In May, 1800,
the distressed poor were supplied with wheat at the "reduced price" of
15s. per bushel, and potatoes at 8s. per peck. Soup kitchens for the
poor were opened November 30, 1816, when 3,000 quarts were sold the
first day. The poor-rates, levied in 1817, amounted to L61,928, and it
was computed that out of a population of 84,000 at least 27,000 were in
receipt of parish relief. In 1819 L5,500 was collected to relieve the
distressed poor. The button makers were numbered at 17,000 in 1813,
two-thirds of them being out of work. 1825 and 1836 were terrible years
of poverty and privation in this town and neighbourhood. In 1838,
380,000 doles were made to poor people from a fund raised by public
subscription. In the summer of 1840, local trade was so bad that we have
been told as many as 10,000 persons applied at one office alone for free
passages to Australia, and all unsuccessfully. Empty houses could be
counted by the hundred. There was great distress in the winter of
1853-4, considerable amounts being subscribed for charitable relief.
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