For those interested in nineteenth century social history in Manchester, a programme not to miss this week.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cotton Famine in Lancashire from 1861-65 on the weekly show In our time on Radio Four.

The Famine followed the blockade of Confederate Southern ports during the American Civil War which stopped the flow of cotton into mills in Britain and Europe. 

Reports at the time told of starvation, mass unemployment and migration. Abraham Lincoln wrote, “I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working-men of Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis.” 

While the the full cause and extent of the Famine in Lancashire are disputed, the consequences of this and the cotton blockade were far reaching.

 Riots broke out in 1863 leading to Government intervention to fund public works in order to give paid work rather than relief to the unemployed. Several Alexandra Parks were laid out in honour of the new Princess of Wales.

The Lancashire Cotton Famine 

9.00 am Radio Four 14th May.


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