SECTION III

THE REGULATION OF INDUSTRY BY THE STATE

1.Proposals for the Regulation of the Cloth Manufacture (temp. Henry VIII)317
2.Administrative Difficulties in the Regulation of the Manufacture of Cloth, 1537319
3.An Act Touching Weavers, 1555320
4.Enactment of Common Council of London as to Age of Ending Apprenticeship, 1556323
5.William Cecil's Industrial Programme, 1559323
6. The Statute of Artificers, 1563325
7.Proposals for the Better Administration of the Statute of Artificers, 1572333
8.Draft of a Bill Fixing Minimum Rates for Spinners and Weavers, 1593336
9.Draft Piece-list Submitted for Ratification to the Wiltshire Justices by Clothiers and Weavers, 1602341
10. An Act empowering Justices to fix Minimum Rates of Payment, 1603-04342
11.Administration of Acts Regulating the Manufacture of Cloth, 1603344
12.Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with other than Textile Workers, 1604345
13.Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with Textile Workers, 1605351
14.Administration of Wage Clauses of Statute of Artificers, 1605-08352
15.Administration of Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1607-08353
16.The Organisation of the Woollen Industry, 1615354
17.Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1615356
18.A Petition to Fix Wages Addressed to the Justices by the Textile Workers of Wiltshire, 1623356
19.Appointment by Privy Council of Commissioners to Investigate Grievances of Textile Workers in East Anglia, 1630357
20.Report to Privy Council of Commissioners appointed above, 1630358
21.High Wages in the New World, 1645360
22.Young Men and Maids ordered to enter Service, 1655360
23.Request to Justices of Grand Jury of Worcestershire to assess Wages, 1661361
24.Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1669361

SECTION IV

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR AND THE REGULATION OF PRICES

1.Regulations made at Chester as to Beggars, 1539366
2.A Proclamation concerning Corn and Grain to be brought into open Markets to be sold, 1545367
3.Administration of Poor Relief at Norwich, 1571369
4.The first Act Directing the Levy of a Compulsory Poor Rate, 1572372
5.The first Act requiring the Unemployed to be set to Work, 1575-6373
6.Report of Justices to Council Concerning Scarcity in Norfolk, 1586373
7.Orders devised by the Special Commandment of the Queen's Majesty for the Relief and Ease of the Present Dearth of Grain within the Realm, 1586374
8.The Poor Law Act, 1601380
9.A note of the Grievances of the Parish of Eldersfield, 1618381
10.Petition to Justices of Wiltshire for Permission to Settle in a Parish, 1618382
11.Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Cloth-making Counties, 1621-2382
12.Letter from Privy Council to the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace in the Counties of Suffolk and Essex concerning the Employment of the Poor, 1629383
13.The Licensing of Badgers in Somersetshire, 1630385
14.Badgers Licensed at Somersetshire Quarter Sessions, 1630385
15.The Supplying of Bristol with Grain, 1630-1385
16.Proceedings against Engrossers and other Offenders, 1631386
17.Order of Somersetshire Justices Granting a Settlement to a Labourer, 1630-1386
18.Report of Derbyshire Justices on their Proceedings, 1631387
19.Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Rutlandshire, 1631390
20.Judgment in the Star Chamber against an Engrosser of Corn, 1631391

SECTION V

THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

1.Letters Patent granted to the Cabots by Henry VII, 1496400
2.The Merchant Adventurers' Case for Allowing the Export of Undressed Cloth, 1514-36402
3.The Rise in Prices, the Encouragement of Corn growing, and the Protection of Manufactures, c. 1549404
4.Sir Thomas Gresham on the Fall of the Exchanges, 1558416
5.The reasons why Bullion is Exported (temp. Eliz.)419
6.The Italian Merchants Explain the Foreign Exchanges, 1576420
7.An Act Avoiding divers Foreign Wares made by Handicraftsmen Beyond the Seas, 1562424
8.An Act Touching Cloth Workers and Cloth Ready Wrought to be Shipped over the Sea, 1566426
9.Incorporation of a Joint Stock Mining Company, 1568427
10.An Act for the Increase of Tillage, 1571428
11.Instructions for an English Factor in Turkey, 1582431
12. The Advantages of Colonies, 1583434
13.Lord Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton on the State of Trade, 1587438
14.A List of Patents and Monopolies, 1603440
15.Instructions Touching the Bill for Free Trade, 1604443
16.The Establishment of a Company to export Dyed and Dressed Cloth in place of the Merchant Adventurers, 1616-17454
17.Sir Julius Cæsar's proposals for Reviving the Trade in Cloths, 1616460
18.The Grant of a Monopoly for the Manufacture of Soap, 1623461
19.The Statute of Monopolies, 1623-4465
20.An Act for the Free Trade of Welsh Cloths, 1623-4468
21.The Economic Policy of Strafford in Ireland, 1636470
22.Revocation of Commissions, Patents and Monopolies Granted by the Crown, 1639472
23.Ordinance establishing an Excise, 1643475

PART III: 1660-1846

SECTION I

INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

1.Defoe's account of the West Riding Cloth Industry, 1724482
2.Defoe's account of the Woollen Trade (temp. George II)483
3.Defoe's account of the Corn Trade (temp. George II)487
4.Defoe's account of the Coal Trade (temp. George II)491
5.A description of Middlemen in the Woollen Industry, 1739492
6.Report on the Condition of Children in Lancashire Cotton Factories, 1796495
7.Newcastle Coal Vend, 1771-1830497
8.The Old Apprenticeship System in the Woollen Industry, 1806499
9.A Petition of Cotton Weavers, 1807500
10.Depression of Wages and its Causes in the Cotton Industry, 1812501
11.Evidence of the Condition of Children in Factories, 1816502
12.Change in the Cotton Industry and the Introduction of Power Loom Weaving, 1785-1807505
13.Evidence by Factory Workers of the Condition of Children, 1832510
14.Women's and Children's Labour in Mines, 1842516
15.Description of the Condition of Manchester by John Robertson, Surgeon, 1840519

SECTION II

AGRICULTURE AND ENCLOSURE

1.Enclosure Proceedings in the Court of Chancery, 1671525
2.Advice to the Stewards of Estates, 1731526
3.Procedure for Enclosure by Private Act, 1766528
4.Farming in Norfolk, 1771530
5.A Petition against Enclosure, 1797531
6.Extracts on Enclosure from the Surveys of the Board of Agriculture, 1798-1809532
7.Arthur Young's Criticism of Enclosure, 1801536
8.Enclosure Consolidating Act, 1801537
9.General Enclosure Act, 1845541

SECTION III

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WAGES, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1.An Act against Truck, 1701545
2.A Wages Assessment at a Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1738546
3.Spitalfields Weavers Act, 1773547
4.A Middlesex Wages Assessment under the Spitalfields Act, 1773551
5.Agricultural Labourers' Proposals for a Sliding Scale of Wages, 1795552
6.Debates on Whitbread's Minimum Wage Bill, 1795-6554
7.Arbitration Act for the Cotton Industry, 1800568
8.Amendment of the Arbitration Act, 1804570
9.The First Factory Act, 1802571
9A. Minutes of Committee on Children in Factories573
10.Calico Printers' Petition for Regulation, 1804573
11.Report on Calico Printers' Petition, 1806574
12.Cotton Weavers' Petition against the Repeal of 5 Elizabeth, c. 4, 1813576
13.Debates on the Regulation of Apprentices, 1813-14577
14.Resolutions of the Watchmakers on Apprenticeship, 1817588
15.Report of the Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818590
16.The Cotton Factory Act of 1819591
17.Oastler's First Letter on Yorkshire Slavery, 1830592
18.Factory Act, 1833594
19.Proposals for a Wages Board for Hand-Loom Weavers, 1834596
20.Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1842598
21.Debate on Factory Legislation, 1844599
22.Factory Act, 1844612
23.Recommendations of the Commission on the Health of Towns, 1845614

SECTION IV

COMBINATIONS OF WORKMEN

1.A Strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers, 1696-99619
2.A Petition of Master Tailors against Combination among the Journeymen, 1721622
3.A Dispute in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Industry, 1765625
4.Sickness and Unemployment Benefit Clubs among the Woolcombers, 1794626
5.Combination Act, 1799626
6.Combination Act, 1800627
7.The Scottish Weavers' Strike, 1812631
8.The Repeal of the Combination Acts, 1824633
9.A Prosecution of Strikers under the Common Law of Conspiracy, 1810635
10.An Act Revising the Law affecting Combinations, 1825636
11.The Conviction of the Dorchester Labourers, 1834638
12.An Address of the Working Men's Association to Queen Victoria, 1837641
13.A Chartist Manifesto on the Sacred Month, 1839642
14.The Rochdale Pioneers, 1844643

SECTION V

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

1.Settlement Law, 1662647
2.Defoe's Pamphlet "Giving Alms no Charity", 1704649
3.The Workhouse Test Act, 1722650
4.Gilbert's Act, 1782652
5.Speenhamland "Act of Parliament", 1795655
6.The Workhouse System, 1797657
7.Two Varieties of the Roundsman System of Relief, 1797660
8.Another Example of the Roundsman System, 1808660
9.A Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1834661
10.The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834663
11.Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order, 1844664

SECTION VI

FINANCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

1.Act abolishing Tenure by Knight Service, etc., 1660670
2.Navigation Act, 1660670
3.Proposals for Free Exportation of Gold and Silver, 1660671
4.An Attack on the Navigation Act, c. 1663672
5.Free Coinage at the Mint Proclaimed, 1666674
6.The East India Company and the Interlopers, 1684675
7.Foundation of the Bank of England, 1694676
8.The Need for the Recoinage of 1696677
9.Speech by Sir Robert Walpole on the Salt Duties, 1732678
10.Pitt's Sinking Fund Act, 1786679
11.The Suspension of Cash Payments, 1797681
12.Pitt's Speech on the Income Tax, 1798683
13.Foreign Trade in the early Nineteenth Century, 1812689
14.Debate on the Corn Laws, 1815692
15.The Corn Law of 1815697
16.Free Trade Petition, 1820698
17.The Foundation of the Anti-Corn-Law League, 1839701
18.The Bank Charter Act, 1844702
19.Debate on the Corn Laws, 1846705

PART I: 1000-1485

SECTION I

THE EARLY ENGLISH MANOR AND BOROUGH