{"id":23068,"date":"2024-11-20T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T16:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=23068"},"modified":"2024-11-21T18:20:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T18:20:27","slug":"poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts-in-the-forest-of-dean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/2024\/11\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts-in-the-forest-of-dean\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts in the Forest of Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"iframe-container\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"k3sVjOBvbu\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/forestofdeansocialhistory.co.uk\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts\/\">Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts&#8221; &#8212; Forest of Dean Social History\" src=\"https:\/\/forestofdeansocialhistory.co.uk\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts\/embed\/#?secret=ZlLxKeR0yV#?secret=k3sVjOBvbu\" data-secret=\"k3sVjOBvbu\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article discusses the granting of Poor Law relief to destitute miners and their families in the Forest of Dean during a period which started with a severe depression in the coal trade at the end of 1920, followed by a sharp rise in unemployment and ended with the 1926 miners\u2019 lockout.<\/p>\n<p>The Boards of Guardians, who administered each Poor Law Union, held the statutory responsibility to provide relief to the destitute in the form of accommodation in a workhouse or outdoor relief in cash, vouchers or a loan. The destitute could include strikers and their dependents but after 1900, the law forbade the giving of relief to strikers or locked-out workers but allowed the award of relief to their dependents.<\/p>\n<p>The post-World War One economic depression and industrial strife which followed created significant financial strain on the Poor Law system, leading some Poor Law Unions to face bankruptcy due to the overwhelming demand for relief. This article highlights the challenges faced by the Poor Law system during this period of economic hardship and social unrest, as well as the evolving legal restrictions on who could receive public assistance.<\/p>\n<p>The matter of relief became highly controversial during the 1926 lockout because widespread destitution in the coalfields threatened solidarity. During the protracted struggle of 1926, the determination of miners to resist the temptation to return to work inevitably depended upon their success in feeding themselves and their families. Consequently, the granting or withholding of relief to the families of locked-out men could alter the balance of power between the contending parties in the dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":23070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,755],"tags":[294,902,901],"class_list":["post-23068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workers-organisations-strikes","category-workhouses-poverty-laws","tag-forest-of-dean","tag-miners","tag-strikes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts in the Forest of Dean - Bristol Radical History Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/2024\/11\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts-in-the-forest-of-dean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts in the Forest of Dean - Bristol Radical History Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article discusses the granting of Poor Law relief to destitute miners and their families in the Forest of Dean during a period which started with a severe depression in the coal trade at the end of 1920, followed by a sharp rise in unemployment and ended with the 1926 miners\u2019 lockout.  The Boards of Guardians, who administered each Poor Law Union, held the statutory responsibility to provide relief to the destitute in the form of accommodation in a workhouse or outdoor relief in cash, vouchers or a loan. The destitute could include strikers and their dependents but after 1900, the law forbade the giving of relief to strikers or locked-out workers but allowed the award of relief to their dependents.  The post-World War One economic depression and industrial strife which followed created significant financial strain on the Poor Law system, leading some Poor Law Unions to face bankruptcy due to the overwhelming demand for relief. This article highlights the challenges faced by the Poor Law system during this period of economic hardship and social unrest, as well as the evolving legal restrictions on who could receive public assistance.  The matter of relief became highly controversial during the 1926 lockout because widespread destitution in the coalfields threatened solidarity. During the protracted struggle of 1926, the determination of miners to resist the temptation to return to work inevitably depended upon their success in feeding themselves and their families. Consequently, the granting or withholding of relief to the families of locked-out men could alter the balance of power between the contending parties in the dispute.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/2024\/11\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts-in-the-forest-of-dean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bristol Radical History Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/126960655805\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-20T16:24:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-21T18:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/charlie-mason.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"472\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"722\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Wright\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrisRadHis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BrisRadHis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Wright\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts in the Forest of Dean - Bristol Radical History Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/2024\/11\/poor-law-relief-and-miners-lockouts-in-the-forest-of-dean\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Poor Law Relief and Miners\u2019 Lockouts in the Forest of Dean - Bristol Radical History Group","og_description":"This article discusses the granting of Poor Law relief to destitute miners and their families in the Forest of Dean during a period which started with a severe depression in the coal trade at the end of 1920, followed by a sharp rise in unemployment and ended with the 1926 miners\u2019 lockout.  The Boards of Guardians, who administered each Poor Law Union, held the statutory responsibility to provide relief to the destitute in the form of accommodation in a workhouse or outdoor relief in cash, vouchers or a loan. The destitute could include strikers and their dependents but after 1900, the law forbade the giving of relief to strikers or locked-out workers but allowed the award of relief to their dependents.  The post-World War One economic depression and industrial strife which followed created significant financial strain on the Poor Law system, leading some Poor Law Unions to face bankruptcy due to the overwhelming demand for relief. This article highlights the challenges faced by the Poor Law system during this period of economic hardship and social unrest, as well as the evolving legal restrictions on who could receive public assistance.  The matter of relief became highly controversial during the 1926 lockout because widespread destitution in the coalfields threatened solidarity. During the protracted struggle of 1926, the determination of miners to resist the temptation to return to work inevitably depended upon their success in feeding themselves and their families. 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