1825-26 THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN RASTRICK

A HUGE DEPRESSION IN MANUFACTURING BROUGHT GREAT POVERTY TO RASTRICK, THE LIKES OF WHICH HAD NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE

INTRODUCTION

1st Draft – AUGUST 2023

This page is in the process of being built and will contain copies of documents that we think were discovered on the council tip in Brighouse in 1974. It would appear that they were thrown away by Calderdale Council after the dissolution of the old Brighouse Borough Council.

Nothing new there then, Calderdale throwing away Brighouse’s heritage !

Some of these documents are over 300 years old, the earliest dates from the year 1703.

Watch this space for future updates.

Experiment 1

This is a booklet from 1825 which shows all the taxpayers in Rastrick  who contributed towards the Poor Rate which was a relief fund set up by the Churchwarden and Overseers of the Poor in every parish. The money was used to help families who had fallen on hard times for a variety of reasons. The bread-winner may have died and left a wife and young children to provide for themselves or the man was unable to work for a due illness, disability or simply because he could not find any employment.

The Poor Rate was a tax based upon the value of property or land and it was down to the Overseers to set the rate. This was usually somewhere between two to four shillings in the pound. It was not a popular tax as in effect, the people who worked were being forced to pay for those who didn’t.

There will be more about this subject as this page develops.

Below are photographs of the 1825 Poor Rate book.

To view them, click on the relevant photo icon and it will give you an enlarged image

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Page 41 Stone Quarries
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Page 43 Declaration
Inside empty pages
Leather book cover

Below is an example of a catalogue page showing a list of letters that were exchanged when the Poor Rate Commissioners of Rastrick applied for assistance to aid what became known as the Distressed Manufacturers within the Township in 1826.

Below is a transcript of the 1825 Poor Rate book. It is divided into four sections

Below that are photographs of each individual page of the book.

To view them, click on the relevant photo icon and it will give you an enlarged image

SECTION         PAGES

  1.                        02 – 24 – A – Z  ORIGINAL PAGE NUMBERS
  2.                        25 – 47 – A – Z  PROPRIETORS
  3.                        48 – 70 – A – Z  OCCUPIERS
  4.                        71 – 93 – A – Z  LOCATION