Chapter 3: Migration in 18th- and 19th-century Flashcards
Census
A census is a count of people living in a country on a specific day. In Britain a census is taken every ten years and the first official one was in 1941. The 1851 census was the first to give the place of birth of people being counted, and so it’s a useful starting point for looking at migration.
Arable farming
Growing crops such as oats, barley and wheat.
Tenement
A run-down and often overcrowded building, housing many people in poor conditions.
Relief
Help given to poor people who could not support their families. It was sometimes given while they stayed in their own homes; or, more often after 1834, inside a workhouse, where parents and children were separated and conditions were worse than those of the poorest people living outside.
Navvies
The name given to the men who dug the canals and built the railways. The name came from the word ‘navigator’, which was the name given to the men who built the first canals.
Fenian
A member of the Irish Republic Brotherhood, a revolutionary nationalist organisation. They staged an unsuccessful revolt against the British in 1867 and were responsible for acts of violence against the British authorities.
Sweatshop
A place where people worked long hours in poor conditions for low wages. In Spitalfields and Whitechapel, many sweatshops were organised and run by Jews. Those not run by Jews also exploited the Jewish workers. Some of the more basic clothing was sold locally while fancier clothes were sold in shops elsewhere.
Abolitionists
People who wanted to abolish the slave trade.
Barrel Organ
A small pipe organ played by turning a handle.
Hurdy-gurdy machine
A stringed instrument that is worked by turning a handle.
Non-conformists
People who were Christians but were not members of the Anglican Church. They were, for example, Methodists, Presbyterians or Quakers.
Paupers
A very poor person, who often depended on the state to support them.
Radical
A person who wants fundamental social or political change.
Capitalist society
An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production that are run for profit.
Communism
An economic and social system where all property is owned by the community and each person contributes to their ability and receives according to their needs.
Typhus
An infection spread by lice and poor hygiene that brings rash, fever, confusion and sometimes death.
Model dwellings
Housing built to provide the basics of comfort and sanitation. Although they were intended for the poor, rents were generally higher than those charged for squalid lodgings.
Yards
This was a measurement before metrication in 1971, and so it appears in many documents before that date. 1 year = 0.9144 metres.
Blacklegging
Working during a strike.
Hebrew population
The Jewish community.
Shochetim
A Jew who has been specially trained and licensed to slaughter birds and animals according to Jewish law.
Home Office
The government department responsible for the police.
Inquest
A legal enquiry into an incident - usually a death.
