105. Grey, the Poor and the Irish

105. Grey, the Poor and the Irish

Another significant measure passed by the Grey government was a lot less creditable than the Great Reform Act or Abolition of Slavery. The 1834 Poor Law mandated the construction of workhouses and set out to achieve the aim of making public assistance to the unemployed, sick or old, a lot less pleasant than work – an aim often pursued by politicians today as well and which it achieved.

It wasn’t that which brought Grey down, however. It was that constant bugbear of British governments, Ireland. Emancipation hadn’t quietened tempers among the Catholic Irish, it had merely refocused anger on another issue, the requirement on the Irish, the majority Catholic, to pay for the support of the Church of Ireland, the equivalent in the island of the Church of England, which was Protestant and immensely wealthy.

The effort to do something about that grievance, however, opened splits in the Cabinet, and the resignation of Ministers. In the end, that culminated in the resignation of the Prime Minister himself.

Earl Grey was gone.

Illustration: Cartoon of the interior of a Workhouse. Public Domain

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License

Avsnitt(275)

234. Fall of an iron curtain and of a jewel from the crown

234. Fall of an iron curtain and of a jewel from the crown

It was a strange world that emerged from the Second World War.Both genocide and the mass killing of civilians, above all through bombing, culminating with the A-bombs dropped on Japan, had become some...

9 Mars 202514min

233. Shocks and surprises at the war’s end

233. Shocks and surprises at the war’s end

Following the German surrender in May 1945, the ‘Big Three’ – the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain – met for the third and last time in conference. And this time, appropriately, they met on...

2 Mars 202514min

232. Bickering allies win in Europe

232. Bickering allies win in Europe

At the Yalta conference, between the US, the Soviet Union and Britain, the tensions between the Allies became increasingly obvious. Representing Britain, Churchill wanted the Allies’ war effort to be ...

23 Feb 202514min

231. Nazis facing defeat

231. Nazis facing defeat

By the time of the Yalta conference in February 1945, between the USA, Soviet Union and Britain, the latter still being treated as a great power though its decline was already clear, there could be li...

16 Feb 202514min

230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

In 1943, Britain didn’t feel the Western Allies were ready yet for an invasion of France, and with its influence at the highest point it ever reached, it was able to persuade the Americans reluctantly...

9 Feb 202514min

229. The tide turns

229. The tide turns

The tide turned against the Axis and in favour of the Allies in the course of 1943. Victories at Stalingrad in Russia, in the Battle of the Atlantic, and in North Africa, came on top of American advan...

2 Feb 202514min

228. Turning points: 1943

228. Turning points: 1943

This is an episode for turning points. The year’s 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad, where the unstoppable German offensive into Russia was finally stopped and turned around, with Soviet forces essentia...

26 Jan 202514min

227. Tough times: 1941 and 1942

227. Tough times: 1941 and 1942

The years 1941 and 1942 were tough ones… Things were going badly in the Battle of the Atlantic, with Germany threatening to strangle Britain by sinking more merchant ships than the British could bear ...

19 Jan 202514min

Populärt inom Historia

massmordarpodden
kod-katastrof
p3-historia
historiska-brott
motiv
olosta-mord
historiepodden-se
rss-seriemordarpodden
rss-historiska-brottslingar
rss-historien-om
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
rss-massmordarpodden
krigshistoriepodden
mannen-utan-spar
bedragare
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
rss-folkets-historia
palmemordet
obskyr-historia
nu-blir-det-historia