1846 was a pivotal year in British history: falling between the old, pre-industrial Britain with its rigid social hierarchy, and a new era of economic and social change. This was the year in which Parliament repealed the Corn Laws, chipping away at the power of landowners and ushering in an age of free trade that formed the basis of the country's future wealth and industrial prosperity, and whose effects are still felt today.
It was also a tense time, in which the downsides of the Industrial Revolution began to be felt: child labour and slum housing would provide a seed-bed for the revolutionary fervour that exploded soon after. In Ireland the Great Famine entered its second year. In the cultural arena, new works by Lear and Dickens appeared; while in medicine, Robert Liston performed Europe's first operation under anaesthetic.
Informative, authoritative, and accessible in equal measure, THE PRICE OF BREAD provides a kaleidoscopic portrait of life in Britain during a year of far-reaching change.
