Page 27 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

Having said that the focus is on the Soothill family and shown their geographical mobility (or, rather, their lack of it), it is important in each chapter to recognise that the Soothills, like everyone else, are living in a larger context. In brief, they are the members of a local community which, in turn, is part of a wider national picture. I want briefly to remind something of the world or rather Britain that was the context of the years, 1861-1900.
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The general context of the fifty years, 1861 to 1910
It is difficult to summarise 50 years of history in a page or so. The year, 1861, marks the start of the American Civil War (1861-1865), while the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert, in 1861, heralds a more sombre monarchy. But what are the events or issues that impinge more directly on the Soothill tribe? In fact, the Cotton Famine in Lancashire was the result of the Civil War which had cut off our supplies of cotton from the United States. Great distress occurred as a consequence among the operatives in Lancashire. The operatives suffered terribly before cotton could be obtained from Egypt and India.
Many, if not most, of the Soothills were probably illiterate and the Elementary Education Act, 1870, introduced by Mr Forster, was important in improving educational standards. The conditions in factories were often dire and the Factory and Workshops Bill which was passed in 1895, dealing with the sanitary conditions and safety of workplaces, meant an improvement for many.
There were wars which could mean that Soothills could become involved and killed. The Boer War (1899-1902) which was fought in South Africa produced a call for an
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