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House of Commons.
Extract from the 5th Geo. IV., Cap. 83, Sections 4,3, & 6 Intituled “An Act for the Punishment of idle and disorderly Persons...” [Coal Mining Broadside].
Publisher: W, E & H Mitchell, Newcastle upon Tyne;
Date of Publication: 1832
Stock Code: 6405
Single sheet approximately 42 cm x 28 cm with headings printed in bold. Horizontal folding creases; small nick at one crease. Sets out the laws prohibiting the “wandering abroad” and rough living of any individual without “any visible means of subsistence” and also individuals gathering alms or charitable contributions of any kind. The punishment for such transgressions was up to 3 months hard labour at the House of Correction, and anyone was enabled to apprehend offenders against the Act to be dealt with by a Justice of the Peace. The background to the announcement is the 1832 Miners’ Strike, reminding both striking miners and benefactors making charity collections on their behalf that they were breaking the law and could expect no mercy from the authorities; eventually the miners capitulated, faced with starvation, and the strike ended. Radical Newcastle printers in the reformist tradition William and Henry Mitchell also published the Tyne Mercury and Newcastle Magazine. They were one of the first printers in Newcastle to employ lithography and Andrew Mitchell was a prolific author in his own right. £280.00