1-150-333 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Home Intervention', 1862. Britannia says: My Poor, Brave Children! At Least I May Intervene Here! Britannia arrives at the home of a Lancashire mill worker with supplies for his family provided by the private and state philanthropy. The Cotton Famine had caused very great distress amongst the working classes of the northern mill towns and John Bull, behind Britannia, carries a huge basket of goods with which Famine will be banished. The distress of this family symbolises the needs of some 250,000 people being supported by local rates, and at least as many others being supported by charitable contributions. In 1860, more than half a million British workers were directly dependant on the cotton industry, and many more were indirectly affected when supplies dried up in 1861. By 1862, the industry had almost come to a standstill. From Punch, or the London Charivari, August 2, 1862.