The Bread Crisis in Britain, 1795-96

Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality Since 1700: Some Additional Preliminary Findings

“…On the other hand, part of the decline in the grain consumption of laborers would have been offset bY an increased consumption of other foods, some normally considered inferior to rains, including nuts, rootcrops, garden vegetables, milk, and milk products (Drurnmond and Wilbraham 1958;Stern 19614;Fussell 1949;Ashley 1928). Equations 11and 16 If we continue to assume an elasticity of the death rate with respect to nutritional status of -1.4 (although that figure may be too high for a single year's deprivation) then a shortfall in grains yields sufficient to reduce the food consumption of common laborers by 23 percent would have raised their mortality rate by 32 percent--more than enough to constitute a grave social crisis.…”

Foreign wars, domestic markets: England, 1793-1815

“…Heckscher was even more explicit in noting that "the question of the dependence of Great Britain on imports from the European mainland has generally been regarded as identical with the question of its provision with food… [and]…the importance of Great Britain's imports of foodstuffs…can practically be regarded as identical with her imports of wheat" (1922, p. 336). This over-reliance on foreign sources of grain was made manifest in the years 1795, 1800, and 1812 when adverse trade conditions combined with inclement weather to produce widespread bread riots, threats to the person of the King pressing for peace, and the highest grain prices ever recorded in England (Fay, 1921;Stern 1964;Thompson, 1971;author's calculations). Certain authors (Danson, 1894;Galpin, 1925;Sears, 1919) have emphasized the degree to which shortages of foreign supply and a certain fetish of self-sufficiency gave rise to feverish speculation and, hence, commodity price volatility.…”

Riots and resources: How food access affects collective violence

“…While not the focus of media reports, the political nature of food riots should come as no surprise to scholars of food riots or contentious politics. Literature on food riots from 18th-century Europe focuses on political, economic, and social factors, including state centralization, war-making, and industrialization, which interacted with food availability to mobilize action (Thompson, 1963;Stern, 1964;Tilly, 1971;Booth, 1977;Bouton, 1993;Bohstedt, 2014). And indeed, scholars have highlighted the ways that the contemporary food riot is also 'not simply about the price and accessibility of staple foods, but is a more complex phenomenon, and concerns the political economy of food provisioning' (Patel & McMichael, 2009: 11).…”