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Source: Bell's Weekly Messenger, No.1815, Sunday, January 9, 1831

Dreadful Distress in Derbyshire.

The distress which prevails among the miners and weavers of this mountainous and cold district is almost beyond description. A numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Bradwell was held on Wednesday se'nnight, for the purpose of considering the best means of administering relief to the suffering families in the neighbourhood, who, it is well known, cannot, by the most diligent exertion, earn more than three to four shillings per week! Many of these poor sufferers had their children in bed when visited, whose bed-clothes had not a vestige of either linen or flannel about them, but were composed of wrappers and old clothes— others had not a tittle of fire! The respectable inhabitants of the village and neighbourhood have already subscribed nearly 50l., which sum they are actively distributing amongst the sufferers, in coal, meal, and blankets. It is said one great cause of the misery which exists is the facility which Spain processes of producing the metal at a much cheaper rate, and importing it into this country, and selling it lower than it can be worked in England; and that the Derbyshire miners mean to petition for a restrictive duty. The age of restrictions, however, is passed.