Timeline Wednesday 6 May 1795

Events on Wednesday 6 May 1795 1

• 1795 Speenhamland system adopted Berkshire magistrates introduce wage subsidies tied to bread prices Magistrates meeting at Speenhamland in Berkshire introduced a system of poor relief that supplemented low wages according to the price of bread and family size. The scheme spread across much of rural England as a response to wartime food shortages and rural poverty. It remained influential, and controversial, until reform of the Poor Laws decades later.