In 1834 the government introduced the poor law. This poor law helped the destitute. They gave money to the poor but the poor took this money for granted and many became lazy. So the government created workhouses. Hear the poor were treated badly and had bad living conditions. They were not allowed to leave until they found some work but the situation got worse. This further showed that the government really didn’t understand the problems faced by the working class.
Source A is an article about the town of Bradford from a newspaper, which was released on the 16th October 1845. It gives a description of town and its conditions. The source neither agrees nor disagrees with the question but suggests a possible motive of Salt building Saltaire.
“Most filthy and wretched abodes that the mind of a man can conceive”. It suggests that maybe Salt really for the people and built Saltaire to improve the bad conditions.
However it could be exaggerated and sometimes newspaper tend to do this to make the story interesting and so the sources reliability is questionable.
This article was released five years before Salt had the idea so he must have been influenced but we cannot even be sure if Salt had seen the newspaper. Even source C confirms the idea of source A because it distinguishes Salt as a benevolent and philanthropic man who felt it was important to help his fellow men who “in feebleness and necessity may need a home”
Some newspapers are written for a purpose. Here it maybe that it was a plight for the rich to help the working class.
Source B is an extract about Titus salt from a biography written by Jack Reynolds, which was published in 1983. This is not even sure what Salt’s inspiration was because he was a private man as it says in source C did not seek ‘neither title, honours not fame’
This source suggests paternal reasons behind Salt building Saltaire. It suggests that Salt as well as other employers provided company villages out of compassion. “To protect myself,” Edward Ackroyd said “from sudden withdrawal of labour”. I believe that Edward was frightened of strikes and his business failing and so did Salt so he built Saltaire in order to keep his workers. It also puts forward that workers were getting restless and getting more insubordinate because of their poor living and working conditions and we know these were dangerous circumstances because source E conveys the restlessness.
I believe that there is lack of evidence to prove this from an extract. The lack of evidence suggests that historians have to speculate on that Salt’s motives. It is implied that Salt like many other employers acted as a way of protecting themselves from striking workforce. It is useful because we can see that it shows Salts motives into building Saltaire. This source is relatively reliable because Jack Reynolds must have done lots of research before coming to this conclusion of his but this is a secondary source and the information can be distorted over time.
Source C is an extract from a guidebook by Harry Speigh written 1891. It describes the size of land and number of houses Salt had built for his workers. This suggests Salts concern for his workers welfare as he did not limit on spending considerable amounts of money to secure his workers well being. This source does not answer the question directly, but has a possible motive for salt constructing Saltaire. It shows many paternalistic reasons of Saltaire put together. “Sir Titus had an especially quiet, gentle”, moreover it shows as aspect of Salts personality. This source agrees with the Titus building Saltaire for the good of mankind. This sources reliability is questionable. Its is from the time so it is primary source but there is no other evidence to back that Salt build it for paternal reasons and this due to the fact that salt was not a very good speaker. Even though it was written in 1891, this 40 years after Saltaire was built, the evidence was written specifically for a guide on the most interesting areas Airedale and so focuses on the positive and not the negative and so it could be deliberately written to attract tourist so reliability is very questionable.
Source D is a picture taken in 1999 of the almshouses. I believe that this source agrees with the source because salt built these almshouses for the destitute and the old. it shows really how benevolent Salt really was. The houses look impressive even by today’s standards. I believe that the source is not very reliable because it was taken in 1999 and so therefore the house many have been restored as people nowadays live in these houses. It is not very dependable because the picture was taken in 1999 but considering that fact that almshouses were not built for the poor and old in Salts day, it was a big advancement.
Source E is an extract taking from a book called “Titus and Saltaire, Industry and virtue” written by John Styles in 1994.
Even though it does not answer the question directly it show many motive for Structure to be built. Many reasons indicate the poor health reasons and working conditions and so they were paternal reasons but also suggest the reasons of rioting and strike in Bradford at the time. Styles state that only a tiny and self-interested minority were directly responsible for the privations suffered by the majority. It was this case that many bradfordians claimed the right to vote and went to the streets to campaign. This could very well be the reason Salt constructed Saltaire so he could keep his workers from revolting. It is not very trustworthy because it was released in 1994. This many years after the construction of Saltaire.
The source mainly all indicate that the Saltaire was built because of the poor and working conditions in Bradford. There was much poverty and disease in Bradford and maybe Salt felt compelled to do something about this. Salt may not wanted any revolts from workers, as this would have been bad for the business. Maybe even Salt’s religious beliefs helped him come to decisions to build a high-quality mill for his workers as he had the capability of building something like this.
Word Count: 1315
