The Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict c 36) was an Act of the

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Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

during

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

's second

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Government, which involved allowing local councils to buy up areas of slum dwellings in order to clear and then rebuild them. It formed part of Disraeli's

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

initiative aimed at the "elevation of the people" (the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

), a policy stated in his 1872 speeches at

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and

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, and associated with his doctrine of

One Nation Conservatism One-nation conservatism, also known as one-nationism or Tory democracy, is a paternalistic form of British political conservatism. It advocates the preservation of established institutions and traditional principles within a political democ ...

. Also, key individuals, such as the philanthropist

Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a fa ...

, helped pressurise the government into passing the Act.

Terms

# Compel owners of slum dwelling to sell to councils, who must provide compensation. # Take advantage of lower than normal interest rates from the Government. # Demolish the areas of slum housing to be redeveloped by commercial builders.

Importance

Considered one of the most significant Acts of Disraeli's administration (he said it was their "chief measure") the Act was a classic example of permissive legislation that typified Disraeli's

social policy Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society. Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize soci ...

. Councils were not compelled to take action and, due to the obvious cost involved, few did. In fact, by 1881, only 10 out of 87 towns in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

used their permitted powers. The most notable major redevelopment occurred in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

under the Prominent, Radical Liberal

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, founder of the

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. There, it led to the creation of Corporation Street; overall, however, it proved ineffective.

Permissiveness

The Act was permissive, mainly for the protection of property rights. Many felt the Act was an infringement of such rights, including many within the party, who pressured Richard Cross against making it compulsory. Also, it may have been seen to be an attack on landlords, traditional Tory voters. As well, it was passed in a time that the government adopted a predominantly ''

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

'' attitude to politics. Disraeli proclaimed in June 1875: "Permissive legislation is the characteristic of a free people".Robert Blake, ''Disraeli'' (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1966), p. 554.

References

*Glen, Alexander. The Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875: With Introduction, Notes, Appendix of Statutes and Forms, and Index. Re-issued with the Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act, 1879. Knight & Co. Fleet Street, London. 1880
Google Books
*Paterson, William. "Artisans Dwellings Act". The Practical Statutes of the Session 1875. Law Times Office. Wellington Street, Strand, London. 1875. Page
147
to 180. *"Artisans Dwellings" in "Abstracts of Important Acts of Parliament". Companion to the Almanac, or, Year-Book of General Information for the Year 1876. (The British Almanac). Printed for the Company of Stationers. London. 1876. Page
243
and 244. {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1875 Public housing in the United Kingdom Slums in Europe Housing legislation in the United Kingdom

Terms

Importance

Permissiveness

See also

References