Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to prevent, until the sixth Day of November one thousand eight hundred and one, and from thence to the End of six Weeks from the Commencement of the then next Session of Parliament, the manufacturing of any Fine Flour from Wheat, or other Grain, and the making of any Bread solely from the Fine Flour of Wheat; and to repeal an Act, passed in the thirty-sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for permitting Bakers to make and sell certain Sorts of Bread, and to make more effectual Provision for the same. |
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Citation | 41 Geo. 3. (G.B.) c. 16 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 24 March 1801 |
Commencement | 24 March 1801 |
Repealed | 24 February 1801 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | |
Status: Repealed |
The Making of Bread, etc. Act 1800 [1] [2] (41 Geo. 3. (G.B.) c. 16), also called the Making of Bread Act 1800, [3] popularly named the Brown Bread Act or the Poison Act, [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain that prohibited millers from producing any flour other than wholemeal flour.
The act was introduced as one of a series of measures to deal with a severe food shortage, caused at least partly by the poor wheat harvest of 1799. Labourers and their families at that time lived very largely on bread, the price of which could account for more than half of their weekly wages. [10]
The act directed that only wholemeal flour was to be produced.
The act proved to be very unpopular, and impossible to enforce. [11] So concerned was the government by the civil unrest that resulted, the act was repealed after less than two months by the Use of Fine Flour (No. 2) Act 1801 ( 41 Geo. 3. (U.K.). c. 2). One account from Horsham, in Sussex, demonstrates the depth of public feeling:
A number of women ... proceeded to Gosden wind-mill, where, abusing the miller for having served them with brown flour, they seized on the cloth with which he was then dressing meal according to the directions of the Bread Act, and cut it into a thousand pieces; threatening at the same time to serve all similar utensils he might in future attempt to use in the same manner. [10]
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in both Central Europe and Northern Europe.
The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The acts came into force between 31 December 1800 and 1 January 1801, and the merged Parliament of the United Kingdom had its first meeting on 22 January 1801.
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of common wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a loaf with a finer, crumbly texture. Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.
Baker's percentage is a notation method indicating the proportion of an ingredient relative to the flour used in a recipe when making breads, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. It is also referred to as baker's math, and may be indicated by a phrase such as based on flour weight. It is sometimes called formula percentage, a phrase that refers to the sum of a set of baker's percentages. Baker's percentage expresses a ratio in percentages of each ingredient's weight to the total flour weight:
Thomas Richard Allinson was an English physician, dietetic reformer, businessman, journalist and vegetarianism activist. He was a proponent of wholemeal bread consumption. His name is still used today for a bread popular in Europe, Allinson bread.
An Appropriation Act is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, like a Consolidated Fund Act, allows the Treasury to issue funds out of the Consolidated Fund. Unlike a Consolidated Fund Act, an Appropriation Act also "appropriates" the funds, that is allocates the funds issued out of the Consolidated Fund to individual government departments and Crown bodies. Appropriation Acts were formerly passed by the Parliament of Great Britain.
An oatcake is a type of flatbread similar to a cracker or biscuit, or in some versions takes the form of a pancake. They are prepared with oatmeal as the primary ingredient, and sometimes include plain or wholemeal flour as well. Oatcakes are cooked on a griddle or baked in an oven.
Horsebread was a type of bread produced and consumed in medieval Europe. At the time, it was considered to be of low quality, made from a seasonal mix of legumes, such as dry split peas, and bran along with other non-wheat cereal grains such as oats, rye, and acorns. It was one of the cheapest breads available.
The Making of Bread Act 1757 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which aimed to protect the making of bread and punish those that adulterated it, for the purposes of protecting public health. It was introduced after a report accused bakers of using alum, chalk and powdered bones to keep bread white.