#poorlaws — Public Fediverse posts

My first post here was 10 days ago, & the very first reply sent me down a fascinating #RabbitHole
🕳️ 🐇 to a #Britain in which #Tories push for a fairer society with a #MinimumWage & expanded #WelfareBenefits, & our most beloved novelist skewers their opponents. Relevant holiday reading?

Here's the conversation, long 🧵 - what an intro to #Fediverse!
https://h-net.social/@ClaireFromClare/109556329817289341

#JaneAusten #UKpolitics
#WilliamPitt #PoorLaws
#EdmundBurke #CatherineDeBourgh
#CharacterNames #PrideAndPrejudice

@Tony_Meredith I also found 'The Comedy of Social Distinctions in Pride and Prejudice' by John McAleer which explains that Jane Austen's great-grandmother was a Brydges & descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence - so as it happens #JaneAusten was a direct descendant of Elizabeth de Burgh #LadyOfClare. However the evidence seems compelling that Jane's #CharacterNames were directly related to political issues of her day. She started writing in Oct1796, just as Pitt proposed reforming the #PoorLaws.