Book of Murder
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The Book of Murder was a piece of anti-poor law propaganda published in Britain during the 1830s originally by Joshua Hobson.[1] It aimed to cause opposition to the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The book claimed that Poor Law commissioners were using infanticide to control the explosion in population.
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 was an Act of Parliament which altered the nature of poor relief in England and Wales - workhouses were built for paupers to receive indoor relief. The anti-poor law campaign alleged these pamphlets were the work of Poor Law Commissioners who were known to hold views on population similar to Thomas Malthus, the anti-poor law movement also alleged that copies of the original pamphlet had been suppressed.[2]
The book came from two pamphlets published under the name Marcus - An Esaay of Populousness and On the Possibility of Limiting Populousness which discussed possible infanticide used to tackle a population explosion and killing by gas. As the pamphlets were published under the name Marcus the publication of this book is sometimes also referred to as The Marcus Affair.
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The books were published by the Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor in the Northern Star. They were also published by the social reformer Joseph Rayner Stephens.
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