British historians are reeling from a cache of 1600s Mughal news reports that offer a startlingly clear window into the lives of ordinary Britons. The documents, discovered in a Delhi archive, detail the price of wheat in London, the frequency of strikes among weavers, and the simmering regional inequality that would later fuel the Industrial Revolution.
Dr. Eleanor Harrow of Oxford University called it “a bombshell for economic history.” The records show that in 1625, a loaf of bread cost a London labourer a full day’s wage. In the north, the same loaf cost two days’ wages. “This confirms what we suspected but could never prove: that regional inequality was baked into the economy even then,” said Harrow.
The Mughal reports, written by merchants and spies, also track union activity. In 1640, a strike by Bristol rope-makers halted shipbuilding for six weeks. The reports call the strikers “stubborn fellows who refuse to be starved.” This is the earliest known reference to collective bargaining in Britain.
The findings have reignited debates about wage stagnation. “They earned in pennies, we earn in pounds, but the struggle is the same,” said Sarah Jenkins, Economy & Labour Reporter. “The price of bread always tells the truth about power.”
