Life of an agricultural labourer

[clarefmshaw]

Has anyone got a good synopsis of the life and work of an agricultural labourer in about 1850?

I've been googling but not found anything which might sum this up fairly succinctly.

Many thanks for any help
Clare

[Rod Neep]

This is a golden opprotunity for me to point you to the very best book on the subject!

The Village Labourer 1760-1832

A wonderful history of the poor in in the villages of the period. It deals with subjects such as enclosure, which had a dramatic effect upon village life and also with the Labourers Uprising of 1830. It also describes in great detail the types of jobs carried out by labourers in the countryside.

An absolutely fascinating read which allows you to understand the hardships and the problems that the ordinary person faced during these times. And that's real family history! Putting yourselves into your ancestors' shoes and understaning all about them and their lifestyles.

And... it is available on CD from the Archive CD Books

[clarefmshaw]

Thanks Rod!

Yes, I will probably like to buy this CD as I have ag labs in my own family from about this time, and it's a really interesting period.

But I'm really looking at the moment at the lives of ag labs post 1850 and also, particularly, with respect to later in the century, when agricultural mechanisation pushed so many workers into the towns (where, of course, due to the industrial revolution, there was so much work).

I'm looking for a sort of synopsis (ie a few paragraphs) of ag labs in the second half of the 19th century, really to flesh out a family history I'm secretly writing for my husband - ie genealogy meets social history, or as I would like to say, the way social history becomes 'real' for most people like me whose forebears don't figure amongst the 'rich and famous'!

[Guy Etchells]

Sorry but I must disagree with you there Rod, I would advise
The Village Labourer & The Skilled Labourer 1760-1832. The second book gives an idea of the conditions of those in industrial premises.
At the price they are how can they be refused.
Cheers
Guy

[clarefmshaw]

Cheers Guy, but do you think these cds are relevant to the condition of the ag lab from about 1850 onwards, which is the period I'm more interested in?

Many thanks
Clare

[Guy Etchells]

Yes, but one must remember that agricultural wages rose during the mid to late 19th century due partly to the Crimean War (1853/5) and the Franco-German war of 1872/3. It wasn't until 1902 (apart for short periods) that labourers wages were really hit.

Having said that agricultural wages were always a sight lower than the wages a labourer could get in town therefore there was a economic driven exodus.
The average farm labourer's wage rose steadily from around 9 shillings and 6 pence per week in 1824 to around 14 shillings an 5 pence in 1898. In addition they got various allowances such as potato ground beer etc.
Cheers
Guy

[Thisby]

Hello,

I've been reading this thread with interest as my ggrandmother's family were agricutural labourers (and paper mill workers) in Orpington. It appears that my gg grandmother married into an Ogden family who came from Lancashire/Manchester. I'm wondering was there some migration from the North around the 1830-50s?

It looks as though there is a pattern forming with my other ancestors who were ag labourers in Downham Essex, Langdon Hills Essex, and Churchill Oxfordshire. By the 1880s they seemed to have married and settled in London.

The tide has turned again and most of the current family now live outside London.

[jeeb]

Hi Clare,
The Illustrated Shepherd's Life by W H Hudson and published by Book Club Associates in 1987 is an excellent read if you are interested in Agricultral Labourers in the latter half of the 19th century. It was first published in 1910 under the title 'A Shepherd's Life'. It tells the story of farm life based on a real life person's account who knew the author. He was a shepherd on a Wiltshire farm through the Victorian reign. It gives details of every day life on a farm as seen through the shepherd's eyes and is probably the sort of material you are after.
I am a present day sheep farmer and I understand and relate well with the writing in this book and can recommend it.

Cheers,
Jeremy

[jeeb]

Hello,

I'm wondering was there some migration from the North around the 1830-50s?

Hi Thisby,
There was a general migration of people from the countryside into the towns around and after the mid 19th century. This was not just from the north but in general. As mechanisation took over less people were required to work the land and with growth of industry in the towns the population moved to find jobs. Generally pay was better in the towns than agricultral based labour but often at the expense of poorer working/living conditions. Large areas of slum housing grew in the urban areas in latter 19th century to accomodate the mass influx of people moving from the countryside to find work. These back to back houses were crammed with large families and they had little or no sanitation and the infant mortality was high.
Cheers,
Jeremy

[suedent]

In some cases people who were in receipt of Parish Relief in rural areas were "encouraged" to move to work in the Industrial North.

This subject was covered in the episode of Who Do You Think You Are which featured Jeremy Paxman.