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Thread: Farm Bailiff

  1. #1
    hope full
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    Question Farm Bailiff

    Hello all

    It seems that one of my GGGrandads was Farm Bailiff to one W.Pothecary, Esq; Fifehead, Hampshire.
    What exactly did a Farm Bailiff do?
    I would appreciate your help please....thanks

    Hope

  2. #2
    AnnB
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    My understanding of the term is that the Bailiff was employed by the landowner who owned a farm or farms, the bailiff being in charge of seeing that the tenant farmer(s) kept the farm(s) in a good state and paid the rent on time. He acted as a 'middle man' between the two, although I suspect he was more on the landowner's side than the tenant farmer....

    Best wishes
    Ann

  3. #3
    hope full
    Guest

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    Hello Ann

    Thank you, that's great
    Do you think that he would have been a tenant farmer too, in addition to being employed to keep the others in-line?

    Hope

  4. #4
    AnnB
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    I don't really know, Hope. I suppose it is possible that he would have farmed some land of his own, if he had the time to do so - depends on how hard a taskmaster the landowner was

    A bailiff would have had the power to turf a tenant farmer out if they were not farming the landowner's land to the standard expected, so, he may have had to take charge of a vacant farm in such a situation, before another tenant was found - but that is my supposition

    Best wishes
    Ann

  5. #5
    hope full
    Guest

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    Hello again Ann

    Thanks for your thoughts.
    I'm pleased to have found him and I hope he was a nice bailiff and not a bully. It makes such a pleasant change to discover that at least ONE of my lot wasn't a blacksmith or a labourer

    Thanks again

    Hope

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