Farm Bailiff

[hope full]

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

[AnnB]

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

[hope full]

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

[AnnB]

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

[hope full]

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 |biggrin|

Thanks again

Hope