Norman
27-10-2006, 6:37 PM
One of the delights of researching family history is being drawn into the social history. My own researches have taken me from c17th dissenters in the Essex marshes, to life on a great estate in north Oxfordshire, to the Chartists in Stoke.
Recently having discovered 19th century Shropshire farmers among my ancestors, I am keen to know more about them.
Having had a farm at Duncott in 1841, William Miller, born in Halesowen, was farming 180 acres at Donington in 1851. The farm may have passed, when he retired, to the younger of his two sons, James, who in 1871 was living at Donington House, Donington and farming 106 acres, before he eventually emigrated to Toronto, Canada. James' elder brother Richard, living nearby in 1871 at Sydnale House, Donington, had a farm of 198 acres and 10 years later had moved to Badger where he had a farm of 210 acres at Badger in 1881.
William Miller’s sister Anna married Richard Bayley, son of a Wroxeter family, who farmed 200 acres at Cluddeley, Wrockwardine, from before 1841 and probably until his death in 1887. He lived in a large Georgian House that still stands.
Questions that come to mind are: Were they tenant farmers? If so, how secure was that occupation and who might have owned the land? What sort of farming were they likely to have been involved in? Would they have been prosperous? Was this part of Shropshire affected by the poor harvests elsewhere in England during the 1870s and 1890s? Did many farmers from Shropshire migrate to Canada? Is there any evidence that men who had accumulated wealth from industries in the ‘Black Country’ towns bought and retired to farms in Shropshire?
Can anyone point me to any sources (in books or online) that might help answer some of these questions and give me an insight into their lives? Many thanks for any help.
Recently having discovered 19th century Shropshire farmers among my ancestors, I am keen to know more about them.
Having had a farm at Duncott in 1841, William Miller, born in Halesowen, was farming 180 acres at Donington in 1851. The farm may have passed, when he retired, to the younger of his two sons, James, who in 1871 was living at Donington House, Donington and farming 106 acres, before he eventually emigrated to Toronto, Canada. James' elder brother Richard, living nearby in 1871 at Sydnale House, Donington, had a farm of 198 acres and 10 years later had moved to Badger where he had a farm of 210 acres at Badger in 1881.
William Miller’s sister Anna married Richard Bayley, son of a Wroxeter family, who farmed 200 acres at Cluddeley, Wrockwardine, from before 1841 and probably until his death in 1887. He lived in a large Georgian House that still stands.
Questions that come to mind are: Were they tenant farmers? If so, how secure was that occupation and who might have owned the land? What sort of farming were they likely to have been involved in? Would they have been prosperous? Was this part of Shropshire affected by the poor harvests elsewhere in England during the 1870s and 1890s? Did many farmers from Shropshire migrate to Canada? Is there any evidence that men who had accumulated wealth from industries in the ‘Black Country’ towns bought and retired to farms in Shropshire?
Can anyone point me to any sources (in books or online) that might help answer some of these questions and give me an insight into their lives? Many thanks for any help.