It is not true that the agricultural labourers’ families only ate bread, bacon or pork, and cheese, such as are shown with cost in the family budgets. The majority of the poorer segment of the labourers had gardens next to their cottage, where they grew potatoes, cabbages, carrots, and other vegetables. In the worst monthsSigue leyendo «11.10. Other Sources of Food, Other Incomes, Cottagers»
Archivo del autor: Peter Van der Heyden. docenciapvdh@outlook.com
11.9. Sir Frederick Eden (1795/6)
This member of the better classes also saw that there was an excess of poverty in the country in 1795, and had data collected from a number of towns, as to the care of the poor (particularly the poor-houses, and the direct payments to people without incomes). These reports were published in his “State ofSigue leyendo «11.9. Sir Frederick Eden (1795/6)»
11.8. David Davies (1787)
David Davies was an Anglican clergyman, rector of the parish of Barkham in Berkshire from 1781 to his death in 1819. He wrote a book about the incomes and living expenses of his “flock”, called “The Case of the Labourers in Husbandry”, referring to 1787, published in 1795. The parish was small and poor. “InSigue leyendo «11.8. David Davies (1787)»
11.7. Jonas Hanway (1767) and Arthur Young (1771)
We have two persons who give us some data about incomes and expenses around the year 1770: Jonas Hanway and Arthur Young. Hanway was a philanthropist, founder of the Marine Society, which looked after very poor boys and found them employment in ships of the Royal Navy, and governor of the Foundling Hospital. As heSigue leyendo «11.7. Jonas Hanway (1767) and Arthur Young (1771)»
11.6. Absolute Figures as to the Standard of Living
We have now inspected the movements of wages and of living expenses from 1770 to 1815. But now we have to see if this means that the labourers lived in a state of mere subsistence for all this time, or if they ate sufficiently in general. (A segment that did suffer poverty and hunger, wasSigue leyendo «11.6. Absolute Figures as to the Standard of Living»
11.5. Price Increases in 1795 and 1800, and Reactions
At the beginning of 1795, there was a considerable shortage of cereal food and increases in food prices, due to a bad harvest in 1794 and extremely cold weather in December 1794 and January 1795. There were a large number of projects in the counties to help the poor (according to Edmund Burke, there wasSigue leyendo «11.5. Price Increases in 1795 and 1800, and Reactions»
11.4. Purchasing Power of the Wages
We now show the comparison between the wages and the price of the 4 lbs. of wheat, that is, how many 4 lb. units of wheat could be bought with one week’s wages. A. Young1770 Enq BoardAgric General View1st Serie F. Ede Enq BoardAgric General View2nd Series 1793 1794 1795 1803 Bedford 9.6 8.1Sigue leyendo «11.4. Purchasing Power of the Wages»
11.3. Wheat Prices
Tooke, A History of Prices and of the State of the Circulation from 1793 to 1837, 1838, vol. 2, p. 390 We have also the prices at different dates, for the purchase of 4 pounds of wheat in the market. This is different from the unit used in the rest of this investigation, which is theSigue leyendo «11.3. Wheat Prices»
11.2. Incomes
The wage level for the agricultural workers was defined by the “weekly winter wage” (for 41 weeks per year) in shillings per week. But this was only a standard figure. The earnings were also made up from the higher hay wage (6 weeks), the harvest wage (double amount for 5 weeks), piece-work (especially manual threshing), workSigue leyendo «11.2. Incomes»
11.1. External Factors
The importance of this chapter and the following chapter is to construct a quantitative description of the living standards in agriculture from 1770 to 1860, and particularly in the last years of the period. This should help us to understand the effect of the Industrial Revolution on this section of the population. The three importantSigue leyendo «11.1. External Factors»
The Industrial Revolution in England was not All Bad 