Help with researching the history of agricultural labourers/servants

[toni*]

the census was a list of people who were at the address on census night, one night in ten years, they might not have necessarily lived there, hence relationship to the head of household.

[nanny jan]

Hi,

The census only shows where a person was on census night.

She might have owned the land but rented it to someone else.

 How clear is the image for 1881 census?


Nanny Jan

[oldcrone]

Thanks for that, Toni and Nanny Jan!

It could mean that my g-g-g-grandmother was just at the farm that day/night, when the 1871 census was taken.  That makes sense.

Not sure what you mean though, Nanny Jan, about renting out her land to someone else.  Her second husband was dead; she is listed as being a 'farmer of 3 acres' on the 1881 census.  There is no listing on the census of any other workers of her land.

xxx 

[coombs]

When did she die? Do you have her death certificate?

She may well have been a farmer on 3 acres aged 67. No pensions, so people worked until they dropped but I would assume that the amount of employees wasnt said on the census and some ag labs were probably working on the farm.

Ben

[toni*]

ag labs did not always live on the farm, the could work on a farm and live with their parents for example

some census entries do show employees for exampel farmer of 3 acres employing 2 men and 2 boys but not all did it was up to the enumarator i think.
and also up to the informant on how mcuh they said

[toni*]

http://www.doncasterfhs.co.uk/talks/documents/june%202006.pdf

[stanmapstone]

In my part of the country - Northumberland / Scottish Borders Ag Labs went to the Hiring Fairs - I'm not sure at what time of year - and were hired for the season or sometimes if they were lucky they were hired permanently and then they were given a house by the farmer. Several of my ancestors live around the same area for a number of years but others moved frequently . Luck of the draw or wre the permanent ones harder workers?

A study of Poor Law settlement examinations has revealed that over 90% of hirings took place at Michaelmas, Martinmas, or May Day. The Agricultural Wages Board, established under the 1917 Corn Production Act, was probably responsible for the demise of the Hiring Fairs.

The Times has three reports on the decline of the Hiring Fairs.
11th Nov. 1919. "At the first of the yearly agricultural hiring fairs....held at Driffield yesterday, the attendance of farmers was nil, although farm hands attended in hundreds. The farmers' absence is taken to be an effect of the Corn Production Act, with its schedule of minimum weekly wages, which may result in the total extinction of these hiring fairs, which have been a recognized institution for generations."

18th. May 1921. "The revolution caused by the wages boards in the agricultural industry was strikingly illustrated at Lincoln yesterday, when, at the May statutory hiring fair.......not a single hiring was reported......Almost all farm labourers now work for weekly wages without board, the living-in system having been abolished."

6th. June 1938. "The majority of Westmorland farmers who attended the hiring fair at Kendal on Saturday....left without making engagements because of the high wages asked by the workers."


Stan

[toni*]

the fairs are also mentioned in the link i provided earlier form Doncaster fhs

http://www.doncasterfhs.co.uk/talks/documents/june%202006.pdf

[oldcrone]

Thank you all very much for all this helpful information - much to mull over!

In answer to coombs: she died (I'm almost certain) in 1890, aged 76 (outliving 2 husbands, and 5 of her 8 children).  I'm going to order her death certificate, and her marriage certificate to her second husband as soon as I can - hopefully, these may tell me a bit more about her life.