Testimonies of Labourers During the Corn Laws

[sallyyorks]

Have found a book, free to read  online, that I thought others may be interested in.
In 1904 a newspaper asked for elderly peoples recollections of the period during the Corn Laws or what was also referred to at the time as the "protection times".

These elderly people, (one approaching a hundred years old) tell their stories of being labourers and include most areas in England. The topics include, poverty and hardship of the labourers and families , the Corn Laws, child labour (especially agricultural), the emigration of relatives, effects of the French and Crimean wars, Machine Breaking and Rick Burning, Poaching , Convict Transportation, the food people ate (or rather tried to eat), clothes people wore, Bread Riots, the Chartist and Plug Riots and everyday living conditions. The letters are a fascinating glimpse of how life was for most people and is straight from the horses mouth. Each chapter is a different region of England.

The book is called
The Hungry Forties : Life Under the Bread Tax : Descriptive Letters and other Testimonies from Contemporary Witnesses

https://archive.org/details/hungryfortieslif46unwi

[mazi]

Thanks for that, it is a compulsive read,  and we wonder why they never got round to christening the children, or registering the birth

Mike

[pinefamily]

Sometimes we do indeed forget how hard times were for our ancestors, and not just our rural ones.

[healyjfch]

Thanks for sharing your find. Well worthwhile reading.

[sallyyorks]

Thanks for replies
So many interesting everyday details in the testimonies, and similar experiences across the country , quite a few mention the burnt bread crust cups of tea !  but even though life was hard , the parents still show a lot of love and affection for their families and communities.
Some of the agricultural areas sound almost still feudal and not affected by mechanisation, with threshing still done by hand quite late in the period. A special section in one church for agricultural labourers , with a church fellow keeping them in order with some kind of whip or stick