Rural Life in Victorian England

England

Occupations

Rural Life in Victorian England

Background

Other than for the landowners, small independent farmers, and tenant farmers, as well as independent operators such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, or masons, life on a farm in Victorian times was difficult at best.

Some wealthy landowners or independent farmers provided decent cottages for their farmhands, and these were generally free. However most didn’t really care about the condition of the accommodation for their workers, and often the cottages had broken windows and doors, roofs that leaked, and dirt floors.

The average cottage was in a row of 4 – 10 units, and called a ‘two up two down’ dwelling. That meant a main room and kitchen downstairs, and 2 bedrooms upstairs. The ‘privy’ was outside, and often shared by a number of cottages.

To survive, many families worked small adjacent gardens, and kept chickens, and maybe a pig, to enable them to survive. The garden was the responsibility of the wife and any small children too young to work outdoors in the fields. If she had training, she would be able to make some type of cheese that could be stored for the winter months.

Clothing was almost always ‘hand me downs’ from father to sons, and mother to daughters. The diet was miserable, and could only be augmented by what could be grown. A typical daily fare follows: Breakfast was a poor porridge of flour, butter and water. At midday, they would eat bread and occasionally a piece of cheese. Supper was bread or potatoes and sometimes a piece of bacon.

All members of the family were required to work to ensure that the family survived. Children as young as 6 years old would help in the barns, fields, and dairies, especially at harvest-time. Wives generally would take care of the cottage, plus make whatever could be stored for the winter, such as preserves, and root crops.

Education was significantly improved during the Victorian era. Prior to that time, the only education available for farm workers was their family bible and whatever the mother was able to provide. However in 1833, Parliament authorized sums of money to be provided for the construction of schools for the poor children of England and Wales. A succession of acts that followed hoped to expand the scope of education, but, for the most part, there was no unified education system; it was still in the hands of churches and philanthropists. There was a constant battle between the aim of schools to teach and parents’ need to have their children home to help the family.

Landowners

One of the consequences of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and William’s actions over the next 2 decades, was that a large part of the English landscape was divided up and given to his major follows. For a number of centuries after, very little land was held by the English, and very little by the peasantry.

The largest landowners tended to hire land managers, and the result was many tenant farmers. These were required to pay a portion of their earnings annually to their Lord and Master.

Most landowners of this type were arrogant and considered the local population to be nothing more than serfs, available to take care of their possessions. In reality, the land was not worked wisely or well. All locals were required to touch their forelocks in the presence of the nobility, In the middle to late seventeenth century the concept of crop rotation was introduced, and with much more bountiful harvests, the peasantry became restless, and the more enlightened aristocracy started to provide better housing and better pay. However the lot in life of the average farm worker was still marginal, to say the least.

Tenant Farmers

A tenant farmer is one who resides on land owned by a landlord / land owner. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land for agriculture use, usually contractually, where the tenant farmer is required to pay the land owner an annual sum of money.

There were times when the land owner would contribute some capital to ensure that the tenant would be successful, but the required annual payment rarely left enough money for the tenant farmer to improve his family’s condition.

The rights the tenant has over the land, the form, and measures of payment varies across systems (geographically and chronologically). In some systems, the tenant could be evicted at whim tenancy at will); in others, the landowner and tenant sign a contract for a fixed number of years (tenancy for years or indenture).

Independent Farmers

Often called smallholdings, these were farms that were usually less than 10 acres, and were operated by single families. They would often specialize, for example, as vegetable producers, piggeries, dairies, and poultry producers for nearby towns and cities. The farmers were frequently on the edge of bankruptcy, and the families would hire out to larger farms nearby in the major harvest seasons. The benefit of this ‘hiring out’ was that those migrant workers could glean whatever was left over in the fields after the main harvest was over. A large family could be able to glean enough wheat from the wheat harvesting to provide the flour needed for bread during the winter.

As agriculture developed in the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the independent farmers were squeezed out, and either became tenant farmers, or farm workers on larger farms. The few that were truly innovative and resourceful, bought up the smaller units and became large landowners themselves.

A major change that occurred in the middle of the nineteenth century was the return of crop rotation and the practice of leaving fields fallow. The practice goes back to Old Testament times, with every seventh year requiring that fields be left fallow. In the nineteenth century this practice, together with better farming skills, benefited tenant farmers and larger independent farmers, but was a death knell for the smaller units. These were assimilated into larger, more successful, independents, as well as larger landholdings.

Cattlemen

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the rearing and taking care of cattle was largely a family affair. Because there was no concept of refrigeration, cattle had to end up near the marketplace for their products; normally larger towns and cities.

It was not unusual to see herds of cattle being driven along the roadways leading into towns and cities, to end up at the local slaughterhouses.

The Victorian era marked a time when livestock and animal husbandry was going through big changes, and everyone, even city dwellers, were around to watch it happen. The introduction of lifestock breeding was initiated at the start of the eighteenth century, with the emphasis of selection based upon the desire for better milk production, or the need for more protein generation.

It was also during this time that transportation changed radically, first with the introduction of the canal system, and then, with the advent of the railway, making transportation of live animals over larger distances commonplace.

Many large landowners, as well as the more forward looking independent farmers, saw the opportunity for growth by choosing to selectively move to a one product type of farming, allowing them to grow almost exponentially, and to purchase plots of land close by, from those who chose to move to the new industrial occupations.

Dairymen

By definition these were the farmers who chose to specialize in the rearing and care of milk cows. Up until the middle of the eighteenth century, cows had not been selectively bred for milk production, and the animals used for milk production were those female animals that were born in a particular region.

A Dairyman would either buy or breed his animals, and sell of the males for beef or further breeding. This meant that the milk yield was very low; a typical cow would yield a little over a gallon of milk per day. The Shorthorn, or Durham cow was introduced in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s as a breed that could provide both good beef and reasonable milk production. It originated in the north east of England, county Durham, and could provide upwards of 2.5 gallons of milk.

Because cheese was a by-product that allowed the valuable benefits of milk to be stored for long periods of time, most dairymen would also have either a small cheese manufacturing plant, or would belong to an association that collected his milk and made a local cheese. In this way specific types of cheese became standard for the regions of Britain, and would include such cheeses as Cheddar (Southwest England), Cheshire and Lancashire (Northwest England), Leicester (the Midlands), Wensleydale (Northeast England), and, later on, blue cheeses such as Stilton and Shropshire blue.

Milkmaid

In Victorian times, the duties of a milkmaid were both varied and important. The Victorian dairy maid played an integral role in carrying out a number of duties on Victorian dairy farms. This ranged from churning the butter, cleaning the farmyard, and whipping up the most delectable creams. her role was crucial for a consistent supply of dairy products and other products churned out from milk by-products.

Prior to the invention of robotic milking systems in the middle of the nineteenth century, all milking was by hand. Because the men were needed for more muscular activities, milking became a female occupation.

The equipment required follows:

• One or more large milk churns, a large container into which the milk was poured and stored.
• A milking stool, normally with 3 legs, so uneven flooring would not cause the seat to tip.
• One or more milking pails, normally with an oak bottom and ash sides. This combination caused less leakage.
• Kivers used to cool and set the cream, after the milk had been cooled.

Without understanding the reasoning for it, milkmaids kept their equipment scrupulously clean, washing them every day, and frequently using boiling water to sterilize. This practice was followed as, earlier, much milk used for making cream and cheese, was thrown away due to contamination. They rapidly learned that cleanliness was certainly next to Godliness, but great for milk production!

Ploughmen

By definition, a ploughman was a farm worker a man whose job was to guide a plough that was being pulled by a horse. In most instances these were single bottom ploughs, meaning that they only had one cutting blade. Thus only one furrow was generated for each length of field plowed.

In today’s mechanized environment, modern tractor driven units can have as many as 12 blades, so that huge areas of land can be ploughed in a single day. That was not the case before mechanization, and ploughing a field was a difficult and time consuming occupation.

The original design of the plough blade was very crude, and required an extremely strong horse or two oxen to be able to work all day. Draft horses were the beast of choice for ploughing in the UK.

In 1763 a Berwickshire, Scotland, man, John Small, applied mathematical calculations and science to the mouldboard shape of plough blade. He experimented with varying mouldboard curvatures and patterns, eventually producing a universal cast iron shape that would turn the soil more effectively with less force, wear and strain on the horse and ploughman. Over the years this ‘Scots Plough’ as it was known, was the beginning of the modern mouldboard plough.

Obviously ploughing was a seasonal occupation, and so it was common for a village or small town to have its own ploughman, and the town or village own the plough itself, and his function was to plough for all the independent farms in the area. They, in turn, would provide for his income. He would often then hire out as a farm worker for the rest of the year.

Orchardman/Pigmen

The original orchard of the eighteenth century was primarily an apple orchard and the apples were used to make cider. In most instances the trees were spaced so that there was sufficient land underneath for the small-holding operator to keep his pigs. The pigs were allowed to eat any of the crop that fell on the ground, so the tendency was that the occupation had a dual title.

As fruit became more in demand for the tables of the rich and affluent, orchardmen branched out into growing different types of fruit that would grow well in England. Thus hardy peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and damsons were introduced for growing for sale to the towns and cities.

Shepherds

It has often been said that sheep were the original landscape artists of England. As recently as the fourteenth century, most of England was covered with forests. However as more and more sheep were introduced, the sheep started to change the landscape.

Cattle and pigs will graze under the foliage of a forest, eating only the grass and other plants underneath. Sheep, on the other hand, not only ate the grass, but would also eat any small saplings that were there, resulting in the loss of large swathes of forest over hundreds of years.

One of the main reasons for the ascendency of sheep over the years was the need for wool. From the use of skins primarily as a body covering, people started spinning and weaving wool for more comfortable and durable clothing.

England is a small country, and so there was no need for a shepherd to live in the wilderness with his sheep. Instead he could spend much time at home, except in the lambing season, when he was in the fields almost entirely in the Spring, to take care of the sheep and new lambs. The following from a modern shepherd indicates the quality of life over the generations:

My family have been sheep farming in Cumbria for at least 500 years. I stayed on my uncle’s hill farm in the school holidays as a child, helping out with lambing time and feeding the calves. Six years ago my husband and I bought a small hill farm in the Rusland Valley, a quiet area of the Lake District between Coniston Water and Windermere, and it is from here that I now breed rough fell sheep, a breed native to Cumbria, along with fell ponies and dexter cattle…

The work I do on the farm depends upon the season, but every day I walk around all of my animals to check they are doing well. My son and I are building up a flock of rough fell sheep, one we can show with pride at agricultural shows, and produce high-quality stock that we can sell for breeding. My son’s involvement is crucial, as breeding such a flock is more than a one-generation project.

Blacksmiths

Inexorably tied to the country and country life has been the blacksmith. Victorian blacksmiths made everything from horseshoes to nails and repaired tools and farm implements. The fire would have been kept going in the forge all day. Until the eighteenth century, blacksmiths used charcoal as fuel but later coke from the coalfields became more popular because it burned hotter for longer.

Because of the short distances between villages and towns in rural England, the blacksmith’s shop was usually within the borders of the town. They would usually keep a stock of sizes for the known horses within the district. If there was a manor house or other large estate nearby, there would also be a store of horseshoes for the gentry’s horses, as well as for their carriage horses.

They would also have sets of parts for repairing ploughs and carts, and, before the industrial revolution, were responsible for manufacturing the nails used in the building trade.

One of the most critical of their activities was to make the iron tire for wooden wagon wheels. The work had to be extremely accurate, or else the tire would come off on rough roads. The tire had to be smaller than the wheel itself, when both were cold. It was mounted by heating it up to red hot, quickly placing it on the wooden wheel, and immediately cooling it with copious amounts of water. Normally, there would be a master blacksmith, and at least 1 – 2 assistants and apprentices.

Particularly during the active months for farming, they would be kept busy for more ten to twelve hours per day, seven days per week. The following illustration gives a fairly accurate picture of the Victorian Blacksmith’s shop.

Wheelwrights/Woodworkers

The wheelwright’s craft is amongst the oldest known to humanity. Some of the earliest examples of solid wheels date back to 5000 BC in such places as Egypt and Mesopotamia, while spoked wheels were in existence in Asia Minor by 2000 BC. A complete wheel dating from the Bronze Age was discovered in Peterborough in England. Other ancient preserved specimens have been found in various parts of Britain, for example preserved in Irish bogs, and of Roman date from Somerset (where a wheelwright was active in the Glastonbury Lake Village) and Edinburgh. There are records of trade in wheel parts among finds at a Roman fort and settlement near to Hadrian’s Wall.

In the nineteenth century almost every village had a wheelwright for he was essential to the movement of goods by cart, but with the advent of motorized transport and metal wheels the need for the craft declined. The craft has developed over time reaching the point in the Victorian era which furnishes most antique vehicles being preserved by wheelwrights today, and the designs upon which most modern wooden wheeled vehicles are based. The basic wheel making technique now practiced was developed in the mid-eighteenth century, using a tire shrunk onto the wheel to hold it together by compression. This technique had previously been used by Celtic peoples but it disappeared in western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire.

A wide range of woodworking skills are used in the manufacture of spoked wooden wheels. The techniques differ in some details from other wood trades because of the forces acting upon wheels when in use. The wheelwright has to appreciate these forces fully, so it is desirable that he/she is familiar with the vehicle being worked on and seeing it in action.

It was also imperative that the wheelwright worked in tandem with the village blacksmith. He would need to provide the blacksmith with the finished wheel circumference, as well as the width and thickness of iron required, based upon the expected loading of the cart.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, as pneumatic tires and iron spoked wheels, became the norm, wheelwrights essentially disappeared from the scene. The few that are left specialize in restoring museum pieces, and making carts and wheels for history centers.

Farriers

Once people discovered the utilitarian value of the horse, they simultaneously realized the necessity to protect the horse's feet: that is, if they hoped to maximize his use. Although horses in the wild seem to do quite well without shoes over a wide variety of terrain, they move at a slower pace than is needed for carts or stage-coaches on roads.

Larger horses, such as Clydesdales, Suffolk Punch, and the Shire horse, were used to pull heavy farm carts, beer delivery wagons, as well as for use in ploughing. It was necessary to replace shoes when they became worn, which was usually at about six months.

A farrier specializes in the hoof care of equine animals such as horses, ponies, mules, and donkeys. Typically, they clean, trim, and shoe horses' hooves. Fabricate or purchase horseshoes to fit horses, as requested by owners, and tailored to the horse's duties.

Farriers specialize in equine hoof care—caring for animals such as horses and donkeys, but mostly horses. The profession is an old one that stretches back hundreds of years, paralleling the increasing domestication of horses. Acting as primitive veterinarians, farriers care for hooves by watching for signs of disease or other ill-health. They also watch for potential lameness issues, intervening before a problem occurs.

Saddlers/Leatherworkers

It has been estimated that there were more than three million horses in Victorian England. About 30% of these horses were for riding, the balance being for pulling anything from cobs to farm wagons. Riding saddles for the men were much smaller than saddles in the USA, as they were never considered as working horses. For the ladies, the saddle was invariably a side-saddle, as it was considered unladylike for a lady to straddle a horse.

Thatchers

Loosely speaking, thatching is the use of dry vegetation such as straw, water reads, sedge, rushes, and even heather as a building material. Using thatch for roofing goes back as far as the Bronze Age in Britain.

The building practices for the basic structure in rural Britain in the Middle Ages right up to Victorian times, used such materials as wattle and daub for walls, and cruck beams for roof support. Wattle and daub walls consisted of the use of a lattice of sticks and straw, covered in a mud and clay paste or putty. Cruck beams were not shaped planks or timbers, but lengths of reasonably straight wood that could be found in the nearby forest. Neither wall nor beam was designed to take much weight, thus requiring thatch for the roofing itself.

The vegetation fibers are laid longwise from the peak of the roof to the edge, and roughly woven to stay in place. The fibers function to break up the rain into small droplets, and by gravity, these droplets are wicked downwards to the edges of the roof, where they would fall to the ground. To be effective, the thickness of the thatch could be as much as 12 inches.

Under the best of conditions, the useful life of a thatched roof would be about 25 years, and so the Thatcher was always kept busy, either with new builds, or with replacing old, leaking roofing.

Normally there would be a small team, consisting of the master thatcher, at least one apprentice, and several children who would fetch the thatch bundles up ladders to those on the roof, actually laying the thatch.

That thatching is a viable way to roof a building is demonstrated by the fact that there are still about 60,000 thatched buildings still used as residences in England. The liability is the fire hazard; upwards of 60 – 80 housefires occur, many destroying the building itself.

Dry Wall workers

In most of the northern English counties and in Scotland, the system used for separating a farmer’s fields, or between two farmers fields, was called a dry stone wall. This was a method of using all the rocks and large stones found in a field when it was first used for agriculture, as a fencing material.

Originally they were just piles of stones, but as time passed, people became prolific at making walls that were sturdy and lasted for hundreds of years. Most of the more recently constructed walls are of the type called double walls, and are constructed by placing two rows of stones along the boundary to be walled. The foundation stones are ideally set into the ground so as to rest firmly on the subsoil. The rows are composed of large flattish stones, diminishing in size as the wall rises. Smaller stones may be used as chocks in areas where the natural stone shape is more rounded. The walls are built up to the desired height layer-by-layer (course by course). The gap is filled with small stones and gravel. At intervals, large tie-stones or through stones are placed which span both faces of the wall and sometimes project. These have the effect of bonding what would otherwise be two thin walls leaning against each other, greatly increasing the strength of the wall. Diminishing the width of the wall as it gets higher, as traditionally done in Britain, also strengthens the wall considerably. The voids between the facing stones are carefully packed with smaller stones (filling, hearting).