Members within the Lake Family Tree cover a wide range of occupations in fact they cover 338 different jobs. The oldest direct relative in my Lake line at present is Robert Lake born 1728, he was a Butcher.

 

On these pages I will try to show what life was like for some of the people within certain occupations in the top ten of the Lake Family Tree. I start with the No 1 occupation thst of Agricultural or Farm Labourer.

 

My Great Great Great Grandfather John Lake was an Agricultural Labourer, Dairyman and Farmer in Wembury Devon. He was apprenticed to Arthur Solomon of St Andrew Plymouth at the age of 9 and married Mary Way at the age of 23. They had 7 children 2 boys and 5 girls, the boys grew up to be stone masons. This is the story of what life was like for John and the thousands of other Agricultural and Farm Labourers.

 

The most popular occupation we have within the tree is that of Agricultural or Farm Labourer. In the 19th century it is undoubtedly the biggest occupation in the UK, but life could be hard. In the 1870's many Farm labourers started action to try and get themselves better pay and conditions. In 1874 the Cornhill Magazine Vol 29 gave a sketch of the lives of the Farm Labourer so that their readers may better understand the situation. The information below is taken from this issue.

 

Wages had risen in the previous 10 years. In Dorset in 1864 for example a farm worker was receiving just 8 shillings a week (in 2013 that would be worth £34)

for which to provide for his family. After taking some action by 1872 in western counties pay had risen to 9 s a week (£35 in 2013), by 1874 wages had risen to between 13 and 15 shillings per week (between £52 and £60 per week). On this weekly sum the farm labourer had to support his wife and children and they often had large families. If the wife was thrifty and the husband didn't spend it in the local public house then they managed to exist and keep a decent home even on this meagre pittance.

 

Difficulties would soon come with debt caused by credit at the local shop. There could be two or three of these small shops in a village

all marketing things like soft soap, salt, butter, bacon, corduroy and mineral oil, which they retailed for 100% above cost price. Local villagers couldn't afford to travel to the larger towns to get to other shops. The credit would be needed when the children needed some shoes or the husband was taken ill and would not get paid, the shop would give credit and then the families would have to pay it back. (similar to today with cash loan companies charging huge interest)

 

Below is an example of the weekly expenditure of a Farm Labourer wife & 3 children from 1874. As a guide 6d in 1874 is the equivilent of £1 in 2013.

 

5 Gallons of Bread *   6s  3d

1/2lb Butter                   8d

1 lb Cheese                    6d

1 lb Bacon                      8d

1/2 lb Sugar                   2d

2 oz Tea                        4d

1/2 lb Candles                3 1/2d

soap                             2d

Coal                         2s  0d

1 Faggot                         2 1/2d   (meat dish made from offal)

Pepper, Salt etc              1d

Soda Starch and Blue       1d

Rent & Rates             1s  6d

Boots                             7d

Mans sick club                 6d

Childrens schooling          3d

 

* A Gallon Loaf was made with a gallon of flour (not water) and weighed 8lb 11oz. It was considered that a gallon of bread, a little over 1lb a day, was the basic ration for an adult for one week. This is what the basis of a labourers wages and parish poor relief were based.

 

The weekly wage I have previsously mentioned does not take into account of Harvest Money, harvesting meant they had to get the crop in straight away dmanding extra work in a day for this they might earn a one off lump sum of £1 to 30 shillings a head. There were some agricultural operations that machinery like the plough could not do  such as Turnip Hoeing, Mowing & Reaping and jobs like Trenching and Copse Clearing which were done by the piece. For these sorts of jobs the farm labourer might earn up to 3 or 4shillings a week more, but he earnt it with extremely hard and back breaking work. He had to work til later in the day in a manner he could not do continuously.

It was hoped in 1874 that larger parts of the work would be done by the piece, which now gives us the phrase Piece Work.

 

Some farm workers like Shepherds and Carters may have received up to 2 shillings a week more as their work was deemed more specialist.

 

The farm labourers and their families in the main lived in cottages either on the farms or in villages which were owned by the farmer or land owner and they had their rent taken out of their wages each week. The cottage itself is described in the article as

 

"a scandal and a disgrace to England"

 

Houses were inhabitied by the whole families in which there was only one bedroom with an outer lobby or landing which served as another room and only one regular chamber (sitting room), 3 rooms were the norm. The sanitary arrangements were almost non existent and personal cleanliness was described as being out of the question.

 

There was great concern about the work that women and children were doing in the fields so that the meagre earnings of the man was eeked out with a little extra. Children were not receiving education.

so that they could work. The writer of the artcile explained that he had seen in one field 14 ploughs at work but only 4 adult men were in sight the rest were children. The farmers explained that the reason was simple a man's wages were say 9 shillings a week and he could get two boys at 3s 6d a week a total of 7 shillings, so the work was being done and the farmer was saving 2s.

 

But the greater concern was for the women I quote:

 

"Delicacy has been sapped and the woman takes her part in the coarseness of the field. Her presence is no restraint on language she becomes in all but sex, a man among men. The husbands and brothers of these women feel a deep degredation that their wives and sisters are having to work in the fields"

 

Many believed that the young girls should have been learning about "husbandry" as it was then called rather than slaving in the fields.

 

The Agricultural Union which had been formed were pressing for better pay and conditions but the farmers retort was "we cannot afford to pay more wages" the landowners retort was " We cannot afford to drop the rents"

 

The new danger that then appeared was emigration as hundreds of farm workers started leaving for New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. There was also the threat of labourers leaving for the towns with factory work increasing. So if something wasn't done there would be no farm labourers left to work on the farms.

 

The article finishes with these words:

"We dare not take up more of our editor's available space, or more of our readers' time. We have wished in a few plain words to show that the labourers are 'not discontented from simple "naughtiness," but that here, as when Lamennais addressed his burning words to his countrymen, here too are men struggling for a new birth, or rather a new development of existence"