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Durham E-Theses Social discontent and Agrarian disturbances in Essex, 1795 - 1850 Amos, S. W. How to cite: Amos, S. W. (1971) Social discontent and Agrarian disturbances in Essex, 1795 - 1850, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10399/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk S. W. AMDS SOCIAL DISCONTENT . AND AGRARIAN DISTURBANCES IN i ESSEX. 1795-1850. M.A. Thesis, 1971* The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abbreviations Abstract 1. Chapter I The Agriculture of Essex 3. Chapter II Hood Riots and Post War Disturbances (1815-1819) 10. (a) Ebod Riots 1700-1800 30. (b) High Prices and Incendiarism 15. (c) Wage Demands 1790-1800 18. (d) Post War Disturbances 1815-1819 18. Chapter III Unemployment 25. (a) Introduction 25. (b) The Agricultural Depression 26. •(c) Decline of Local Industry 29. (d) Unemployment and the Weather 31. (e) The Increase in Population 33. Chapter IV The Standard of Living of the Labourers 41. (a) Wages U. (b) Sbod 45. (c) Accommodation 49. Chapter ¥ Tension in the Village 52. (a) Poaching 52. (b) Public Houses and Beershops 57. (c) Enclosures 59. (d) The Decline in "Living-In" 61. Page Chapter VI. "Benevolence, Charity and Boundless ' Hunani'ty" 64. (a) Allotments 64. (b) Benefit Clubs and friendly Societies 66, (c) Sayings Banks 68. (d) Migration and Emigration TO. (e) Poor Relief 74. Chapter VTE The Last Labourers' Revolt 84. (a) Prelude to the Riots 84. (b) Incendiarism 1829-1831 86. (c) Wage Riots and Machine-Breaking 92. (d) Measures Taken by the Authorities 107* (e) Van Diemens Land 115. (f) Composition of the Mobs and the Character of the Rioters 118. (g) The Results of the Riots 124. Chapter VIII The New Poor Law 130. Chapter IX Opposition to the Anglican Clergy and the Inf luence of Methodism 141. Chapter X Agricultural Labourers' Unions and Rural Chartism 152. (a) The Tendrihg Agricultural Labourers' Union 152. (b) Rural Chartism in Essex 154. (c) The Revival of Incendiarism 156. Conclusion I63. Appendices 176. References 191. Bibliography 228. ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS. IHOTOGRAFHS AMD GBAPHS Page Fig. 1. Map showing soils pf Essex. 4 Fig. 2. A Mole Plough and Threshing Machine. 8 Fig. 3* Saffron Walden and an Essex Mill. 14 Fig. 4. Copies of two Threatening Letters (1800). 17 Fig. 5. Photographs of Disturbed Parishes (1816). 20 Fig. 6. Graph showing Relation between Marriages in Essex (1811-1820) and the Price of Wheat. 39 Fig. 7* The Queens Head, Great Glacton . 6? Fig. 8. A "Swing" Letter. 89 Fig. 9* Engraving showing Execution of James Cook. 93 Fig. 10. Map showing Disturbed Parishes (1830-3). 96 Fig. 11. Photographs of Disturbed Parishes (I83O-I). 1C0 Fig. 12. Photograph pf Lodge Farm, Little Glacton. 104 Fig. 13. A Bill for Special Constables' Staves. 108 Fig. 14. Handbill circulated by Magistrates of Tendring Hundred (I830). Ill Fig. 15. Copy of a Gaol Certificate. 114 Fig. 16. Convict Conduct Records. 120 Fig. 17. Photographs of Castle Hedingham and Sible Hedingham 139 Fig. 18. Ma« showing areas affected by Incendiarism (I843-4). 159 ACKIPTOSDGEMENTS- I would like to thank the following for their help in the preparation of this dissertationj- Frofessor W.R.. Ward who hasr supervised my research during the past six years* Miss HS.E.P* Grieve, Miss N. Briggs and Mr. R. Searle, and all members of the Essex Record Office for their friendly advice and co-operation. Dr. J. Burnett for suggestions regarding the standard of living of the Essex agricultural workers* Professor G?» Rude^ who provided information on the fate of convicts transported after the I83O riots*- Professor R.B* Pugh, and Messrs* A.P.J.. Brown and W.R*, Bowell for advice on Essex Chartism* Mrs* E.A*. McLeod who assisted with the Tasmahiah records* Mrs. A* Woolven who typed out the manuscript* ABBREVIATIONS B.M. British Museum EcHist. Economic History Ec*Hiat. Rev. Economic History Review E.R. Essex Review E.R.O. Essex Record Office P.R.O* Public Record Office R.C. Royal Commission. S.C. Select Committee Victoria County History ABSTRACT- According to Martin Luther King, riots are "the language of the unheard". This dissertation describes the condition of the Sssex agricultural labourers and how they reacted against, and sought to improve, their lot. There were six stages in the development of the workers' protest, i) The old-style food riot, ii) wage demands, which reached their climax in the I83O riots, iii) machine-breaking between 1815 and I83O, iv) early agricultural unionism, v) rural chartism, and vi) the increasing use of incendiarism to express discontent. The causes of unemployment after 1815 are examined in Chapter III and in the following section the labourers' standard of living is discussed. The Game Laws, the altered methods of employment, and the decline in 'living in1 added to the tension within the villages. Various methods of alleviating distress were tried but the bulk of the unemployed were forced to apply for parish relief. Chapter VI includes discussion on the controversial question of the effects of the allowance system after 1795. The central part of the dissertation is concerned with a description, of the I83O riots. Despite the large number of Essex labourers transported after the disturbances, serious trouble was restricted to a small area. Chapter IX examines the hostility of the labourers towards the Anglican clergy and the influence of Methodism in the riotous areaB of I83O. The initial severities of the New Poor Law ended the com• parative tranquillity of the period I83I-5. Chapter vill describes the conditions within the workhouse and the reaction of the labourers to the measures of 1834. Despite the easing of the Poor Law regulations,, there was little sign, from the incendiarism after 1840,.that agrarian discontent was on the wane at the end of the period. Chapter I THE AGRICQLTUEE OF TgsSKY In the first half of the nineteenth century, Essex was a predominantly agricultural county. The rapidly dying woollen industry in the Braintree-Halstead area was replaced by silk manufacture, hut the majority of Essex workers earned their living on the land. Small industries included straw-plaiting, salt manufacture, corn-milling, "brick-making, and the production of gunpowder. The chief crops grown in Essex were wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, rapeseed, mustard rye grass, tares and trefoil. -About 370 acres were devoted to the growing of hops, chiefly in the Halstead-Castle Hedingham-Wethersfield area. The cultivation of caraway, coriander and teazel was peculiar to the county. The average product from, each acre of cereal was as follows (1848):-^ Wheat 24§F bushels Barley 33§ bushels Oats 36? bushels Beans .27 bushels Peas 20^ bushels The finest wheat crops were sown in September; March was the best time for sowing oats and barley. Turnips were grown on • 1 the lighter soils and near London. Potatoes were grown for the metropolis. Essex was not famous for its livestock, but calves were sent from Suffolk, sheep from Sussex and Wiltshire, and oxen : • 5>. i ON \ llljr ( 5S m ( • m i 1,11 1. 5 vir 4 1 f 43 1 I :• ft 1 I > -3 r 31 5 I M • J I i I'/I -i s f I a •I i 5^ S /SyJ -1 J 1 ' k i.5 3 3 i.i' J 1 DQ n M 5 R i a 0 * t 3s H 1.13 -1 rfij I. i a I 1 1 i t I I r 3 m E v 1 I i i ! • fit a ¥ y> n x A; * / * from as far away as Scotland to be fattened on marshland areas* Efficient drainage was. essential for good yields in Area I (see Young's Map - Fig. l) where strong wet loams were found on a whitish clay marl bottom.. The chief crops in this district, the Dunmow Hundred and the Rodings, were wheat and barley. The most fertile area of the county was the maritime district of rich loams (Area II). This included the fertile grazing land south of Maldon and .the nearby islands. Areas III, IV and 7 were composed of mixed soils; in some places very wet and stiff but interspersed with dry superior soils.. In the Layer-de-la-Haye area, there was light turnip land. Another region suitable far turnip cultivation was the dry country around Colchester ("VI) with loamy sands on gravel. In the extreme north-west of the county (VII), the area was a continuation of the Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire chalk. Because the soil was shallow, deep ploughing was not possible, , The two main crops were wheat and barley, the farmers following the old adage "Good elm, good barley; good oak, good wheat" ^.