In 2007 my late father-in-law John Wright pulled some old farm diaries out of his shed to show me. He allowed me to borrow them and I found myself having a glimpse at the life and activity of Gedney Hill farmer Albert Seaton in the late 1920’s through to the 1940’s.
Before looking at Albert’s activities it is important to understand the times. The period from the 1880’s through to the 1930’s was very challenging for British Agriculture with a great many fortunes lost by farmers especially in the Fens. There are two views, one that there were two significant Agricultural depressions in Britain, the first being in the 1880’s and the latter being in the late 1920’s and into the 1930’s. I prefer a second view, that is that the whole period from the 1880’s through to the 1930’s saw an Agricultural recession that had dips and troughs as well as great regional variations within the country. Like all recessions and depressions it saw people suffer losses, but also new opportunities were created, for example in horticulture, market gardening and flower-growing.
Corn, meaning all grains, has been subject to controls on importation to protect the home market since Elizabethan times. It’s hard to imagine now, but Elizabeth I imposed a ban on speculating on the price of corn. Equally she also imposed a ban on imports until the home price got above a certain level. This ban or imposing a tariff on imported corn until the domestic price was above a certain level was a tool used in the 19th century Corn Laws. However, the challenge when imposing such controls is to get the price right otherwise you see people starve through not being able to afford this basic staple in life as happened in Britain. These Corn Laws were repealed in 1846 and we started to see corn traded freely, but shipping costs were still relatively high to ship grain from the growing farms of North America and Central Europe. Farmers still made a good living, but many were tenant farmers and their landlords increased rents and made an even greater fortune.
The factors that changed this were: massive drop in shipping costs and mechanisation of shipping via train and steamship; the huge growth of agricultural production in America and Canada, and Eastern Europe which had both economies of scale and early adoption of mechanisation in their favour; and a run of poor cropping in the late 1870’s. For example James Martin, a Lincolnshire land agent in 1880 claimed that farming had been unproductive for four or five years. The areas around the Fens and the Wash contained much high-rented arable land that was not earning enough to pay rents. Other areas, such as the great dairying areas of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall experienced little down-turn. Areas such as Rutland, rich on sheep, continued successfully. Those areas closer to metropolitan areas such as Kent were not as badly hit.[i] This downturn of fortune for British agriculture did receive a reprieve in the first World War as European farms lost production and German U-boats waged an effective campaign against neutral shipping that was supplying Britain. As Europe recovered from War farming continued its decline and measures to improve this situation with more protection of British agriculture did not happen until the 1930’s, too late for many.
The effects of this were various. If we note Thomas Plummer’s obituary of 1893 it describes his income as “greatly decreased by agricultural depression”. Farms changed hands as some highly productive arable land lost its premium. The 1880’s saw the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show cancelled at Spalding due to the great depression of the industry in that region. In the Lincolnshire Wolds where livestock and fodder crops dominated the typical size of a farm was reported to be 500-1000 acres, whereby in the Lincolnshire Fens it was 100-150 acres.[ii] The difference between having greater pasture and greater arable. Tenant farmers in south Lincolnshire saw a decline as they shrank in size from a typical 50 acre holding to a smallholding of 8 or 9 acres, to being tied cottagers with perhaps a quarter of an acre tied to their house that came with their farm working job.[iii] I have spoken to “old boys” farmers and farm workers in South Lincolnshire and the Cambridgeshire Fens that remember land falling derelict. Barley growers were not as greatly affected giving some reprieve to some in South Lincolnshire and Norfolk until barley prices crashed in the 1930’s. Often the smaller farmer is able to adapt to difficult times by benefitting from a lower cost base. With misfortune came opportunity as we have seen earlier with Fred White growing strawberries. I have heard many first-hand accounts from farmers that started in this period with very modest beginnings by finding a niche such as taking asparagus to market on their bike and saving the money to get their first allotment and then purchase a few acres before expanding further. Allotments provided a first step to many an entrepreneurial fen farmer. Certainly Albert Seaton rented allotments as they became available in Gedney Hill.
The kind of crops grown in the region in the 1920’s are illustrated in this 1924 report from the Ministry of Agriculture:
“The extent and range of crops cultivated in the Division of Holland.
Total acreage in the Division of Holland 267,801
Wheat 33,336 Clover and rotation grasses for hay 13,908
Barley 13,886
Oats 23,000 Clover and rotation grasses not for hay 1,147
Mixed Corn 435
Rye 217
Beans 13,275 Other crops 14, 384
Peas 8,616 Bare fallow 3,188
Potatoes 45,211 Carrots 256
Onions 91 Turnips and Swedes 1,967
Mangold 4,922 Cabbage for market 768
Brussel Sprouts 22 Cabbage for fodder 541
Kohlrabi and rape vetches 735 Cauliflowers and Broccoli 290
Lucerne 241 Celery 466
Small Fruit 4,616 Rhubarb 32
Orchards 3,488 Sugar beet 909
Mustard for seed 8,808 Mustard for fodder 51
Linseed 7
Although South Holland was not an area as dominated by livestock as the Lincolnshire Wolds it has to be noted that fodder crops still signify a significant presence of animals with nearly all farms being mixed. We are also in an era where horses were still significant in working the land alongside steam cultivation, with petrol and diesel tractors only just making an appearance that was accelerated by World War 2. In 1928 Albert had just one horse, by the mid 1930’s he had two. Having a horse as a farm worker could bring more work as you and your horse could be hired together. Nowadays a man with a tractor may experience the same. Orchards were common place, especially close to and even within towns like Spalding where there would be a source of seasonal workers to harvest readily available. It is easy to spot the differences in cropping to today’s crops with oats being less common and brussel sprouts being more common – indeed in 2019 Boston’s T H Clements planted over a thousand acres of sprouts[v]. It is interesting that anaerobic digesters are replacing animals as a consumer of fodder crops with them becoming more common in the South Holland area. Also in 2022 I am seeing long established farms in the fens that have not had animals for decades beginning to have livestock.
In 1921 Albert Seaton and his wife Sarah Ann lived in West Drove, Gedney Hill with their son John and their two daughters Alice and Joan. The census of that date calls him a farm labourer. He did have allotments and rented some land, but 1928 was a key year for him as he purchased Kingston Hall a couple of droves to the East in the neighbouring parish of Sutton St Edmund.
The first diary of Albert Seaton’s that I had access to was 1928. It illustrates that he clearly had considerable resources at the age of 48. I have been advised that the measure “grs” in the diaries refers to gross number of bags, that is 1 grs is 144 bags. A bag contains about 4 bushels of volume which roughly equates to 8 bags. If 2 tons per acre was achieved the wheat sold could amount to about 35 acres grown. Potato yields at that time in this area were typically between 15 and 20 tons an acre meaning he possibly grew about 3 acres. Overall I estimate he had between 50 and 60 acres in one form or another at this time. You also see in his “Cash book” diary the proceeds from the sale of the West Drove house and an initial payment for Kingston Hall. The entries for 1928 in Albert Seaton’s farm diary were as follows:
Paid Bank 1928
Feb 14. Mr. Levi Seaton cheque for lambs 37. 0. 0
March 6 Wherry & Son cheque for barley 100. 0. 0
March 6 A.W. Seaton cheque for one gr. Of barley 2. 5. 0
May 15 Levi Seaton & Johnson cheques 22. 6. 0
June 5 Parkinson Bros cheque five heifers and a pig 137.10. 0
June 5 Wherry and Son cheque for 36grs. Wheat 88. 4. 0
June 26 G. Sewell chq 43tons 15cwts pots 406. 0. 0
June 26 National War Bonds 2.10. 0
Sept. 18 Parkinson Bros cheque two heifers 60. 0. 0
Oct. 16 Miss F. Hunt cheque for house in West Drove 200. 0. 0
Oct 23 Messrs Colman Parkinson Baxter cheques 295.18. 5
mustard beast foals
Dec 1 Grounds cheque five fat beast 141. --
June 1928 15 Friday – Sprayed potatoes first time
October 11 Thursday:
Paid Mossop Insurance Premium policy 2465887 F Coopers House 4. 0
Paid G. Henson for horse 26. 0. 0
October 1928
16 Tuesday
Mr. F. W. Horrells Sale 100. 0. 9
Less two foals 21. 0. 0
Sold Miss F. Hunt cottage situated in West Drove
For two hundred pounds 200. 0. 0
18th Thursday Mr. Johnsons Sale Kingston Hall 82.13. 6
A carbon copy of a letter to his accountant dated 23rd Jan 1929 states: “I only employed one man up to Oct 11 1928 @ £45 less £3 house rent.”
1929 sees a much busier Albert Seaton keeping a much more detailed diary from which I took excerpts. It is a regret that I did not photograph it at the time.
March 16. J Buffham 3 horses and self 1 day £ 1. 0s. 0d.
Paid Bank 1929
Jan 8. Mr. Hardy cheque three fat beast 82.10. 0.
Jan 22 Mr. G. Holliday 39 ½ grs. Beans 65.15. 0
March 5 Mr. G. Holliday cheque for beans 29.14. 6
March 12 Farmers Union cheque for compensation 5.18. 9
March 15 Parkinson Bros cheque for two heifers 51. 0. 0
April 2 Parkinson Bros two fat heifers 49.15. 6
June 18 Gedney Hill sprouts cheque 5. 2. 0
July 4 Posted Mr Clark cheque for foal 50. 0. 0
July 23 Parkinson Bros cheques 1 fat beast and
Balance of fifteen pounds on grass hirings 42.18. 0
Aug 24 Baxter & Hodge cheque for clover stacks 200. 0. 0
Sep 24 Compensation cheque 3. 5. 6
Oct 29 J & J Colmans 26 ½ sacks seed 17/ 89. 8.10
Nov. 5 Mr. G.R. Holliday cheque 100. 0. 0
Nov. 19 Mr. G.R. Holliday balance mustard 84.10.10
Nov 19 Baxter Ltd / balance clover 20. 2. 0
January 1929
ac. rd. per.
Home Field 22 1 14 sixteen chains
Pit Field 22 1 37 17. 6. 0
Oat Field 16 1 29 25. 0. 5
Mangold Field 1 1 27 3. 4. 0
New Diary 5. 0
January 1929
8 Tuesday Paid Mr. Baxter for water tank 3.10. 0
11 Friday paid Mr Deans on threshing a/c 10. 0. 0
15 Tuesday New cheque book 2. 0
15 Tuesday Sheep ointment 4. 0
22 Tuesday Paid G. Holliday 11grs. white wintons 18.14. 0
One ton Linseed cake 13. 7. 6
Received of Mr. Holliday for 39 ½ grs of beans @ 49/6 97.15. 0
Paid by contra a/c same time
Paid Harpham Bros. ladder 1. 5. 0
Paid Hossafe Insurance 1. 4. 6
Paid Hossafe in settlement of Kingston Hall Purchase 105. 0. 0
24 Thursday Paid Mr. Eaves St. Edmunds land tax 15. 2
Paid Mr. Hunter for correcting Income Tax 1.15. 0
26 Saturday F Buffham 2. 5. 0
W Jackson 2. 5. 0
G Roper 1.15. 0
W Cordon 1.15. 0
M Drakard 1.10. 9
Note regular Saturday wages typically as above.
February 1929
4 Monday bottle of Chapmans oils 3. 0
5 Tuesday Paid G.G. Himmach Income Tax 4. 5. 9
Paid F. Grove 11 grs. seed oats 18. 6
Paid F Grove sack hire 1. 0. 3
Paid South Holland Drainage 8.14. 2
Paid Mr. Buttery Insurance extras 3. 3
Note W. Jackson away from work four weeks Feb. Mar. 1929 still paid.
March 1929
Tuesday 12 Paid Mr. J. Jones 1grs. chicken feed 2. 4. 0
Wednesday 20 Sold Parkinson Bros grass keeping about none acres to the end of Oct for the sum of thirty five pounds.
22 Friday Posted Mr. A. Cooper cheque for Sutton St. Edmunds drainage 13. 5. 6
29 Thursday Paid Mr. C. Hardy for nine cattle 126. 0. 0
Setting Potatoes 2. 8. 0
April 1929
3 Wednesday Paid Mr. I.W.Deans for threshing 8. 0. 0
Mr Benners Sale 3.10. 4
18 Thursday Paid for setting potatoes 10.12.0
23 Tuesday Paid Mr. Atkinson Benevolent Subscription 10.6
27 Saturday Mare and foal in Mr. Brewery Field
MAY 1929
2 Thursday Mr. Benson shop one pint oil .6
4 Saturday Rambles covered by Moulton Harboro
18 Saturday Bay Mare Harvey Princess served by Moulton Harboro
28 Tuesday Paid Farmers Union Subscription 1.15. 0
Paid Mr. F. Dixon for 16 ½ tons lime 20. 7. 6
Received of H Hanson on a/c of loan 5. 0. 0
Received another Xmas Day 3. 0. 0
30 Thursday Delivered Mr. G. Bewell 100 Bags Potatoes
N.E. 700914 French Drove
June 1929
5 Wednesday Mr. G. Bewell 100 bags Potatoes F. Drove N.E.45658
7 Friday Mr. G. Bewell 100 bags potatoes F. Drove L.M.596969
Regular deliveries French Drove Station train numbers quoted:
G.E. 8381 ; N.E.137702 ; L.M.124894
June 29 Saturday
Harvey Princess served by Moulton Harboro
July 1929
4 Thursday Received cheque from Captain Clark for foal 50. 0. 0
5 Friday Delivered Mr. G. Dewell 100 bags potatoes F. Drove L.M.S.351151
Sold Parkinson Bros beast at 11/ per stone.
6 Saturday F Buffham 2. 5. 0
W. Jackson 2. 5. 0
G. Roper 1.15. 0
P. Blow 1. 9.11
Burbridge 1. 9.11
I. Hunt 1. 9.11
23 Thursday Paid Capt. Clark for service of shire stallion Moulton Harboro 12.12.0
Received cheque of Parkinson Bros
for 1 fat beast and balance on grass keeping 41.18.0
27 Saturday Insurance Stamps 5.17. 0
August 1929
3 Saturday F. Buffham 2. 5. 0
W. Jackson 2. 5. 0
G. Roper 1.15. 0
R. Seaton 2.10. 0
17 Saturday Cutting mustard piece work 29.12. 0
G.Roper 3. 0. 0
W.Jackson 1. 4. 6
W. Page 1.17. 0
C. Harris 1.17. 0
T. Hunt 1.17. 0
Ted Smith 1.17. 0
W. Condon 2.15. 0
F. Buffham 2. 5. 0
19 Monday Pint of machine oil . 6
22 Thursday Sold A.E.Baxter Ltd. Two clover stacks @ six pounds per ton, no seconds to be made.
24 Saturday Received from A.E.Baxter Ltd cheque for 200£ on account of clover.
September 1929
7 Saturday Thomas Hunt compensation 3. 5. 6
14 Saturday Posted Mr. Grimby Sutton St Edmunds Tithe 16.10. 7
18 Wednesday Bensons shop half pint of turps . 9
24 Tuesday Paid Farmers Union compensation sub 1.17. 6
Plough lines 1. 4
Six bundles of stock pegs 18. 0
Paid Mr. Judge carriage on same 2. 0
25 Wednesday Paid stockbreeders subscription 14.0
27 Friday Mossop & Mossop Sutton St Edmunds
Tithe Queen Anne’s Bounty 5.11. 4
October 1929
1 Tuesday Paid H.Seaton for colt foal 10. 0. 0
3 Thursday Baxters Ltd 100 trusses 2 tons 10. 0. 0
5 Saturday Potato Pickers 10. 7. 0
12 Saturday Potato Pickers 17.11.0
21 Monday Paid mossop & Mossop Rent 5.16. 0
24 Thursday Delivered G.R. Holliday eighty sacks of brown mustard weight 16 stones and one
Part sack 11 ½ stone
25 Friday Received from J&J Colmans cheque
For 26 ½ sacks of brown seed @ 17 90. 2. 0
Less sowing seed 13. 2
December 1929
2 Monday Paid F.Twell for spraying potatoes 6. 0. 0
3 Tuesday Paid H.U.Speway for 21 weeks grass keeping
@ 5/6 per week 5.15. 6
Same time for docking two foals 4. 6
9 Monday posted Calthrops and Harvey Fleet Tithe 13.10
16 Monday Paid A.J. & F. Buttery for coal ‘ 32/ 12. 2. 6
20 Friday Paid C. Hardy for none beast 108. 0. 0
27 Friday Paid A. Cooper St. Edmunds Drainage 7.11. 9
31 Tuesday Paid Mr. Drakard for shepherding 2.10. 0
Paid Mr. W. Brown Bill 9.14.11
Insurance stamps 2.18. 6
Paid H. Money for repairing gears 4. 5. 6
House Roofing expenses 130. 0. 0
Looking at these books you realise how labour intensive agriculture was in 1929 and how dependant farmers still were on horses despite the arrival of both steam and the internal combustion engine. Even a decade later we see Henry Williamson ridiculed by locals in Norfolk for purchasing a modern tractor.[vi]
It has to be noted that some of the land is subject to tithes. Tithes were originally a tax on one tenth of all agricultural produce to be paid annually to support the local church and clergy and were originally paid in the form of produce. Hence many vicarages would have a tithe barn built close to them to store the produce. This was very unpopular, especially as the collection of tithes was unregulated with no central register of who should pay and paying in kind was becoming outdated and needed converting to a monetary equivalent that reflected the nature of the Agricultural revolution.
The 1836 Tithe Commutation Act introduced a law which required tithes in kind to be converted into a more convenient tithe rent charge to be paid with money. This Act appointed Tithe Commissioners who performed a census of all tithes throughout the country in 1839. For parishes where tithes were still in place the land was surveyed and valued by the commissioners to assess a total parish rent charge and to identify each individual land owners liability to pay. If the land owner and parish agreed this was formalised into a written tithe agreement. If the land owner and parish disagreed the commissioners would arbitrate and create a legally binding tithe award. With the Agricultural depression from the 1880’s through to the 1930’s the charging of tithes in such a way became even less popular as the amount did not always reflect what could be earned from the land. The 1936 Tithe Act abolished all tithe rent charges.
Looking at these diaries I note Parkinson Bros. who were local butchers and graziers. It is very rare in 2022 to come across a butcher that rears, slaughters, butchers and sells his meat. Yet in this period it was common place. It was perhaps better for animal welfare, the environment and society to have shorter supply chains. One of the last butchers to retain this connection grazing and slaughtering cattle for their own shop was G Shearer & Son Butchers of Highfield Farm, Damgate Lane, Holbeach a business that still survives today.
One of the great advantages of buying Kingston Hall was its proximity to French Drove Railway Station which opened in 1867 and closed for passengers in 1961, but continued to service freight from the station until it closed in October 1964. The importance of this railway to local farmers was great.
Albert Seaton’s diary for 1930 showed the following income:
1930
Jan 14 Mr. G.R. Holliday cheque on wheat 150. 0. 0
Jan 14 Mr. C. Depear for wheat 2. 2. 2
Feb 11 Mr. G.R. Holliday cheque on oats 100. 0. 0
Feb 20 Parkinson Bros five fat beast 140. 0. 0
March 18 Mr. G. Holliday balancing cheque 21. 3. 4
April 8 Parkinson Bros three fat beast 77.16. 6
April 8 Tom Judge cheque 35.17. 6
April 10 Mr. C. Hardy cheque 8 store beast 126. 0. 0
June 25 Mr. G. Sewell cheque on a/c potatoes 100. 0. 0
Aug 12 Tom White three fat beast 79.10. 5
Aug 19 Tom White cheque for four fat heifers 80.17. 6
Aug 19 Mr. G. Sewell cheque potatoes 33. 7. 9
Oct 14 Parkinson Bros cheque for grass keeping 30. 0. 0
Nov 14 Messrs J & J Colman cheque for mustard 244. 0. 3
Dec 2 Mr. Holliday cheque for mustard 200. 0. 0
Dec 23 Sugar Beet cheque 121.13. 5
Dec 30 Mr. Holliday balance on mustard and beans 29.13. 6
Also in 1930 are several entries of payments to Mr Buffham for ploughing with his team of three horses at the rate of 17s. 6d. per day and cultivating land being paid £1.4s.0d for three hours cultivating. Beet carting was paid at the rate of 12s. per day.
1932 saw the resolution of a dispute between Albert Seaton and Frank Cooper which was formalised in the County Court at Holbeach in October 2022 which is described in this brief news article:
“DISPUTE RESOLVED OVER MORTGAGE ON HOUSE AT GEDNEY HILL
Mr. Mossop appeared on behalf of the plaintiff, at the Holbeach County Court on Tuesday, when before His Honour Judge T. W. Langman the case of Albert Seaton and Frank Cooper, both of Gedney Hill was called.
Mr. Mossop said the case was one of civic performance of an agreement of property at Gedney Hill, which had been purchased by the defendant from the plaintiff. The defendant paid £80 of the purchase money, and there was £70 still to pay. The defendant had not paid any rent or interest for some years, and there was due to the plaintiff the sums of £70 and £11.10s.8d. of interest. It would be recalled that the case was adjourned by His Honour from the last court, to see if the parties could come to any agreement. He (Mr. Mossop) had met both parties, and the matter had been discussed. A proposed agreement was reached , subject to His Honour being satisfied.
It was proposed that the mortgage be signed for £80, and the interest on that sum was to commence from October 11th, the plaintiff to pay 10s.
His Honour said he was quite satisfied with the agreement, and was glad terms had come to, as it was a very painful case. Mr. Mossop said he had been asked by both parties to thank the court for the interest they had taken in the matter.”[vii]
1932 sees income received from Central Electricity Board of £3.11s.8d that appears to be wayleave and also a substantial payment of £62.4s.0d. for damages to crops. This possibly ties in with the expansion of the electricity network and the posts and pylons that cross the flat fen fields to this day.
The income from crops in 1932 are from mustard, sugar beet, wheat, straw, hay and potatoes as well as “grass keeping” which is usually for having other people’s cattle graze his land. The diary entries reveal the use of steam cultivation :
1932
16 Saturday – Paid Buttery Bros for cultivating and threshing coals £26.4s.2d.
Paid Buttery Bros for carting beet to station £23.17s.0d
A tale I have been told is that as each of the Buttery Bros got married their father bought them a steam threshing set and cultivators as wedding presents to set them up. I have been unable to validate this tale.
16th May 1932 sees Mr. F. Thorpe paid £28 as the balance for steam ploughing.
Despite the use of steam farming is still very labour intensive as can be seen with sugar beet:
Paid men for chopping and singling out £14.4s.3d
Baxter 1a.3r..36p fifty rows of beet @ 30/acre
Jealous 3r. 39p 25 rows of beet @ 30/acre
Bristow 1a.3r.36p fifty rows of beet @ 30/acre
When the sugar beet is lifted we see the following entries on 5th November and 25th November:
1932 November
5 Saturday – Paid Brumfield and Depear for taking beet up @ 42/6 £10.3s.6d
25 Friday
Paid F. Cooper for taking beet up 2a.1r 7p. @ 42/6 £4.17s.6d
Paid F Cooper for taking beet up 1a.0r.0p. @42/6 £2. 5s. 0d
Paid J Depear for taking beet up 2a.1r. 3p @ 42/6 £4.16s.6d
Paid J Depear for taking beet up 1a.0r.0p @ 42/6 £2.5s.0d
Paid L Wright for taking beet up 3a.2r.0p @ 35/ £6.2s.6d
Paid L Wright for taking beet up 3a.1r.1p @42/6 £8.18s.15d
Paid L Wright for taking beet up 3a. 0r. 0p @ 45/ £6.15s.0d
Paid R. Seaton for taking beet up £1.0s.0d.
Paid F. Cooper for taking beet up 15s.9d
The sugar beet factories had opened at both Spalding and Peterborough in the 1920’s and the growing of sugar beet appears to be a highly profitable crop as illustrated by the following jottings in his 1933 diary:
Beet £314
Seed £30
Labour£40
Haulage£40
About £204 profit.
Mr Seaton also shows sales to Mr H. Allen for pigs, most probably a relation of DA Allen & Son that had an abattoir in Highstock Lane, Gedney Hill into the 1980’s. At this time the most common variety of pig in herds in the Gedney Hill and Sutton St James area were large whites, in the first decade of the twentieth century the Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig was still very popular in the area with its ability to turn out fat prime pork rather than bacon it was being interbred and by 1936 the local press in south Lincolnshire was speculating as to whether the species would die out as by the 1930’s it was disappearing fast from Lincolnshire’s farms until it finally died out around 1970.
“The Lincolnshire Curly-coated pig has some points in common with the Large white, from which, however, it is essentially different. It is quick-growing variety, with more capacity to turn out prime fat pork than bacon. Those who have had most experience of it declare that it has no rival in the Fen country for early maturity.
To understand the Lincolnshire farmer’s point of view, it must be remembered that the native livestock of all descriptions are of exceptional scale, The Shire horse, the Red Shorthorn, and the Lincoln sheep are all of remarkable stature. The Curly-coated pig harmonises with accepted local ideas in livestock breeding. It is descended from earlier times when the yeoman families in the county were more numerous than now.
On the fen lands and marshes pigs are largely kept , frequently mustering herds to the number of 100 head and over. They run in the open, thus acquiring constitutional vigour and strength of frame. The latter is doubtless obtained by the soil and the climate. It is a custom of the county to allow the labourers a measure of pork in lieu of wages, consequently there is a strong demand for fat pork locally.” 1908[viii]
In April 1933 Albert had a consignment of beans go bad in transit the copy letter was in purple carbon paper and had been typed on a typewriter. It has to be noted that this letter was received from Cardiff in Bourne, Lincolnshire the same day it was posted. I have come across several mail items of this period where this is so and such speed shows how interconnected via the railways Britain had become. Indeed such was the confidence of receipt that some letters state, “When you receive this note later today.” Nowadays such speed would be very hard to achieve without great expense. But at least we have the internet and email!
The sense of annoyance in Mr Clement’s letter is great as can be seen with one sample “of no earthly use to us” and the other “fit for the dung heap.”
From 1934 I see Albert receive “wheat quota” cheques. These were paid to top up the price obtained for milling quality wheat up to a minimum price with a cap on the amount per farmer depending upon size of farm. This was a political balancing act for the government did not wish to make the mistakes of the Corn Laws where staples became unaffordable to working people in cities and towns around the country whilst at the same time enabling wheat to be grown viably as opposed to cheap foreign imports. The purpose of the quota is enshrined in the words of The British Wheat Act 1932:
“The new Wheat Act seeks to secure to growers of home grown millable wheat a standard price and a market thereof; to make provisions for imposing on millers and importers of flour obligations to make payments calculated by reference to a quota of such wheat and as to disposal of the moneys thereby received; and to provide for millers being required to purchase unsold stocks of such wheat.”
Thus the 1930’s saw a major retreat from globalised free trade policies and greater protectionism, an ongoing balancing act for British agriculture to this day. For Albert Seaton wheat quota cheques were a very small part of his income with income growing from the sale of higher value crops such as beet and potatoes as well as the sale of livestock. In 1937 I see the appearance of Cattle quota cheques in his accounts, but these are relatively small as prices in this area at least had recovered from the lows of the early 1930’s.
1937 saw an increase in income revealed in the diaries.
Not all the planting dates for crops are quoted for 1937 in the diary those that are as follows:
April 28 Drilled mustard
May 4 Drilled peas
May 5 Commenced potato setting
June 3 Finished setting potatoes
June 4 Drilled beet
Then finished harvest September 24
November 3rd saw the picking of potatoes finished and throughout December Whitwell Bros are hauling sugar beet every week.
Tradition was and occasionally still is for some farmers that potato planting does not start until Maundy Thursday. Good Friday in 1937 was 26th March, so quite early. But it appears that wet weather possibly made planting difficult
The diaries also reveal a task that is very rare to come across on a modern farm in 2022 as Mr. M Drakard is paid £4.1s.8d for thatching stacks, a task that disappeared with the mechanisation of hay baling.
1939 is the first time I see payment for a tractor licence at 5s. in Albert’s books, but it has to be noted that we still see a horse brush being purchased for 1s6d and notes of the times J.W. Deans has threshed by steam engine. Such was the mixture of mechanisation on the farm. 1939 appears to be farming as usual with healthy volumes of cheques coming in. 1940 is the first year you start to see the effects of War on the farming business.
July 1940 sees cattle purchased from Albert by the Ministry of Food. Whilst the normal markets did exist the regional sections of the Ministry of Food could procure supplies for a certain area as the policy was to ensure an even and fair distribution of food to all parts and all people, although there was clearly a city/countryside split as we have seen in my earlier comments of my grandfather’s experience in Newcastle. Peas in the past have been sold by Albert through the merchants, usually Holliday of Bourne. However in October 1940 we see him receive £257 for peas from Batchelors. This would most likely be Batchelors of Sheffield who had an established pea canning factory in Sheffield and also plant at Worksop that processed dried peas. There is an increased use of both lorries and trains for haulage suggesting greater volumes being produced. 1939 was the first time I see the purchase of manure recorded and 1940 sees the first payments for the fertilizer nitrate of chalk suggesting greater use of agronomy to increase production. We also see him purchase beet pulp for animal feed for the first time in 1940. April 23rd sees the last time Albert is able to buy Dutch seed peas, Holland was invaded the following month. 1940 saw the first payment of £41.8s.8d for “Farmers War Risk Premiums” a system set up to give farmers insurance against war risk that ordinarily would never be covered by an insurance.
January 1941 is the first time I see payment for a telephone, a somewhat rare commodity at that time and usually a sign of wealth. Even up to my childhood in the 1970’s only 35% of homes had a telephone and you often had to go on a waiting list to get one, with the Elsden household in Spalding not having a household phone until 1980.
1941 saw one of the first local meetings of the Whaplode Drove Sub-Committee of the Holland War Agricultural Executive Committee. As the population was mobilised for War so was Agriculture being called up to produce food and cope with a changing supply of labour at the same time. It is not just that people were called up to fight, they were also called up for other tasks. My grandfather Cyril Frank Elsden had to pack in his radio and bicycle business and use his electrical skills working in the shipyards of Newcastle. My uncle Ron Wakefield, a farm labourer, was called upon to work in the mines as one of “Bevans Boys”. Can you imagine working in open fields one week to working in the enclosed and dark pits the next, such a change was thought to have had a significant psychological toll on him.
The diary of 1942 starts to show this change in labour pattern. Whilst the use of regular seasonal labour from Ireland was common throughout the 1930’s Albert had clearly preferred to use local people or those from his extended family. In 1942 we see a significant change as in December he pays £178.17s.0d. to a team of Irishmen for potato picking and taking beet up. We also see Albert paying women to do work on his land for the first time Ivy Barnes, Dorothy Hill and Hatty Hill. I am told they were all local. This changes further in 1943 as in April he pays gang labour with specific mention of women:
1943 Apr. 26 Paid Potato Riddlers 23. 5. 0
Labour 14.11. 1
Paid women potato setting 7. 5. 0
The 1944 diaries reveal the use of prisoners of war as labour. I recall stories from my mother as a young girl of 5 or 6 having chips cooked for her by Italian prisoners of war down Twenty Drove that they cooked in oil in a billy can. She also recalled their house being used for the prisoners to have a bath and her mother asking the guarding soldier if the prisoners did a runner would he really shoot them. He replied that he would. I imagine that many missed their own families so much that they welcomed the interaction with children.
I know very little about Albert Seaton and his wife Sarah Ann Seaton as people, but the diaries and papers give a fascinating glimpse into the activity of a small fen farmer in a period that Agriculture and society experienced great change.
(This post is edited from original writing)
[i] Where was the Great Agricultural Depression? A Geography of Agricultural Bankruptcy in Late Victorian England and Wales by P.J. Perry gives insight into this.
[ii] If the reader is familiar with current statistics they show farms in Britain being much smaller today, but this in reality is a distortion based upon Single Farm Payment statistics which mean that many people call themselves farmers for subsidy purposes when in fact they issue cropping licences to actual farmers, thus modern statistics are highly distorted by many land owners that are not farmers. These figures are from a report of 1934.
[iii] Such a decline of family fortune is described in the Gosberton to Holbeach area in just this period by Gerald Green (Horton) in his book Farmhouse Aches Workhouse Pains ISBN 1-85776-910-4
[iv] It has to be noted that nearly 70,000 acres cropping is unaccounted for in this report.
[v] Source Channel 5 TV documentary of 2019.
[vi] Henry Williamson , Story of A Norfolk Farm – this book by the famous Tarka the Otter author relates his trials and tribulations running a farm on the Norfolk coast in the 1930’s
[vii] Spalding Guardian Oct 1932
[viii] Stephens Book of the Farm 5th edition 1908.
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