52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 'Land'

The families of John Adams and Martha Pizzey - Early 1800s

The desperate situation that many agricultural workers found themselves in during the late 1700s and early 1800s was, in part, the result of a combination of several events namely The Enclosure Acts, the Napoleonic Wars and the Corn Laws.  It was a time of great upheaval and uncertainty and, I believe, almost brought about the demise of my paternal Adams line.

The families of John Adams and Martha Pizzey my 4th Great Grandparents had been agricultural labourers in the Suffolk village of Baylham (7 Miles NW of Ipswich) for at least 80 years by the time they married in 1791.

St Peter's Church, Baylham, Suffolk.
By permission of Simon Knott.  suffolkchurches.co.uk 

Marriage 21st December 1791

Over the next thirteen years they raised ten children.  Two of the children were baptised at Baylham then four (between 1796 and 1803) were baptised at Nettlestead, a village 2 miles to the south followed by four more back at Baylham.
This movement between the two villages suggests that perhaps the Enclosures Act was having an adverse affect on the small farmers and agricultural labourers in this part of Suffolk.

Suffolk had always been a dairying county with land divided up into small farms and common land for grazing but by the end of the 18th century wealthy land owners, through the Parliamentary Enclosures Acts, were continuing to plough up large tracts of land for arable farming - mainly for wheat.  Enclosure was good for the land owners as it enabled increased and more efficient farming with less labour.  Before enclosure the cottager was a labourer with land passed down through generations, often only by historical custom; if under the Enclosure Act he was unable to prove ownership his land was taken away.  Now he was dependent upon the wealthy landowners for a cash wage and nowhere to grow vegetables or keep his own animals.  This sometimes meant moving from farm to farm or village to village seeking contract work using the 'Hiring Fairs' system.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815) there was a great demand for wheat which required a large labour force in order to harvest it - the rural community thrived but the wars were followed by economic depression, high unemployment and low wages. The Corn Laws were introduced in 1815 to protect the farmers from cheap imports of grain. This kept the prices artificially high which of course benefitted the landowning classes.  1816 was called the 'Year without a Summer'. Low temperatures and continual rain led to an agricultural disaster. Harvests failed and food prices rose. The poor suffered greatly and there were riots and looting of warehouses all over the country.
Several groups, for example the Chartists, arose during the early and mid 1800s to fight for repeal of the Corn Laws amid other social reforms.  But that is another story.
As a consequence many moved away to the industrial towns of the north in order to find work or emigrated to USA, Canada or Australia.  However, I suspect those with large families like mine would have been reluctant to move away out of fear of the unknown and would eventually turn to Parish or Poor Relief in order to survive.

All these factors had a disastrous affect on the lives of ordinary working people.  I was horrified to find that only two of John and Martha's children lived beyond the age of twenty-one - John the eldest (my 3rd Great Grandfather) born 1792, and Elizabeth born 1808.  Their father, John, and mother, Martha, both died within a month of one another at Brent Eleigh in September 1815. However, they were both buried on 1st and 12th of September 1815 respectively at St Peters, Baylham.  Brent Eleigh is 13 miles from Baylham and I assume they went there in order to find work on a farm. The family would have been in a desperate situation.  

 I have not been able to trace what happened to George.  He would have been 22 years of age at the time of his mother's death so perhaps he had already died or had moved away.  I do know that after Martha's death all the children bar John and Edward were taken to the House of Industry at Barham as orphans.  I doubt the eldest, John or his brother Edward would have been in any position themselves to look after their siblings.
The saddest thing is that none of these children grew up to see the beauty of this world, that all they saw was the misery and drudgery that was the daily grind, that they all eventually died in that dreadful place and that little William was only 10 months old. It's unbearable to think of.

My 3rd Great Grandfather, John Adams, married Sarah Till at St Mary and St Lambert, Stonham Aspal, Suffolk on 20th July 1814.  They called their five boys John, William, Edward, George and Henry.  These names from their ancestors were carried down the generations.
Elizabeth, John's sister married William Davey in 1831 and they had three daughters. She died of consumption (TB) in October 1839 at Barham but thankfully not in the Workhouse.



In an extract from  'The English Rustic Tradition'  Ann Bermingham is primarily discussing John Constable's views on the local landscape with reference to his paintings but it gives us an insight into the changing face of Suffolk agriculture during this time.