Ms. McLaughlin mentioned the plight of the agricultural labourers after Enclosure so I thought I would post this (which I have also just posted on the Northants list): If you have Ag Labs in your family tree then I recommend that you read "Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure and Social Change in England, 1700-1820" by J.M.Neeson. Published by Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-56774-2. This book is a scholarly account about Parliamentary "social engineering" that took away the the use of Commons, & the self reliance that came with it, from a whole class of people in order to create a labour force (Ag Labs) that was dependant on a wage for existence and which would be an ongoing cheap supply of labour for England's economy. If your Ag Labs were like mine, destitute in the nineteenth century, after reading this book you will know why. This book contains much information on Northamptonshire (and several mentions of Bedfordshire) & contains many surnames. Sorry, no lookups as I am too busy at work. Malcolm On 1/20/06 8:52 PM, "Eve McLaughlin" <eve@varneys.demon.co.uk> wrote: > In message <1da.4afd2339.30f8117d@aol.com>, Carolgriff@aol.com writes >> Hi >> I watched who do you think you are on tv last night and was amazed at the >> way a family moved up north. >> >> Basically if you were poor then a company would "recruit" you and your >> family, send you to london then on a barge to eg a cotton mill in lancs. >> Often >> the >> younger children would be left behind as they were too young to work in the >> mills and so the mill owners wouldnt recruit the family. >> >> The programme was about Suffolk but I wondered if this would have happened >> in Beds as my family moved from Beds > > The organised migrations to the mills were a feature of life in the > impoverished rural counties. The bottom dropped out of agriculture, what > with the effects of enclosure, since the new cultivation system needed > fewer labourers, and the 10 years' bad harvests of the Hungry Forties. > There was a simple choice - stay and starve or move to a job waiting for > you, incredibly well paid. At first, much of the work was in smallish > mills, but being inside all day, working 12-14 hours was a great culture > shock to people used to the fresh air (and cold and wet, not idyllic). > The mills were crying out for workers, (females preferred, but some men > for the heavy stuff)and the early schemes were well policed, both by the > Poor Law Commissioners and in Beds, by individual clergymen, who visited > their distant flock and checked on their conditions. >