Just found a link to a free download of "The book of the Victorian Farm" on google books, see: http://books.google.com/books?id=i-g...tsec=titlepage Towards the end, there is a very interesting section about hiring farm servants, see page 582. I learnt that married farm servants were generally engaged for a year and single farm servants for 6 months..... At the end of the section is the law pertaining to the hiring and firing of farm servants (indoor servants and outdoor labourers) Gen in NBL _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail, Messenger, Photos and more - all with the new Windows Live. Get started! http://www.download.live.com/

From: gen listlass <[email protected]> > Just found a link to a free download of "The book of the Victorian > Farm" on google books, see: > > > http://books.google.com/books?id=i-g...tsec=titlepage > > > Towards the end, there is a very interesting section about hiring farm > servants, see page 582. > > I learnt that married farm servants were generally engaged for a year > and single farm servants for 6 months..... > > At the end of the section is the law pertaining to the hiring and > firing of farm servants (indoor servants and outdoor labourers) > > Gen in NBL > Could I add to this interesting titbit of information the fact that hiring fairs were very often the reason you might find an ancestor had moved quite a long way away from their original parish or were not found in the place you expect to find them? Hiring fairs were common in the 19th century and most large towns had one - a classic scene of a hiring fair is depicted in the film of Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, starring Alan Bates and Julie Christie. Farmworkers, labourers, shepherds, etc, flocked to them, as did young women wanting to be hired as domestic servants. A large hiring fair would attract people from villages up to 40 or 50 miles around into the town where it was being held, so if someone from one side of a large county was hired by a landowner/employer from a similar distance the other side of the county or even a different county, this could very easily explain a movement of your ancestor of anything up to 100 miles or so. So when you are puzzled by the fact that your ancestor suddenly appears a long way from where you expected to find him or her, do consider the possibility that they might have been hired for a new job at a hiring fair. A further possibility, of course, is that your ancestor then met and married someone in their new place of residence and raised a family there, which would explain why some families seem to have moved a long way from their original home parishes. Mobility in earlier centuries, usually for work-related reasons, was greater than we sometimes imagine today. -- Roy Stockdill Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Has anyone heard of Sadburgh, Sadbury or Sudbury in County Durham? I have a Mary Barker in 1841 and later censuses born there around 1810, but this does not seem to be a current placename in Co Durham. Her husband was born in Houghton le Skerne. Thanks Judith Australia

I also got "404" However an excellent book published late last year studies "Bondagers" in Northumberland and southern Scotland. Has great detail on hiring fairs and "The flitting " etc It is an excellent social study also. Bondagers (by Dinah Iredale) Mike also in NBL -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of gen listlass Sent: 12 February 2009 07:39 To: DUR-NBL mailing list Subject: [DUR-NBL] "The book of the Victorian Farm" free download Just found a link to a free download of "The book of the Victorian Farm" on google books, see: http://books.google.com/books?id=i-g...tsec=titlepage Towards the end, there is a very interesting section about hiring farm servants, see page 582. I learnt that married farm servants were generally engaged for a year and single farm servants for 6 months..... At the end of the section is the law pertaining to the hiring and firing of farm servants (indoor servants and outdoor labourers)