Clearly it was very possible to make that transition if one emigrated under one of the aided schemes. (I can readily think of men who became farmers in South Africa with land of their own after about 1850, having been ag labs in England.) Were there any similar schemes aiming at populating districts in England or otherwise of promoting some preferred type of farming after the enclosures? Geoff On 25 July 2011 07:01, Alan Mills <[email protected]> wrote: > My gggf Thomas Young is shown as a labourer in Horley in 1833 when he married and by 1835 he is a tenant farmer. Similarly a possible relation James Young, is shown as an Ag Lab in Charlwood in 1841 and a farmer, presumably tenant, in 1851. > > I would have thought it unlikely to make the transition from Ag Lab to tenant farmer without some cash for a deposit, equipment (horse, cart etc). I also think it unlikely an Ag Lab could save sufficient for this. If so, this would suggest some financial event occurred for them both eg marrying into some money, inheriting some or whatever. Am I right or was it much easier to make this transition than I think? -- Geoff Chew [email protected]