Good times and bad

The years after 1750 were a time of high profits for farmers and good rents for landlords. The best years were from 1793 to 1815, when Britain was at war with France, and food prices were very high. It was a time of boom in farming.

When peace came in 1815, food prices, profits, and rents fell. The years 1815 to 1830 were a time of slump for farmers and their landlords. Some tenants gave up the struggle and became labourers. Others left the land, and looked for work in the growing towns. Labourers' wages were always low, but in times of slump they fell even lower. In the south of England in 1830 they sank to 10 shillings (50p) a week.

From about 1835, though, food prices rose again. And between 1850 and 1870 farmers and landowners enjoyed another boom. They spent money to improve the land, on drainage pipes and steam pumps, and on new fertilizers. They bought new machines such as binders and reapers, and steam-driven threshers. Even the labourers shared in the boom - in good times the farmers could afford to pay them a decent wage.

Walter Robson: Britain 1750 – 1900; Oxford University Press, 1993/2002, page 8