R3/3574

Letter giving calculations for rates of pay and conditions of (estate) workers

2 Jan 1831

From: 1831 To: 1831

Reads- Probable budget for man, wife & 4 children s. d. Bread (8 quartern or 4 lb. loaves 6 8 Meat or bacon 3½ lb. @ 7d. 2 0½ Potatoes 8 Coffee, sugar, milk, butter 10½ Candles & firing 1 2 [rent 1 0] In this case none, as owns house. 12 5 Difficult to get details; when asked, they suspect purpose. In this case the man could not tell the cost of clothing & said he seldom drank beer; is a carter, industrious & steady; earns 11/8 winter & 12/10 summer; said he was a little in debt. Sometime back he asked me for advance; I could not give it. His eldest child is 4, his wife has been very ill. Can't get relief from parish as house belongs to him. The result will be that in the end he must sell his house. Have also spoken to single labourer, honest, sober, industrious; says he can keep himself well & comfortably for 7s.week. I have been told by 12-14 men in Duke's employ when total family does not exceed 6 with 12s. week & find own tools, if good hay & harvest; if not, require assistance to make up loss. Woodman's tools are expensive. From all my enquiries I am satisfied 10s. week is the lowest wages that should be given to an efficient labourer. Rent, (not Duke's tenants). Lowest price of 2 rooms is 2s. week, miserable places, no garden. At Birchmoor, Woburn Ridgmont etc. 2,3,4 families occupy one house. With these high rents they have to get parish relief; the landlord is there & urges compliance; so parish actually pays & encourages landlord. Allotments of land will no doubt improve labourers. About Crawley & Ridgmont they are very anxious; I am constantly asked. The keeping a pig is another advantage, but this is discouraged in Ridgmont & Crawley; they will not relieve a man who keeps a pig; I believe same in all parishes round. At a meeting at Crawley, a man came; Mr. Smith, said "No, you keep a pig", the man answered "I have not got one now, & when I had it never did you any harm". If they have a little property or a pig, no relief is given until sold; they may come as soon as they please after than. Employment: much difficulty, especially where population exceeds demand, but in this neighbourhood not too many men (whether they can afford to employ them is a different question). Not so positive about Lidlington. Not much difficulty with most of Duke's tenants, but a few will never be brought to a sense of their own interests. At Crawley & Ridgmont, scarce any farmers have more than 1 man, 1 boy; wages 8s. week man, 2/6 boy.

item

Duke of Bedford,
Smith

private finance, bread, meat, bacon, potatoes, coffee, sugar, milk, butter, candles, rentals, HOUSING, money, clothing, beer, carters, agricultural wages, debt, FAMILY, health, parish, labourers, estate labour, tools, hay, harvesting, woodman, estate wages, tenancy, Birchmoor, WOBURN, RIDGMONT, landlord, allotments, BUILDINGS & LAND USE, HUSBORNE CRAWLEY, pigs, employment, POPULATION, LIDLINGTON, farmers