Farming Life in 1850

In 1850, Chalgrove village was very much a farming community situated in the southern part of the county of Oxfordshire, about 10 miles southeast of Oxford itself.

There is an excellent history of Chalgrove in British History Online and a great deal of information in Wikipedia, but very briefly, by the middle of the 19th century, most of the farmland and property was owned by Magdalen College, Oxford. Enclosure was carried out under a private Act of 1843 but caused no real change in distribution of land and most of the parish’s established farming families remained as owners or tenant farmers, and In 1851, the land was worked by 16 farmers employing 122 labourers.

Most of the land was used for arable farming at that time, with wheat, barley and oats being the most common crops. Some of the land was set aside for pasture, mainly supporting sheep, but also some cattle and pigs.

At that time, the farm labourer was one of the lowest members of the social hierarchy.

Catharine would have lived with her parents and brothers in a tied farm cottage in the village. Rent would be paid to the owner of the cottage, most likely Magdalen College, and it would be home so long as at least one member of the family worked on the land, and they paid their rent on time. Wages were low, approximately 10 shillings per week in the middle of the nineteenth century, and rent would be about 1s 6d according to the size of the property rented.

It was a hard life. The men worked a twelve hour day, six days a week, outside in all weather. Their wives worked hard throughout the day mostly in the home, but sometimes taking on extra work to make a few extra pennies, sometimes as labourers, servants or dressmakers. Life in a farm labourer’s family in 1850 was mostly, work and sleep, with only a very little time left for leisure.

This was the life of my great, great mother in the mid nineteenth century.

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