Agricultural developments 1832-46

Question 1

Why were the late 1830s good for farmers?

Answer 1

It saw an improvement in their conditions, as they had experienced difficulties in the early years of the century

Question 2

Why were advancements in farming able to continue?

Answer 2

Due to the continuation of enclosure

Question 3

What was the benefit of enclosure making soil improvement easier?

Answer 3

It increased grain for the urban population

Question 4

What was the impact of the Enclosure Acts of 1836 and 1845?

Answer 4

It brought a rapid scramble among landowners for enclosure

Question 5

What did the 1845 act stipulate?

Answer 5

With few fields left to enclose, it ensured that any open land in the vicinity of a village or town was preserved in perpetuity

Question 6

What had happened to the process of enclosure by 1850?

Answer 6

It was virtually complete

Question 7

What was more available as a result of enclosure?

Answer 7

Money for investing in farming

Question 8

What did improved drainage techniques mean for agriculture?

Answer 8

It had an impact on the type of crop sown and the quality of the crop when harvested

Question 9

What was the benefit of steam drainage replacing windmill drainage wheels?

Answer 9

It enabled the land to dry out sufficiently to take wheat instead of the less profitable oats

Question 10

Why was drainage so popular?

Answer 10

Because it was cheap and efficient, with one engine able to maintain the drainage of 6000 acres

Question 11

How was the drainage of heavy clay soils managed?

Answer 11

Through the manufacture of clay tiles

Question 12

How did Peel aid drainage?

Answer 12

Through his 1846 Agircultural Drainage Act, setting up loans for farmers to improve field drainage

Question 13

What else contributed to increased crop yields?

Answer 13

The greater use of fertilisers, like animal dung, guano and crushed bones

Question 14

How were labour costs lowered?

Answer 14

Light iron implements which could be drawn by just one or two horses were developed and there was a wider use of steam powered machines on farms, especially the steam thresher

Question 15

Describe the state of innovation in crop picking?

Answer 15

Aside from McCormick’s steam reaper, there was little advance in this area before 1850 and jobs were mostly tackled by hand

Question 16

Who supported and encouraged these agricultural developments?

Answer 16

A large number of agricultural societies

Question 17

What began to appear in the 1830s and 40s?

Answer 17

Clubs, farming journals, newspapers and books all offering the latest advice and advertising products for better farming

Question 18

What was the most influential agricultural society?

Answer 18

The Royal Agricultural Society, formed in 1842, as its journal was an excellent source of farming knowledge

Question 19

Give a statistic to show the importance of farming in the 1830s and 40s?

Answer 19

1/3 of families still lived off the land

Question 20

Why was the increasing prosperity of farmers perhaps misleading when assessing the impact agriculture had on living standards?

Answer 20

Because landless agricultural labourers were still among the poorest paid workers

Question 21

What were wages and housing like for these agricultural labourers?

Answer 21

It varied depending on the region, based on the attitude of the farmers and his relationship with the workers

Question 22

How does McCord highlight this variation?

Answer 22

Farm labourers in Dorset were paid half as much as those in Lancashire

Question 23

What happened to agriculture in the south and east of Scotland?

Answer 23

The land was fertile and there was a culture of improvement, farms were prosperous and farming families were relatively well housed

Question 24

Who were the poorest agricultural labourers?

Answer 24

They were in the south and west of Ireland, there poverty stricken endurance reached its saturation point in the autumn of 1845

Question 25

What did the 1841 census record the population of Ireland at?

Answer 25

9 million

Question 26

Describe their living conditions?

Answer 26

Almost half of them lived in one or two bedroom hovels in the countryside, renting out small parcels of land from absentee landlords trying to eke out a living. Most were abjectly poor

Question 27

What was the main crop?

Answer 27

Potato

Question 28

Why was potato such an important crop?

Answer 28

They sold a proportion of the crop to pay the rent and the remainder formed the staple of their diet. It was said to be the exclusive diet of 90% of the population

Question 29

Why was Autumn 1845 so detrimental?

Answer 29

A fungus attacked the autumn crop and virtually wiped it out

Question 30

Why was this a major disaster for the Irish peasants?

Answer 30

Because they had nothing else to fall back on

Question 31

What happened when they were unable to keep up with rent?

Answer 31

They were evicted

Question 32

What had happened to many within a short time?

Answer 32

They were destitute and starving to death

Question 33

What did whigs, free traders and the anti corn law league suggest should be done in response?

Answer 33

They said that unrestricted importation of all foods should be allowed to prevent a humanitarian disaster, the protectionists ridiculed the suggestion that there was a crisis, suggesting that this was an exaggeration so that the corn laws would be repealed

Question 34

Why did people suggest that repealing the corn laws would help?

Answer 34

Because this would bring down the price of bread, with bread then replacing the blighted potato crop and providing food for the starving population

Question 35

Why is their conflict over Peel’s eventual repeal of the corn laws?

Answer 35

There is debate over whether the Irish famine pushed him into doing this or whether the famine was, as Richard Gaunt suggests ‘a convenient pretext for Peel’s conversion’

Question 36

What was the long term effect of the famine for the Irish?

Answer 36

It increased feelings of bitterness against the British and stored up problems for the future