ABSTRACT
The times were peculiar: the country was at war with revolutionary France, the landlords were doubling their incomes, the farmers making fortunes, and industry flourishing. Agriculture was not, however, the only sector of the rural economy to be affected by the changes of the war years. Domestic industries were influenced by the growing industrialization in the north of England and by the blockades and disruptions of overseas trade which accompanied the hostilities. During the war and its immediate aftermath Speenhamland and its variants were to be applied in most of the counties of England and Wales. To add to the difficulties of rising prices and underemployment, there came, in 1793, the outbreak of war with France. Disruptions of trade and an inflationary government financial policy followed, while to increase the misery of the poor there was the disastrous effect of a series of bad harvests.
