ABSTRACT

For farmers and landowners the post-war years were ones of adjustment to changed circumstances and, for many, a period of hardship as well. The prosperity of landowners and farmers during the Napoleonic wars had been built on the uncertain foundations of food scarcity caused by trade blockade and bad harvests. In the case of the agricultural labourers - the most numerous class of rural workers- the years after 1815 saw some reduction in wage levels, as basic rates fell from between 12s. and 15s. a week in 1814 to between 9s. and 10s. in 1822. In the north of England, where coal was cheaper and alternative employment existed in industry, the position of the labourers was far better. Wage rates were higher and the men were spared 'that hopelessness which rotted village life in the southern counties'.