ABSTRACT
The war had brought economic dislocation and price rises to the countryside. Inflation was 20 per cent in the first year of the war and by June 1916, prices were 60 per cent above pre-war levels. The claims of labour activist Ernest Selley: 'that profit per acre in 1917 had increased 350 per cent since 1912, whilst wages only increased 56 per cent' is supported by modern economic historians. Whilst farmworkers' real wages declined, farmers' incomes increased over threefold during the war. This also triggered a huge growth in owner occupation by farmers, as landowners - burdened with low rents and death duties - disposed of parts of their estates. By the first winter of the war, with enlistment giving new opportunities for men to leave the farms, there was a shortage of labour. The columns of the local press continued to be full of job advertisements throughout the war, especially for skilled labourers, who seem to have had a higher rate of enlistment. This gave particular problems for the pastoral Marches, where agriculture was dependent on skilled shepherds, dairymen and waggoners. Economic circumstances were moving to favour agricultural trades unionism and rural radicalism.1
