ABSTRACT
The massive agricultural growth and specialization of this period brought little benefit to the folk who tilled the soil, tended the animals and cut the hay The lot of most rural labourers deteriorated from the 1780s at least until the 1850s. From the 1770s to 1813 prices of foodstuffs rose generally and in some cases spectacularly; the profits of farming were based on bread prices too high for most labourers to maintain their already basic standard of living. After 1815, an era of lower prices caused farmers to retrench and rationalize. Wages were cut and unemployment shot up. Behind both developments lay one intractable and growing problem: the number of labourers. However much rapacious landlords or heartless farmers may be criticized, their actions must be seen against a background of rapid population growth. This was by no means confined to the new industrial areas. Even in the fifteen English counties, mainly in the South and East and least affected by urbanization a total population of 1.5m in 1750 had grown to 1.9m by 1780, to 2.9m in 1830 and to 3.3m by 1850. This rise of 120 per cent in 100 years was far more than even expanded demands for labour could accommodate. It was ideal for industrial recruitment, but the rural labourers' tragedy was that they remained immobile. A swollen but static population exerted severe downward pressure on wages and it is hard to escape the broad conclusion that rural labourers were poor because they were numerous.
