ABSTRACT
Agriculture in nineteenth-century Britain was not a single industry but a combination of several, and the men (and women) who cultivated the soil were no less heterogeneous. The larger capitalist farmers enjoyed most of the limelight and held nearly all the political and social authority vouchsafed to the Victorian farming community. The 'two-horse' occupier or the man without a team had about as much voice in public affairs as the labourer, and elicited less sympathy. Victorian farmers were socially too diverse for a completely valid generalization to be made in a few words about their relationship with the church. Relations with the established church were sometimes very strained, especially in regions where the general population belonged to a religious denomination different from that of the official incumbent or minister. Victorian agriculture continued to be efficient to the end, and the farmers were able to conduct a successful political lobby on many minor issues which concerned them.
