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Palgrave Macmillan

Working the Land

A History of the Farmworker in England from 1850 to the Present Day

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Nicola Verdon

    1. Modern British History, Sheffield Hallam University , Sheffield, United Kingdom

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  • Expands and builds upon the recent research on gender, class and farm labour in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Presents a national picture alongside a more nuanced regional and local approach, based upon substantial original archival research.
  • Portrays an image of farm workers which moves beyond the historical representation of them as slow, backward and homogenous, exploring the real working life and mind-set of these workers.
  • Utilises a range of quantitative and qualitative sources allowing for a statistical overview to be considered alongside how workers viewed and felt about their work in their own words.

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. Introduction: The Farmworker, Past and Present

    • Nicola Verdon
    Pages 1-20

  3. The Victorian And Edwardian Farmworker

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21
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    2. The Farm Servant

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 23-53

    3. The Agricultural Labourer

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 55-88

    4. The Casual and Seasonal Workforce

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 89-120

  4. The Farmworker in the Century After 1914

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121
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    2. Farm Labour during the First World War

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 123-156

    3. The Interwar Years

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 157-188

    4. Farm Labour and the Second World War

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 189-221

    5. The Postwar Years

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 223-248

    6. Conclusion: The Contemporary Agricultural Worker

      • Nicola Verdon
      Pages 249-264

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 265-284
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers a new history of the farmworker in England from 1850 to the present day. It focuses on the paid worker, considering how the experiences of farm work – the work performed, wages earned and conditions of hiring – were shaped by gender, age and region. Combining data extracted from statistical sources with personal and autobiographical accounts, it places the individual farmworker back into a broader collective history. Beginning in the mid-Victorian era, when farmworkers were the most numerically significant occupational group in England, it considers the impact of economic, technological and social change on the scale and nature of farm work over the next hundred and fifty years, whilst also highlighting the continuation of some practices, including the use of casual and migrant workers to perform low-paid, seasonal work. Written in a lively and accessible manner, this book will appeal to those with an interest in rural history, gender history and modern British history. 

Reviews

“Working the Land should appeal to those interested in or researching rural life, village life, agricultural occupations and farming ancestors. It makes an important contribution to the historiography of farm workers, the countryside and the labouring population by prioritizing the voice of the farm worker. … It provides a valuable foundation for reconstructing the lives of agricultural ancestors, and should be of interest and use to anyone who encounters farm workers when researching their family and community history.” (Sarah Holland, Family & Community History, Vol. 21 (02), July, 2018)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Modern British History, Sheffield Hallam University , Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Nicola Verdon

About the author

Nicola Verdon is Reader in Modern British History, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Working the Land

  • Book Subtitle: A History of the Farmworker in England from 1850 to the Present Day

  • Authors: Nicola Verdon

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-31674-5

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-30439-0Published: 20 November 2017

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-31674-5Published: 22 September 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 284

  • Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, Social History, Labor History, Modern History

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