Farm servant

[DorothyCoe]

Another question for you wise folk..
Was there a practical difference between the job of "Farm servant" and "Agricultural Labourer" in the 19th Century?
Thanks

[LesleyB]

Hi Dorothy
I seem to remember a similar question from a while back. Might be useful to find it.... I'll see if I can remember eough about it to do a search .

Yup, it may of some help, here it is:
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... rm+servant

Best wishes
Lesley

[DorothyCoe]

Hmm well thanks for that Lesley., I guess the answer is that we don't really know! Unless I plough (ahem!) my way through that book that's mentioned!
Thanks

[LesleyB]

Hi Dorothy

Unless I plough (ahem!) my way through that book that's mentioned!

Someone else may come up with an answer....it's over a year since that last post on the subject.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Currie]

Hello All,

There are some interesting comments in this PDF document regarding the labelling of rural workers. http://www.bahs.org.uk/43n1a5.pdf

He concludes “Those who worked on the land lived in a myriad of social, economic, cultural and political conditions.”

I think he’s saying that one size doesn’t fit all.

And the response
http://www.bahs.org.uk/43n1a6.pdf

That’s the best I can offer.
Alan

[joette]

In my mind & experience the difference was a Farm Servant was likely to be tied to a particular farm ie have a tied house or some type of accomodation.They were likely to be kept on all year maybe doing indoor jobs repairs etc when the weather didn't allow for outdoors work & be kept on season to season.
An ag lab was more likely to be a seasonal worker & go where they were hiring with no ties to a particular farm/employer.First to be laid off when times got hard.

[DorothyCoe]

thank you all for these very helpful replies
Dorothy

[Montrose Budie]

Another question for you wise folk..
Was there a practical difference between the job of "Farm servant" and "Agricultural Labourer" in the 19th Century?
Thanks

Basically no difference.

It all depended on how the census enumerator interpreted the list of 'allowable' occupations, according to the guidance that he was given.

In no way should any major deduction be drawn from such different terms !!

OK, 'farm servant' might be taken to mean someone who worked in or closely around the farm buildings, with 'agricultural labourer' possibly meaning someone who worked out in the fields, but I, for one, would never rely on that interpretation.

MB

[Rockford]

Hi Dorothy,

It's maybe a bit removed from your original question, but I've just bought a book called "The Ballad and the Plough" by David Kerr Cameron. It's about 30 yrs old, but has just been reprinted.

It focuses on large farms in the 19th Century- or farmtouns - which were communities in their own right. It intertwines the main text with ballads and songs of the period - I've only just started reading it, but it is quite evocative of the lives and challenges of the time.

Might be of interest.....

Best wishes

Brian

[q98]

The following may be of interest. I am unable to recall where I obtained the following:

Ag Lab (Agricultural Labourer)

Ask yourselves whether you know the gestation period for a sheep or a cow, and you can't read or write to make a note of it. The Ag Lab knew when the animal would calve by observing the position of the stars and work it out from that, or from the particular religious festivals being celebrated in church at the appropriate times. Reading and writing is one thing, but it wasn't necessary, numeracy however or a limited knowledge of it was essential so as to count his or his masters livestock and his own money and to tell the time. It was no good thinking that 7 o'clock came immediately after three bells had just struck on the church clock!

There was no electricity, the lanes were bad and there was no health service. The Ag Lab knew how to make his own rush lights to light his home, the shortest and driest route between 2 places and which herbs to pick as remedies for his families ailments. He knew his neighbours far better than we know ours. We isolate ourselves in our cars and in front of our television sets. He relied on neighbours with different skills from his, to help him out when the need arose. He was thrifty where we borrow on bits of plastic. He and his family had to make ends meet regardless or with great shame go on the parish.

Yes he could even forecast his local weather by watching the reactions of wildlife and plants to changing conditions. He was far better at it than any of us from our centrally heated homes and offices. He knew how to thatch and how to get straight straw for thatching whereas we send for experts to fix a cracked slate.

He was tough. He could walk for days behind a plough, pulled by a team of horses, and still walk miles to church each Sunday. A 20 mile walk laden with produce or purchases to and from market each week was also the norm for some. No fancily equipped gymnasium for him, yet he was fitter than today's health freaks who maybe should take a lesson or two from his ancestors.

Can you use a sickle or scythe from dawn to dusk, in all weathers? Can you snare a rabbit for dinner or cut beanpoles from a hedge in a manner that will promote further growth? Can you mix your own whitewash, or train a dog to hunt or round up sheep for you? Come to that, can you milk a cow or slaughter and butcher a sheep or pig?

So-called Ag Labs were no fools. They survived and very few of us would be here to read this if they had not!