RUIN OF MANY FARMERS ^ 323 



tions, executions, seizures, arrests and imprisonments for deb t 



multiplied . Farmhouses were full of sheriffs' officers. Many large 



farmers lost everything, and became apphcants for pauper allowances. 



Even in Norfolk the number of writs and executions rose from 636 



in 1814 to 844 in 1815 ; in Suffolk from 430 to 850 ; in Worcester 



from 640 to 890. In the Isle of Ely the number of arrests and 



executions increased from 57 in 1812-13 to 263 in 1814-15. In the 



same district several farmers failed for an aggregate sum of £72,500, 



and the creditors in hardly any instance received a dividend. 



Between 1815 and 1820, 52 farmers, cultivating between them 24,000 



acres, failed in Dorsetshire. Agricultural improvements were at 



a^and-still. Live-stock was reduced to a minimum. Lime-kilns 



ceased to bum ; less manure was used on the land ; the least possible 



amount of labour was employed. The tradesmen, imikeepers, and 



shopkeepers of country to^vns suffered heavily by the loss of custom. 



Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, collar makers, harness makers, carpenters, 



found no work. At fii^st the depression had been chiefly f^lt in 



c nrn-grm Yingj ^^'^^^^""^^^ especially on heavy land. But by 1816 it 



had spread to mixed and grass farms. In that year, bad seasons 



created a temporary scarcity ; the rise of wheat to the old prices 



aggravated rural distress without helping any persons except dealers, 



and the wealthier farmers who could afford to wait ; the potato 



crop, which had recently become important in England, failed ; 



perpetual floods in the spring and summer were succeeded by a 



winter of such unusual severity, that the loss of sheep in the North 



was enormous. Landlords, whose land was thrown upon their 



hands, or who had laid charges on their estates, found themselves 



confronted with ruin. The alternative was hard. If the mortgagee > 



foreclosed, the estate sold for a sum which barely recouped the 



charges. Preston,^ in 1816, states that " in Norfolk alone landed^ 



property to the value of one miUion and a half is on sale, without! 



buyers for want of money." One property, for which " £140,000 



was offered two years ago, is now on sale at £80,000." In a second 



pamphlet ^ he states that " some of the best estates of the kingdom j 



are selling at a depreciation of £50 per cent. One of the finest grass' 



farms in Somersetshire sold lately at 10 years purchase." " There 



^ Review of the Present Ruined Condition of the Agricultural and Landed 

 Interests, by Richard Preston, M.P. (1816), [Pamphleteer, vol. vii. pp. 149, 

 167). 



^Further Observations on the State of the Nation (1816), (Pamphleteer, vol. 

 ix. p. 127.) 



