294 THE RURAL POPULATION, 1780-1813 



In the West Midland and South- Western district, small owners 

 were at least holding their own. In North Wilts (1794), where a 

 considerable number of enclosures had been made, " a great deal of 

 the property has been divided and sub-divided, and gone into the 

 hands of the many." x Brent Marsh in Somersetshire (1797) was a 

 district of 20,000 acres which the stagnant waters rendered un- 

 wholesome to man and beast. Within the last twenty years much of 

 this land had been enclosed and drained under a variety of Acts of 

 Parliament. " Scarcely a farmer," says the Reporter, " can now 

 be found who does not possess a considerable landed property ; and 

 many, whose fathers lived in idleness and sloth, on the precarious 

 support of a few half -starved cows, or a few limping geese, are now in 

 affluence, and blessed with every needful species of enjoyment." 2 

 Devonshire (1794) continued to be a county of small properties. 3 

 In Gloucestershire (1807), " the number of yeomen who possess free- 

 holds, of various value, is great, as appears from the Sheriff's return 

 of the poll at the election for a county member in 1776, when 5790 

 freeholders voted, and the number since that period is much in- 

 creased." 4 Landed property in Shropshire (1803) is " considerably 

 divided. . . . The number of gentlemen of small fortune living on 

 their estates, has decreased ; their descendants have been clergymen 

 or attornies, either in the country, or shopkeepers in the towns of 

 their own county ; or more probably in this county emigrated to 

 Birmingham, Liverpool, to Manchester, or to London ; but then 

 the opulent farmer, who has purchased the farm he lives upon . . . 

 is a character that has increased." 5 



The North and North- Western districts afford similar evidence, 

 though in two counties a decrease is conspicuous. In Staffordshire 

 (1813) the best and most improving farmers were " the proprietors 

 of 200 or 300 acres of land, who farm it themselves." 6 Derbyshire 

 (1794) possessed numerous small occupiers, who eked out the profits 

 of the land by mining, spinning, and weaving ; but there were also 

 occupiers of another description, " very properly styled yeomen ; 

 men cultivating their own estates with a sufficient capital." 7 In 

 Cheshire (1808) " the number of small land-owners is not apparently 

 less than in other counties. The description of this latter class has, 



1 Davis' .Wiltshire (1794), p. 8. 'Billingsley's Somersetshire (1797), pp. 166-73. 

 8 Eraser's Devonshire (1794), p. 17. * Rudge's Gloucestershire (1807), p. 34. 



6 Plymley's Shropshire (1803), p. 90. e Pitt's Staffordshire, (1813), p. 20. 



7 Brown's Derbyshire (1794), p. 14. 



