SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



change that had come over the woollen industry with the introduction of 

 machinery. 1 The year 1821 was, indeed, noted in Gloucestershire for the 

 heaviness of its poor rates, the total cost of apprehending and conveying 

 vagrants being 2,074, as compared with 1,053 ^ n 1 ^ l ?t anc * l >55 in 

 1822.* This may have been due to the disturbance in the woollen industry, 

 for it was about this period that the factory system was started. It was 

 immensely unpopular with the weavers, who were already furious at the 

 abolition of the apprenticeship laws, which they considered their protection 

 (1802), and who now complained that they were driven from their houses to 

 work as prisoners at the shop-looms. 8 In 1821 a reduction of wages by the 

 masters was resisted by the weavers, more than a hundred of whom were 

 imprisoned. In 1825 a printed agreement as to wages restored peace between 

 the masters and men at Dursley, but was not accepted by the Stroud clothiers. 

 In 1828 the latter reduced wages to a truckster's standard, in order to meet 

 foreign competition,* and in 1830, finding it difficult to carry on the factory 

 system by forcing the weavers to bring their looms to a central building, they 

 introduced power looms. The weavers promptly struck, and a further 

 reduction of wages in 1838 did not lessen the bitter feeling stirred up 

 between them and the masters. 1 



It is difficult to get any clear account of the condition of the agricul- 

 tural labourer in Gloucestershire in the first half of the nineteenth century. 

 In 1836, when an inquiry was held as to causes of agricultural distress,' the 

 three Gloucestershire farmers who gave evidence seemed agreed that, with 

 low prices and wages of 8j. to 1 2s. a week, the labourer was better off than 

 he had been for some time. It was the farmer who was hard hit by the low 

 price of wheat, which had fallen in the Bristol market from 50*. per quarter 

 in 1833 to 38^ 8</. in i835. 7 Even so, however, the three witnesses did not 

 think so very badly of the prospects of farming in Gloucestershire. The 

 price of corn went on rising, till it reached 74^. in 1855, since when it has 

 steadily fallen to 26s. in 1899* From 1861, similarly, the census returns 

 show a steady diminution in the agricultural population of the county. 

 Yet, while land has been allowed to revert to pasture, and the amount of field 

 labour has diminished, the wages of the labourer have increased. Between 

 1849 and 1853, when a bad harvest made prices high in spite of the repeal 

 of the corn laws, his wage was about js. 64. a week ; in 1861 it was id/, 

 in the Vale, 9*. on the Hill ; between 1865 and 1890 about I is. In 1898 

 it ranged from los. to 15^., the average being about 13.;. in summer and 12s. 

 in winter. Cottages are sometimes allowed free, and in a few cases beer or 

 cider is given, but, on the whole, allowances are less than in the fifties.* 



On the whole, agriculture seems to have a brighter outlook in Glouces- 

 tershire at the present day. There is a considerable demand for small holdings 

 (especially in the fruit districts along the Severn), which is a hopeful 



1 Rural RiJei (ed. W. P. Cobbett), ii, 175. 



' Account* of Treasurer* of the Counties of sums paid for Apprehension of Vagrants, Parl. Pap. 1823, 

 vol. xv (No. 456). 



1 T. Exell, op. cit. ' Ibid. Ibid. 



3rd Rep. of Select Com. on Agric. Distress, Parl. Pap. 1836, vol. viii (2), (No. 465). 

 1 2nd Rep. on Agric Distress, Parl. Pap. 1836, vol. viii (i), (No. 189). 



Agric. Returns for 1899 (B. of Agric.), C. d. 1 66. 



Report of B. of Trade on Wages and Earnings of Agric. Labourers, Parl. Pap. 1900, vol. bocxii. 

 (C. d. 346)- 



171 



