SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



more than one pauper costing ^5 4J. per annum was created. Other causes 

 were alleged, among them the increasing objection to use rye for making 

 bread, &c. 



From evidence given in 1836 by Mr. Thomas Bennett, agent to the 

 Duke of Bedford, before the ' Select Committee appointed to Inquire into 

 the State of Agriculture,' we learn that the poor-rates had diminished under 

 the new Poor Law, that the making of the Birmingham Railway and the 

 demand for labour in the manufacturing districts had more than relieved the 

 northern part of the county from a surplus of labourers, and that the allot- 

 ment of a quarter of an acre each to the cottagers had made them ' more 

 comfortable.' The price of wool had risen 300 per cent, in consequence of 

 rot among the sheep. Nearly the whole of the Duke of Bedford's estate had 

 been, within the previous five years, relet to the same tenants at a reduction 

 of from ten to twelve per cent, on the rents ; tenants were expected to be able 

 to pay their rents with wheat at from 5J-. to 6j. a bushel for the next seven 

 years, but a flock of sheep was almost necessary to the farmer, though wheat 

 used to be the paying crop. 



In 1848, before the 'Select Committee on Agricultural Customs,' Mr. 

 William Bennett, a land agent, stated that farm leases were not general in 

 the county, though some of the larger landowners gave them. Tenants were 

 not anxious to have leases, partly because of the constant alteration of the 

 Corn Laws, and partly on account of the damage done by the preservation of 

 game. In 1867 a 'Royal Commission on the Employment of Children, 

 Young Persons, and Women in Agriculture' was appointed. The commis- 

 sion inquired into the existence of ' gangs ' of children of from eight to ten 

 years of age, who were employed in the fields nine hours a day in winter and 

 eleven hours in summer. This system was found to exist in Bedfordshire, 

 though not so largely as in some counties. As examples, we may quote two 

 gangs at Sandy, with a total of 339 women, of whom 29 were under 8 years 

 of age, 54 between 8 and 10, 55 between 10 and 13, 42 between 13 and 18, 

 and 93 married and 66 unmarried over 18, all working from 7 a.m. till 

 6 p.m., and some having to come three or four miles to their work ; at Luton, 

 for about a month in the year, was a gang of boys varying from 20 to 50 in 

 number, between 6 and 1 2 years of age, employed in weeding, and paid bd. a 

 day each ; at Woburn Park was a gang of about 1 6 children, from i o to 13 

 years of age, employed all the year round; at Melchbourne was a gang of 

 I o children, from 8 to i o years of age, employed from March till October, 

 &c. Inquiries into school attendance, &c., also elicited unsatisfactory 

 answers. Subsequent legislation has led to the discontinuance of the gang 

 system. 



A good general idea of several of the leading features of the social and 

 economic condition of the people of the county during the 19th century 

 may be gathered from the chapters on Agriculture, Local Industries, Schools, 

 &c. Of the local industries, the principal one — the straw hat and bonnet 

 manufacture — has undergone both a change and a large expansion. Since 

 the middle of the last century, the introduction of cheap foreign plait of 

 various kinds has almost completely destroyed the local straw-plaiting which 

 gave employment to a large number of villagers through the southern half 

 of the county ; but it has made possible the development of an enormous 



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