AGRICULTURE IN WILTSHIRE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR 



87 



be expected, the number of large holdings of over 

 300 acres had fallen from 652 to 568 half of these 

 disappearing between 1918 and 1919. Perhaps 

 surprisingly, the greatest change was the decrease 

 in the number of the smallholdings between 1 and 

 5 acres. Their number had fallen by 212 and it is 

 not obvious why this had happened. Most had been 

 tenants rather than owners and their land could 

 have been taken into larger holdings. The largest 

 annual decrease was between 1916 and 19 17. This 

 was the period of great pressure on army 

 recruitment and, maybe, as they did not qualify for 

 exemption from the armed forces, many were called 

 up. 



The number of owner-occupied holdings 

 increased from 816 to 911. This was complicated 

 by the decrease in the number of very small holdings 

 which were owner-occupied but a significant 

 increase in the number of such holdings over 50 

 acres. This explains why, although the percentage 

 of owner-occupied holdings increased by about 2%, 

 the acreage of owner-occupied land increased by 

 5% from 12% to 17%. 



CONCLUSION 



At the beginning of the war Wiltshire's agriculture 

 was very typical of the country as a whole. In the 

 same way, during the course of the war, the changes 

 in Wiltshire which occurred largely as a result of 

 government intervention very much echoed the 

 general trends elsewhere. There is very little in 

 Wiltshire which was atypical during that period. 

 The loudest and continuing complaint was about 

 the shortage of labour. Wiltshire was a pioneer in 

 training women especially as milkers but there is 

 little evidence that this was the start of a continuing 

 and widespread involvement of women in 

 agriculture after the war. It is, in fact, very difficult 

 to see lasting changes in Wiltshire's agriculture 

 which came about because of the war. Much of the 

 newly ploughed land was allowed to revert to 

 pasture and agriculture became once again much 

 more influenced by economic and market forces 

 than by government control. The two aspects which 

 did see lasting changes were in mechanisation and 

 land ownership. The introduction, in particular, of 

 motor tractors continued and expanded after the 

 war and has continued to do so. In land ownership, 

 some of the larger estates were broken up and this 

 led to a much greater number of owner-occupiers. 

 Finally, it has been shown that by increasing 



production and changing its crops, the agricultural 

 industry compensated for the significant decline in 

 imports and ensured that the food supply during 

 the war was at least adequate. It has been calculated, 

 for example, that the average calorie intake of a man 

 in 1919 was still 97% of that in 1914. There can be 

 little doubt that agriculture in Wiltshire made its 

 contribution to this achievement and largely 

 reached the targets it had been set. 



Notes 



1 Agricultural Statistics 1914 (Parliamentary Papers, 



1915) Vol. XLIV Table 5. 

 : Agricultural Statistics 1914 Table 3. 



3 I.M.Slocombe, First World War Tribunals in Wiltshire 



(Wiltshire Family History Society, 1997), pp. 14, 160. 



4 Devizes Gazette 17 May 1917. 



5 Agricultural Statistics 191 4 Table 3. 



6 Agricultural Statistics 1914 Tables 28, 29, 30, 37. 

 1 Agricultural Statistics 191 4 Tables 12, 13. 



8 P.E.Dewey British Agriculture in the First World War 



(Routledge, 1989), pp. 36,46. 



9 Slocombe, First World War Tribunals p.22. 



10 Swindon Advertiser 12 November 1915. 



" Government circular to tribunals (R. 117) List of 



Certified Occupations (1917) Appendix B. 

 13 Slocombe, First World War Tribunals p. 59. 



13 I.M.Slocombe, 'Military Tribunals in Wiltshire 1915- 



1918', The Local Historian, Vol. 30 no.2 (May 2000) 

 p.110. 



14 The Times 1 2 June 1918. Quoted in Pamela Horn Rural 



Life in England in the First World War (London, 

 1984). 



15 Slocombe, First World War Tribunals, pp. 60-61. 



16 Slocombe, First World War Tribunals, p.53. 



17 For a fuller account of the release of children from 



school, see I.M.Slocombe, 'Education and the First 

 World War in Wiltshire' WANHM 90 (1997),pp. 126- 

 129. 

 18 W.RO. Fl/100/23, Minutes, Wiltshire War Agricultural 

 Committee 13 October 1916. 



19 Minutes, Wiltshire War Agricultural Committee. 



20 W.R.O. 982/24, Diary of Edith Olivier. 



21 Devizes Gazette, 20 July 1916. 



22 W.RO. 982/24, Diary of Edith Olivier. 



23 Swindon Advertiser 23 November 1917. 



24 Devizes Gazette 20 September 1917. 



25 Devizes Gazette 20 July 1916. 



26 W.R.O. 853/1, A.G.Stratton, Summary Receipts and 



Farm Accounts. 



27 Salisbury Journal 12 August 1916. 



28 Salisbury Journal 22 June 1918. 



2 " W.R.O. Fl/100/24, Minutes, Wiltshire Agricultural 

 Executive Committee. 



30 Salisbury Journal 24 August 1918. 



31 T.S.Crawford Wiltshire and the Great War: Training 



