Last
update July 2009 Created by Tony Maple: imlac2005@grapevine.com.au
“Push factors” in
emigration
We
will probably never know Thomas and Elizabeth Maple’s reasons for
emigrating. However the historical record reveals the general conditions of
the time and it is reasonable to assume that Thomas was no different to many
thousands of other agricultural labourers.
Any
understanding of the lot of agricultural labourers must start with their
social position and income. Simply put, farm labourers were at the bottom of
the social and economic hierarchy. Often illiterate, they owned no land and
worked for wages, and in southern England they could be very low wages at
that. Usually they had a little work in the winter and relied on earning the
bulk of their money over the summer harvest. Their incomes then had to last over the
year, and their living conditions were often very poor.
After
the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 many discharged soldiers swelled the ranks of
the agricultural workers and the price of their labour fell. The first
mechanical implements also began to appear. No longer were thousands of men
needed to tend the crops as a few would suffice.
In
1830 farm labourers rose in revolt, initially in Kent. The so-called
‘Swing Rioters’ smashed the threshing machines and threatened
farmers who had them. The riots were dealt with very harshly. Nine of the
rioters were hung and a further 450 were transported to Australia.
By
the 1840s a weekly wage of eight shillings was at the top of the range. For a
family of six this allowed the rent of a cottage (shared with a lodger), some
potatoes, bread (6 loaves made with second flour), salt, 4 ounces of soap and
six herrings. Plainly there was little scope for saving or for absorbing
reduction in wages, but by 1850 wages were nearer 6 shillings.
The
loss of a shilling a week would have mean going without food for a day; the
loss of two shillings in a bad season could have quickly brought a family to
the edge of starvation. It is
little wonder that the Maples who had grown up in England had a reputation for
household thrift.
Swing
Rioters burning hay ricks and machinery
The
areas affected by the Swing Riots