Peasants and Farmers

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1. Farmers in England were attacked by rioters.
2. The rioters destroyed threshing machines, burnt barns and haystack and sometimes burnt the entire farmhouse.
3. Farmers used to receive threatening letters which were signed by ‘Captain Swing’.
4. This was a mythical name used in the letters and the rioters came to be known as Swing Rioters.
5. The letters urged the farmers to stop using the new machines because the new machines were depriving the poor peasants of job.
6. The government took stern action and people were rounded up on suspicion. 1,976 prisoners were tried, nine men were hanged, 505 men were transported and 644 were put in jails.

1. The English population increased rapidly from the mid-eighteenth century.
2. The population of England multiplied over four times between 1750 and 1900.
3. From 7 million in 1750 the population of England became 30 million in 1900.
4. Increased population meant increased demand for foodgrains.
5. More and more people began to live and work in urban areas.
6. Men from rural areas migrated to towns in search of jobs. To survive they had to buy foodgrains in the market.
7. As the urban population grew, the market for foodgrains expanded, and when demand increased rapidly, foodgrain prices rose.

1. Rapid population growth was most often followed by a period of food shortages.
2. In the nineteenth century, grain production grew as quickly as population.
3. Even though the population increased rapidly, in 1868 England was producing about 80 percent of the food is consumed. The rest was imported.
4. This increase in food-grain production was made possible not by any radical innovations in agricultural technology, but by bringing new lands under cultivation.

1. During the Napoleonic Wars, prices of foodgrains were high and farmers vigorously expanded production to grab the opportunity.
2. This was the time, new threshing machines had come into the market.
3. The farmers began buying those machines, as they feared a shortage in labour.

1. Peasants cultivated open fields which were strips of land near their villages. These strips were of varying quality.
2. This was a measure to ensure that everyone had a mix of good and bad land.
3. Beyond these strips lay common land which was used by all to graze cattle, gather fruits and berries and firewood.
4. This began to change from the 16th century. Wool became important.
5. Farmers began to enclose fields to improve sheep breeds and ensure good feed.
6. With enclosed fields, there was no concept of common land. This changed the entire landscape of England.

1. When fences came up, the enclosed land became the exclusive property of one landowner.
2. The poor could no longer collect their firewood from the forests, or graze their cattle on the commons.
3. They could no longer collect apples and berries, or hunt small animals for meat.
4. They could no longer collect apples and berries, or hunt small animals for meat.