Saturday 11 September 2010

A bleak situation

I'd grown up considering myself half-Geordie, as my dad's family came from County Durham, but while researching the family tree I discovered that two branches of the 'Geordie' family originally came from East Anglia.

My ggg grandfather William Rufus Lincoln, born in Saxlingham in 1837, left Norfolk with his wife and two children to go to County Durham in the 1870s, where he worked in the collieries.

My ggg grandfather Samuel Littlewood, born in Great Plumstead in 1824, migrated from Norfolk with his wife and their 7 children to County Durham in the 1870s, where he became a miner.

The two hundred miles these families moved typifies the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution, when hundreds of thousands of people left impoverished agricultural areas to find work in mines, factories and mills. Many families emigrated to Canada, North America, South America and Australia.

In the early part of the 1800's there had been an influx of people into Norfolk, as trade and agriculture were booming. As the century progressed unemployment grew as a result of the introduction of agricultural machines, the return of ex-soldiers from the great wars, and loss of woollen production to the flourishing textile areas in the north. Overpopulation had resulted in exorbitant rents as speculators cashed in on the housing shortage. The growth of the railway network increased long-distance trade and intensified competition throughout the country. Wages (which were often paid in the form of goods or food) plummeted as English wheat prices were pushed down by cheap grain imports from the US. In the 1870s wet summers led to poor harvests, and there were outbreaks of disease affecting cattle and sheep.

It must have been a bleak situation for many families, but the railways that had exacerbated their economic plight also provided an escape route - transportation to areas booming with the opportunities presented by the Industrial Revolution. Others will have booked passage on the boats plying the east coast.

When I learnt about the Industrial Revolution at school I gleaned nothing more from my 'education' than the basic idea that 'folks worked in the fields, then machinery was invented and fewer people were needed in agriculture, so they went to work in factories instead.' Today I see the Industrial Revolution in more human terms. I can't help but see the parallels with our current economic realities - the challenges of globalisation, the decline of traditional industries and recession. In a hundred years time will they look back and call this period the 'Technological Revolution'?

1 comment:

  1. Interesting reflections as my G. Grandfather James Oliver born 1850 Guist Norfolk and his wife Sarah Ann Spooner and their 2 children left Norfolk in 1870's to work as a colliery cartman in Ferryhill area and mt G. Grandfather George Issac Darkins born 1853 Iclingham Suffolk and his wife Blanch Louisa Baker left Suffolk in 1870's to become a miner in Esh Winning.
    I've always wondered how they travelled the 200 odd miles and had never considered that they may have used east coast shipping.
    Thank you for your interesting article.
    Regards Eric Suddes

    ReplyDelete