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The Eighteenth Century
The Agricultural Revolution
This book is about 10,000 words long. It is for children of seven to eleven.
In 1795 English farm labourers were starving. The price of bread had risen twice as much as their wages. In previous years they had been able to survive on low wages because they had certain rights:- like gleaning the fields after the harvest: taking wood from the woodlands for the fire: grazing pigs or cows on the common land. In addition the farm labourer often had a patch of land of his own on which he could grow vegetables.
But by 1795, with the coming of the enclosures, the labourers had lost most of these rights and they had to survive on their wages. They could not do this and there were bread riots. By this time the French Revolution had turned into a bloodbath and when faced with the bread riots the British government panicked and over-reacted.
Rebels of the Fields is a fictionalised account of one such disturbance in an East Anglian market town. The events really happened and all the main characters existed. It is told from the viewpoint of a fourteen year old boy, Will Auger.
In 1795 some labourers in Walden armed themselves with clubs, cudgels, scythes, hoes and bill-hooks and forced the shopkeepers to sell them bread, cheese and flour at reduced prices. They then sold these goods at the market square. They forced the mayor to sign a statement saying that these low prices would remain. Then they sang a hymn and dispersed. The government later designated this a "riot." The ringleaders were arrested and sentenced to terms of imprisonment.
The story is given added poignancy by the sub-plot involving Will's friend, Jem. While poaching on Lord Howard's land Jem's leg is caught in a man-trap. His leg is amputated by a doctor but this does not save him. Throughout the book Will makes frequent visits to his friend and there are touching descriptions of Jem's sufferings and deteriorating condition.
More than anything else it is the parts of the book dealing with Jem which really highlight the conditions and attitudes prevalent in England in 1795.
Authentic, poignant and thought provoking.
7-11