Agricultural labourers as an occupational group have always been of interest to family historians, but most have given up on the idea of finding records about them apart from the usual sources such as census, registration certificates and parish registers. As for them leaving a will, most family historians have not even considered to see if they did or did not leave one. Yet it is surprising what often can be found, and this book considers the many different records from which information can be obtained as practical research is undertaken. The first part of the book also deals with the lives of agricultural labourers and their families, and how they were affected by social and economic conditions prevailing throughout their lives, virtually meaning they lived in or near poverty for most of that time.

Many family historians will come across direct links to ancestors who lived and worked in the countryside as farmers, laborers, landowners, village tradesmen and professionals for most of us have rural ancestors. Yet despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy, these people have rarely been written about with the family historian in mind. No previous book has provided a guide to the documents and records, from medieval times to the twentieth century, that researchers can use to find out about their rural ancestors and the world in which they lived. That is why this accessible and informative introduction by rural historian Jonathan Brown is so important.He describes the make-up of country and village society - the farmers, large and small, the farm-workers, the landowners and estate-owners, and the local business people, the tradesmen and merchants. At the same time he identifies and discusses the relevant national and local records, indicates where they can be found, and offers essential advice on how this information can be used to piece together the lives of distant and not so distant relatives. Tracing Your Rural Ancestors is essential reading for anyone who is looking for an insight into the history of rural life, work and society.

Excerpt from A History of the English Agricultural Labourer: 1870 1920 The history of farming should be written by a farmer. A history of labourers should be written by a labourer. This history suffers from the defect that it is not written by a labourer. It is, however, written by one who has tilled the land for many years and has tried to survey rural England through the eyes of a farm worker. Therefore I have written this history of the agricultural labourer as a partaker of his life, rather than from the detached point of view of the spectator, or the man of the study. To my mind the only honest historian is he who is not afraid to wear his heart upon his sleeve, as Cobbett did when he wrote his Rural Rides. A Gradgrind historian in exhibiting his selected facts is accurate at the expense of truth. I have tried to interest the student in a life which has been considered prosaic to the point of stolidity, by showing him that it is filled with great adventures. He will find many references to Blue Books, sufficient, at any rate, I hope, to satisfy the academic mind; but my chief authorities bear names which it would be fruitless to mention, for they are the obscure folk who follow the plough, who drive the cattle from the pastures, and who fold the sheep at the foot of the Downs. They are the unrecorded men who give us our daily bread. It is to them that I and my readers owe thanks. One day, let us hope, some Englishman, who has endured with fortitude the life on the land, with all its pain and pleasure, will tell the story as it should be told, in words of imperishable beaut. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Anxiety. Addiction. Depression. We associate these words with the challenges of modern life. Rarely do we consider how these conditions shaped past generations. Using archival sources, testimonies, and her grandfather Walter Parker’s experiences, the author not only paints a vivid picture of life in an English Victorian village, but she also draws upon psychological theory to explore the lives of her working-class ancestors. What did your forebears inherit from their parents? Which psychological characteristics did your ancestors hand down? A Victorian’s Inheritance can help you find answers.

This book will be a source of help for anybody researching their farming and countryside ancestors in England. Looked at through the lens of rural life, and specifically the English village, it provides advice and inspiration on placing rural people into their geographic and historical context. It covers the time from the start of parish registers in the Tudor world, when most of our ancestors worked on the land, until the beginning of the twentieth century, when many had moved to the towns. Helen Osborn demonstrates how genealogical records are integral to their place of origin and can be illuminated using local newspaper reports, and the work of local historians. She explores the stories of people who lived in the countryside in the past, as told by the documents that record them, both rich and poor. The book will be particularly valuable to anyone who is looking for a deeper understanding of their family history, rather than simply collecting names on the tree.