| The Way We Were John Gurnett
Most of us have agricultural workers in our blood
- if not then ordinary working people from miners,
and biscuit makers to railway men. If we are
fortunate we may discover something about their life
at school, or when they served in the forces, but
apart from letters or diaries we rarely uncover the
minutiae of their daily lives. However, just this
week a small book came into my hands, which sheds
some light on the earnings and weekly budgets of
ordinary people.1
The report compares the incomes of the working
classes between 1857 and 1884 and some interesting
figures emerge from the study. The author found that
there was an average Of 2.17 earners for every family
and that family size in 1881 was 4.67. Agricultural
wages for men ranged from 7s to 10s a week, compared
to 30s to 40s and even 60s in other industries. Most
agricultural labourers earned £37.10s a year while
builders earned £75 to £95. The wages of domestic
servants for men ranged from £20 to £40 a year plus
board and lodging. While the disparity between the
incomes of rural and town labourers was large, it did
not take into account the low-rent cottage enjoyed by
a farm worker, nor a piece of land where he could
grow vegetables and keep a pig.
It was thought that the physical condition of the
labouring classes was better than it ever was. 'If
the food of the people is more artificial than it
used to be, they certainly have more of it'. A
workman's budget in 1857 was 24s a week. Food for the
family consisted of a loaf of bread, 4lbs of meat, a
1lb of butter, filb of cheese, 3lbs of sugar, filb of
tea, vegetables and potatoes, milk, eggs, drink, coal
and gas, rent at 4s a week, and tobacco at 1s. There
was also some over for clothing, furniture,
travelling and amusements and the church and doctor.
Expenditure just about balanced income. By 1884 more
meat was eaten, rent had gone up to 6s, and education
had been added to the list, but by now there was an
annual surplus of almost £6. This report gives a
lively and interesting indication of the rise in
living standards towards the end of the nineteenth
century, and is well worth reading.
1 Levi, Leone, 'Wages and Earnings of the Working
Classes,' London 1885
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