Geography and Rural Social Structure in Pre-industrial England We measure social structure and inequality for rural English parishes using the ratio of male farmers to all men employed in farming in 1831. In Figure 1 the yellow squares show parishes and townships with fewer than 1 farmer per 10 male farm workers. The black squares show parishes and townships with more than 5 farmers per 10 adult males in farming. There was a marked difference in social structure across regions. In the of England a large proportion of the population in rural areas comprised landless labourers, working for wages. In the north-west the majority of the rural adult male population comprised independent farmers, working for themselves. Even in the small compass of rural England there were differences in social structure that echoed those between pre-industrial North America and the Caribbean and Latin America. Figure 1: Social Structure in Rural England, 1831 Notes: In parishes shown as black squares at least half of the adult male population engaged in farming was listed as a farmer in 1831. In parishes shown as yellow squares the corresponding farmer share was less than 10 percent. Source: British Parliamentary Papers, 1833. Ordnance Survey, Gazetteer of England and Wales (parish grid coordinates). Figure 2: High and Low Degree Days above 10° C Notes: Yellow = more than 800 degree-days above 10º C. Black = less than 675 degree days above 10º C. Sources: Smith, 1976. Ordnance Survey, Gazetteer of England and Wales.
Geography and Rural Social Structure in Pre-industrial England We measure social structure and inequality for rural English parishes using the ratio of male farmers to all men employed in farming in 1831. In Figure 1 the yellow squares show parishes and townships with fewer than 1 farmer per 10 male farm workers. The black squares show parishes and townships with more than 5 farmers per 10 adult males in farming. There was a marked difference in social structure across regions. In the of England a large proportion of the population in rural areas comprised landless labourers, working for wages. In the north-west the majority of the rural adult male population comprised independent farmers, working for themselves. Even in the small compass of rural England there were differences in social structure that echoed those between pre-industrial North America and the Caribbean and Latin America. Figure 1: Social Structure in Rural England, 1831 Notes: In parishes shown as black squares at least half of the adult male population engaged in farming was listed as a farmer in 1831. In parishes shown as yellow squares the corresponding farmer share was less than 10 percent. Source: British Parliamentary Papers, 1833. Ordnance Survey, Gazetteer of England and Wales (parish grid coordinates). Figure 2: High and Low Degree Days above 10° C Notes: Yellow = more than 800 degree-days above 10º C. Black = less than 675 degree days above 10º C. Sources: Smith, 1976. Ordnance Survey, Gazetteer of England and Wales.
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