The Rugby Advertiser carried out on of a series of Armchair interviews that featured King’s Newham farmer John Brierly (1837-1924), who was part of a family line that farmed in the area for many years until the interwar period in the 20th Century, most notably in King’s Newnham at Newnham Hall Farm, but also at Grange Farm in Church Lawford. John was aged 83 when interviewed in 1921, and in an article entitled “The Age of the Yeoman Farmer” was asked about how things had changed during his years in farming.
“Well” he said, “there is no doubt the changes have been great, but whether they are all for the better I cannot say. One of the greatest changes, undoubtedly, is the breaking up of large estates and the establishing of large numbers of farmer landowners. This change locally was brought about by the dispersal of the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate. It was a change we were not prepared for at the time, and neither are we even now prepared for it altogether. We were forced into it, however. We had to buy our farms to avoid being turned out. Six months before I bought this farm I had no intention of buying it, but when men came along and said they wanted to buy it in order that they might occupy it, it became obvious that if I didn’t buy it I should be turned out. That was the case I know, too, with several others.
“ I do not think it is a change for the better, the breaking up of these large estates. It certainly is not beneficial to the farmer. We had a very good landlord in the Duke of Buccleuch. My experience was more with previous Dukes than the present one, but with all of them I can say I would rather be a tenant of the Duke of Buccleuch than be my own owner, other things being equal. The Dukes, so far as my experience goes, were always willing to do what was reasonable for the tenant. I should not like to be a tenant of a small owner, however, especially a man who owns only owns one farm. I should look upon that as a dangerous position to be in, because you can never tell when he would want to occupy the farm himself.
THE POSITION OF THE LABOURER.
“Another change,” continued Mr. Brierly, “ which has had a great effect on agriculture is the high wages paid to labourers. Their wages had gradually been rising for years, but during the war they went up by leaps and bounds. The labouring man’s position today is better than I have ever known it. They are drawing more wages, but the cost of living outweighs that to a very large extent. Perhaps the man who is drawing 50/- a week looks upon himself as very wealthy, but he can’t be certain that it will last. When the price of corn goes down wages are bound to fall. The men may say: ‘Our Union will take care of that – they will keep wages up to what they are now.’ But, added Mr. Brierly, “They won’t. They can’t. My opinion is that these high wages will throw arable land out of cultivation unless the labourers are very reasonable. But the labouring class are mortal. We cannot expect them to be gods. Their wages, however, will have to be higher than they were in the past. The cottages on this estate were let at very low rents under the old landlords, but now, owing to the requirements of the various health authorities, such a big expenditure is necessary that it will be impossible to keep them up unless the workmen have a much bigger wage than they had in years gone by.”
NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE
“ What do you think of the future for agriculture ?” I asked.
“ What the future holds for us. I think no one knows,” replied Mr. Brierly, “ and no one’s opinion is worth a rap. I think, however, that rough times are in store for the tenant farmers and labourers. It may not come for a year or two, but it is bound to come in time. Competition with the wheat-growing countries will naturally have this effect as time goes on. I have known the price of wheat go down to 18/- a quarter. No one can grow wheat at that price and make a living out of it, and I can’t see how the British farmer is to make a profit and pay the wages to the labourers that they seem to expect. Thrift and frugality are the only things that will make farming pay. I don’t think anyone can say that the labouring class now are thrifty. There may be one here and there, but the bulk are not, and as far as I can see, hard times are coming for them.”
I then asked Mr. Brierly for a few particulars concerning his life in the district, and was informed that he was born in Weldon, Northamptonshire, and first came to King’s Newnham with his father seventy-nine years ago. He has resided at Newnham Hall since 1851, so that he has been there about 70 years.
LORD JOHN SCOTT AND THE DUKE
“My first landlord,” he said, “was Lord John Scott, a brother of the then Duke of Buccleuch, who used to say he wished he had been at plough when his brother was born, so that he would have been the Duke. He was a hail-fellow-well-met racing man, but perfectly straight. I am the only tenant left who occupied under him when I came here. He was a jovial-minded man and I heard one very amusing story concerning him. His brother was showing him a new bath he had had built in one of the ducal residences, when, without warning. Lord John pushed him in, remarking ‘Ducks (dukes) can swim.’ Rugby was a very small town when I came here, and very difficult to get to, but I think the roads were better for horse traffic in those days. There was none of the very heavy traffic we meet with now; and in making the roads fit for this traffic they have spoiled them so far as horses are concerned.”
Mr. Brierly recalled the fact that about fifty years ago the church at Church Lawford was entirely pulled down and rebuilt. It was hoped at the time to save the tower, but this was found to be in such a bad state that the project was abandoned, and the building is now absolutely new from beginning to end. Some of the stone from an earlier church, and the age of horn windows, was found when the building was demolished, and this was used in building the present structure.
“Yes, there have been many changes since I came here,” concluded Mr. Brierly as I was about to take my departure, “ but I don’t think I should like to go back to what they call the good old days.”
JOHN OF WRETCHWIC.