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William Smith,
Potter and Farmer 1790 - 1858 order this bookGeorge Sturt £15.00 paperback. George Sturt's biography of his grandfather, William Smith, rivals The Wheelwright Shop in creating a vivid and detailed picture of country life during the nineteenth century. In the first part of the book, Sturt gives an autobiographical account of his grandfather's farm, and in later sections develops a full-length biography based on the recollections of his uncle and aunt. The life of a Hampshire farmer and potter is covered in all its aspects: economic, social, educational, religious and political, the latter including an account of the Swing riots of the 1840's. The book has particular importance because of being set in the era of the industrial and agricultural revolutions, and provides details of the economic activities of a small trading potter/farmer during this period of transition. Anyone interested in the "world we have lost" will find the book fascinating reading. From Chapter 14, "Dame Smith": "It has been already told how William Smith's mother was left a widow with six children when he, the eldest of the children, was but eleven years old; and how, upon his taking the potshop at Farnborough, he got her to make a home for him at a cottage there. What her age was has not been told; but she can hardly have been less than fifty at the time of her son's second marriage, when he went to live at the farm; and at fifty she may very well have been near to old age, for village women crow old soon, if they are poor and hardworking. And Dame Smith (I never heard her Christian name) was both. "Charwoman she had been at Farnborough Park, at first for Squire Wilmot, and then for his suc cessor, Mr. Morant - not called 'Squire' to me. She was able to bring home food from the kitchen at the great house, where she worked daily. But it may be supposed that easier times for her soon followed her entry into the potshop cottage, or at any rate her son's removal to the farm. Her family was off her hands: at the potshop a caretaker would be handy: and who so eligible as this stark old woman? "Moreover, she worked for the farm family. Until the children there had begun to grow up the gvandmother baked all the farmhouse bread in her oven at the potshop cottage. The farmer's eldest daughter Susan helped at this; the younger girls having to carry up the grist from the farm and bring back the loaves, on a little toy go-cart of their brother's. A week's supply of bread was made in a batch. I can't say whether Dame Smith was paid in money or in kind. It was the custom daily to send her dinner along from the farm, with half a pint of beer - no more, "because she was very fond of her beer," the farmer's daughter Ann said many years afterwards, recalling frequent errands to carry the old woman's dinner. "And baking for the farm family wasn't all. Dame Smith baked for sale, as I will tell; and every week (not oftener?) a special loaf for Lady Palmer of Farnborough Hill was baked on the open hearth, in an earthenware dish with an earthenware bowl turned over it. Once a year, also, a great batch of buns was made at the cottage for the boys' feast at Mr. Green's school." |