NOTTINGHAMSHIRE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY By J. W. Chambers The
story of English economic history has been much im- peded by writers who ventured to draw general conclusions from scattered facts relating to different districts. Dr. J. D. Chambers, in his instructive monograph on Nottinghamshire in the Eighteenth Century (P. S. King, 15s.) has chosen the safer course of intensive research into the conditions prevailing in one county from the Restoration to the end of the eighteenth century. He describes first the rise of the local gentry and their methods of local administration. The " great unpaid " were arbitrary but public-spirited, and not ungenerous except to poachers. Dr. Chambers then deals thoroughly with the development of the framework knitting industry, the workpeople in which were among the earliest of trade unionists because they suffered acutely from the introduction of machinery. Next comes a valuable analysis of the progress and effects of enclosures in the county. These began at an early date on the pasture lands, but on the amble lands were mostly deferred till the later eighteenth century. The author points out, quite fairly, that stock-raising could not develop without enclosures, so that the change was inevitable, though he shows that it involved the displacement of labourers and of some small freeholders. Finally, Dr. Chambers considers the poor law, wages and prices, and social life in general. The abuses that grew out of the parochial system of poor relief and the law of settlement, which required each parish to care for its native poor and no others, are clearly illustrated. The author's thorough knowledge of the county is evident and lends special interest to his book.
Previous page
