4
200
HOME NEWS
GEORGIOS KOLIDAS/ADOBE STOCK.COM
Recession hitting hard in English countryside
Duchess’s health in peril after miscarried twins The Royal Family remains concerned about the ‘precarious’ health of the Duchess of Clarence two months after she miscarried twins who would have taken a leading place in the line of succession to the throne.
The death of two sons at Bushy Park in April was the latest misfortune to befall the duke and his wife. In 1819, a baby girl lived only a few hours, and another child miscarried, while a daughter, Elizabeth, died aged three months in 1821. Princess Adelaide is recuperating with Prince William at Walmer Castle in Kent, at the invitation of the prime minister, who is also lord warden of the Cinque Ports. If the duchess’s health is good enough, they are expected to go to her native Germany for the summer. The King’s brothers, the dukes of York and Clarence remain first and second in line to the throne, followed by Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent.
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, PAUL MELLON COLLECTION
T
he government is under renewed pressure to do more to ease the plight of farmers and rural workers affected by the crisis in the countryside.
The number of petitions to Parliament about agricultural distress shows little sign of decreasing, with 30 received in May, and seven more this week. One from Kent is not unusual in linking the issue with the need for reform of the way MPs are elected. Observers say the rural economy is facing a series of challenges which have combined to present problems for both farmers and landlords, and agricultural workers and their families. But their interests are not necessarily the same. Prices of crops have slumped since the end of the Napoleonic wars, with wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas selling for a third of their 1812 prices, and an even bigger drop for rye. Wool and livestock prices are also in decline. This has led rural employers to cut back on numbers of servants and labourers, and reduce wages. On the Holkham estate in Norfolk, owned by the agricultural reformer and Whig MP Thomas William Coke. Rent
THE FARM SALE (1820), BY RICHARD BARRETT DAVIS
arrears have risen ten-fold in three years, while reports from Sussex say it is proving hard to attract new tenant farmers. This 'perfect storm' of rural problems has been compounded by the drought in 1818, heavy summer rains last year, a brief glut in yields, and the difficult transition from a war to peace economy. Some critics are also targeting the 'Corn Laws' passed by the Tory government in 1815. These tariffs and trade restrictions are being blamed for keeping food prices high, and negatively impacting trade with Europe. The legislation has blocked the import of cheap corn, even when food supplies are short.
The East of England has seen the most serious protests, but these have not yet reached the seriousness of the rioting in 1816 in Littleport and Ely. However, two Waterloo veterans were executed in Norwich in April for arson after machinebreaking attacks in February.
London's new church
The most expensive new centre for worship In London since the re-building of St Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire of London is complete. St Pancras New Church cost £76,679 and can seat 2,500 people. It will serve an increasing population near Euston Road and in the well-todo district of Bloomsbury. >Resources and further reading
Essex and Wiltshire stately homes face sell-off after cash crises The future of two of England's grandest private homes is in doubt, with their owners struggling to overcome big financial problems. An auction of the contents of Wanstead House in Essex has begun. Thousands flocked there in May to see the property, and items to be sold, including
furniture, glass and chinaware, books and sculptures. The house was left to teenage heiress Catherine Tylney-Long in 1805. After marrying Tory politician William WellesleyPole, they spent heavily on home improvements. Mr Pole-TylneyLong-Wellesley, who doubled his already double-barrelled
surname when he married, has run up big debts on carriages, horses, entertainment and other women. He borrowed о £32,000 to secure election as MP for Wiltshire in 1818, but could not afford to stand in the 1820 election and fled to France to escape debtors. William Beckford financed the
lavish transformation of Fonthill Abbey between 1795 and 1813 from his inherited income as a plantation and slave-owner in Jamaica. But Mr Beckford’s attempts to avoid a sale appear to have failed and he may also have to auction off the contents of his Wiltshire home. >Resources and further reading
