Amazing stuff in the attic

[Raider112]

As said, I've found lots of historic documents going back as far as the 1930's, some of which I hope to share on here.

 

[Raider112]

 

[Raider112]

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I have just been going through some old papers of my late Fathers and it is odd that all the records he had finished in 1939 and restarted in 1946. He started farming in his own right in 1936 and he had Daybook where he kept all the account records etc. This stopped in mid 1939 and restarted in early 1946.
He was working in a restricted area through this time and wonder whether he was banned from keeping any records.
Does anyone know if this was the case?

 

[Raider112]

I have just been going through some old papers of my late Fathers and it is odd that all the records he had finished in 1939 and restarted in 1946. He started farming in his own right in 1936 and he had Daybook where he kept all the account records etc. This stopped in mid 1939 and restarted in early 1946.
He was working in a restricted area through this time and wonder whether he was banned from keeping any records.
Does anyone know if this was the case?

I will have a look at mine some time but the first annual accounts I have is 1947 so you may be right.

 

[yellowbelly]

A requisition for a site for a searchlight turned up, amongst some old papers of Granddad's, here a bit ago.........

The anti aircraft battery it served was in the next parish. They were part of the defence for the Scunthorpe steelworks.

I hope Granddad spent the £3 10 shillings rent for 1.75 acres wisely

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Iv some old papers/accounts that belong to 3 brothers who had a farm that my dad bought in the sixties, they died in the eighties they lived on in the house till they all pasted away rent free, they still had beds in the walls and no electricity in 1984.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Very interesting, have you got anything not specific to a farm, that has war-ag info on it ?

 

[deleted user 837354]

I bet some of those documents arriving on farms in 1939 caused consternation or anger at times. An old boy once told me about some land that the Ministry insisted was ploughed and brought into cultivation during the war and I think the farmer resisted doing it, so the ministry did it for him and used crawlers to plough it. An plough it they did and bloody deep for good measure. Brought up a whole load of clay subsoil and fudged the field to this day.

 

[Raider112]

Very interesting, have you got anything not specific to a farm, that has war-ag info on it ?

Probably not as it's mainly my Grandfather's farming documents but if I come across any I'll put them on here.

 

[Raider112]

I bet some of those documents arriving on farms in 1939 caused consternation or anger at times. An old boy once told me about some land that the Ministry insisted was ploughed and brought into cultivation during the war and I think the farmer resisted doing it, so the ministry did it for him and used crawlers to plough it. An plough it they did and bloody deep for good measure. Brought up a whole load of clay subsoil and fudged the field to this day.

It wasn't optional but I didn't know they would come on and do the job. Farmers got off lightly when it came to call ups so there was no excuse for not complying really.

 

[deleted user 837354]

It wasn't optional but I didn't know they would come on and do the job. Farmers got off lightly when it came to call ups so there was no excuse for not complying really.

I didn't know this either but an old boy, long retired recounted the story and I wonder if it was entirely true? The fields in question I knew intimately and they were definitely fudged and it was definitely done by someone ploughing them way too deep.

 

[Sharpy]

I didn't know this either but an old boy, long retired recounted the story and I wonder if it was entirely true? The fields in question I knew intimately and they were definitely fudged and it was definitely done by someone ploughing them way too deep.

An old boy told me the government ploughed a field when he was very young, his dad went nuts as he ploughed up all the clay, the tractor driver said "it will go back down" and it did!
There was a government tractor shed between Ardrossan and Seamill, it is now a house.

 

[yellowbelly]

An old chap that lived in our village had worked for WarAg. I remember him telling us stories about about ploughing up land, that had never been anything but grass, with crawlers and Jumbo Trac ploughs

 

[Lowland1]

My aunts family had a gyrotiller that had come from the War Ag I think it had caused some damage in the area.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

I am sure I read somewhere on the web, the when the War-Ag came to the farm, they looked it over briefly, and then stipulated by letter/contract what had to be done,
This was not optional, but mandatory, and if instructions weren't followed, Then the farm could be taken in hand by the War-Ag, and farmed by them for the duration of them to see fit, and this did not matter whether it was owned or rented,
Also interesting was their was a shortage of farm labourers, as at that time hiring for work was a 6 month period, and bed and board was part of the deal, along with a small amount of pay, hiring was at candlemas and micklemas, I think ,
The local town hall was the place for hiring to be done, farmers and labourers would meet to thrash out a deal for the next 6 months, however during the War years, it was thought that a labourer looking for work, could be easily called up to fight as it was deemed, a man looking for work could go to fight, so most stayed on the farm they were at to save this,
The land army girls scheme, was soon put back into action, as it had run in WW1,
Farmers in general had a good time of it, with not being called up for national service, along with an abundance of home grown food compared to general public,
And no doubt there would be some black market goods sold off some farms, or traded for other goods, but was not so good for labourers, one once told me, he was hired through war years, and the housing for him was a hen house in the yard, and lived of crusts of bread from the farm house, but he survived it, more than some he knew that got called up to fight,

 

[Wilksy]

I am sure I read somewhere on the web, the when the War-Ag came to the farm, they looked it over briefly, and then stipulated by letter/contract what had to be done,
This was not optional, but mandatory, and if instructions weren't followed, 5hen the farm could be taken in hand by the War-Ag, and farmed by them for the duration of them to see fit, and this did not matter whether it was owned or rented,
Also interesting was their was a shortage of farm labourers, as at that time hiring for work was a 6 month period, and bed and board was part of the deal, along with a small amount of pay, hiring was at candlemas and micklemas, I think ,
The local town hall was the place for hiring to be done, farmers and labourers would meet to thrash out a deal for the next 6 months, however during the War years, it was thought that a labourer looking for work, could be easily called up to fight as it was deemed, a man looking for work could go to fight, so most stayed on the farm they were at to save this,
The land army girls scheme, was soon put back into action, as it had run in WW1,
Farmers in general had a good time of it, with not being called up for national service, along with an abundance of home grown food compared to general public,
And no doubt there would be some black market goods sold off some farms, or traded for other goods, but was not so good for labourers, one once told me, he was hired through war years, and the housfor him was a hen house in the yard, and lived of crusts of bread from the farm house, but he survived it, more than some he knew that cgot called up to fight,

My Grandad worked for an estate as a farm hand and was made up to a groom shortly before the war, he asked if he could be considered a farm labourer again to avoid conscription but was denied, he came through the war and was a farm labourer into his 70's

 

[glasshouse]

The govt put a stop to all tenant evictions during the war too.
That became law in 47 and still stands today

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

It wasn't optional but I didn't know they would come on and do the job. Farmers got off lightly when it came to call ups so there was no excuse for not complying really.

Mum used to say how the war ag ploughed a field because grandfather wouldn't
Used a crawler and plough ripped up all the boulders grandfather knew were there and then thought he could plant it with the horse team they had to come back and plant with the crawler
General opinion was that the war ag was an old boys club for those who couldn't farm to go round telling farmers what to do
And as for not complying how do you like being told how to run your farm by someone who has never set foot on it before And there's not even a war on at the moment

 

[chaffcutter]

The war ag graded farms on inspection and you had to improve if you were a grade C or they took the farm off you and got someone else into farm it, this was how some of the big acreage farmers got land during the war like Rex Paterson etc.
My grandfather was offered a nearby farm in these circumstances, rent free for the first year and ten shillings an acre after that, he didn’t take it as he did it think it was fair to the existing tenant. Don’t know what happened though I do know who the tenant was for part of the war.