'Farm Servants and Agricultural Labourers:
Their
moral and religious condition'
By Egerton Douglas Hammond
pub. 1856
Rev. Egerton Douglas Hammond was vicar of Northbourne from 1852-1859[1]. The son of William Osmund Hammond (1790-1863)[2] and Mary Hammond[3] (1752-1822) of Nonington. A student at Merton College, Oxford, he gained a BA in 1845. Egerton took a keen interest in local farm workers and in 1856 he published 'Farm Servants and Agricultural Labourers: their moral and religious condition,' price 1s. The Sittingbourne Agricultural Association awarded the original essay a prize. In 1858 he published an account of the life of his younger brother: 'Memoir of Captain M. M. Hammond, Rifle Brigade', who was killed in the Crimea.[4] The memoirs must have been popular because the eighth edition came out in 1860. Egerton Hammond[5] married Maria, daughter of William Whitehouse of Portland Place. They had three daughters: Florence was born in Northbourne in 1853. He was Rector of Sundridge, Sevenoaks from 1859-1890.
His memorial in St Mary's church Nonington states:
In the quiet churchyard
of Chilton Foliat Wiltshire
waiting for
the resurrection morning
rests the tired body of
EGERTON DOUGLAS HAMMOND
for thirty one years rector of
Sundridge Kent
The second son of
WILLIAM OSMUND HAMMOND
of St Alban's Court
in this parish
Born June 24th 1822
Died March 10th 1897
Below are some extracts from his prize winning essay. Anything in [ ] has been added by myself. He starts off by looking at the 'moral condition' of farm workers.
[Egerton Hammond writes:] ... an index of their moral condition may be too easily recognized by reference to some of our gaol calendars. Thus there were committed to Maidstone gaol, between Oct. 1854 and Sept. 1855, of
Agricultural labourers, 181
Farm servants . .
67
Rick burning and sheep stealing are a blot upon our rural districts. [He goes on to says the farm workers are in bondage to sensuality and drunkenness, and derides the amount of money spent on drink, which could be directed to better use.]
Every Parish Register Book of Baptisms will tell of hopeful childhood
disappointing many a parent's honest pride - bringing shame upon his cottage
and scandal upon religion.
Language is outraged by the grossest and habitual use of blasphemy,
profane swearing and ribaldry, as well as by the mother as the father.
[Rev. Hammond gives a description of the 'condition' of an average farm worker.]
... the peak of his cap down the nape of his neck (the first infallible and outward token of his having cast off the trammels of respect and submission) on his way to the climax of his ambition, the subordinate possession of a stall-fed Flemish cart-horse. From this time he swears as a ripened habit - he gets drunk (his age is now about fourteen) and his progress is constantly retrograde and downwards till the first ordinary moment of sobriety dawns upon his future improved condition, and he "changes his life" by taking to himself Sally Bundle, the maid, for better and for worse.
... the Registers of England record the circumstance that in the year 1851 -31,987 minors were married.* Of these 52.6 per cent. were unable to sign their names!
... inmates of Maidstone Gaol in 1853, we learn that -
40 per cent. can neither write nor read
20 per cent. cannot repeat the Lord's Prayer
56 per cent. cannot repeat the Lord's Prayer and Creed
80 per cent. cannot repeat the Lord's Prayer, and Creed, and ten
Commandments
[He says ministers should engage in] Personal intercourse with the labouring class, exhibiting an open-hearted, friendly, and warm interest in their present eternal welfare, will foster a deferential spirit, and encourage at the same time confidence and attachment. [However he acknowledges farm-servants hours of labour made personal intercourse difficult. He then gives advice on preaching.] It is indeed a rare gift to preach plainly ... learn how to stoop to the necessities of his congregation. ... sermons, then must not be heavy and uninteresting.
An allusion to passing events of the day, with an earnest lesson drawn from them, similitudes, &c., will enlived the style and assist in commanding attention. But a devout Christian minister is never witty; nor does he forget the dignity of his sacred office.
Let the minister, with the consent of every farmer in his parish, provide, at the farmer's expense (to secure their proper treatment) a large Bible, Prayer-book, and Testament, together with a simple book-shelf, of two slips of deal, supported on a knotted line; and let these be a permanent invitation to voluntary self-improvement in the men's "chamber." The whole may be obtained for 7s. 6d.; and the writer is thankful to record the prompt concurrence of the farmers in his own parish [Northbourne] in the experiment. [He also suggests adding some simple religious tracts.]
[Rev. Hammond suggests other ways to enlighten the farm workers: Sunday Evening Class, Reading Rooms, and lectures in the school room. However, many farmers were not keen to encourage education or 'larning' in their workers. He has a bad opinion of Sunday newspapers saying they 'unsettle the mind' and 'degrade and demoralize it.']
[He goes on to look at the 'condition' of children. Few children of labourers stay at school after the age of 10 or 11.] Turned out on the wide world at ten or eleven, and committed, in mischievous exile, to the banishment of rooking for the next two years... [in winter those rook keeping were only protected from bad weather by a badly thatched hurdle and there were reports of some perishing in the harsh winter of 1854. Consequently Rev. Hammond suggested farmers should provide a moveable rook-hut. He also has something to say on the subject of girls.]
... we are ashamed to see gawky girls of seventeen or eighteen at home instead of at service - "crocheting" and trimming their bonnet caps with discreditable white hands...
[The Rev. Hammond also examines housing and the role of the landlord. He obtained an estimate from Messrs. Denne, Builders of Walmer, of the cost to build a cottage - £110. He includes an illustration and floor plans: Living room 12ft x 10ft - Kitchen 16ft x 12ft - Bedroom 10ft x 9½ft - Bedroom 8ft x 9½ft - Bedroom - 12ft x 8ft - Two closets, coal cellar under the stairs, a copper, a stove in the living room and one in one of the bedrooms. Annual rent could be up to £5.]
*Edinburgh Review Oct., 1855.[1] - The next vicar was Rev. George Simpson, who was inducted in 1859.
[2] - William Osmund Hammond was 11th in a direct descent from Henry VII.
[3] - Mary Hammond was the daughter of Sir Henry Oxenden of Broome Park.
[4] - Maximilian Montagu Hammond, 1824-1855, of the First Brigade, Light Division, was killed in the Crimea in the assault on the Redan, 8th September 1855, aged 31.
[5] - Egerton Hammond derives his name from his great grandmother, Charlotte Egerton (d.1770), who was the wife of William Hammond (married in 1745). Charlotte in turn was great granddaughter of John Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater. Egerton Hammond's older brother was William Oxenden Hammond of Nonington (1817-1903). - I am indebted to Peter Hobbs for information on the genealogy of the Hammond family.