| dc.description.abstract | The focus of this research has been on how the county of Hertfordshire negotiated
the economic, social and political changes of the late nineteenth century. A rural
county sitting within just twenty miles of the nation’s capital, Hertfordshire
experienced agricultural depression and a falling rural population, whilst at the same
time seeing the arrival of growing numbers of wealthy, professional people whose
economic focus was on London but who sought their own little patch of the rural
experience. The question of just what constituted that rural experience was played
out in the local newspapers and these give a valuable insight into how the farmers of
the county sought to establish their own claim to be at the heart of the rural, in the
face of an alternative interpretation which was grounded in urban assumptions of the
social value of the countryside as the stable heart of the nation. The widening of the franchise, increased levels of food imports and fears over the depopulation of the villages reduced the influence of farmers in directing the debate over the future of the countryside. This study is unusual in that it builds a comprehensive picture of how agricultural depression was experienced in one farming community, before
considering how farmers’ attempts to claim ownership of the ‘special’ place of the
rural were unsuccessful economically, socially and politically.
Hertfordshire had a long tradition of attracting the newly wealthy looking to own a
country estate. Historians have suggested that in the late nineteenth century there
was a shift in how such men understood ownership of these estates, showing little
enthusiasm for the traditional paternalistic responsibilities; in the face of a declining
political and social premium attached to landownership, their interest lay purely in
the leisure and sporting opportunities of the rural. However, as this research will
show, the newly wealthy were not immune to that wider concern with social stability,
and they engaged with their local environment in meaningful ways, using their
energies and wealth to fund a range of social improvements.
This research extends our understanding of just how the rhetoric of the rural was
experienced by the residents of a county which so many saw as incorporating the
best of the ‘south country’. In so doing, it makes a significant contribution to our
knowledge of how this period of agricultural depression was interpreted by the wider
nation, and the impact on social and cultural understanding of the place of the
countryside within the national identity. | en_US |
