Page 14 - Moreton Village Only Book
P. 14
14 Moreton Village Only
Wars and Progress
HE DAWN OF THE 20TH CENTURY was no doubt welcomed by the community
in Moreton, as in other towns and villages up and down the country. Queen Victoria
T was still on the throne, the country’s power and prestige were still at a formidable
level and the great inventions of the second half of the previous century promised much to
ease and enrich the lives of all the people. One blemish on this otherwise rosy picture was the
Boer War but this was far away in South Africa, being fought by a professional army.
Despite this, the average farm labourer in Moreton at the turn of the century might
be forgiven for thinking that the “glories of empire”, and the reputation his country
enjoyed throughout the world for the quality and reliability of its manufactured goods,
meant little to him. He worked hardand raised his family on comparatively meagre
wages. The majority of the dwellings were cottages, occupied by farm labourers and often
several generations of each family, who were faced with the problems of scarce
food and clothing. There was always an opportunity for practising the hand-me-down
principle for outgrown clothes, as families at that time were much larger than today.
Family sizes were controlled by nature alone, as family planning was almost unheard of.
While life for the farm worker and his
family was undoubtedly very hard, things
were not exactly easy for the farmers
themselves. “Landlord and tenant” was very
much the social order of the day, with only a
minority of farm holdings in the hands of
owner occupiers.
The tenant farmers were beholden to
the landed owners, who were, in the case
of Moreton, the Wenmans and the Berties.
Tenants had to be clean-living and respected
members of the community who paid their
rent on time and kept the land in good order.
It was essential that hedges and ditches were
well looked after and buildings kept tidy and
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bond – circa 1880. well maintained, since the gentry were very
keen to impress the outside world with the
condition of their estates. There was very
little in the way of “security of tenure”, and
erring tenants were shown very little mercy.
The precarious position of the tenant
farmer is amply illustrated by the treatment
of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Bond and their
family, who at the turn of the century were
tenants of the Thame Park Estate. Apparently,
they rented two farms, Moreton Field Farm
and Black Ditch Farm (outside Thame on
the road to Chinnor). In 1900 their 18-
year old son Fred was caught poaching
pheasants by the Thame Park gamekeeper,
whereupon the family were summarily
Moreton Field Farm. evicted from both farms. Overcome with
remorse, Fred signed up for the army and was at once posted to South Africa, where he
was killed in the Boer War.
For many, employment on the farms was the obvious choice in country districts,
though even in 1900 there was perhaps an alternative. Indeed, it is recorded that in
the latter years of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, there was a
brickworks on the north side of Rycote Lane opposite the turning to Moreton, on the
site now occupied by a large transport depot and the Rovacabin works. The business was
initially known as “The Christmas Hill Brickworks”. Its precise origins are unknown