Discovering more about your Agricultural Labouring Ancestors (242)

This course might have been called "Finding your Agricultural Labouring Ancestors" but few genealogists have any difficulty discovering ag labs on their family tree. They jump out from census returns, certificates and parish registers with unfailing regularity. Agricultural labourers are not all the same. The labourer on sheep farm in Northumberland led a very different life from someone who worked on an arable farm in Lincolnshire, or a fruit farm in Kent. This course helps to set Ag. Labs. in a broader context and suggests sources that will reveal more about the lives of those rural ancestors and the farms on which they worked. The focus is on British farming from 1700-1950.

Students will work towards compiling a case study of a chosen agricultural labouring ancestors during the course.

Aim
To enable students to find out more about their agricultural labouring ancestors, to set them in a broader context and to use a range of sources to find out more about their lives.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will be able to:
- understand some of the key developments in the history of British agriculture over the past three hundred years.
- use a variety of sources that might help to identify and find out more about, the farm upon which your ancestors worked.
- access sources that will help you to better understand your agricultural labouring ancestors and the land that they worked.
- describe your ancestors' daily and seasonal life.
- understand your ancestors' working and living conditions.
- describe some of the hazards that faced those working on the land.
- compile a case study for an agricultural labouring ancestor.

• * Your Farming Ancestors and British Agriculture in Context
• * Finding the Farms
• * Discovering about the Farms and their Workers
• * Working the Land
• * Farming Hazards

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat session per week. See How the Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID: "Janet is a brilliant tutor, really helpful and supportive. I had always neglected my ag labs and rural ancestors as it is hard to find any records for them and there didn't seem much of a story to tell - how wrong I was. Janet revealed sources I hadn't thought of but also showed why the local and social context is so important to understanding what their lives were like. Loved the approach that each week you are working towards a case study of an individual. There is lots more to explore once you have been given this foundation and I can't wait to apply what I've learnt to other families and ancestors. Really recommend this course."

Relevant Countries: England, Wales