Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2012 | Page 90
COUNTRY LIFE
Country
with Sam Biles
A hundred years ago Island farms were
much smaller than today and there
were many more of them. Much of the
land was tenanted and owned by the
large landed estates - the Ward Estate
around Cowes, the Seeley Estates in
West Wight and the Fleming Estate
around Binstead to name but three.
Many farmers regularly moved from
farm to farm, giving up a tenancy
here, taking on a new one there.
Farmers died or retired and sons took
on new farms. When a tenancy ended
there was normally a sale of stock and
equipment and there were a number
of local firms of Auctioneers including
Sir Francis Pittis, Way Riddett/
Steadman and Way, who undertook
these sales on the farm by auction.
Each sale was advertised in the County
Press and meticulously catalogued Lot
by Lot. For the day of the sale one
copy of the catalogue was cut up and
pasted into the Auctioneer's sale book
with space allowed for the clerks’ to
record the hammer price of each Lot
and the buyer's name. I am lucky
enough to have a number of sale books
from around 1900 recording dozens
of these farm auction sales. The clerk's
copperplate handwriting records all
the details and is a real snapshot of
Island's agricultural community a
century ago. Farm sales still occur
today but not in the same numbers;
farms are now larger, much more land
is owner-occupied and changes hands
less frequently.
Every cow and horse had a name.
This would be unheard of now where
cattle are only distinguished by their
ear tag and passport numbers.
It is interesting to see that a number
of the farming families who were
engaged in agriculture then are still
farming now. There are numerous
mentions of Attrill, Mew, Morris,
Calloway, Taylor and Morgan. My
Great Great Grandfather Charles
Henry Biles - known as Fred - is
mentioned several times. In a sale at
Cheverton and Lake Farms in 1902,
when a Mr W Barnes had died, Fred
bought Lot 140: “A capital and fast
donkey, quiet in harness or saddle
and a well built governess car, with
varnished body and cushions in blue
cloth” for the sum of £13 2s 6d,
which equates to £4,500 today when
compared to average earnings – not
much different from a second hand car
today perhaps! At the same sale a Mr
Morris bought Lot 136: “A valuable
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living
and active chestnut gelding, “Captain”,
rising 4 years, free from vice, believed
to be sound, and broken to farm work”
for £29 8s, which in 2011 would
equate to £10,000, enough to buy a
moderate second hand tractor.
Almost every farm seems to have
been 'mixed' with a combination of
a few milking cows, pigs or sheep
and arable equipment. It really is
a different world from today when
there are less than 20 milking herds
on the Island compared to over 60 in
the early 1990s. I wonder what the
farming scene will be in another 100
years time.