William & Sarah Plank

WILLIAM PLANK  was bapt: 1 Oct 1755 in Chirton With Marden, Wiltshire, England, son of Joseph Plank and Hester (Esther) nee Javis; occ: agricultural labourer, he was bur:  30 Jun 1824 All Saints Church, Marden.

He mar: SALLEY OR SARAH MASLIN on 19 Apr 1778 in Marden , Wiltshire, the dau: of JEFFORD MASLIN and MARY nee DUNFORD. She was b: 01 Jun 1758 in Marden, Wiltshire, Bapt: 22 Jun 1758, Marden and d; 11 Jun 1829 in Marden, Wiltshire.

During William's life, it became impossible for a agricultural labourer to own a small area of land due to the Enclosure Acts of rural England. Up till then,  an area of the land was categorized either as being "common" or as "waste". "Common" land was under some collective control - operated as an open field system -  a single plot of land was divided among groups, often by a lord why employed his ag-lab workers or by a collection of participating peasants. It allowed common grazing and crop rotation.  Land that was not claimed by any group, was called "Waste" and could be cultivated by landless peasants.

Enclosure Acts for small areas had been passed sporadically since the 12th century, but with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, they became more commonplace. In search of better financial returns, landowners looked for more efficient farming techniques. Enclosures created meant that landowners could charge higher rent to the people working the land and this resulted in many peasants forced to leave the countryside to work in the city in industrial factories.

Between 1770 and 1830 about 6 million acres (24,000 km) of common land were enclosed. The common land had been used for centuries by the poor of the countryside to graze their animals and grow their own produce. now, with this land divided up among the large local landowners, the landless farmworkers became solely dependent upon working for their richer neighbours for a cash wage. During the boom years of the Napoleonic wars,  this for some, offered a tolerable living as labour was in short supply and corn prices high, but the return of peace in 1815 brought with it plummeting grain prices and an oversupply of labour. Enclosure was fatal for the small farmer, the cottager and the squatter. Before enclosure the cottager was a labourer with land but, after enclosure he was a labourer without land.

Children of WILLIAM PLANK and SALLEY MASLIN are:

i.  MARY PLANK (bapt: Abt. 07 Jun 1778, Marden, Wiltshire; mar. 1817, Marden, Wiltshire to JAMES SAVORY, .