Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

sheep and pigs. After the slaughter of the animals, the butchers could sell hides, skins,
fleeces and horns to those who required them for industrial purposes.
Butchers, who were mostly wealthy, literate, influential individuals, played a
prominent part in Alcester life. 244
Many of them also farmed, for example renting
meadowland for fattening cattle. Some of these prominent butcher-graziers ranked
alongside the town’s gentry, valued at several hundred pounds with money to spare for
financial investments. At his death Thomas Round owned many cattle and sheep and
also ten horses (worth £50), which suggests involvement in the horse-trade. 245
However,
not all butchers were wealthy: John Gillson was only valued at £4-18-0. 246
Stobart suggests that butchers and food-retailers were on the increase in the
eighteenth century. 247
In probate Alcester’s butchers show an increased share in Period
C before falling back in Period D. 248
However, directories suggest that the number of
butchers doubled from 1792 to 1835. 249
Like the butchers, Alcester’s bakers tended to be better off than most petty
tradesmen. Bakers included prominent townsmen, such as John Alcocks, who belonged
to a family of millers. 250
Although their occurrence in various records fluctuates, bakers
244 Butchers’ inventories range from WoRO, miscellaneous probate (797/438) of John Walderne, Alcester,
butcher, 1663, £16-16-4, to WoRO, probate of William Winslow, Alcester, butcher, 1694, £439-8-0.
Cornelius Cox, butcher, was also described as a gentleman, and is referred to below. WoRO, probate of
William Winslow, Alcester, butcher, 1722, £482-18-0 and WoRO probate of Thomas Round, Alcester,
butcher, 1717, £672-17-11. Many were from families which included other high ranking townsmen, such
as chandlers and maltsters.
245 Edwards, ‘The horse trade of the Midlands in the seventeenth century’, pp. 96-7, states that it was quite
common for butchers to be involved in the horse trade.
246 WoRO, probate of John Gillson, Alcester, butcher, 1720, £4-18-0. However, he held land on the edge of
the Cotswolds.
247 J. Stobart, ‘Food retailers and rural communities: Cheshire butchers in the long eighteenth century’,
Local Population Studies, 79, (2007), pp. 34-5.
248 Butchers: Period A: 6, Period B: 6, Period C: 9 and Period D: 2. Graziers: Period A: 0, Period B: 0,
Period C: 3 and Period D: 1.
249 UBD 1792 lists 4 and Pigot 1835 lists 8. WaRO, Alcester 1841 census lists 13 butchers (all male, 12 of
them over 20 years old).
250 WoRO, probate. Bakers’ inventories range from Thomas Watton alias Hitchens, Alcester, baker, 1740,
£44-17-0 to John Alcocks, Alcester, baker, 1719, £184-0-0.
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