A look at Basingstoke’s 19th-century working conditions, wages, poverty, and philanthropy as observed by Bob Clarke.
Wages were generally better than elsewhere then. People earned about 10 to 15 shillings weekly. George Whistler paid his workers well, giving up to 17 shillings a week for piecework. He felt good, fast workers benefited him, and this principle was well-tried.
At Mr. Curtis’s farm, things differed. An old man worked twelve hours daily, and only earned seven pence.
The visitor’s report covered more than just wages. He noticed idle men in the marketplace who said they couldn’t find work. One man would work for one shilling per day, though he had a wife and three kids.
These men weren’t farmhands, but used to work in stables. The railway caused them to lose those jobs. Many houses and shops were empty. Totterdown had terrible, filthy cottages where very poor people lived, with ragged kids.
Poor people lived in chalk pit houses owned by Mr. Richard Thumwood. Rent cost two to two shillings sixpence weekly. The road to Reading had similar houses.
He traveled to Hackwood Park, about a mile and a half from Basingstoke. Mr. Mundy, the steward, showed him the house. The house had every comfort imaginable.
They had wine cellars with tons of bottles filled with champagne, claret, burgundy, port, and sherry. Vintages dated from 1820 onward. One cellar held 3,000 gallons of strong ale.
Other cellars stored ale for everyday drinking. The owners gave this ale to the poor, giving away 600 gallons a year. People in nearby villages knew and appreciated this generosity from the lord and lady.
The lord employed and fed many people. Around 100 to 150 people worked there. Thirty to sixty people ate in the kitchen, and the food was fit for royalty.
At Overton, nearly 100 women and girls worked at the Silk Mill. They earned two to five shillings per week, while ten or twelve men earned 12s to £1 weekly.
Overton was the poorest village he saw. Farm wages averaged only nine shillings weekly. Rent was two shillings weekly for bad cottages.
Only two farmers paid workers with money, the others paid in flour. Some workers got only one to 1s 6d weekly, and boys earned just two to four pence daily. They were so hungry they ate horse meat.
The Silk Mill helped Overton a lot, without it, the village would be very destitute. Tragically, the mill closed soon after and was torn down in 1848.