Independent Farmer

[LordElpus]

In the 1841 census virtually all tenant farmers are just entered as Farmer. However I have noted a handfull, nearly all in Dumfries, that are described as "Independent Farmers". I had assumed this to mean owner occupier farmer, but that was just a guess. 1841 seems to be a reasonable starting time for the shift from entirely tenant farmers to mainly owner occupier farmers, over a period of around 80 years.

However subsequently came across the description "Independent farmer and proprietor" which has to be an owner occupier farmer.

So now I am wondering how to interpret "Independent Farmer".

Any suggestions?

Neil

[AndrewP]

Hi Neil,



Were the indepedent farmer(s) and the independent farmer and proprietor(s) in the same census enumeration district (by the same enumerator) or different? If they are by different enumerators, then my feeling is that they are the same thing described differently by different people.

All the best,

AndrewP

[LordElpus]

Hi Andrew,
they were done by different enumerators. Combined there were about 40 such in Dumfries but so far I have only come across 2 others elsewhere in Scotland - search not comprehensive though.
Neil

[SarahND]

Hi Neil and Andrew,

Searching the 1841 census one gets the following rundown.

Given the vagaries of spelling in the Ancestry index, I searched for occupation ind* farm* which gets 94 hits. I did merge a few with obvious misspellings, but have kept some of the Ancestry oddities for atmosphere

Independent Farmer
Glencairn, Dumfries 1
Keir, Dumfries 2

Ind Farmer
Ochiltree, Ayr
Dryfesdale, Dumfries 1
Glencairn, Dumfries 1
Holywood, Dumfries 1
Kirkmahoe, Dumfries 2
Lochmaben, Dumfries 1
Middlebie, Dumfries 1
Ruthwell, Dumfries 1
Sanquhar, Dumfries 2
Crail, Fife 1
Inverness, Inverness 1
Kilmonivaig, Inverness 3
Avondale, Lanark 1
Abernethy, Perthshire 1
Lochwinnoch, Renfrew 1
St Boswells, Roxburghshire 2

(ind) Gentleman Farmer
Canonbie, Dumfries 1

Ind Husbanden Farmer
Kilmeny, Argyll 1

Ind Farmer Retired
Ferry Port On Craig, Fife 1

Retired Farmer Ind
Kingoldrum, Angus 1

Ind & Farmer
Brechin, Angus 1
Glencairn, Dumfries 1
Holywood, Dumfries 2
Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries 1
Lochmaben, Dumfries 3
Penpont, Dumfries 1
Tynron, Dumfries 1

Independent & Farmer
Holywood Dumfries 4

Farmer Independent
Abernethy, Perth 1
Lochwinnoch, Renfrew 1

Farmer Ind
Tarland and Migvie, Aberdeen 1
Colmonell, Ayr 1
Wick, Caithness 3
Lochmaben, Dumfries 2
Torthorwald, Dumfries 1
Crail, Fife 1
Dunfermline, Fife 1
Cawdor, Inverness 1
Petty, Inverness 1
Kinross, Kinross 2
Carsphairn, Kirkcudbright 2
Shotts, Lanark 1
South Ronaldsay St Mary, Orkney and Shetland 2
Logierait, Perth 1
Lochwinnoch, Renfrew 4
Melrose, Roxburgh 1
Airth, Stirling 1

Farmer Indt
Airth, Stirlingshire 2

Farm Independent
St Mungo, Dumfries 1

Farmer & Ind
Melrose, Roxburgh 1

Ag Lab Ind & Farmer
Kinross, Kinross 3

(widow Of John Low Farmer) Ind
St Cyrus, Kincardine 1

Ind Farmsown Land
Cadder, Lanark 1

Independant farmer and proprietor
Dunscore, Dumfries 1

Ind Farmer & proprietor
Middlebie, Dumfries 1
Tundergarth, Dumfries 2

Independant Farmer Proprietor
Dunscore, Dumfries 1

Indepe Farmer Boprictos
St Mungo, Dumfries 1

Farmer Ind Landowner
Southdean, Roxburgh 1

Ind Proprietor & Farmer
Annan, Dumfries 1
St Mungo, Dumfries 1
Kinross, Kinross 1

Farmer Ind & Proprietor
Middlebie, Dumfries 1

Bacon Curer Ind Propraetor & Farmer
Annan, Dumfries 1

And, last but not least, my favorite:

Weler Gounthe Farmer Rendeligin Dumpeer Independen
Kirkmahoe, Dumfries 1

In the instructions for enumerators it says:

Of what Profession, Trade, Employment, or whether of Independent Means.
Heads of Families, Men, Widows, or Single Women, of Independent Means (from whatever source) may be inserted Ind.
...
Alphabetical List of Abbreviations which may be used and no others, unless a large class occurs in any Enumerator's District, when, if he uses another abbreviation, it must be carefully noticed in the page left for observations of Enumerators.

None of these refer to farmers, so perhaps they were on their own for this and thus came up with so many different ways of saying it. Given the number of &s between Farmer and Ind, I would guess that they had an independent income, but were also doing some farming on the side on land they did not own, whereas the "Farmsown land" and "Proprietor" types also owned the land they farmed. What do you think?

All the best,
Sarah

[Currie]

Hello All,

A search for the term “independent farmer” in the 50 or so newspapers in the 19C British Library Collection gives 79 results. About a third of these are in the two Irish newspapers and there seem to be quite a lot of stories from Ireland in the others. I reckon that the Dumfries enumerator, or the person directing him, is Irish.

Maybe acreage has something to do with it? A very small farm may not be capable of supporting a family and the farmer may be dependent on something else?

Just guessing,
Alan