DAVIES
,
DAVID
(
1741
-
1819
),
author
of
The Case of Labourers in Husbandry
(
London
,
1795
), is often identified with
Dr.
David
Davies
(
1755
-
1828
),
headmaster
of
Macclesfield grammar school
[on whom see
Foster
,
Alumni Oxon
]. The confusion has probably arisen because both were born at
Machynlleth
and educated at
Jesus College
,
Oxford
.
David
Davies
[presumably the man who matriculated in
1761
, aged 20, son of
Richard
Davies
] was
rector
of
Barkham, Berks.
, and a memorial in the church there records that he served the parish for thirty-seven years and d.
6 Feb. 1819
. He
took a keen interest in the contemporary discussion of the state of the poor
, a discussion which had been stimulated by the rapid rise in
Poor Law
costs, particularly in rural parishes. As a result of careful investigation and much correspondence he was able to compile tables of the income and expenditure of representative families in different parts of the country (among these tables were those of three families in the parishes of
Llandegla
and
Llanarmon, Denbs.
, and two families in the parishes of
Llanfor
and
Llanycil, Mer.
). He was thus a
pioneer in the collection of material for the construction of family budgets
. The results of his inquiries are printed as an appendix to
The Case of Labourers in Husbandry
(
London
,
1795
, quarto, with a subsequent abridged edition, octavo,
1828
), which is a notable social document. He dedicated it to the unofficial
Board of Agriculture
which had been instituted in
1793
, for he regarded an improvement in the standard of living of the
agricultural labourer
as an urgent necessity. He demonstrated quite clearly that the
Poor rates
were employed as a means to augment inadequate wages, and advocated the principle of a minimum wage as a remedy. His observations on the diet and dress of the poor, his plea for allotments, and, above all, his factual presentation of the facts, reveal him as a humane and understanding observer of contemporary conditions.
Bibliography:
-
J. L. Hammond
and
Barbara Hammond
,
The Village Labourer, 1760-1832 a study in
the government of England before the reform bill
and
,
London, 1911
(London,
1912
);
-
Elizabeth W. Gilboy
,
Wages in Eighteenth Century England
,
Cambridge, Mass., 1934
(Harvard University Press,
1934
);
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
[
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
].
Author:
Emeritus Professor Sir James Frederick Rees, Ll.D., (1883-1967), Tenby
/ Cardiff
