Police as Ploughmen in Cheshire in 1917

@drmaryfraser
 
Cheshire was traditionally an agricultural area known at the beginning of the twentieth century for its dairy farming: the production of milk, cheese, butter, beef, mutton, and bacon. From a few years before the First World War the population started to increase, shown in the census of 1911. Expansion was mainly in areas adjacent to Manchester & Liverpool to the North of the county where industry developed along with the need for large amounts of suburban housing for the workers. The population of the rural areas remained static at an average of 0.4 persons per acre. The development of industry threatened the dominance of agriculture and saw the original social leaders, mainly landowners, gradually replaced by businessmen and industrialists. The map below shows the main areas of industry in 1901.
During the First World War, after January 1917, British farmers were expected to feed the nation to prevent impending starvation. Ploughing arable land and planting grain and potatoes was urgently needed, as four times more people could be fed by growing crops than by grazing cattle. The national threat of starvation was due to Britain’s 80% reliance on grain from overseas which was being sunk by enemy submarines. Also, the severe and lengthy winter rotted the potato crop in the ground; this removed most of the bread and all potatoes from the diet for several months, felt acutely by the poorer classes, as prices of most food items soared.
The ability to feed the population caused great alarm in Cheshire initially. Cheshire War Agricultural Committee Minutes for January 1917 show a level of panic at being unable to support government plans to increase home-grown food, as much of the agricultural labour had been recruited into the army. Being asked by the Board of Agriculture to identify which land could be ploughed “at once” led committee members to say “it’s pointless identifying which land should be ploughed if we don’t have the manpower to do it.” and “It was worse than useless to break up pasture land while considerable areas of arable land are unable to be properly cultivated for lack of skilled labour.” Also ploughing machinery was broken with few skilled mechanics to repair and maintain it. They appealed to the newly-formed Board of Agriculture for help.
From 23rd February the army provided 250 soldiers to help farmers, this number increased to 347 from 2nd March and 450 from 10th March. But due to the severe, lengthy winter, ploughing could not start until mid-March by which time bread and potato shortages were felt acutely by the population, so that every other avenue to help farmers was also explored. On 3rd March the National Service Director of Agriculture made an urgent appeal for ploughmen, he said there was only 6 weeks left to plant the spring crops. Newly acquired motor tractors fitted with acetylene lamps could plough 24-hours a day in 3 8-hour shifts, 7 days a week. He asked for those who had taken up work in towns to return to the land for 2 months, particularly identifying policemen as likely to have ploughing skills due to their previous employment. The Cheshire Observer said ploughmen were needed “for the immediate national emergency is of the utmost importance.” From 17th March when the weather broke ploughing began, below is a picture of one of the small number of motor tractors loaned to Cheshire by the Board of Agriculture.


On 23rd March Cheshire’s Executive Committee noted that the Chief Constable of Cheshire had agreed to release policemen with ploughing experience. The Chester Chronicle reported that they would be released at once and the Nantwich Guardian said that around 25 constables had been identified and 2 or 3 had already been placed on farms. By the end of March farmers in Cheshire had requested help from 397 skilled men.
Cheshire County was one of the first to agree to the release of their policemen to plough the fields in March and April 1917. Their Chief Constable Major (later Lt. Colonel) Pulteney Malcolm had sufficient standing that he agreed the release before making a formal proposal to the Standing Joint Committee. The success of these policemen is seen in the thanks the Chief Constable received from the Mayor of Chester, published in the local press.
Policemen were also requested to help with the harvest of 1917, but there is no record of whether they were able to be released on this occasion.
Around Britain between 500-600 policemen were released to help to plough and provide assistance to farmers during the spring of 1917. Some were released again for the harvest. However, the help of policemen to prevent the nation from starvation has so far been unrecognised. This project aims to identify the locations and numbers of policemen released for this vital role in the First World War and in doing so shows the social conscience of the police.
Bibliography
Fraser, M. (2019) Policing the Home front: The control of the British population at war. Abingdon: Routledge.
Harris, B.E. (Ed.) (1979) A History of the County of Cheshire. Volume II. The Institute of Historical Research: Oxford University Press.
Lee, M. (1963) Social Leaders and Public Persons: A study of County Government in Cheshire since 1888. Oxford: The Clarendon Press
Sylvester, D. & Nulty, G. (1958) The Historical Atlas of Cheshire. Chester: The Cheshire Community Council
 

@drmaryfraser