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    A Poor Man's Life
    A Poor Man's Life
    A Poor Man's Life
    Ebook52 pages37 minutes

    A Poor Man's Life

    By Ken Ford

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    About this ebook

    England has been a land of rich and poor from time immemorial, with a pyramid of privilege that reaches down from the monarch to the lowest individual, each with their own station in life. The great and good always manage to leave their mark, but the poor live and die in anonymity. Throughout England's recorded history there have been many whose labouring existence marks them out as the lowest of the low, insignificant paupers whose were forced to work without due reward. Amongst these inconsequential beings were those who worked on the land - not the landowners or farmers for they have always been well provided, no, the least regarded man in the countryside was the agricultural labourer.
    One of those poor men of history was Richard Ford. He lived in the time of Victoria and spent almost all his life in the quiet English village of Warnford along the Meon Valley in southern Hampshire. Like those millions before him in the nineteenth century, and indeed after him, he lived and died in obscurity. No memorial marks his resting place, save a slight depression in a country churchyard. Richard Ford was, however, a poor man of some significance, for he left a tangible legacy of his existence. But by a fortuitous twist of fate, there exists a record of an interview with him taken by government inspectors who were investigating the life of the poor in 1837. My research has found that Richard Ford did not remain completely anonymous to history. He left some small smudge of his existence in an obscure administration document filed in the records of the Houses of Parliament. But to me Richard Ford was a special man, for he was my great-great grandfather. Without his four-score and seven years of poverty in this world, I would not be here

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKen Ford
    Release dateSep 17, 2014
    ISBN9781310735646
    A Poor Man's Life
    Author

    Ken Ford

    Ken Ford was born in Hampshire in 1943. He trained as an engineer and spent almost thirty years in the telecommunications industry. He now spends his time as an author and a bookseller specialising in military history. He has written a number of books on various Second World War subjects. Ken now lives in Southampton.

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      Book preview

      A Poor Man's Life - Ken Ford

      A POOR MAN’S LIFE

      By Ken Ford

      Copyright 2014 Ken Ford

      Published by KFMB at Smashwords

      And some there be that have no memorial, they are perished as though they have never been.

      A Poor Man's Life:

      The world has always had its poor. Throughout the history of mankind there have been a few that have much and many who have little. Today this axiom is as true as it has always been. Every rich man needs at least forty thousand lesser men to provide him with his riches. It was ever thus.

      One of those poor men of history was Richard Ford. He lived in the time of Victoria and spent almost all his life in the quiet English village of Warnford along the Meon Valley in southern Hampshire. Like those millions before him in the nineteenth century, and indeed after him, he lived and died in obscurity. No memorial marks his resting place, save a slight depression in a country churchyard. But for me Richard Ford was a poor man of some significance, for he left a tangible legacy of his existence. You see he was my great-great grandfather. Without his four-score and seven years of poverty in this world, I would not be here.

      England has been a land of rich and poor from time immemorial, with a pyramid of privilege that reaches down from the monarch to the lowest individual, each with their own station in life. The great and good always manage to leave their mark, but the poor live and die in anonymity. Throughout England's recorded history there have been many whose labouring existence marks them out as the lowest of the low, insignificant paupers whose were forced to work without due reward. Amongst these inconsequential beings were those who worked on the land - not the landowners or farmers for they have always been well provided, no, the least regarded man in the countryside was the agricultural labourer

      A labourer’s lot was to work for a poor wage, to live in a hovel, struggle to provide for his family, and to continue to toil until he was too old or infirm. Then he became a pauper, died, was buried and forgotten by history. Richard Ford was one such unknown man, up to a point, for I shall attempt to give him a lasting memorial by detailing his life as best I can from the few meagre documents that recorded the progress of his passage through this world: parish records, census returns and his death certificate. However, by a fortuitous twist of fate, there exists a record of an interview with him taken by government inspectors who were investigating the life of the poor in 1837. My research has found that Richard Ford did not remain completely anonymous to history. He left some small smudge of his existence in an obscure administration document filed in the records of the Houses of

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