Two hundred years ago in North Devon, a young girl stands on
a table before an audience of farmers.
‘Mary Mitchell, nine years old. Draws your straws,
gentlemen and we’ll see who’s to win this prize.’ The child was a parish
apprentice, and this method of selection had died out everywhere else in the
country, except North Devon.
Author Liz Shakespeare, who has become well-known for writing
books inspired by the history of Devon, has uncovered the true story of one
such apprentice.
‘The Song of the
Skylark tells the story of Mary Mitchell, aged nine, and her brother Thomas
who are sent to a remote farm, far from their parents and everything that is
familiar to them,’ says Liz. ‘Pauper children in North Devon were often
apprenticed as farmworkers and had to work long hours without wages. They were
not granted their freedom until they reached the age of twenty-one. In effect
they were simply used as unpaid servants to their masters.’ In 1843 the editor
of the North Devon Journal criticised the practice, referring to it as slavery.
Liz found numerous documents which helped in her research
into parish apprentices. ‘Many children would have been treated as part of the
family,’ says Liz, ‘but it is clear that some were not. There are reports in the
local papers of apprentices being severely whipped, and some ran away from
their masters.’ Liz found adverts that had been placed by farmers giving a
description of the runaway child, and warning that whoever harbours said apprentice will be prosecuted.
Thomas and Mary Mitchell work on the farm in Buckland Brewer
parish for five years. These years become increasingly difficult for them due
to a series of failed harvests.
‘It was shocking to realise how hard their lives would have
been,’ says Liz. ‘The potato blight which caused the Great Famine in Ireland
also hit Devon, and many labourers came close to starvation during the period
termed the Hungry Forties.’
However Liz discovered that Thomas and Mary also had some
respite from the backbreaking work. ‘One document revealed that they could
read, and described them as ‘Thornites’. This was the name given to followers
of the Thorne family of Shebbear who, along with William O’Bryan from Cornwall,
had founded the Bible Christian movement, an offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism.
The centre of the Bible Christian movement was Shebbear where there was a
school for training ministers, later Shebbear College.’
Chapels were built wherever a small piece of land could be
found, often at a crossroads with no other dwellings in sight; small
unpretentious buildings with arched windows, now often converted to dwellings.
For Thomas and Mary, whose days are filled with unremitting
labour and who are far from their family, joining a welcoming community at
chapel and being told wonderful stories of the Promised Land brings very
welcome relief.
‘The Bible Christians were particularly interesting’ said
Liz, ‘because right from the start, in the early 1820’s, they used women
ministers. One such was Mary O’Bryan Thorne. She was an extraordinary woman;
highly educated, an inspirational preacher despite suffering terribly from
nerves before speaking, mother to thirteen children, she also ran a busy farm
household at Shebbear with the help of only one servant. She is an important
character in my story.’
After five years on the farm, Thomas and Mary eventually take
daring action in an effort to change the course of their lives. Their attempt
ultimately wins them their freedom, but not before they are brought
face-to-face with the heartless judicial system of early Victorian England.
‘I found it a compelling and sometimes difficult story to
write,’ says Liz, ‘’but it has a happy ending!’
Liz is launching The
Song of the Skylark on Friday 16th October with talks on Zoom at
2.30 and 7.30 describing how she came to write it and the research she carried
out; there will be time for questions afterwards. Tickets are just £3 each with
all proceeds being donated to The Plough Arts Centre in Torrington. You
can book tickets at www.lizshakespeare.co.uk.
Signed copies of The
Song of the Skylark can also be ordered from the website for £9.99 and will
be sent post-free, or cheques made payable to Letterbox Books can be sent to
The Old Post Office, Littleham, Bideford, EX39 5HW. The book is also available
on Kindle.
'Ran Away' Public Notice (North Devon Journal) 29th January 1840
👀👀👀
The
Song of the Skylark Launch
Friday 16th October with talks on Zoom at
2.30 and 7.30
