Migrant Hop-Pickers in Kent

Description

A dissertation in seven sections, covering hop-picking in Kent from the end of the nineteenth century to 1970. The first section gives a description of the hop and its distribution and uses, putting it in its agricultural context, and also placing the picking season in the context of the year's work. The second section discusses the type of person involved in the annual migration, indicating why they went hop-picking and how they got there. The third section shows how the facilities for hop-pickers have changed since the 1880s, with the making of byelaws and pressure from social workers. The fourth section deals with the actual task of picking - the rules, the organisation of the hopground, the daily routine, people involved besides the hop-pickers themselves, hop-pickers' ailments, the system of payment and leisure time. Section five discusses the attitude of local people towards the hop-pickers from London, followed by a section on the various organisations which were set up to look after the social and moral welfare of the pickers. The final section indicates the reasons for the introduction of hop-picking machines and the effect they have had on human labour. Two appendices provide transcriptions of two tape-recorded interviews made by the collector in September 1969, and typed transcriptions of letters and articles from 'The Times' newspaper, covering the period 1880-1969. Photographs taken by the collector at Beltring and Five Oak Green are included.

Metadata

Identifier sswdvlgw
IRN 410084
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/2/048
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/sswdvlgw
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Undergraduate Dissertations
Creator(s) Kemp, P K
Date 1970
Size and Medium 132 unbound typed leaves; 5 colour, 13 b/w photographs. 2 volumes. 1 file.

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