Introduction
After an early introduction to farming on his father’s farm at Hardington, Ernest Leslie Spearing spent time as a builder’s labourer and farm worker before becoming the tenant of Bishop’s Farm. His tenancy ended after a prolonged legal battle with neighbouring landowners who sought possession of the holding, illustrating the pressures faced by traditional small farms during the 1950s.
Early life
Ernest was born on 20 November 1904, the second of five children born to Frederick Spearing and his wife, Lucy (née Glover).[1] The family lived at Hill End, where his father worked as a cattleman on a farm. Around 1905, they moved to Rydon Farm in the High Street. After leaving school, Ernest helped his father on the farm.
Married life
In 1935, Ernest married Lilian Beryl Toms, the eldest child of Frank and Louisa Toms of Crewkerne. Ernest was thirty-one years old, while Lilian was twenty-four.
Lilian was born on 2 March 1911, probably in Barn Street, where her parents lived until at least the 1920s.[2] Her father was a web weaver who, in 1921, was employed by R Bird and Company. Before his marriage, he served for a time with the Hussars of the Line.
Between 1936 and 1953, Ernest and Lilian had ten children. By 1939, the family was living in Barry Lane, and Ernest was working as a builder’s labourer.
His mother died in December 1944 at the age of sixty-one. Following her death, his father continued at Rydons Farm until his own death on 9 September 1959. Ernest acted as his executor and inherited a portion of his estate. By then, he was a farm worker living at Sunnyside, Barrows Hill, East Chinnock.[3] He also inherited £50 from his aunt, Kate Spearing, following her death in 1947.[4]
Farming at Bishop’s Farm
In 1940, Ernest became the tenant of Bishop’s Farm, Hardington, following the death of Frederick George Symes Goldring. The 46-acre farm had fallen into disrepair after producing little for the previous twenty years.
In 1948, Gilbert William Rendell of Rectory Lane, Hardington, purchased twenty-two acres of the land occupied by Ernest. From the outset, he repeatedly sought possession of the land, issuing notices to quit every year except for 1952.
In March 1954, Arthur William Stevens of 7 Primrose Hill, East Coker, the owner of buildings and twenty acres of land, gave Ernest a notice to remedy certain defects. When Ernest did not comply, Stevens issued a notice to quit in September of that year. Ernest objected, and the matter went to arbitration. The arbitrator decided in favour of Stevens, but the notice to quit was postponed for six months. Ernest’s attempt to argue that the notice was invalid led to the possession being deferred until March 1957.[5]
Stevens’ efforts to gain possession prompted Gilbert Rendell to take similar action. In February 1956, he brought the case before an agricultural land tribunal, alleging that Ernest had neglected the land and allowed weeds to grow. He claimed that the holding was being underused, as Ernest milked only eight cows, whose average yield was said to be 554 gallons per cow. Rendell argued that the loss of the buildings and land owned by Stevens would leave Ernest with “just an odd piece of land.” He also claimed that he wanted to combine the land with nine acres that he already owned to make “a really practical farm.” He intended to build a modern cow stall for at least ten cows and plough several worn-out pastures.[6]
Ernest maintained that he had worked hard despite the continual uncertainty over his future. He argued that the threat of eviction had discouraged investment in the farm, and his requests for materials to repair the farm buildings went unanswered. He insisted that if he were allowed to keep the remaining land, he intended to rear young stock and combine that with part-time farming elsewhere. “Why should I be turned off land I have farmed through the landlord’s neglect?” he asked. “My farm is equal to any in a five-mile radius.”
Rendell’s representative alleged that several fields had become overrun with couch grass and weeds due to neglect, but Ernest disputed this. He explained that what had been described as an unusual red weed appeared only at the end of the previous September, and another so-called weed was merely a coarse grass commonly found in Hardington. Ernest also rejected claims that the farm was poorly managed, pointing out that when he took it over in 1940, it had been run poorly for two decades and produced little. Since then, he believed he had substantially improved it. By 1956, he kept seven cows, three in-calf heifers, four younger cattle and two pigs.
Supporting Ernest, agricultural valuer Leslie Broad stated that Hardington land was generally only second-rate and believed he had farmed it as well as could reasonably be expected. He suggested that without the constant threat of losing his tenancy, Ernest could have achieved much more.
During the hearing, Ernest explained that he had only been offered temporary accommodation and was negotiating to buy the farmhouse and buildings so that his large family would have somewhere to live. However, Rendell’s representative dismissed this as unrealistic. The tribunal chairman adjourned the case until 16 March, at which point the land would be inspected and final submissions would be heard. Local newspapers did not report the final decision, but given Stevens’ success, it is likely that Rendell prevailed as well.
This dispute illustrates the changing nature of agriculture in post-war Hardington. For generations, mixed family smallholdings had supported local families on comparatively modest acreages. However, during the 1950s, economic pressures increasingly favoured larger and more efficient units, leaving many traditional holdings vulnerable to amalgamation. Within a generation, former working farms were increasingly valued as residential properties rather than agricultural businesses.
Deaths
Ernest died in 1988 at the age of eighty-three, while Lilian survived him by eight years, passing away on 2 February 1996 at the age of eighty-four.
Conclusion
Ernest Spearing spent much of his working life on the land, first helping on his father’s farm and later struggling to maintain a modest holding of his own. His unsuccessful fight to retain Bishop’s Farm illustrates the growing pressures on traditional tenant farmers during the post-war years, as many of Hardington’s long-established smallholdings ceased to be viable independent farms.
References
[1] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register; family reconstitution.
[2] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register; Crewkerne baptism register; civil registration death index.
[3] The will of Frederick Spearing, dated 10 October 1927, proved at Bristol on 11 December 1959.
[4] The will of Kate Spearing, dated 5 April 1944, proved in Bristol on 11 June 1947.
[5] Bristol Evening Post, 13 July 1956, p.15.
[6] Bristol Evening Post, 4 February 1956, p.9.