The effect upon urban industries was also great. The greater the local depopulation in rural districts produced by enclosure, the greater the supply of needy labourers of industrious habits and robust physique drafted to the growing industrial towns. Local depopulation was the usual result of Enclosure, as we have seen, in the Midlands and in Wiltshire, and parts of neighbouring counties. Where, as in Norfolk and parts of Lincoln and Yorkshire, local depopulation did not ensue, there was a vast increase in the agricultural produce sent to market, and in consequence, in the manufactured commodities demanded. Enclosure tended to assist urban industry therefore by an increased labour supply, an increased market, and perhaps also, an increased supply of capital.
Summing up, therefore, the economic results of the whole mass of little village revolutions under examination, we find increased population, increased production of all sorts of commodities, increased national resources for purposes of taxation and foreign war. The moral effects we find to have been increased misery and recklessness, showing itself in increased pauperism and drunkenness. An increase of the quantity of human life is attained at the expense of a degradation in its quality.
[APPENDIX A.]
Statistical Summary of Acts of Enclosure Enclosing Common Pasture and Waste only.
| Acts specifying Acreage Enclosed. | Acts not specifying Acreage Enclosed. | Total. | Acres Enclosed per annum. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts. | Acreage as stated. | Acts. | Acreage estimated. | Acts. | Acres. | ||
| 1727–1760 | 49 | 65,203 | 7 | 9,315 | 56 | 74,518 | 2,192 |
| 1761–1792 | 292 | 411,952 | 47 | 66,307 | 339 | 478,259 | 14,946 |
| 1793–1801 | 153 | 230,249 | 29 | 43,642 | 182 | 273,891 | 30,432 |
| 1802–1815 | 469 | 615,970 | 95 | 123,773 | 564 | 739,743 | 52,839 |
| 1816–1845 | 202 | 164,994 | 42 | 34,306 | 244 | 199,300 | 6,643 |
| Totals. | 1,165 | 1,488,368 | 220 | 277,343 | 1,385 | 1,765,711 | |
From 1727 to 1760 the number of Acts of this class passed per annum was steadily increasing, the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) apparently acting as a stimulus. During this period the average acreage enclosed per Act was 1330·7 acres. The increase in the number of Acts continued up till 1792, and again at a greatly enhanced rate after the beginning of the great French war. From 1761–1792 the average acreage enclosed per Act was 1410·8 acres; from 1792–1801, 1504·9 acres. In 1801 a Clauses Act, termed “A General Enclosure Act” was passed to facilitate Parliamentary proceedings. This had the double effect of increasing the average number of Acts passed per annum from 20 to 43, but of reducing the average acreage per Act to 1313·4 acres. From 1816–1845 the average acreage per Act was 816·8 acres.