Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:18:36.835Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reconstructing the Rural Community: Village Halls and the National Council of Social Service, 1919 to 19391

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Jeremy Burchardt
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Although rural leisure in the half-century before the First World War is an under-researched subject, its most striking features seem to have been (at least according to the existing historiography) that it was dominated by the gentry and clergy, and restricted both in scope and quantity. The robust rural popular culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had come under increasing pressure from gentry and clerical attempts to reform and sanitise it, initially through evangelical organisations such as the Society for the Suppression of Vice in the 1790s, but by the 1840s on a broad front due to the middle-class vogue for promoting ‘rational recreation’. Partly as a result of this, many popular pastimes either fell into disuse or became emptied of much of their former spontaneity in the second half of the century, a commonly cited example of the former being cock-fighting and of the latter maypole-dancing. In their place came carefully marshalled dinners and prize-givings sponsored by the gentry and clergy. On these occasions the labourers (and sometimes their families too) were sat down at trestle tables in some appropriate venue, often the squire's park, and edifying speeches were made by representatives of local landed society. The role of the rural workforce in all this was entirely passive, except for one or two labourers who might be singled out to give a speech of gratitude to the presiding landowner for his beneficence, and the ritual ‘loyal toasts’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , October 1999 , pp. 193 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

2. Malcolmson, Robert, ‘Leisure’, in Mingay, Gordon E. (ed.), The Victorian Countryside, vol. 2 (London, 1981), pp. 613–614Google Scholar; Cunningham, Hugh, ‘Leisure and Culture’, in Thompson, F. M. L. (ed.), The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950, Volume 2, People and their Environment (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 305–306.Google Scholar

3. Horn, Pamela (ed.), Oxfordshire Country Life in the 1860s: The Early Diaries of George James Dew (1846–1928) of Lower Heyford (Sutton Courtenay, 1986), pp. 6, 8, 10–11Google Scholar; Stewart, Sheila, Lifting the Latch: A Life on the Land (Oxford, 1987), pp. 97–98.Google Scholar

4. Dewey, Peter, British Agriculture in the First World War (London, 1989), pp. 44–47, 109.Google Scholar

5. Howkins, Alun, Reshaping Rural England: A Social History, 1850–1925 (London, 1991), pp. 267–269, 277.Google Scholar

6. Beckett, John V., The Aristocracy in England, 1660–1914 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 477–488.Google Scholar

7. Cripps, Sir John, Christmas Coals to Community Care: The Countryside – Past, Present, and Future. The Sir George Haynes Memorial Lecture 1984 (London, 1985), p. 4Google Scholar; Brasnett, Margaret, Voluntary Social Action. A History of The National Council of Social Service 1919–1969 (London, 1969), p. 33.Google Scholar

8. Brasnett, , Voluntary Social Action, p. 33.Google Scholar

9. Brasnett, , Voluntary Social Action, p. 33Google Scholar; Cripps, , Christmas Coals to Community Care, p. 5.Google Scholar

10. First Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service 1919–20 (London, 1921), p. 5.Google Scholar

11. Reconstruction and Social Service. Being the report of a conference called by the National Council of Social Service (London, 1920), pp. 165–172, 181.Google Scholar

12. Brasnett, , Voluntary Social Action, p. 32.Google Scholar

13. Second Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1921 (London, 1922), p. 5Google Scholar; The Social Service Bulletin. A Monthly Index to Information, series 2, no. 7, January 1922, pp. 78–79Google Scholar; The Social Service Bulletin. A Monthly Index to Information, series 2, no. 7, January 1922, pp. 78–79Google Scholar; ibid., series 2, no. 10, April 1922, p. 110; Third Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1922 (London, 1923), pp. 4—5.Google Scholar

14. Third Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1922 (London, 1923), p. 5.Google Scholar

15. Constructive Citizenship: The Anual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1930–31, n.d. [1931], pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

16. Constructive Citizenship: The Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1930–31, p. 8.Google Scholar

17. ‘Better Living in Rural Areas’, The British Institute and National Council of Social Service Monthly Bulletin, 2nd series, no. 6, pp. 65–66.Google Scholar

18. ‘Wheatley Village Social Council’, The Social Service Bulletin. A Monthly Index to Information, III, 3 (March 1923), 30.Google Scholar

19. Reconstruction and Social Service, p. 167.

20. ‘The Village Clubs Association’, The National Council of Social Service Monthly Bulletin, series 1, no. 1 (July 1920), 6.Google Scholar

21. Fifth Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1924 (London, 1925), pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

22. Co-operation in Social Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1929–30 (London, n.d. [1930]), p. 15.Google Scholar

23. Constructive Citizenship: The Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1930–31, p. 9.

24. Voluntary Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1931–2 (London, n.d. [1932]), p. 15.Google Scholar

25. Fifth Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1924, p. 7.Google Scholar

26. Report by A. H. Griffiths of his visit to Chinnor, 8 September 1935, in box labelled ‘ORCC Miscellaneous’, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

27. Fifth Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1924, p. 7.

28. Co-operation in Social Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1926 (London, n.d. [1927]), p. 35Google Scholar; Voluntary Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1933–4 (London, n.d. [1934]), p. 32.Google Scholar

29. Co-operation in Social Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1929–30, p. 15.

30. Morris, R. J., ‘Clubs, Societies, and Associations’, in Thompson, F. M. L. (ed.), The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950, Volume 3, Social Agencies and Institutions (Cambridge, 1990), p. 440.Google Scholar

31. Village Halls in England 1988: A Summary of the Ronseal Village Halls Survey (Cirencester, 1991), p. 10.Google Scholar

32. Oxford Times, county edition, January 1919 and January 1939Google Scholar, passim.

33. Fifth Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the year 1924, pp. 6–7; Reconstruction and Social Service, pp. 167–8.

34. Survey of villages around Oxford in 1937, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

35. Partnership in Social Effort: The Eighteenth Annual Report for the Year Ending 31 March, 1938 (London, n.d. [1938]), pp. 67–75.Google Scholar

36. Bracey, H. E., Social Provision in Rural Wiltshire (London, 1952), pp. 67–68.Google Scholar

37. Partnership in Social Effort: The Nineteenth Annual Report for the Year 1938–9 (London, n.d. [1939]), p. 35.Google Scholar

38. Rowley, Trevor, Villages in the Landscape (Gloucester, 1987), p. 15.Google Scholar

39. Partnership in Social Effort: The Eighteenth Annual Report for the Year Ending 31st March, 1938 (London, n.d. [1938]), pp. 70–71.Google Scholar

40. Oxford Times, county edition, January 1919 and January 1939, passim. The residual 51% of venues in 1939 consisted mainly of halls of an unspecified nature (some of which may have been village halls), privately-owned halls, former school rooms, church and chapel rooms, pub rooms, and rooms in private houses. The greater prominence of these predominantly small venues in 1939 as compared to 1919 probably reflects an editorial decision to lower the threshold for the inclusion of leisure events in the Oxford Times more than it does an actual increase in the volume of leisure in smaller venues. There were reports on 33 village leisure events in January 1919, but this had risen to 272 events in January 1939.

41. Stewart, Sheila (ed.), Lifting the Latch: The Life of Mont Abbot – Oxfordshire Farm Boy, Labourer, and Shepherd (Oxford, 1988), p. 125Google Scholar; Toms, Mary, Barkby Village Hall 1929–1979 (Barkby, 1979), p. 2.Google Scholar

42. Stinchcombe, Owen, ‘Recording Village Reading Rooms’, Local History 20 (1990), 155–157.Google Scholar

43. Crowthorne Reading Room Committee minute book, 1912–21, CPC 102/B/3/1, Berkshire Record Office; Mortimer Men's Club minute book, 1892–1902, D/EX 165/Z1, Berkshire Record Office; Yattendon Club minute book, 1904–21, D/P159/28/1, Berkshire Record Office; Oxford Times, county edition, January 1919 and January 1939, passim.

44. The Labourer's Friend Magazine, CLIII, 1843, p. 179.Google Scholar

45. Voluntary Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the Year 1932–3 (London, n.d. [1933]), p. 31.Google Scholar

46. Flyer titled ‘Proposed Wolvercote Public Hall and Institute’, issued by Wolvercote W.I., n.d., Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives; letter from A. Richmond, assistant secretary of the N.C.S.S., to E. Joseph, secretary of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, dated 24th March 1932, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

47. Partnership in Social Effort: The Eighteenth Annual Report for the Year Ending 31st March, 1938, p. 69.Google Scholar

48. Letter from F. D. Gilbert to Mrs C. Kreyer, secretary of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, dated 19th November 1937, and from the [unnamed] secretary of Taynton village hall to T. F. Thompson, town planning surveyor, Witney and District Joint Town Planning Committee of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council and Witney Urban and Rural District Councils, dated 26th May 1938, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

49. Voluntary Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the Year 1933–4 (London, n.d. [1934]), p. 36.Google Scholar

50. Co-operation in Social Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service for the Year 1928–9 (London, n.d. [1929]), p. 35.Google Scholar

51. Reconstruction and Social Service, pp. 166–7.

52. Reconstruction and Social Service, p. 181.

53. Flyer titled ‘Proposed Wolvercote Public Hall and Institute’, issued by Wolvercote W.I., n.d., Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

54. Massey, Margaret, Burton Joyce and Bulcote Village Hall 1925–1975 (n.p., 1975), pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

55. Toms, , Barkby Village Hall, pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

56. Mansfield, Nick, ‘Class Conflict and Village War Memorials, 1914–24’, Rural History 6 (1995), 77–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

57. Cawkwell, Timothy and Ogden, Elizabeth, Long Live the Village Hall! A Survey on the Use of Village Halls by the Northamptonshire Rural Community Council (n.p., n.d. [1982]), p. 4.Google Scholar

58. Bracey, , Social Provision in Rural Wiltshire, p. 68.Google Scholar

59. Checkendon Village Hall Minute Book 1913–90, Oxfordshire Archives O/174/A1/1; letter from Mary E. Stokes to Mrs C. Kreyer, secretary of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, dated 14th July [1935?], Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

60. Checkendon Village Hall Minute Book 1913–90, Oxfordshire Archives O/174/A1,1, unnumbered folios for 1916.

61. Checkendon Village Hall Minute Book 1913–90, Receipts and Building Fund account 1913, Oxfordshire Archives O/174/A1/1.

62. Note in file relating to Alvescot village hall in records of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

63. Checkendon Village Minute Book 1913–90, Oxfordshire Archives O/174/A1/1, unnumbered folios for 1914; ibid., Receipts and Building Fund account, 1914 and 1929. See also Jetzer, Penny, History of Stoke Bishop Village Hall (no place of publication, 1985), p. 12.Google Scholar

64. Pedley, W. H., Labour on the Land: A Study of the Developments Between the Two Great Wars (London, 1942), p. 145Google Scholar; see also Stewart, (ed.), Lifting the Latch, pp. 4, 25–26.Google Scholar

65. Checkendon Village Minute Book 1913–90, Oxfordshire Archives O/174/A1.1, management committee, 12th February 1931.

66. Cunningham, ‘Leisure and Culture’, p. 312.

67. Oxford Times, January 1919Google Scholar, passim; [Hickman, Trevor], Wymondham Village Hall 1928–88 (Wymondham, 1988), p. 11.Google Scholar

68. Malcolmson, , ‘Leisure’, pp. 606–609.Google Scholar

69. Stewart, (ed.), Lifting the Latch, pp. 23–29.Google Scholar

70. Alan, Armstrong, ‘The Countryside’, in Thompson, F. M. L. (ed.), The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950, Volume 1, Regions and Communities (Cambridge, 1990), p. 146.Google Scholar

71. Malcolmson, , ‘Leisure’, pp. 613–614.Google Scholar

72. Oxford Times, 25th January 1919, p. 5Google Scholar col. 4.

73. Voluntary Service: Being the Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the'year 1931–2, p. 31.

74. Copy letter headed ‘Wolvercote Village Hall’, February 1936, from H. Morris-Smith, treasurer of Wolvercote Village Hall, in records of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Accession No. 2689, Oxfordshire Archives.

75. Constructive Citizenship: The Annual Report of the National Council of Social Service (Incorporated) for the year 1930–31, p. 18.

76. Stewart, (ed.), Lifting the Latch, p. 124.Google Scholar

77. Howkins, , Reshaping Rural England, pp. 292–293.Google Scholar