The Land Settlement Association(LSA) was a UK Government scheme set up in 1934 to re- settle unemployed workers from depressed industrial areas, particularly from North-East England and Wales. Between 1934 and 1939 1,100 small-holdings were established within 21 settlements across England.
What is in the Land Settlement Association collection?
This collection consists of photographs and documents mainly relating to the Land Settlement Association estate at Sidlesham, though there are a few items from Elmesthorpe Estate in Hinckley. There is also a typescript of a speech given to the Young Farmers’ Club in 1960.
What happened to the allocation of settlements to the unemployed?
The allocation of settlements to the unemployed was suspended at the outbreak of the Second World War through the necessity of increasing food production; favour was given to those already with horticultural skills.
What is the history of the Oxcroft settlement?
^ "The Oxcroft Settlement", Victoria County History, "The Oxcroft Settlement was the only project of its kind in Derbyshire, and one of only two in England initiated by a county council". Retrieved 7 November 2017
When did the Land Settlement Association start?
Thus in 1935 the Land Settlement Association came into being.
When did the trainees join the bungalows?
During this time they were known as trainees, also helping with the construction of the bungalows. Their families joined them in 1936 on completion of the bungalows.
What did tenants do at Little Park?
Some tenants moved to other estates, some sought employment outside agriculture. At a later date tenants were allowed the opportunity to purchase their holdings. About a third of the tenants did this at Little Park, and their activities vary from Specialist Horticulturists and Nurserymen to quite large Stockholdings with pick your own fruit enterprises.
Where was the first estate to be equipped?
The first estate to be equipped was given by the Commissioner himself, and was in Bedfordshire, and this was mainly horticulture. The first estate to be actually purchased was Little Park Farm, (bought from Mr. Brags) in the village of Abbotts Ann, and which consisted of some 500 acres. Eventually there were 18 estates throughout the country.
What were the main lines of the estate?
The geographical position of the estate largely determined the activities pursued to make a living. The three main lines were pigs, poultry, and horticulture. Some estates were later to become specialist horticulturist’s.
Who was the director of the UK Land Settlement Association?
On October 11, 1937, David Gammans , Director of the UK Land Settlement Association (LSA), spoke at the Empire Migration and Development Conference at the Guildhall in the City of London. Standing in front of the hundreds of delegates that had assembled there, he described the challenge that the newly established LSA faced in its mission to settle thousands of unemployed families from economically depressed urban areas in the north of England to small, specially created settlements in the countryside. Gammans said:#N#“In short, it is to transform a townsman into a countryman; an industrialist into an agriculturalist; a wage-earner into a capitalist, and last but not least, a man with his physique and morale undermined to a greater or lesser degree by prolonged unemployment into a fit and happy member of society again, with all the courage and ambition which success in any walk of life demands” ( Gammans, 1937 ).
What was the LSA's goal?
An important LSA goal was to create a coherent community of settlers, encouraging the development of a “close co-operative and friendly spirit … both between the tenants themselves and between the tenants and the staff ” ( Carnegie Trust, 1948, p.48). The LSA attempted to achieve this, in part, via the design and layout of its buildings. It was common in the 1930s for smallholders' houses to be of low quality, generally being made of wood and asbestos ( Swenarton, 2003 ). LSA houses, in contrast, were considered to be superior, being built to meet the 1935 Housing Act regulations. The construction of high quality homes was important to the LSA's managers because they wanted settlers to feel comfortable in their new dwellings, believing that this would aid the development of friendly relations between neighbours ( LSA, 1935 ). LSA houses were fashioned in a ‘cottage style’, the walls being “generally of cavity brickwork, the roofs of plain tiles, and the gable ends boarded” ( Royal Institute of British Architects, 1937, p.80) ( Fig. 1 ). Inside, houses consisted of a living room, three bedrooms, a scullery, larder and combined bathroom and WC ( Swenarton, 2003 ). Houses were considered well equipped for the time, being “fitted with modern sanitation, separate bathroom, wood block and tile floors, electric light, and hot water from the living room range” ( Royal Institute of British Architects, 1939, p.721).
What was the LSA's aim in 1935?
The LSA recognised that transforming people whom it described as “physically and psychologically impaired by years of unemployment, to full time occupation of the land” ( LSA, 1935, p.9) was highly ambitious. It is not surprising then that processes of contestation were evident throughout the scheme, with divergence by settlers from the rural ideals espoused by the LSA potentially leading to the expulsion of families from settlements ( Linehan and Gruffudd, 2004 ). Indeed, the dropout rate from LSA estates during the 1930s was relatively high. To illustrate, the Association reported that, during its first few years of operation, a total of 772 of the 1709 settlers (45 percent) had given up or been sent back to the Special Areas as ‘unsuitable’ for rural life ( McCready, 1974 ). As a result, by the time World War II had broken out in 1939, a total of 178 LSA smallholdings (17 percent) were standing vacant.
How was the LSA vision of rural community life imagined and enacted?
As outlined above, this took place in three main ways: in terms of the physical layout of LSA settlements and the social cohesion that this was supposed to bring about; in relation to notions of labour, independence of spirit and reconnecting with the land; and in terms of building the physiques of men through hard work, fresh air and good food. In the text that follows, each of these ways is considered in turn.
How did the LSA work?
The LSA was a UK Government programme set up to resettle unemployed workers from depressed industrial urban areas to the countryside. Between 1934 and 1939, 1100 smallholdings were established within 20 settlements across the country. These smallholdings were run as cooperatives, but many failed when relocated families complained of long hours, low pay and isolation. Recruitment to the scheme ceased at the outbreak of World War II, with the settlements being fully dissolved and privatised in 1983. By drawing on a unique archive housed in the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), analysis centres on how the LSA represented and promoted rural living to settlers and the wider public. The paper illuminates three overlapping but distinct elements to this project: the production of physical space as a setting that has been designed to bring about particular forms of behaviour and community cohesion; notions of labour, independence of spirit and reconnecting with the land; and building the physiques of men through hard work, fresh air and good food, thus improving the national stock. The findings demonstrate the power of the rural idyll in producing particular forms of sociality, belonging and masculinity, with many of the ideas that undergirded the LSA continuing to resonate today.
What were the LSA concerns?
In promoting their new settlements, a central LSA concern was that years of “miserable idleness” ( The Times, 1935) in the Special Areas had normalised a sense of hopelessness among men and engendered within them a dependence on external help. As a result, many of the arrivals at LSA settlements were “suspicious and anxious. Many are inclined to give up the effort on the most trivial excuse” ( LSA, 1937, p.18). Complaints from new settlers were reported as common, many supposedly confusing the small training allowance that they received from the LSA with a weekly wage. Moreover, extended unemployment in the Special Areas was seen as having taken its toll on the townsmen's wives, most commonly attributed to the ‘stress’ or ‘mental tiredness’ that resulted from running a household under challenging economic conditions. For example, in 1936 the LSA wrote that, “Many of them [townsmen's wives], when they arrive at the new estates are mentally and physically tired and only realise the measure of their fatigue after anxiety for the future has been removed and they can look forward to better times on their holdings” ( LSA, 1936, p.22).
When did the Land Settlement Association start?
Thus in 1935 the Land Settlement Association came into being.
When did the trainees join the bungalows?
During this time they were known as trainees, also helping with the construction of the bungalows. Their families joined them in 1936 on completion of the bungalows.
What did tenants do at Little Park?
Some tenants moved to other estates, some sought employment outside agriculture. At a later date tenants were allowed the opportunity to purchase their holdings. About a third of the tenants did this at Little Park, and their activities vary from Specialist Horticulturists and Nurserymen to quite large Stockholdings with pick your own fruit enterprises.
Where was the first estate to be equipped?
The first estate to be equipped was given by the Commissioner himself, and was in Bedfordshire, and this was mainly horticulture. The first estate to be actually purchased was Little Park Farm, (bought from Mr. Brags) in the village of Abbotts Ann, and which consisted of some 500 acres. Eventually there were 18 estates throughout the country.
What were the main lines of the estate?
The geographical position of the estate largely determined the activities pursued to make a living. The three main lines were pigs, poultry, and horticulture. Some estates were later to become specialist horticulturist’s.
