how was the land settlement association funded

The Land Settlement Association was a UK Government scheme set up in 1934, with help from the charities the Plunkett Foundation and the Carnegie Trust, to re-settle unemployed workers from depressed industrial areas, particularly from North-East England and Wales.

Full Answer

What was the Land Settlement Association?

The Land Settlement Association was a UK Government scheme set up in 1934, with help from the charities the Plunkett Foundation and the Carnegie Trust, 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 20 settlements.

How much does it cost to run a Land Settlement Association?

Each holding costs the Land Settlement Association about £1,000 to equip. £700 of that represents the value of the house and land; the other £300 we advance to each tenant in the form of livestock, tools and other equipment. Part of this is a free gift; the balance a loan without interest repayable over a period of years.

How did I meet Sidlesham Land Settlement Association?

I met a former tenant of a smallholding in the village with a collection of photographs relating to something called a Land Settlement Association. I became interested and undertook some research, and met the relatives of some former unemployed miners who had moved south to Sidlesham from North East England in the late 1930s.

What is the reason for land settlement today?

The reason for land settlement today is that over a million and a half people are still unemployed, of whom something like one third are middle aged men whose chances of re- deployment in their old jobs are poor. Not all of these men are, of course, suitable for land work and many of them dont want it.

Railway Agreement

The 1925 Railway Agreement was one way for William Lyon Mackenzie King ’s Liberal government to address Canada’s labour needs. As railways assisted with immigration and settlement, the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration established an agreement with the two main railway companies in Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and CN.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association

In response to the 1925 Railway Agreement, CN created a land settlement division within its Colonization and Agriculture Department. The new division was called the Canadian National Land Settlement Association (CNLSA). It was established on 9 March 1925 as part of CN’s program to promote immigration and land settlement in Canada.

Records

CN’s Colonization and Agriculture Department and the CNLSA were closely associated in the work of bringing immigrants to Canada. With the CNLSA being virtually part of the Department, their archival records are often intermingled.

Impacts on Indigenous Peoples

Prior to the arrival of new immigrants in the late 1920s, there had been a systematic diminishment by the federal government of Indigenous claims to land. This had come in the form of the Indian Act of 1876 and numerous treaties , dating from 1871 to 1921.

Final Years of the CNLSA

During the mid-1930s to mid-1940s, the CNLSA spent more time on re-settling people who were already living in Canada. From the end of the Second World War to the late 1950s, the CNLSA helped transport new immigrants to various parts of Canada who had been displaced by various areas of war-torn Europe ( see Immigration to Canada ).

Archives

While the CNSLA no longer exists, numerous records, including photographic reports and lists documenting the settlement of families were transferred to the Public Archives of Canada in the mid-1960s. These records are currently maintained by Library and Archives Canada .

Squatter regularization

Improving the conditions of persons living in squatter communities by implementing or upgrading necessary physical infrastructure such as roads, drainage and sewerage systems along with providing potable water, electricity and other amenities.

Certificate of Comfort

Under the provisions of the State Land (Regularization of Tenure) Act No 25 of 1998, a squatter who was illegally occupying State Lands prior to January 01, 1998 could only have applied for a Certificate of Comfort (COC) in the prescribed statutory format on or before October 27, 2000.

What was the purpose of the Land Settlement Association?

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.

Who built the LSA houses?

The LSA houses were constructed by Isaac Armstrong and Co, Low Hesket, at a cost of £430 each with a predicted life of 9 years (Tony Britton) The original houses, mostly semi-detached with three bedrooms, had flat roofs, which were over-pitched in the 1960s. A few houses were detached with two bedrooms and there were also two blocks of three.

How many LSAs were there in Cumbria?

Three LSAs were established in Cumbria. Crofton (64 smallholdings), Dalston (28) and Broadwath (23). Unlike other LSAs across England, the first tenants were local, unemployed miners from collieries in Whitehaven and Maryport or from the steel works in Workington and Barrow-in-Furnace. Later they were joined by unemployed men from the woollen mills in Peebles and miners from Northumberland.

Where is the LSA house now?

In 2017 I was one of several volunteers who helped to dismantle an LSA house. It is now in storage at The Weald and Downland Living Museum, awaiting funding to be re-erected. When it is rebuilt the LSA story, including both Sidlesham and Crofton as well as the other 20 LSAs across England, will have a permanent home.

Where did the first tenants live?

The first tenants lived in Crofton Hall while they were being trained. When their houses were built they were joined by their families and some of the rooms in Crofton Hall were used for community activities. During World War Two Land Girls came to the LSA to learn to drive tractors and some of them may worked smallholdings. After the war a wooden shed near the entrance to East Park, which may have come from Jenkins Cross, was used as the social centre for the tenants and their families.

When did the Rofton LSA close?

His findings published in 1967, recommended that the number of LSAs be reduced to 10, including Crofton. rofton LSA closed in 1974 as it became increasingly difficult to make a living. Unlike many of the other LSAs no independent company was set up. Tenants had the right to buy their houses, but the smallholdings were taken over and managed by Cumbria County Council as starter farms for young would-be farmers.

When was the LSA privatised?

wound-up and all the properties privatised in 1983, by which time it was producing roughly 40% of English home grown salad crops. The residual assets of the scheme were constituted as the LSA Charitable Trust, for the benefit of former tenants and to promote horticultural education.

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 LSA claim settle?

In 1991 the claim was settled in favour of the tenants.

What is LSA in the UK?

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

What schools did the LSA go to?

Children on the LSA went to two different schools. A railway cuts the LSA estate in half with children on the Ardliegh side (Nos 1-30) attending Ardleigh St Marys CE Primary School and those on the Lawford side (Nos 31-90) going to Lawford Primary School in Wignall Street, moving site to Long Road in 1969. A bus was available for children going to Lawford, but children walked or biked to the school in Ardleigh. At the beginning of the LSA (1936) the school leaving age was 14, rising to 15 in 1944 and then 16 in 1972. The School Attendance Register lists the names and addresses of pupils, but also details of the previous school they may have attended and hence where they lived in the north-east of England before they came to Foxash. LSA

Why was the LSA suspended?

The scheme was wound-up and all the properties privatised in 1983, by which time it was producing roughly 40% of English home grown salad crops. The residual assets of the scheme were constituted as the LSA Charitable Trust, for the benefit of former tenants and to promote horticultural education.

When did Foxash Growers cease trading?

December 1982. LSAs were encouraged to continue as independent companies and tenants had the right to buy their houses and smallholdings. Foxash Growers was established and operated until July 2012 (Company Number IP24049R) Most former LSA independent companies have now ceased trading – Snaith Salads, a subsidiary of Yorkshire Salads in still operational.

Where is the LSA house?

In 2017 volunteers helped to dismantle an LSA house. It is now in storage at The Weald and Downland Living Museum, awaiting funding to be re- erected. When it is rebuilt the LSA story, including both Sidlesham and Foxash as well as the other 20 LSAs across England, will have a permanent home.

What was the purpose of Foxash Farm?

Foxash Farm on the Harwich Road was the base for Central Services, including transport (tractors and lorries) and machinery such as the soil sterilizer. John Noy was transport manager from the 1960s until the closure, living in Foxash House. The farm buildings behind the house were used as the LSA stores run by Bill Mathieson, where tenants could purchase tools, equipment, animal feed, fertiliser, etc. LSA machinery was also stored here.

How many LSAs were there in the 1930s?

20 LSAs had been set up across the country by the end of 1930s, each with between 40 and 120 smallholdings. Unemployed miners and shipbuilders from North East England and south Wales were given a house, piggery, chicken shed, glasshouse and 4 acres of land as part of a contract to produce food for the government. With the outbreak of war in 1939 the criteria for selection changed, and qualifications, experience and capital were needed to join the scheme. The LSA continued until 1983, at which time the estates were encouraged to form their own co-operatives, which many did. In fact, Snaith (Yorkshire Salads) and Foxash (Foxash Growers) still trade today.

Why did the Jarrow marchers march to London?

In 1936 around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London in search of work and an end to poverty. In the same year 100 unemployed miners and shipbuilders arrived in Sidlesham in West Sussex to begin new lives as market gardeners on a Land Settlement Association. The men from Jarrow returned with nothing, while the Sidlesham men started a multi-million pound horticultural industry which still survives today. Why has everyone heard about the Jarrow marchers, yet very few know about the Land Settlement Association?

Railway Agreement

Canadian National Land Settlement Association

Activities

Records

• In response to the 1925 Railway Agreement, CN created a land settlement division within its Colonization and Agriculture Department. The new division was called the Canadian National Land Settlement Association (CNLSA). It was established on 9 March 1925 as part of CN’s program to promote immigrationand land settlement in Canada. This both increase...

See more on thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

Impacts on Indigenous Peoples

Final Years of The Cnlsa

Archives