Walter Blith
Encyclopedia
Walter Blith was an English writer on husbandry
and an official under the Commonwealth
.
, Warwickshire
, as the fourth and youngest son of John Blith (d. 1626), yeoman
, a prosperous cereal and dairy farmer, and Ann, daughter of Barnaby Holbeche of Birchley Hall, Fillongley
. Walter's elder brother Francis became a lawyer and married into the gentry
. Blith and his wife Hannah, daughter of John Waker of Snitterfield
, near Stratford upon Avon had three sons and four daughters.
he became a captain in the parliamentary army and also solicitor and sequestrator
of royalist
land in Warwickshire and Coventry
, as well as a rent collector from lands of the bishop and dean and chapter of Worcester
, and in 1649 and 1650 a surveyor of confiscated crown lands in Bedfordshire
, Cambridgeshire
, Huntingdonshire
and Norfolk
. He himself bought confiscated crown land at Potterspury
, Northamptonshire
and was described in the conveyance as a gentleman of Cotesbach
, Leicestershire
.
Blith was living at Cotesbach when he made his will in 1650. He died in Lincolnshire, leaving sums between £260 and £340 apiece to his children, to be employed "either in a way of grazing or merchandizing". He was a member of the circle around Samuel Hartlib
, the polymath, who described him as a "very loving and experienced friend".
, the council of state, nobility, gentry, soldiers, husbandmen, cottagers, labourers, and the meanest commoner. The new information concerned new crops such as woad, clover, sainfoin, lucerne
, etc. A further edition appeared in 1653. Blith intended to write a further book on animal husbandry
, but evidently did not complete it. His parliamentarian sympathies prevented his work being republished after 1660.
The books were written "in our own natural country language and in our ordinary and usual home-spun terms". He urged agricultural improvement, but showed less enthusiasm for enclosure
, through his concern for the poor: enclosure should not be allowed to cause depopulation. Blith's views almost certainly reflect discussion with Joseph Lee, the pamphleteer and advocate of enclosure, who was rector of Cotesbach. Enclosure had in fact caused turmoil in the village in 1603 and made it a centre of the Midland revolt of 1607. Though Blith showed sympathy for the common man and understood the aspirations of the Diggers, he did not think the latter realistic.
Blith's work also bore a religious message, holding up "the examples of biblical husbandmen and improvers, from Adam to Solomon, as well as that of God himself, ‘the great Husbandman’ (English Improver, p. 4) who had first made plants and trees come forth upon the earth. God intended the preservation of his creation, Blith suggested, and mankind was the instrument by which he would achieve this. For Blith, therefore, the historical examples of the Bible taught the lesson that individuals had a duty to God to practise a reformed husbandry, and that only by doing this might their country be redeemed from sin, famine, and warfare into a new Eden of peace and plenty."
Blith's ideas brought some improvement in techniques, but the period of peace under the Commonwealth was short-lived, and general, substantial improvement had to wait for the Agricultural Revolution
of the next century.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and an official under the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
.
Family
Blith was baptised in AllesleyAllesley
Allesley is a civil parish on the northwestern edge of the City of Coventry, West Midlands, England, about 3 miles west of Coventry city centre. According to the 2001 census. the parish had a population of 805. Until recently it contained to a factory belonging to the car maker, Jaguar...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, as the fourth and youngest son of John Blith (d. 1626), yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
, a prosperous cereal and dairy farmer, and Ann, daughter of Barnaby Holbeche of Birchley Hall, Fillongley
Fillongley
Fillongley is a village in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England.The village is centred around the crossroads of the B4102 and the B4098 and Tamworth....
. Walter's elder brother Francis became a lawyer and married into the gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
. Blith and his wife Hannah, daughter of John Waker of Snitterfield
Snitterfield
Snitterfield is a village and civil parish in the Stratford on Avon district of Warwickshire, England, less than a mile to the north of the A46 road, 4 ½ miles from Stratford upon Avon, 6 ½ miles from Warwick and from Coventry.-History:...
, near Stratford upon Avon had three sons and four daughters.
Career
Blith farmed his land diligently and carefully. During the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
he became a captain in the parliamentary army and also solicitor and sequestrator
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
of royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
land in Warwickshire and Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, as well as a rent collector from lands of the bishop and dean and chapter of Worcester
Dean of Worcester
The Dean of Worcester is the head of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral in Worcester, England. The most current Dean is the Very Rev Peter Gordon Atkinson who lives at The Deanery, College Green, Worcester.-List of Deans:...
, and in 1649 and 1650 a surveyor of confiscated crown lands in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
and Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. He himself bought confiscated crown land at Potterspury
Potterspury
Potterspury is a village and civil parish in the district of South Northamptonshire. The nearest main town is Milton Keynes, the centre of which is about 7 miles south-east...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and was described in the conveyance as a gentleman of Cotesbach
Cotesbach
Cotesbach is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The nearest town is Lutterworth, about to the north. The parish had a population of 212 according to the 2001 census.-External links:...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
.
Blith was living at Cotesbach when he made his will in 1650. He died in Lincolnshire, leaving sums between £260 and £340 apiece to his children, to be employed "either in a way of grazing or merchandizing". He was a member of the circle around Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib was a German-British polymath. An active promoter and expert writer in many fields, he was interested in science, medicine, agriculture, politics, and education. He settled in England, where he married and died...
, the polymath, who described him as a "very loving and experienced friend".
Writings
Blith's books on husbandry show notable good sense, based on the author's and others' farming experience. He presents his judgements and opinions carefully, and made textual changes in subsequent editions to describe new farming practices. His The English Improver, or, A New Survey of Husbandry was dedicated to both houses of Parliament and to the "ingenuous reader". A second edition appeared in the same year, and third, "much augmented" in 1652, with a second part containing "Six Newer Pieces of Improvement". This was dedicated to CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, the council of state, nobility, gentry, soldiers, husbandmen, cottagers, labourers, and the meanest commoner. The new information concerned new crops such as woad, clover, sainfoin, lucerne
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...
, etc. A further edition appeared in 1653. Blith intended to write a further book on animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
, but evidently did not complete it. His parliamentarian sympathies prevented his work being republished after 1660.
The books were written "in our own natural country language and in our ordinary and usual home-spun terms". He urged agricultural improvement, but showed less enthusiasm for enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
, through his concern for the poor: enclosure should not be allowed to cause depopulation. Blith's views almost certainly reflect discussion with Joseph Lee, the pamphleteer and advocate of enclosure, who was rector of Cotesbach. Enclosure had in fact caused turmoil in the village in 1603 and made it a centre of the Midland revolt of 1607. Though Blith showed sympathy for the common man and understood the aspirations of the Diggers, he did not think the latter realistic.
Blith's work also bore a religious message, holding up "the examples of biblical husbandmen and improvers, from Adam to Solomon, as well as that of God himself, ‘the great Husbandman’ (English Improver, p. 4) who had first made plants and trees come forth upon the earth. God intended the preservation of his creation, Blith suggested, and mankind was the instrument by which he would achieve this. For Blith, therefore, the historical examples of the Bible taught the lesson that individuals had a duty to God to practise a reformed husbandry, and that only by doing this might their country be redeemed from sin, famine, and warfare into a new Eden of peace and plenty."
Blith's ideas brought some improvement in techniques, but the period of peace under the Commonwealth was short-lived, and general, substantial improvement had to wait for the Agricultural Revolution
British Agricultural Revolution
British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of development in Britain between the 17th century and the end of the 19th century, which saw an epoch-making increase in agricultural productivity and net output. This in turn supported unprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant...
of the next century.