Introduction

Summary

The Turners were an established family of tenant farmers in Milton Ernest, north-west of Bedford. In 1831, Thomas Turner, with his new wife Susannah, emigrated to St Andrews, New Brunswick, British North America (now Canada) to start life as a trader. Although Thomas eventually became a prosperous merchant, the early years were tough. He lost cargoes in successive shipwrecks and tragedy stuck in February 1834 when Susannah, having taken passage on the brig Wellington from Nova Scotia to visit relatives in England, was washed overboard and drowned in a shipwreck.

Thomas's older brother, John Turner, remained in Milton Ernest, first as a baker and then assisting his father with the family farm. John wrote regularly to Thomas, as did his close relatives. John's lengthy letters passed on village gossip and news of family and neighbours besides noteworthy local events – the activities of the village's first policeman, balloon excursions, the kennelling of the Oakley Hunt, resistance to the surveyors of Bedford's first railway – as well as a running commentary on agricultural affairs, harvests and produce markets. John was an interested observer of national events and the ‘big issues’ of the day – the passage of the Great Reform Act, Chartism, the repeal of the Corn Laws, rural protest (the ‘Captain Swing’ riots and arson), Church disestablishment and the first cholera epidemic. His letters make fascinating reading. Also in the ‘Turner collection’ are letters from Thomas's shippers which provide insights into trading conditions and the range of goods that Thomas was importing to sell in St Andrews.

A total of sixty-one items have been transcribed. The great majority of the originals are held by Bedfordshire Archives, but there are also two letters from the collection of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art in America. Taken together, the ‘Turner letters’ provide fascinating, diverse insights into rural life during the 1830s and 1840s and the challenges of emigration to a new continent. Their content should be of particular interest to local historians and those researching agricultural and social history, especially rural protest – with unique material on the ‘Swing riots’ and its long tail of unrest into the 1840s. John's letters, and his ‘village tours’, are highly readable and accessible, and should be attractive to the general reader. For these reasons, we considered that the ‘Turner collection’ would benefit from publication.

We have tried as far as possible to stay close to the language and tone of the originals, transcribing ‘as is’ and avoiding correcting grammar or spelling except where necessary to ensure comprehension. We have also attempted to set this valuable material in context – of the Pain and Turner families, contemporary Milton Ernest, broader local and national events (electoral reform, the New Poor Law, Chartism, rural unrest and cholera) – and complement it with ‘timelines’ for the local area, the United Kingdom and Canada. We hope we have done the Pains and Turners justice.