Arthur Young
Encyclopedia
Arthur Young was an English
writer on agriculture
, economics
and social statistics
.
, Suffolk
, the second son of the Rev. Arthur Young, who was chaplain
to Speaker
Arthur Onslow
. After attending school at Lavenham
, Arthur Young was in 1758 placed in a mercantile house at King's Lynn
, but had no interest in commerce
.
At the age of seventeen, he published a pamphlet On the War in North America, and in 1761 went to London
and started a magazine entitled The Universal Museum, which was dropped on the advice of Samuel Johnson
.
He also wrote four novels, and Reflections on the Present State of Affairs at Home and Abroad in 1759. After his father's death in the same year, his mother placed him in charge of the family estate at Bradfield Hall; but the property was small and encumbered with debt. From 1763 to 1766 he devoted himself to farming on this property. In 1765 he married Martha Allen (died 1815), sister-in-law of Charles Burney
. Their acute marital strife and Young's devotion to his children were witnessed by Frances Burney and her half-sister Sarah
during a visit in 1792.
Young grieved long and deeply when his daughter Martha Ann died of consumption
on July 14, 1797 at the age of fourteen, and the loss is said to have turned his mind to religion. In his final years he became firm friends with a granddaughter of Burney's, Marianne Francis (1790–1832), who shared his commitment to Evangelical Christianity.
, where he engaged in various experiments, describing the results in A Course of Experimental Agriculture (1770). Though Young's experiments were, in general, unsuccessful, he thus acquired a solid knowledge of agriculture
.
He had already begun a series of journeys through England
and Wales
, and gave an account of his observations in books which appeared from 1768 to 1770—A Six Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales, A Six Months' Tour through the North of England and the Farmer's Tour through the East of England. He claimed that these books contained the only extant information relative to the rental, produce and stock of England that was founded on actual examination. They were very favourably received, being translated into most European languages by 1792.
In all, Young produced around 25 books and pamphlets on agriculture and 15 books on political economy, as well as many articles. He was famous for the views he expressed, as an agricultural improver, political economist and social observer.
In 1768 he published the Farmer's Letters to the People of England, in 1771 the Farmer's Calendar, which went through many editions, and in 1774 his Political Arithmetic, which was widely translated. Young also acted as parliamentary reporter for the Morning Post
.
He toured the Kingdom of Ireland
in 1776-77, publishing his Tour in Ireland in 1780. The book was subsequently republished in 1897 and 1925, but with large sections of Young's perceptive social detail edited out.
In 1784 he began the publication of the Annals of Agriculture, which was continued for 45 volumes: contributors included King George III, writing under the nom de plume of "Ralph Robinson."
was in 1787. Travelling all over that country around the start of the French Revolution
, he described the condition of the people and the conduct of public affairs at that critical juncture. The Travels in France appeared in two volumes in 1792. On his return home he was appointed secretary of the Board of Agriculture
1793 just formed under the presidency of Sir John Sinclair. In this capacity he gave most valuable assistance in the collection and preparation of agricultural surveys of the English counties. His sight, however, failed, and in 1811 he had an operation for cataract
, which proved unsuccessful.
On his death, he left an autobiography in manuscript, which was edited (1898) by Miss M. Betham-Edwards
, and is the main authority for his life. He also left the materials for a great work on the Elements and practice of agriculture.
(1997) presents him as a pioneer national income statistician, continuing the work of Gregory King
who had lived a century before. Young produced three estimates of the national income of England, in his Tour through the North of England, Farmer's Tour through the East of England and in his Political Arithmetic. Brunt (2001) emphasises the way Young collected his information and presents him as a pioneer of sample surveys. Young influenced such contemporary observers of economic and social life as Frederick Morton Eden
and Sinclair.
Arthur Young was the greatest of all English writers on agriculture; but it is as a social and political observer that he is best known, and his Tour in Ireland and Travels in France are still full of interest and instruction. He saw clearly and exposed unsparingly the causes which retarded the progress of Ireland
. He strongly urged the repeal of the penal laws which pressed upon the Catholic
s; he condemned the restrictions imposed by Great Britain on the commerce of Ireland, and also the perpetual interference of the Irish parliament with industry by prohibitions and bounties. He favoured a legislative union of Ireland with Great Britain, though he did not regard such a measure as absolutely necessary, many of its advantages being otherwise attainable.
He thought the soil
of France superior to that of England, but noted that agriculture was neither as well understood nor as highly regarded as in England. He blamed the upper class
es for their neglect of it. "Banishment (from court) alone will force the French nobility to execute what the English do for pleasure — reside upon and adorn their estates." Young saw the commencement of violence in the rural districts, and his sympathies began to take the side of the classes suffering from the excesses of the Revolution. This change of attitude was shown by his publication in 1793 of a tract entitled The Example of France a Warning to England. Of the profounder significance of the French outbreak he seems to have had little idea, and thought the crisis would be met by a constitutional adjustment in accordance with the English type. He strongly condemned the metayer system, then widely prevalent in France, as "perpetuating poverty and excluding instruction"—as, in fact, the ruin of the country. Some of his phrases have been often quoted by the advocates of peasant proprietorship as favouring their view.
But these sentences, in which the epigrammatic form exaggerates a truth, and which might seem to represent the possession of capital as of no importance in agriculture, must not be taken as conveying his approbation of the system of small properties in general. He approved it only when the subdivision was strictly limited, and even then with great reserves; and he remained to the end what John Stuart Mill
calls him, "the apostle of la grande culture".
The Directory
in 1801 ordered his writings on the art to be translated and published at Paris in 20 volumes under the title of Le Cultivateur anglais. His Travels in France were translated in 1793/1794 by Soules; a new version by M. Lesage, with an introduction by M. de Lavergne, appeared in 1856. An interesting review of the latter publication, under the title of Arthur Young et la France de 1789, will be found in M. Baudrillart's Publicistes modernes (Paris 1st ed., 1862).
There is a chapter on Young as an economic statistician in
On Young as a survey statistician see
On Young as agronomist
and agrarian traveler see
The National Portrait Gallery has 5 portraits of Young:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writer on agriculture
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...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and social statistics
Social statistics
Social statistics is the use of statistical measurement systems to study human behavior in a social environment. This can be accomplished through polling a particular group of people, evaluating a particular subset of data obtained about a group of people, or by observation and statistical...
.
Birth and early life
Young was born in 1741 Bradfield CombustBradfield Combust
Bradfield Combust is a village in Suffolk, England. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name of "Bradfield" is "the wide fold" . "Combust" is derived from "Combusta" Latin fem. = burnt or burned; medieval syn...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, the second son of the Rev. Arthur Young, who was chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
to Speaker
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
Arthur Onslow
Arthur Onslow
Arthur Onslow was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity.-Early life and education:...
. After attending school at Lavenham
Lavenham
Lavenham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk. In the medieval period it was among the 20 wealthiest settlements in England...
, Arthur Young was in 1758 placed in a mercantile house at King's Lynn
King's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
, but had no interest in commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
.
At the age of seventeen, he published a pamphlet On the War in North America, and in 1761 went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and started a magazine entitled The Universal Museum, which was dropped on the advice of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
.
He also wrote four novels, and Reflections on the Present State of Affairs at Home and Abroad in 1759. After his father's death in the same year, his mother placed him in charge of the family estate at Bradfield Hall; but the property was small and encumbered with debt. From 1763 to 1766 he devoted himself to farming on this property. In 1765 he married Martha Allen (died 1815), sister-in-law of Charles Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
. Their acute marital strife and Young's devotion to his children were witnessed by Frances Burney and her half-sister Sarah
Sarah Burney
Sarah Harriet Burney was an English novelist, the daughter of musicologist and composer Charles Burney, and half-sister of the novelist and diarist Frances Burney .- Life :Sarah Burney's mother, Elizabeth Allen, was the second wife of...
during a visit in 1792.
Young grieved long and deeply when his daughter Martha Ann died of consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
on July 14, 1797 at the age of fourteen, and the loss is said to have turned his mind to religion. In his final years he became firm friends with a granddaughter of Burney's, Marianne Francis (1790–1832), who shared his commitment to Evangelical Christianity.
Early career
In 1762 he took over a farm in EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, where he engaged in various experiments, describing the results in A Course of Experimental Agriculture (1770). Though Young's experiments were, in general, unsuccessful, he thus acquired a solid knowledge of agriculture
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...
.
He had already begun a series of journeys through England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and gave an account of his observations in books which appeared from 1768 to 1770—A Six Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales, A Six Months' Tour through the North of England and the Farmer's Tour through the East of England. He claimed that these books contained the only extant information relative to the rental, produce and stock of England that was founded on actual examination. They were very favourably received, being translated into most European languages by 1792.
In all, Young produced around 25 books and pamphlets on agriculture and 15 books on political economy, as well as many articles. He was famous for the views he expressed, as an agricultural improver, political economist and social observer.
In 1768 he published the Farmer's Letters to the People of England, in 1771 the Farmer's Calendar, which went through many editions, and in 1774 his Political Arithmetic, which was widely translated. Young also acted as parliamentary reporter for the Morning Post
Morning Post
The Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.- History :...
.
He toured the Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
in 1776-77, publishing his Tour in Ireland in 1780. The book was subsequently republished in 1897 and 1925, but with large sections of Young's perceptive social detail edited out.
In 1784 he began the publication of the Annals of Agriculture, which was continued for 45 volumes: contributors included King George III, writing under the nom de plume of "Ralph Robinson."
Travel in France
Young's first visit to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was in 1787. Travelling all over that country around the start of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, he described the condition of the people and the conduct of public affairs at that critical juncture. The Travels in France appeared in two volumes in 1792. On his return home he was appointed secretary of the Board of Agriculture
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries...
1793 just formed under the presidency of Sir John Sinclair. In this capacity he gave most valuable assistance in the collection and preparation of agricultural surveys of the English counties. His sight, however, failed, and in 1811 he had an operation for cataract
Cataract
A cataract is a clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye or in its envelope, varying in degree from slight to complete opacity and obstructing the passage of light...
, which proved unsuccessful.
On his death, he left an autobiography in manuscript, which was edited (1898) by Miss M. Betham-Edwards
Matilda Betham-Edwards
Matilda Betham-Edwards was an English novelist, travel writer and francophile. She was also a prolific poet and wrote several children's books. She also corresponded with well-known English male poets of the day.-Biography:She was the daughter of a clergyman...
, and is the main authority for his life. He also left the materials for a great work on the Elements and practice of agriculture.
Modern assessments
More recently attention has moved to the small print of his writings and Young has been studied for his methods of investigation. Richard StoneRichard Stone
Sir John Richard Nicholas Stone was an eminent British economist who in 1984 received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing an accounting model that could be used to track economic activities on a national and, later, an international scale...
(1997) presents him as a pioneer national income statistician, continuing the work of Gregory King
Gregory King
Gregory King was an English genealogist, engraver and statistician.-Life:Gregory King was born at Lichfield, England. His father was a surveyor and landscape gardener. Gregory was a very bright boy and his father used him as an assistant in his surveying work. At 14 Gregory became a clerk to...
who had lived a century before. Young produced three estimates of the national income of England, in his Tour through the North of England, Farmer's Tour through the East of England and in his Political Arithmetic. Brunt (2001) emphasises the way Young collected his information and presents him as a pioneer of sample surveys. Young influenced such contemporary observers of economic and social life as Frederick Morton Eden
Frederick Morton Eden
Sir Frederick Morton Eden, 2nd Baronet, of Maryland was an English writer on poverty and pioneering social investigator.-Early life:...
and Sinclair.
Arthur Young was the greatest of all English writers on agriculture; but it is as a social and political observer that he is best known, and his Tour in Ireland and Travels in France are still full of interest and instruction. He saw clearly and exposed unsparingly the causes which retarded the progress of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He strongly urged the repeal of the penal laws which pressed upon the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s; he condemned the restrictions imposed by Great Britain on the commerce of Ireland, and also the perpetual interference of the Irish parliament with industry by prohibitions and bounties. He favoured a legislative union of Ireland with Great Britain, though he did not regard such a measure as absolutely necessary, many of its advantages being otherwise attainable.
He thought the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
of France superior to that of England, but noted that agriculture was neither as well understood nor as highly regarded as in England. He blamed the upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
es for their neglect of it. "Banishment (from court) alone will force the French nobility to execute what the English do for pleasure — reside upon and adorn their estates." Young saw the commencement of violence in the rural districts, and his sympathies began to take the side of the classes suffering from the excesses of the Revolution. This change of attitude was shown by his publication in 1793 of a tract entitled The Example of France a Warning to England. Of the profounder significance of the French outbreak he seems to have had little idea, and thought the crisis would be met by a constitutional adjustment in accordance with the English type. He strongly condemned the metayer system, then widely prevalent in France, as "perpetuating poverty and excluding instruction"—as, in fact, the ruin of the country. Some of his phrases have been often quoted by the advocates of peasant proprietorship as favouring their view.
- "The magic of property turns sand to gold."
- "Give a man the secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him a nine years' lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert."
But these sentences, in which the epigrammatic form exaggerates a truth, and which might seem to represent the possession of capital as of no importance in agriculture, must not be taken as conveying his approbation of the system of small properties in general. He approved it only when the subdivision was strictly limited, and even then with great reserves; and he remained to the end what John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
calls him, "the apostle of la grande culture".
The Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
in 1801 ordered his writings on the art to be translated and published at Paris in 20 volumes under the title of Le Cultivateur anglais. His Travels in France were translated in 1793/1794 by Soules; a new version by M. Lesage, with an introduction by M. de Lavergne, appeared in 1856. An interesting review of the latter publication, under the title of Arthur Young et la France de 1789, will be found in M. Baudrillart's Publicistes modernes (Paris 1st ed., 1862).
Discussion
- See John Gazely's biography to see a discussion of Young's death, often mistakenly dated to April 20.
There is a chapter on Young as an economic statistician in
- Richard Stone Some British Empiricists in the Social Sciences 1650-1900, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
On Young as a survey statistician see
- L. Brunt The Advent of the Sample Survey in the Social Sciences, The Statistician, 50,(2001),171-190.
On Young as agronomist
Agronomist
An agronomist is a scientist who specializes in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. An agronomist is an expert in agricultural and allied sciences, with the exception veterinary sciences.Agronomists deal with interactions between plants, soils, and...
and agrarian traveler see
- Antonio Saltini Storia delle Scienze agrarie volume III 2011, pagg. 1-39. ISBN 9788896459119
Resources
- Works by Arthur Young at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - Arthur Young's Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789 from The Library of Economics and Liberty
- Travels in France and Italy During the Years 1787, 1788 and 1789 from Archive for the History of Economic Thought
- Full text of Arthur Young's Tours in England and Wales, selected from the Annals of Agriculture on A Vision of Britain through Time, with links to the places mentioned.
The National Portrait Gallery has 5 portraits of Young: