170 Years of Industrial Change across England and Wales

The office of national statistics report today 5 June gives an analysis of the censuses from 1841 to 2011. At every Census from 1841, the percentage of people working in agriculture and fishing has declined. In 1841, 22% of people worked in this industry and by 2011 this had fallen to less than 1%.

Decline of the agricultural industry

From the 1830’s onwards, after the invention of the high pressured steam engine in 1801, steam powered railways played an increasing part in the changing landscape of Great Britain’s economy. Cities and towns became better connected as the construction of a national railway network began. Between 1848 and 1899 the length of railway in Great Britain tripled, from less than 5,000 miles to over 18,000 miles. Many of those who built the railways did not return to their rural lifestyles after completing their work and they remained in the cities, which in part decreased the numbers engaged in agricultural activities.


In 1841, over one in five workers (22%) were in the Agriculture and fishing industry. The industry has been in steady decline over the last 170 years and is currently the smallest in England and Wales. In 2011, less than one in a hundred employed people (1%, 0.2 million people) worked in this industry.

Elsewhere in the world, by 1875 the network of steam-powered railways and ships allowed the United States to export the surplus of cereals it produced. Also around this time, the development of reliable refrigeration technology meant that cheaper meat and other agricultural products could be transported from Australia, New Zealand and South America to Britain and stored here. This increase in importing food reduced the amount of agricultural activity that was required within Great Britain.

The development, and increased use, of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides in agriculture meant that fewer crops failed. Whilst, better storage technologies meant that more produce could be stored in larger quantities for longer without spoiling. The use of machines within agriculture decreased the need for as many workers as previously were required. From the digging plough in 1885 to the increased use of tractors, mechanical threshers and combine harvesters throughout the 20th century, the advances in technology meant that fewer workers could collect more produce from a larger area of land. In 1900 one agricultural worker fed around 25 people in Great Britain, by 2010 one agricultural worker fed 200 people. Increased globalisation and dependence on imports to supply the increasing British population with the food it needs has run alongside the decline in the Agriculture and fishing industry within England and Wales.