The nineteenth century Gazette Corn Returns from East Anglian markets

Abstract

The official Corn Returns for individual market towns, published weekly in the London Gazette, present an opportunity for examining the activity of English country grain markets during the nineteenth century. This paper describes this currently neglected source and considers its credibility and value, using records for East Anglia as a case study. The paper is set against an account of the methods employed in collecting the Returns and a discussion of problems of reliability particularly in the quantity series. The annual quantity series for wheat and barley from 1820 to 1864 for nine East Anglian markets are then examined using methods of time series factor analysis. It is argued that the similarities in these series demonstrate a high degree of consistency and therefore credibility. The general fluctuations in wheat and barley sales in these East Anglian markets are related to production, but differences between the various markets are analysed in terms of a hypothesis that sets the farmers' decisions as to where and to whom to sell the grain within the context of the general farm economy, relating them to the balance between the sale and carriage price for grain on the one hand and the need for and cost of farm inputs on the other. The paper ends with suggestions of other areas of research where these Corn Returns could prove valuable.