Three acres, two elections, one cow and many songs

I have been undertaking a partial detour from the Halls, distracted by the political and social upheaval that surrounded the British general elections of 1885 and 1886.

It all started when I started investigating a music hall song by Arthur Lloyd. I knew that at least two songs existed with the title Three acres and a cow, but searching contemporary Victorian newspapers and periodicals, I found that in the 8 months between the general elections of December 1885 and July 1886, there was an outpouring of vitriolic songs and verse about the issue. This post gives an overview -my full notes, including the songs and verses, are in a pdf available for download below.

The UK General Election of 1885 took place in late November and early December and was the first after significant reforms which extended the franchise. For the first time most constituencies returned a single MP and the majority of adult males could vote (both had been key Chartist demands). It was also the first time openly socialist candidates stood – three from the Social Democratic Federation. Both of Conservatives and Liberals were divided about how to appeal to the huge number of newly enfranchised rural and urban workers

The Liberal Party was led by William Gladstone, but there was a significant faction of Radical Liberals around Joseph Chamberlain and Jesse Collings who campaigned for the so-called Unauthorised or Radical Programme. Chamberlain, frustrated by the intransigence of (small c) conservative Liberals (known as Whigs) feared the growth of socialism and its appeal to the newly expanded electorate. The Programme included calls for:

• slum clearance and housing improvements
• the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England,
• free schools to be funded in part by the Church,
• “3 acres and a cow” compulsory purchase powers to buy land for the creation of small holdings.

Chamberlain and Radical Liberals toured the country making fiery speeches, alarming the land-owning classes who supported the Tories. The attacks on Chamberlain, his allies and the Unauthorised/Radical Programme were vicious. Rural and urban workers who supported the demands for land reform were dismissed as utopian. Chamberlain’s involvement in the campaign was written off as a cynical electioneering ploy and the offer of land was dismissed as a bribe. This was a reasonable accusation as Chamberlain vacillated between radical language on the stump and much calmer tones when addressing members of the establishment. There is also evidence that a number of working class organisations and individuals were cynical about Chamberlain’s motivations. I should also say that Chamberlain was in no way a radical in today’s terms: he was a great supporter of the British Empire and his demands for reform at home relied on an assumption that Britain would continue to exploit the people in its colonies.

The Liberals won the election convincingly, though the role and influence of the Radical Liberal campaign is disputed and the reforms were never implemented. The Liberals fell apart almost immediately over the issue of Irish Home Rule, leading to another election in July 1886. The Conservatives formed a new government with the support of Unionist Liberals who opposed Irish Home Rule, including Joseph Chamberlain and John Bright.

The radical campaign led to an outpouring of songs and verse, some directly used as campaigning tools others commenting on the furore. The sheer volume of songs and verse circulating in a 9-month period tends to contradict the opinion of some historians who suggest that the campaign had little impact.

I have found just over 20 songs and verses directly related to the Radical Programme, and where we know publication dates, most were published in the eight-month period between summer 1885 and spring 1886. Most songs and verses published in newspapers perhaps unsurprisingly were critical of the Programme, whilst a small but significant number of songs supported it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, songs sympathetic to the Radical Programme largely come from purely oral sources or cheap street literature sold to working people.

The two most successful Music Hall songs on the issue were Arthur Lloyd’s A cow and three acres and Harry Liston’s Them 3 acres of land and a cow, though it’s likely there were many other songs that were sung for a few weeks but never published. Both songs are cynical and unsympathetic to the demand for land reform. Some commentators dismiss songs like these as Tory propaganda, but we need to remember we are seeing the polite, written versions and we know that both Liston and Lloyd improvised and changed songs to suit their audience.

Two apparently contemporary songs in favour of reform were both called Three acres and a cow:

• The song most often sung today is Three acres and a cow sung to the tune of Music Hall standard, I wish they’d do it now. Roy Palmer published it in the excellent The Painful Plough.
• Francis Shergold of Bampton Morris sang a different song also called Three acres and a cow, collected by John Howson in 1987. Shergold says the song came from his grandfather.

There are loads more songs to look at in my notes:

Last Updated on July 23, 2021 by John Baxter | Published: July 23, 2021