““The family had been reasonably prosperous until “the Enclosures.” These were a series of acts of Parliament that enclosed land that had previously been open. Until the Enclosure Acts, local people had been able to use this common land for grazing animals and collecting firewood. More than a fifth of the land in England was enclosed by these acts to bring it into more productive use by farmers and landowners. Whole villages that had previously been self-sufficient were driven into poverty as a result. The impoverishment of Witheridge by the Enclosure Acts rendered most of Mr. Willcocks’s usual customers unable to afford new footwear. After this, everyone in the village fell on hard times, except for the squire, who benefited from the land enclosure.””
