A Dartmoor Farmer, His Daughters & His Diary | 08.07.2021

A Dartmoor Farmer, His Daughters & His Diary.  
A Zoom talk by Dr Jacqueline Sarsby on Thursday 8th July 2021 at 6pm.

William Dunning farmed on the edge of Dartmoor from 1892 until 1950. He was a farmer with no sons, but with the help of his daughters he was able to care for his cows and calves, his Dartmoor sheep, his pigs and his poultry; and to grow the crops that a hungry nation needed during the First World War. Farmers’ daughters are often the forgotten workforce, but on small Devon farms they were sometimes indispensable. This illustrated talk will follow the life of the farmer, his family and community through the first half of the 20th century, when horses were giving way to cars, buses and tractors, and tourism was bringing changes to the countryside. Using William Dunning’s diaries, and the documents kept safely by his family, our speaker will reveal a rich pattern of social and work relationships, sharing, hospitality and friendship, which ensured stability in a changing era.

Dr Jacqueline Sarsby trained as a social anthropologist at the London School of Economics and her doctoral thesis was later published by Penguin Books. Following a temporary post at Keele University, she took up a tenured lectureship at the University of Kent in 1978, and became interested in oral history and black and white photography. Jacqueline has worked freelance since 1987, researching, writing, lecturing and producing exhibitions on topics such as the lives of women on Devon farms, and the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Stroud Valleys.

Tickets are £5 per device accessing the talk. 
To purchase a ticket please call us on 01548 830832 or email office@dra.uk.net. Please note that payments are non-refundable.

Booking will close at 12 noon on Tuesday 6th July and the joining instructions will be issued to participants by email later that day. You will need to supply a valid phone number and email address for our records.

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