THE FARMWORKERS’ LOT

Dad got married in 1946 and when I came along there were five of us now living in the tiny cottage down Green Lane and our mum joined the workforce, tending to animals and working in the fields.

Doncaster farms

My dad’s National Identity Card confirms my own parents’ movement around this time. Harris Brothers took over neighbouring Sandal Common Farm, and the combined land holding at Doncaster was now over 300 acres. From 1952 they traded here as A J Harris and Son. Grandad became foreman over both farms and he and Nan moved into the Sandal Common farmhouse.

The farm owner’s son, Ken Harris, was sent to live with our grandparents at Sandal Common when he was just 14 and thereafter was treated as one of the family. Ken’s career as a proper farmer began by learning to do what he was told and getting his hands mucky from the outset. He was a fine, practical man