Poachers
November 2017
This rare figure depicts a confrontation between a poacher and a landowner. It is truly representative of rural life in Victorian times. There were many families living in the countryside but the size of their families coupled with low incomes meant they often resorted to poaching to find food to eat. Although this was commonplace it was a dangerous thing to do as if caught, the perpetrator would find that his punishment at law would be either imprisonment, deportation to the colonies and hard labour or sometimes hanging.
This figure is unusual as it is titled “Poachers”. It is well modelled and coloured and dates from circa 1850.
