'After London Or Wild England-' Richard Jefferies (1848- 1887)

                                             A catastrophe novel from 1885 

I finally caught up with local folk band Bird in the Belly at The Ropetackle, Shoreham by Sea, on 24th January 2025: The band specialise in finding obscure ballads, along with pursing the histories of lesser known subjects. The first blogpost of 'Bleak Chesney Wold'  -There Was No Hope In this World -was inspired by the Bird in the Belly song  45 George Street. And the last CD by the band 'After The City' (2022), has led to another post, this time looking at a work by Richard Jefferies.

'After London or Wild England' by Richard Jefferies (1848- 1887), published in 1885, is a most disturbing read. Sometimes classed as 'dystopian' but is probably closer to catastrophe fiction.  Opening with an unnamed narrator reports on a calamity that occurred forty years previously : Something goes awry with the earth's magnetic field leading to London being destroyed and turned into a swamp with various vapours taking demonic forms. Other cities have come tumbling down. Railways are no longer operating.Of course London was the administrative and economic centre of a whole empire and its loss would have far reaching repercussions. 

 The first part is subtitled 'The Relapse Into Barbarism' and lasts about a fifth of the text . Human existence reverts to some sort of ferocious struggle to survive,  with Medieval type barons forming private armies. Anyone who breaks the rules is sold into slavery, their families resort to begging. The subsequent mutations of animals and plants is gone into with incredible detail. The geography of a deranged landscape is also pictured.  'After London' does not contain a message, humanity is not being called to account for any higher purpose.The idea of civilisation ending without a cause or meaning adds to the menace, perhaps more unnerving rather than an intended  utopia turning into a dystopia. Judging by recent readers' disparaging  reviews on Amazon.UK ,it's all a bit too much.

The Second Part 'Wild England' concerns the life of a young nobleman and his adventures in the bleak post-catastrophe landscape, determined to explore beyond his immediate area. Contains elements of the heroic quest myth.

Richard Jefferies was born in Coates, Wiltshire, in 1848. His father ran a small farm, which began to fail. As a youth he explored the Savernake Forest, the Marlborough Downs, Burderop Woods, and Liddington Hill, and became a local journalist at the age of seventeen. Jefferies wrote a great deal about agriculture, the conditions of rural labourers, and had some unsuccessful novels published. In 1877 or 1878 he moved to Surbiton,Surrey. In the last ten years of his life, his writing attracted more success, though his health was not robust. SOCIETY

Jefferies' most noticeable books included the children's stories 'Bevis' and 'Wood Magic' along with the extensive studies of rural Surrey such as  'Life of the Field', ,'Nature Near London'. MARSH It is worth emphasising that 'After London Or Wild England' was not typical of his work. Jefferies is more known as for his reverence for the countryside. Taking some lines from his autobiography 'The Story of My Heart', chapter 1:

"On the south-western side there was a spot where the outer bank had partially slipped, leaving a gap. There the view was over a broad plain, beautiful with wheat, and inclosed  (sic) by a perfect amphitheatre of green hills. Through these hills there was one narrow groove, or pass, southwards, where the white clouds seemed to close in the horizon."

The poet Edward Thomas read Richard Jefferies' 'The Amateur Poacher' as a school boy. The last few lines of this book inspired him for the rest of his life:

"Let us get out of these narrow modern days, whose twelve hours have somehow become shortened, into the sunlight and pure wind. A something that the ancients thought divine can be found and felt there still."  

Edward Thomas, wrote a biography of Jefferies, published in 1909.

Henry Williamson, famous for 'Tarka The Otter', and 'A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight' series was also an admirer. Both authors appeared to have found a form of nature mysticism within Jefferies' writing. Surprisingly Thomas Hardy did not seem to take to his work, taking umbrage at the title of Jefferies' book about agricultural labourers titled 'Hodge and his Masters'. TOMALIN

The Bird in the Belly CD 'After The City' contains  three tracks After London (As the Rebirth I)  Lay Low Lay (As the Rebirth II)   and  The Ships (As the Rebirth III) that particularly connect to 'After the City' . The first track highlights how the English countryside was slipping into decline, and the agricultural order was breaking down. 

After London (As the Rebirth 1)

"After London ended
Everything was green,
The meadows and the rising wheat
After London ended.

The wheat, when it had ripened

With no one left to reap
Was eaten by the sparrows
After London ended.....

Footpaths were concealed,
And long grass grabbed the feet
Of those who tried to use them
After London ended. 

Barley oats, and beans appeared
But with diminished force
And coarser plants did choke them
After London ended."

There were existing pressures on the countryside in the latter 19th century: Steam ships were bringing in produce from the new cultivated prairies of the Americas, mechanisation was having an impact. Mechanical refrigeration was yet to make an impact. 

However, in Jefferies's scenario, the crops were not being harvested. Abundant food for mice and rats, who grew in number. Feral cats and dogs in turn fed on them. 

The following Bird in the Belly track draws on Jefferies' view of the end of London. 

Lay Low Lay (As The Rebirth II) 

"The wind, it collects miasma as a cloud
That hangs over marches,
And suffocates the land
The Wildfowl left the towering reeds,
No fishes, eels or herons
All the decay of the last 1000 years
Rots below the water, with a million human
beings
Their flesh creates the vapour
That hides the sun at certain hours."   

Bird in the Belly's pursuit of darker history, usually focused on the lives of the 'ordinary' rather than the famous. 'After the City' takes this one step further, into some quite unnerving territory. And they achieve this very well. 

Credits

Picture Credit : 'Wild Boars and Wolf', Friedrich Gauermann, (1835), Courtesy of The Victoria & Albert Museum Collection. 

Lyrics quoted with the kind permission of Ben Webb, (Bird in the Belly). 

Sources -On Line

Bird in the Belly  band website 

After London review  From the Eclectic Bookworm Youtube Channel

On-line texts by Richard Jefferies

The Story of my Heart  Text from Gutenberg on line

Nature Near London  Text from Gutenberg on line 

After London or Wild England  Text from Archive Org. 

Edward Thomas

Richard Jefferies His Life and Work   Text from Archive Org 

Richard Jefferies

Richard Jefferies Society Home page

Richard Jefferies Society Youtube

Books

'Thomas Hardy, The Time Torn Man' , Claire TOMALIN , Viking/Penguin Books. 2006 

'Edward Thomas: A Poet For His Country' Jan MARSH 

Thank you to all visitors to this blog from around the world. Your interest is much appreciated.Also grateful to Bird in the Belly for highlighting Richard Jefferies' work. 

 As ever, any errors or schoolboy howlers in this piece are my responsibility, and can not be attributed to the sources that I have cited. 

Michael Bully
Brighton

22nd February 2025 

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