The rise of agricultural auctioneering in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain

Although the auctioneer has an accepted and crucial role in present-day agriculture, little is known of how this developed. The study uncovers evidence of the emergent auctioneering trade in the second half of the eighteenth century, indicating that those who were most active as general auctioneers included some casualties of urban business life. It is suggested that the tarnished image of the early auction trade may have appealed to those in rural society who were concurrently being denied traditional recreations and festivities. The paper concludes by suggesting that if the farm dispersal sale was widely construed as entertainment, then this would enhance its economic appeal.