But I'm puzzled Will in that I think I remember a different religious heritage being claimed by you.

Sorry to disappoint, Richard, but, as an atheist, I don't think I've ever claimed any religious heritage here on Mudcat, or anywhere else for that matter! I was merely commenting on the parlous state of the East Anglian agricultural labourer in the 1840s - all part of the hard times felt by the poor, whether English, Irish or Scottish.

My Irish lot were Catholics; the Scottish lot were probably Presbyterian; the Lancashire lot included Wesleyan Methodists...