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Stunning Historical Photos of Hop Pickers from Kent, England in the 1900s

Kent is known as the “Garden of England” because of its abundance of orchards and hops gardens. Hops are the flowers of the Humulus lupulus plant, used mainly as a bittering, flavoring, and stabilizing agent in beer and imparting floral, fruity, or citrus flavors and aromas. They are also used in other beverages and herbal medicines. There are separate female and male hops plants, and only female plants are used for commercial production.

Kent was the earliest center for hop culture as it had good soil, an enclosed field system, and a good supply of wood for poles and charcoal for drying that contributed to the creation of the first English hop garden near Canterbury in 1520. Kent farmers were also among the wealthiest of their time to afford the initial capital outlay.

Henry Butcher invented simple yet effective training hops in Kent about 1875. Picking the hops in September required a lot of workforces in all hop-growing regions of England, as the crop’s value depends on it being picked quickly and at the right time. During the mid-17th century, some ‘strangers came a-hopping’ in Kent, indicating that there were few local workers. London mainly provided Kent’s workforce, and at its peak, over 80,000 people poured into Kent every autumn. – The British Hop Association.

Below are some fascinating black and white pictures of hop picker families of Kent from the early 1900s.

#1 Hop pickers move furniture into their summer quarters at Buston Manor near Maidstone, Kent, 1949.

#5 A family of hop pickers stand beside their packed cart, 1907.

#7 Hop pickers arrive at the Kentish hop fields, 1910.

#9 Hop pickers in a camp in the Kentish hop fields, 1910.

#10 A family of hop pickers at Victoria Station in London, 1919.

#11 Hop pickers use stilts on a farm at Wateringbury in Kent, 1928.

#12 Hoppers at work at Whitbreads Farm at Beltring, Kent, circa 1930.

#14 Hop pickers’ children watch as a Franciscan friar puts up a notice of a church service, 1933.

#15 A Franciscan friar and nun walk with hop pickers’ children at Paddock Wood, Kent, 1934.

#16 Salvation Army workers look after the children of hop pickers, 1936.

#17 A woman prepares a meal for hop pickers at the Whitbread hop camp in Paddock Wood, Kent, 1937.

#18 A group of young hop pickers enjoy glasses of milk from a milk bar near the fields in Kent, 1938.

#19 A host serves lunch to a hop picking family in Kent, 1944.

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Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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