to tidy up previous acts. In 1845, another General Inclosure Act instituted the appointment of Inclosure Commissioners, who could enclose land without submitting a request to Parliament. The powers granted in the Inclosure Act 1773 of the Parliament of Great Britain were often abused by landowners: the preliminary meetings where enclosure was discussed, intended to be held in public, often took place in the presence of only the local landowners, who regularly chose their own solicitors, surveyors and commissioners to decide on each case. In 1786 there were still 250,000 independent landowners, but in the course of only thirty years their number was reduced to 32,000. The tenants displaced by the process often left the countryside to work in the towns. This contributed to the Industrial Revolution – at the very moment new technological advances required large numbers of workers, a concentration of large numbers of people in need of work had emerged; the former country tenants and their descendants became workers in industrial factories within cities. A poem from the 18th century reads as a protest against the inclosure acts: List of acts The Inclosure Act 1773 (13 Geo.3 c.81) The Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1882 mean: The Inclosure Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 118) The Inclosure Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 70) The Inclosure Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 111) The Inclosure Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 99) The Inclosure Act 1849 (12 & 13 Vict. c. 83) The Inclosure Commissioners Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. 53) The Inclosure Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 79) The Inclosure Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 97) The Inclosure Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 31) The Inclosure Act 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c. 43) The Inclosure, etc. Expenses Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 89) The Commons Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 56) The Commons (Expenses) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 56) The Commons Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 37) The Commonable Rights Compensation Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 15) See also English land law Common land Enclosure List of short titles Primitive accumulation of capital Notes Citations References The Parliamentary Debates, Volume 80. By Great Britain. Parliament.p. 483 Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 12. By Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons 104