Estate Finances and Administration

Beardmore, Carol

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14552-1_2

Carol Beardmore⁶

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance ((PSHF))

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Abstract

The landed estate at the outset of the nineteenth century underpinned the aristocratic classes. Yet its administration has attracted relatively little research. In a period when absenteeism was rising through a greater call on the time of the landed elite for political service, there was a need for skilful men to administer estates. This chapter explores the expanding role and scope of the land agent, investigates the role of accounts in defining the financial health of the estate and examines rising indebtedness of the landowner himself and the methods used by the land agent to raise large mortgages and loans.

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Notes

1.
T. Gisborne (1794) An Enquiry into the Duties of Men in the Higher and Middle Classes of Society in Great Britain (London: B. and J. White), pp. 573–575.
2.
Ibid., pp. 573–621.
3.
See, S. G. Osborne (1838) Hints To The Charitable Being Practical Observations On The Proper Regulation of Private Charity (London: T. and W. Boone, J. Hatchard and Son, J. Nisbet and Son, Roake and Varty) and G. W. Perry (1846) The Peasantry of England: An Appeal to the Nobility, Clergy and Gentry, On Behalf of the Working Classes (London: C. Gilpin).
4.
S. Webster (2007) ‘Estate Improvement and the Professionalisation of Land Agents on the Egremont Estates in Sussex and Yorkshire, 1770–1835’, Rural History, 18:1, p. 48.
5.
F. M. L. Thompson (1971) English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century (London: Routledge, Kegan & Paul), p. 151.
6.
C. Shrimpton, (1977) The Landed Society and the Farming Community of Essex in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (New York: Arno Press), p. 206.
7.
D. Spring (1963) The English Landed Estate in the Nineteenth Century: Its Administration (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press), p. 128.
8.
See for example, C. A. Beardmore, Steven King and Geoff Monks (2016) The Land Agent in Britain: Past, Present and Future (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars) and L. A. Rees, Ciarán Reilly and A. Tindley The Land Agent 1720–1900 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).
9.
Thompson (1971) English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century, p. 151.
10.
E. Richards (1981) ‘The Land Agent’ in G. E. Mingay (ed.), The Victorian Countryside (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul), p. 443.
11.
See for example, E. Laurence (1731) The Duty and Office of a Land Steward (London: Arno Press), p. 8 and G. A. Dean (1851) The Land Steward (London: Atchley & Co), p. 237.
12.
Laurence, The Duty and Office of a Land Steward, p. 8.
13.
Richards, ‘The Land Agent’, p. 443.
14.
Rees, Reilly and Tindley, ‘Introduction’, p. 11.
15.
Richards, ‘The Land Agent’, p. 440.
16.
W. Marshall, On the Management of Landed Estates: A General Work for the Use of Professional Men (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1806), p. 362.
17.
J. Lawrence (1806) The Modern Land Steward (London: H. D. Symonds), p. 42.
18.
Spring, The English Landed Estate in the Nineteenth Century, p. 4, and for an exploration of the relationship between land agent and agent-in-chief, see G. Monks (2018) ‘William Gould, Land Agent and the Rural Community in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire’, Family and Community History, 19:2, pp. 67–81.
19.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/22, Letter dated 1817 from an anonymous gentleman in Shaftesbury complaining about the various stewards and agents who have been running the estate.
20.
Wimborne to Stalbridge is around 24 miles.
21.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/31, This letter is undated but is amongst the 1822 letters. Castleman also acted as agent for the Hanham estate in Wimborne, the Bankes at Kingston Lacy and the firm of Chisletts and Rawlence also in Wimborne.
22.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/31, This letter is undated but is amongst the 1822 letters.
23.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/26, 22 December 1820.
24.
E. L. Jones (2018) Landed Estates and Rural Inequality in English Landed History: From the Mid-Seventeenth Century to the Present (London: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 8.
25.
See, for example, Beardmore, King and Monks The Land Agent in Britain; Geoff Monks (2016) ‘The Duke of Portland and his Agent: The Education Act of 1870’, Family and Community History, 19:2, pp. 95–105, Monks, ‘William Gould, Land Agent and the Rural Community in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire 1783–1788’; Rees, Reilly and Tindley, ‘Introduction’ in Rees, Reilly and Tindley The Land Agent 1720–1900.
26.
See, I. Jones (1993) The Stalbridge Inheritance 1780–1854 (Dorchester: Friary Press), pp. 100–105.
27.
This narrative will be returned to in Chap. 5.
28.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/25, 20 August 1820.
29.
DHC, D/ANG/B4/37, Stone quarry accounts up to Michaelmas 1816.
30.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/31, 18 April 1822.
31.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/50, 27 March 1836.
32.
DHC, D/ANG/B4/37, Stone quarry accounts up to Michaelmas 1816.
33.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/50, 27 March 1836.
34.
J. V. Beckett (1989) ‘Landownership and Estate Management’ in in J. Thirsk (ed.), The Agrarian History of England and Wales VI 1750–1850 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 564.
35.
T. W. Beastall (1981) ‘Landlords and Tenants’ in G. E. Mingay, (e.d.) The Victorian Countryside Vols I and II (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd.), p. 428.
36.
The most well-known of this type of lease are at Holkham Hall in Norfolk.
37.
Beastall ‘Landlords and Tenants’, p. 428.
38.
L. P. Adams (1965) Agricultural Depression and Farm Relief in England 1813–1852 (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd), p. 6.
39.
R. W. Hoyle (2016) ‘Introduction: Recovering the Farmer’ in R. W. Hoyle, (ed.), The Farmer in England 1650–1980 (Abingdon: Routledge), p. 2.
40.
J. D. Chambers and G.E. Mingay (1982) The Agricultural Revolution, 1750–1880 (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd.), p. 21.
41.
Ibid.
42.
L. P. Adams (1965) Agricultural Depression and Farm Relief in England 1813–1852 (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd), p. 6.
43.
Chambers and Mingay, The Agricultural Revolution, p. 44.
44.
Ibid., p. 47.
45.
Adams, Agricultural Depression and Farm Relief, p. 6.
46.
D. Stead (2003) ‘The Mobility of English Tenant Farmers, c. 1750–1850’ Agricultural History Review 51:2, p. 174.
47.
C. Clay (1981) ‘Lifeleasehold in the Western Counties of England 1650–1750’, The Agricultural History Review, 29:2, pp. 83–84.
48.
DHC D/ANG/B5/58 although this leasehold was granted in 1819 it appears among the sale documents for the estate in 1844.
49.
C. Beardmore (2015) ‘Landowner, Tenant and Agent on the Marquis of Anglesey’s Dorset and Somerset Estate, 1814–44’ Rural History 26:2, p. 186.
50.
See, W. Stevenson (1812) General View of the Agriculture of Dorset (London), p. 74.
51.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/46 Letter to Mr. Lowe 1 February 1834.
52.
Ibid.
53.
Ibid.
54.
W. Stevenson (1812) General View of the Agriculture of Dorset (London).
55.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/46 Letter to Mr. Lowe 1 February 1834.
56.
DHC, D/ANG/B4/4/37 Estate Vouchers for 1816.
57.
D. R. Hainsworth (1992) Stewards, Lords and People: The Estate Steward and His World in Later Stuart England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 59.
58.
Ibid.
59.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/16, 21 December 1814.
60.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/46, 1 February 1834.
61.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/32, 28 January 1823.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Comment by the Marquis of Anglesey on the letter from Castleman, 28 January 1823.
64.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/32, 8 February 1823.
65.
Ibid., 23 January 1823.
66.
See, C. J. Napier (1991) ‘Aristocratic Accounting: The Bute Estate in Glamorgan 1814–1880’, Accounting and Business Research, 21:82, pp. 163–174.
67.
Thompson, English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century, p. 153.
68.
Napier, ‘Aristocratic Accounting’, pp. 163–174.
69.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/63 General Summary of the Estate in 1845, this is a smaller estate than the one inherited in 1812, it does not take into account any lands previously sold off.
70.
Using https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator the estimated value of the estate in 1844 was £65,213,195.87 based on an inflation rate of 2.8 per cent per annum.
71.
DHC, D/ANG/B4/1/82. Michaelmas Account 1844.
72.
Hainsworth (1992) Stewards, Lords and People, pp. 33–34.
73.
Ibid.
74.
For example, William Castleman had a safe within his office at home with an elaborate concealed lock.
75.
J. C. Loudon (1826) An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture (London: Longman Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans) p. 769.
76.
J. Mordant (1761) The Complete Steward or The Duty of a Steward to his Lord (London: W. Sandby), p. 340.
77.
Lawrence, The Modern Land Steward, pp. 120–123.
78.
Ibid.
79.
Ibid, pp. 124–126.
80.
J. R. Edwards, ‘Accounting on English Landed Estates During the Agricultural Revolution – A Textbook Perspective’, Accounting Historians Journal, 38:2 (December, 2011), pp. 9–10.
81.
See C. W. Noke (1981) ‘Accounting for Bailiffship in Thirteenth Century England’, Accounting and Business Research 12:2, pp. 137–151.
82.
See, Rees, Reilly and Tindley, ‘Introduction’ and Oldroyd, Estates, Enterprise and Investment at the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution, p. 18.
83.
W. T. Baxter, ‘The Account Charge and Discharge’, The Accounting Historians Journal, 7:1 (Spring, 1980), p. 70.
84.
This was an unsophisticated system whereby lines were drawn on a table to act as columns for units, tens, scores etc.
85.
M. E. Turner, J. V. Beckett and B. Afton (1997) Agricultural Rent in England, 1690–1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
86.
Ibid., p. 6.
87.
Ibid., pp. 85–87.
88.
DHC, D/ANG/B4/1/34; D/ANG/B4/1/36; D/ANG/B4/1/38; D/ANG/B4/1/40; D/ANG/B4/1/42; D/ANG/B4/1/44; D/ANG/B4/1/46; D/ANG/B4/1/48; D/ANG/B4/1/50; D/ANG/B4/1/52; D/ANG/B4/1/54; D/ANG/B4/1/56.
89.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/67.
90.
F. M. L. Thompson, (1969) ‘Landownership and Economic Growth in England in the Eighteenth Century’ in E. L. Jones and S. J. Woolf, (eds) Agrarian Change and Economic Development: The Historical Problem (Abingdon: Routledge), p. 54.
91.
See, D. Cannadine (1994) Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain (New Haven & London: Yale University Press).
92.
Thompson, ‘Landownership and Economic Growth in England in the Eighteenth Century’ in Jones and Woolf, (eds) Agrarian Change and Economic Development, p. 54.
93.
R. C. Allen (1998) ‘Landlords and Economic Development in England, 1450–1800’ in Aristocracy, Patrimonial Management Strategies and Economic Development, 1450–1800 (Seville: University of Seville), p. 24.
94.
M. J. Daunton, Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700–1850 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 76.
95.
Daunton, Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain, p. 76.
96.
Cannadine, Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain, pp. 39–42.
97.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/45, 15 January 1833.
98.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator accessed 20 January 2019, suggests that in 2018 this would have equated to around £65 million pounds.
99.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/45, 15 January 1833.
100.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator according to Bank of England inflation calculator this equates to just over four million pounds a year in these outgoings alone.
101.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/45, 15 January 1833.
102.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/68, 24 December 1833 – held with the sale documents compiled in 1846.
103.
Ibid
104.
See, Cannadine, Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain, particularly Chapter 2 ‘Aristocratic Indebtedness in the Nineteenth Century’, pp. 37–54.
105.
Jones, The Stalbridge Inheritance 1780–1854.
106.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/36, Castleman to Anglesey on the loan situation, 31 May 1825.
107.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/37, 1 February 1826.
108.
Ibid., 14 March 1826.
109.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/39, 12 April 1827.
110.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/42, 3 April 1830.
111.
DHC, D/ANG/B5/40, Half yearly statement of interest.

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University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Carol Beardmore

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Beardmore, C. (2019). Estate Finances and Administration. In: Financing the Landed Estate. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14552-1_2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14552-1_2
Published: 11 May 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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