English Landownership

English Landownership, 1680-1740 Author(s): H. J. Habakkuk Source: The Economic History Review, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Feb.
, 1940), pp. 2-17 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2590281 . Accessed: 27/08/2013 12:31
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Wiley and Economic History Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Economic History Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:31:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ENGLISH LANDOWNERSHIP,I68o
I740.
period,found the key to the Civil War in the shiftof the andaboveall from theCrown, from theChurch, property to the squires. This notionof the landowners greatsemi-feudal of conception has becomethe organising riseof the squirearchy of theMonasteries theDissolution between Englishsocialhistory of theshire and I640. DuringthisIOOyearstheclassof knights ofstrength from thebourgeoisie. accession a considerable received of government, someofficials lawyers, Londoners-someof them land fromthe but the greatmass of themmerchants-bought and inefficiently their estates managed who families greatlanded to the new conditions who failed to adapt theirorganisation because partly bought created by thepricerise. These merchants to landownership butperhaps attached which ofthesocialprestige of the greatfamilies were estates morebecausethe unimproved theycould be enclosedand rackinvestments; veryprofitable a veryhighrateof represent might rent and theimproved rented is-that price. The implication purchase on the original interest and earlyseventeenth in the sixteenth progressin agriculture capital and commercial centuriescame from the commercial of suchmen. instincts who came to England in the early eighteenth Frenchmen of century pointedto this class of squiresas a unique feature English societyand the secretof her social stability; a class on theone handand territorial aristocracy from thegreat distinct not merely on theother, farmer and tenant freeholder thesmaller butlinking, ofthecountryside, classes thevarious together binding thewholeof ruralsociety of personal relationships, by a network of London. Yet at thevery society and financial to themercantile in their praise vigorous weremost observers time whencontinental the mostimportant it no longerrepresented of the squirearchy, in drift ofproperty in Englishrural society.The general elements and the of thelargeestate after i690 was in favour thesixty years notso decisive was probably lord; andwhilethemovement great the i640 consolidated in thehundred yearsbefore as thatwhich, in the disone of the greatchanges it clearly marks squirearchy, landedproperty. of English position
1 This article ofNorthamptonis baseduponworkdoneon thelandedestates shireand Bedfordshire.
By H. J. HABAKKUK.
at theend of theCommonwealth TARRINGTON, writing
ENGLISH LANDOWNERSHIP,
I68o-I7443
in the mid-sevenThe upperclassesof Englishlandedsociety fell roughly into threegroups. The aristocracy teenthcentury territorial enormous of socialtypes and covered included a variety aggregations such as those of the Capells,Earls of Essex, the and theTalbotswiththesmaller morelocalised estates of Stanleys families withan annualrentalof about ?3,ooo. Almostall the wereof thissecondtype. and Bedfordshire peersin Northampton a of substantial Therewas secondly group squireswithrentals nearer the Ci,ooo. Their betweenC8ooand C2,ooo, butnormally whichwas a great werevaried, butin Northamptonshire, origins of themwerethe second forsquires, the mostimportant county in the of merchants or third who had boughtestates generation or the earlier enclosedextensively sixteenth seventeenth century, for grazing sheepand cattle andletouttheir landsto largefarmers a leading rolein national Few ofthem played theLondonmarket. but thenamesat leastof mostof themare familiar;the history, Osbornesto whom Dorothybelongs,Sir Justinian Isham,the " Emperor " ofDorothy's oftheGunpowder letters, theTreshams at whose house at Fawsley the Martin Plot, the Knightleys Tracts Marprelate wereprinted, theDrydens ofwhomthepoetwas a junior member. squires-the landed Gradingofffromthesewere the smaller rollof C8ooand less,with witha rent gentry, mainly commoners, an influence usuallylocalisedto theirown villageor hundred; from and in their thesmallfreeholder lowerranges distinguished cultivated theleasehold that though they usually bythefact farmer thegreater income somepartof their estates partof their directly also by theirsocial activitiescame fromrents; distinguished theywere J.P.s (some were M.P.s) and in the lateryearsof the didmost oftheadministration ofthecounties. Commonwealth they overan areasufficiently I havenotyetbeenableto compute, large this theproportion to form a basisof generalisation, oflandwhich thefigures that willshowthat as a classthey classheld. ButI think held considerably morelandthanthesubstantial squires. thepeersand thesquires, The linebetween thetwofirst classes, was in i640 by no meansclear. Families Earls liketheComptons of Northampton, theSpencers Earlsof Sunderland, theMontagus of Boughton fromthe werein I640 in almostall waysdifferent olderaristocracy-the Talbotsand theStanleys;they arein many the Cockaynes and the Watsons, forexample, wayslike families, would not have ranked whomcontemporaries There as nobility. of social distinction was some difference but in manycases it is to define.On an average difficult there was a difference extremely ofpeersliketheEarlofExeter ofincome, werea number butthere
THE ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW
whoseincomes wereless thantheprosperous and not a squires', thatof fewprosperous squireswhoseincomeclosely approached an average lord. The linesofsocialdivision do notlie at all closely is not a along the lines of economicdivision. The aristocracy or distinct class. homogeneous all thegreat in these counties families Withonlytwoexceptions, later.Those that had sold in i640 werestillthere a hundred years a partoftheir their estate, hadnotsoldso much as to affect general socialsignificance, andthemajority had,on thebalance, purchased land. Theyhad been joinedby severalnew families building up andthearea ofgreat largelandedestates.The number proprietors of land ownedby themas a classhad bothincreased.Moreover, line of the changesof this hundred yearshad createda clearer thearistocracy and thesquirearchy. The Dukes division between of Montagu,Grafton, the Earls of Bedfordand Marlborough, and Halifax,Lord FitzBridgewater, Northampton, Leominster william and Lord Rockingham-men form a classwhich likethese in 1740 is economically from theIshams, as wellas socially distinct theCartwrights andtheDrydens.Suchsubstantial squires were, of all three groups, themoststablein composition. Whilealongthe fringe where squiremerged intogentry there weremany who had of Ci,oooa year beenforced to sell,thesquires whohadan income and morein i640, survived intact intotheeighteenth century and are in manycases stillthe leadingfamilies of the county. The of Englishsociety as to thepeculiar which generalisation stability occurs so frequently ineighteenthandnineteenth-century historians, is largely a generalisation from of this thepeculiar circumstances class. Had they lookedelsewhere, evenin theupperranges ofrural wouldhavefoundmobility society, they enough. For amongthe smaller andthelandedgentry theperiodbetween i68o and squires 1740 had seen'great changes.A. H. Johnson placedtheperiodof intensive ofthesmall disappearance freeholder between ii66o-I760. The sameperiodsaw an appreciable diminution in theareaofland ownedby smallsquiresand the landedgentry.More important thantheareaof landwas thechangein thesocial composition of thisclass. In many in Northamptonshire villages and Bedfordshire families settled therefor generations were replacedby lawyers, and tradesmen whose main interests doctors,goldsmiths and of income sources werein Londonand who retired to completely their country houseonlyin laterlife. The land changeswhichhad gone to reshapeEnglish rural inthis fashion hadthree society characteristics. The most important of property in thesecounties of Elizabeth shift in thereign and in the earlydecades of the seventeenth century was not between
x6A8o-I740
the landed on the land,but from well established classesalready in commerce, fortunes classesas a wholeto thosewho madetheir i68o handsbetween changed or law. Of thelandthat government just undera half,came to proportion, and I740 a muchhigher for sixtyyearsor more. In the in the counties families settled secondplace, mostof such land cameintothe handsof families ofNorthampin i68o owned large estates. In thenorth whoalready Strafford andtheEarl ofRockingViscount ton,LordFitzwilliam, souththeEarl of considerable properties;farther hampurchased and theEarl theEarl of Sunderland theDuke of Grafton, Halifax, theDuke ofBedford, in Bedford whohadbought ofBridgewater; of Woburn, was buying no largeproperty since the acquisition and so was in theearly decadesof theeighteenth century, heavily to thenew purcharacteristic relates theEarl of Kent. The third to of thelandwhich went overtwo-fifths chasers of land. A little up largeterritorial newcomers wentto men who were building Lord Trevor aggregations;men liketheDuke of Marlborough, fortunes madetheir and Lord Bathurst. they Withfewexceptions in law or government. threepartof the remaining The greater fifths between wentto menwho werebuying 5ooand i,ooo acres, for residential purposes. A few lawyersboughtlarger mainly purchasing two or threethousand but the merchant properties, in thecounty, a landed family of significance acresand establishing in Northamptonshire thetypeof purchaser so largely who figures does not and Bedfordshire and theearlyStuarts, underElizabeth occurintheperiod often between i68o and I740. of land lies In thecharacter of thesechanges in theownership of Englishsociallifein thefirst an important partof thestability half of the eighteenth century.The economicchangesof the a new classin the theCivilWarestablished generations preceding thewhole social and set in motionstrains thatfissured counties, of It is notyetpossible theamount to compare statistically system. land which changedhands betweeni6oo and i640 with what are i68o and I720; butthetwo amounts handsbetween changed That the changesin landof the same magnitude. quite clearly in thesecondperiodcausedno socialconflict to match ownership thatthe due to thefact that theCivilWarwas primarily preceding ofproperty elements drift was towards thestable and conservative from in societyand to thosewho drew muchof theirfortune or closely alliedsources. government of thelargelandedestates was not due The increasing vitality to any strictly advantages.Theywereunitsof ownereconomic of theupperclasses Veryfewlandowners shipnotofproduction. of the in agriculture. concerned In i66o onlythree wereactively
THE ECONOMIC
HISTORY REVIEW
estates saw thebeginning of themodern homefarm) they worked almost entirely forthehousehold andnotthemarket. Homefarms on theestates ofthegentry werefar morecommon.Butfor neither classdidtheprofit from suchventures a very form morethan small proportion of theirtotal income. The large estateshad certain advantages in the way of management;despitethe advice of on estatemanagement contemporary writers the stewards of the lordsin the counties continued to be chosenin mostcases from among the large tenantfarmers; but the centralcontrolwas strong and in thehandsof lawyers who devoted their wholetime tothebusiness oftheestate, inspected theaccounts most rigorously, madeperiodic visits and acquainted themselves withmostmodern improvements. The ownerof a smallestatecould obviously not calluponthesameresources. Butit was notto advantages ofthis orderthatthe largeestates owed their survival but to legal and socialchanges. From Taltarum's case in I472, whichconveniently marksthe efficacy of thecommon recovery as a method of barring an estate tail, to the Commonwealth period,it was possibleto entailan estate butimpossible to ensure theentail that wouldnotbe broken. The whole weightof judicialdecisionwas thrown againstthe creation of entailed andthejudgesenphasised estates, thedestructiblenature ofthedevice-the contingent remainder bywhich the landedclassesattempted to maintain theunity of its estates.The devicewhichis associated withSir OrlandoBridgeman and Sir Jeffrey Palmer was thecreation of trustees to preserve contingent remainders. A landowner who wishedhis estates to remain intact in hisfamily them to hisson forlifewithremainder might convey to theheirs maleofhisbodyand at thesametimeconvey them to trustees for the son and to duringthe life of the son, in trust preserve thecontingent remainders; thesetrustees wereregarded as havingan estate in theland. The new status of thecontingent remainder made it extremely difficult to breakan entail. It is increase at sometimes to as thecause of theconsiderable pointed theend of theseventeenth in theamount oflandentailed. century Thatthere is certainly butitis dueto two was suchan increase true, setsof causeswhichmayprofitably be distinguished. Partof the But increase is due to a decrease in theamount oflanddisentailed. therewas, in addition, in the amountof land a positive increase heldin feesimple was beingentailed.This entailed; landhitherto thenewlegal with cannot be directly associated partoftheincrease of entails in theearly seventeenth devices; thepossibility century
1710 and I730 (indeed increased between thisperiodon many
great estates in thisareahad homefarms, and though thenumber
I680-1740
from is notlikely tohavedeterred landowners making broken being inthelater seventeenth century ofmaking them, andthepossibility can scarcely have been an active motivein entailspermanent entails were increasing them. The new devicesforsafeguarding to sanction thework effective onlybecausethejudgeswerewilling at the end of thesevenThat the judiciary of the conveyancers. to sanction such devices,whereas were prepared teenth century the sixteenth century they had emphasisedtheir throughout ofthe in therelation is a clueto an important change destructibility and judgesto thelandedclasses.But in partthenewlegaldevices bothsprang from of entail ofsocial theincrease profound changes in theattitude to family and to land-whichthe feeling-changes is not competent to define.The Montagus of economic historian had ownedestates sincethesixteenth did century;they Boughton of land until the late not startbuyingconsiderable quantities andthen thedesire to purchase was so strong seventeenth century, to buy. It maybe askedwhythenew that they mortgaged heavily of the large estaterelative to the devicesincreased the stability small. The answerwould seem to be thatthelarger landowners their availedthemselves muchmore of the devicesand entailed thanthe smalllandowners. landsmuchmorefrequently of estates bywhichthe The entailing was thecoreofthesystem fortheir children, and itis thereason greater landowners provided formanynew developments in the organisation of their wealth. one of the mostcuriousand important For example, factsabout in thisperiodis thatthough thelarger proprietors landownership a largenumber ofthem have their incomes peracrehaveincreased, to theirincreased even in proportion become more indebted, to calculate is so difficult incomes. The amountof indebtedness in the proportion thatit is not yetpossibleto estimate precisely in a sufficiently there is suchan increase.Butit occurs which large of family to makeit morethanan accident Both number history. due to the in theareaownedand thedebtsarepartly theincrease thetwowas sometimes ofentail.The connection between increase a dowry, a landdirect.In orderto give his daughter extremely on hislands. This money was ownerraised money bya mortgage in buying landto form her husband usually spent bythedaughter's in his whentheson-in-law was repeated jointure.The procedure was that The netresult cameto raise a dowry for hisdaughter. turn of land and had created ownedan increased amount two families in I740 had two additional Manyof thelargefamilies mortgages. was made oflarge on their a number estates;no attempt mortgages to repay,and the interest was acceptedas a by the landowner
in 1740 than didin i640 andalthough ownmore land they as a class
THE ECONOMIC
HISTORY REVIEW
was made by the permanent chargeon the estate; no attempt was reliable becausethemortgage mortgage holdersto foreclose he and lucrative and because,if he wishedto realisehis capital, of considerable in importance couldalways sellit. This is a factor of theperiod. It makesone curious theagricultural development when in thelatereighteenth as to thefateof suchestates century the burdenof debts had grown for one or two generations more. are clearlimitations to theimportance ofentailThoughthere could be barredby Act of and entails not all land was entailed, in thisperiod. It Parliament-it was of fundamental importance by the together and whenever, tendedto keep largeold estates itprevented ofother were newlarge estates created, operation causes, their disintegrating. of thesepositivecauseswas thewar withFrance The greatest That in national finance which it necessitated. and theinnovations warwas thefirst Years Warin whichEngland sincetheHundred andithad forlongperiods had to maintain in thefield largearmies on all partsof theEnglishsocialstructure. considerable reactions and loans,and it is of taxation It was financed by a combination on of land and of thelatter theeffect of theformer on thesellers lies forthehistory thosewho purchased land thatits importance ofEnglish landowning. in thesixteenth and seventeenth had centuries Englishtaxation ofobvious In thefirst twosalient place, forreasons characteristics. on land. New it bore mostheavily administrative convenience, ortheCommonwealth forms oftaxation, suchas theTudorsubsidy soon becamepure on all forms of property, framed Assessment, while socialimportance taxeson land. Thisfact was notofthefirst on whichthe taxeswere levied were fictitious. the assessments became FromI 58o,whentheTudorsubsidy a fixed down bargain, to the outbreak of the Civil War the Englishlandowners were undertaxed." Our estates,"said Raleighin i6oi, grotesquely " thatbe D3O or C4o in theQueen's books are notthehundredth partof ourwealth." ofraising to fight theCivilWarforced The necessity the money in theseventeenth to taxthewealthon a first century greateffort trueassessment. of thisperiodtook the So muchof thetaxation form of semi-formal forneighbouring that garrisons requisitions to calculate theproportion oflanded that itis difficult income went in taxation. One hastheimpression that in thewaryears it though was extremely after considerably i649. The Gery highit decreased forexample in i643 paid CIoz 8s. 9d. out of an incomeof family to pay at roughly thatrateuntilthe (404 6s. 8d. and continued
ENGLISH LANDOWNERSHIP, 1680-1740
endofthefirst CivilWar. Butin i650 andthefollowing years they paidon an average onlyabout 5o. Betweenthe Restoration and the Revolutionthe course of taxation is much easierto follow since thereare no unofficial burdens and manymorelandowners' accounts survive.It varied considerably from yearto year, butat itshighest it absorbed only about one-fifth of a landowner's income,and it reachedthis height onlyin two years,i667 and i690. Thoughbetweeni643 and i692, therefore, Englishtaxation was leviedon moreor less accurate assessments and was in someyearsextremely heavy, the
wartaxation i692 and 1715 represents between heavier taxation
fora muchlonger period. The Land Tax,which was notstrictly a taxbuta rate, was based on assessment madein i692. The accuracy of thisoriginal assessment variedwidely in different partsof thecountry. It was commonlyargued by defenders of the Land Tax that while the midlandcountieswere taxed at their true value, the border countiespaid at a considerably lower rate,in the most distant counties notmuchabovea shilling inthepound. In Northamptonshireand Bedford the assessment was accurate and a tax of four in the pound did really take one-fifth shillings of a landowner's rental.Not onlywas the original assessment accurate; reasons will be givenlaterforbelieving in thattherentals of landowners thesecounties to anylargeextent did not increase between i692 a realburden. andtheendofthewar,so that thetaxation remained of income framed as a taxon all forms Thoughit was originally itwas thetaxvery rapidly became a taxon rents.Moreimportant, On many from thetenant. ofthelandas distinct a taxon theowner thetenants Assessestates had paid a shareof the Parliamentary later the to be discussed had paid it all. For reasons ment; -some all casespaidbythelandowner andattempts landtaxwas in almost of burden failed.Thisgreat to shift theincidence on to thetenant fell entirely on landowners and with especialseverity taxation entire income on those who drewtheir from rents.In thediminua central theLand Tax occupies tionof thelandedgentry position. Butthey wouldnothavesuccumbed so soon had their position standards The general notbeenweakened byother developments. to of thelandedupperclasseswerechanging.Whileit is difficult in the amountof variations the forces whichdetermine estimate at different incomeanyclassspendson conspicuous consumption ofaccount it is clearfrom theevidence periods, books,and indeed that in of buildings and furniture from themoreobviousevidence landedprocenturies and earlyeighteenth the laterseventeenth of theirincomeon a largerproportion were spending prietors
IO
and tastesspread and comfort.The new standards ostentation intothecounties byfamilies wereintroduced from London; they created by and werethestandards who movedin London society sourcesof who could drawupon largenon-agricultural families thosewho especially families, booksofsmall income.The account thattherising butthefewthatdo suggest survive, sold out,rarely is had spreadto the smaller gentry.The impression standards in orderto extend of gentry mortgaging reinforced by instances whichwereonly thehabits their dwellings.Theywereacquiring sourcethan from someother to those who hadan income possible of livingthatmademany standard It was thisrising agriculture. to theLand Tax. susceptible peculiarly ofthegentry of standard It maybe askedwhytheLand Tax and therising squires did notact in a similar wayon thesubstantial expenditure bywayof to sell. Two suggestions maybe offered them andforce themost represented squires In i68o thesesubstantial explanation. sprang-mostofthem-from they English agriculture; advanced century; their of the sixteenth merchant and lawyerfortunes of and welltenanted;many in good repair estates wereenclosed, and good profits weremaking themhad largehomefarms; they of theLand Tax The effect partbackintoagriculture. ploughing intotaxation. The efficiency in mostcaseswas to divert thiscapital to forcethemto sell. but not sufficiently of their lands declined in itscomposition morestable thisclasswas considerably Secondly, in the ofexpenditure It is theclasswhosepattern thanthegentry. between i68o and 1740 changed least,and thismaybe vitalyears of thisclass in the related in a general way to the homogeneity new century, and to the factthatit recruited earlyeighteenth them. in sufficiently to assimilate members smallnumbers the standpoint of The question has been examined so farfrom thosewho sold land. How did the war and the accompanying ? Like all wars,thatagainst purchasers changesaffect financial forcertain newfortunes-army Louis XIV was directly responsible land. Butsuch and mostofthesebought contractors and soldiers, werefew. purchases to elaboration and thetendency The wardeveloped very rapidly of the Englishcentral government. in the machinery complexity an increasingly of the Taxationwas carrying largerproportion national ofthegovernment andconsequently income intothehands was and socialprestige advantage value of political theeconomic more important. for the It was especially important becoming in I 640 haddrawn anylandowner landowners. scarcely While great a largeincome sources,in I700 themajority non-agricultural from various from largeincomes of thegreat old families weredrawing
I6o80-I740
II
and ambassadorships pensions, in the army, sources-colonelcies estates. of their casesequalto therents in many so forth-incomes by thewar whichmostprofoundly But thechangeprecipitated of the was the creation of land purchase the conditions affected by whichthe State of the system NationalDebt, the beginning fromlarge numbersof its own finances itselfby borrowing sevenand earlier who in thesixteenth nationals.The merchants was motives.First possible landhad three bought centuries teenth this century evenin thesixteenth probably though socialprestige, of thesortwho merchants to themoreimportant appealedmainly ofLondon, and Lord Mayors became companies oftheir chairmen in London, wishedto and, mixingwith the landed aristocracy secondly, Theymight, to it in thecountry. themselves assimilate and income on their wives children, in to land order settle an buy knowledge and required less technical sincelandwas moresecure boughtthe right Manymerchants investment. thancommercial of land. The desire thantheactualcontrol rather rents to receive motive. " If," said-a for security was an extremely important at anyconsiderable in Englandarrives in I668, "a merchant writer his estatefromtradebeforehe withdraws he commonly estate, ifGod should that of old age; reckoning comesneartheconfines is engaged in callhimout oftheworldwhilethemainofhisestate and theinexperience of it, through he mustlose one third trade, it fallsout.." ; and so usually of his wifeto suchaffairs inaptness was the desire But high among the motivesof the merchants directed them to land fora profitable investment, and thatmotive were exinvestment of commercial only when the possibilities capital be arguedthatthe flowof commercial hausted.It might a rather was in fact and theearly Stuarts Elizabeth intolandunder due in partto the policyof trademonophenomenon, peculiar to adopt, to institutheCrown forced fiscal exigencies polieswhich of profitable thepossibilities tradewhichlimited tionsof foreign intoland. a surplus of commercial and forced profit investment and early centuries thelater seventeenth eighteenth Throughout wereincreasinvestment commercial of profitable thepossibilities in the number of good ing. In additiontherewas an increase in gentry-ini66o the element Most of the smaller mortgages. to mortgage free from debt-had beenforced most society English war," of thelatelongand expensive burden heavily." The heavy of borne bytheowners saidan Act of I 3 Anne," hathbeenchiefly theyhave been the land of this kingdom, by reason whereof of the to contract verylarge debts." The relation necessitated A mentioned. been to debthasalready mortgage increase ofentail to a first-class was thenearest security on a largeestate approach
.II
THE ECONOMIC
HISTORY REVIEW
of the knewuntilthefoundation whichthe seventeenth century an immense new field NationalDebt. At the end of the century was openedbygovernment ofinvestment borrowing-investment at once safeand lucrative." The Public Funds," wrotea pamformoneyand in I711, " afford a muchlargerinterest phleteer for couldbe had. And much better than security principal formerly to at thesametimethegreat afford variety of securities purchases in from to of a Cio ticket stock all degrees buyers, lottery CIo,ooo etc. And *the SouthSea Trade,East IndiaTrade,Bank,Annuities, than buttheinterest herein thesecurity is not onlybetter higher, and is given canbe hadinprivate hands; sixpercent. bytheState, room to ofthesellers theoccasions so generally give purchase will as to makesevenor moreper cent." The merchant who wanted investment foranysurplus notabsorbed a profitable in trade could lendto thegovernment. as The landstill retained itsattractiveness after the South Sea the moststableof all investments, especially butto an increasing extent crash, themerchant, who in I 640might have leftmoneyin his will to be laid out in land and the rents in theearly on hischildren, settled that eighteenth century directed in theFunds. be used to invest suchmoney in thefield This rapidextension of investment of explains many in thenature of thepurchasers thechanges ofland. Those people to considerations of susceptible boughtland who werepeculiarly andpolitical socialprestige power. Amongthem werea fewlarge chairmen oftheEastIndia Company, merchants, mainly who went in forpolitics; butmostof thenewcomers wereeither connected in somewaywith or werejudges, government who desired to have in society that significance which onlythepossession oflandcould give. They boughtup blocks of land in different partsof the country, boughtout some of the surrounding gentry, bought advowsons themanorial and,inmany cases, rights ofparliamentary their in land boroughs.Theywerenot so muchinvesting money as buying ofa socialclass, theundisturbed up theperquisites control of thelifeof a neighbourhood. Whenthey lookedoverthefields to see their own landand nothing wanted they buttheir own land. of thesmallsquires The hatred and gentry forthe greatlords, old or new,who werebuying themout is thetheme whether of many contemporary plays. Apart from the centralcleavage thosewho benefited between by thewar and thosewho suffered therewere manyothercausesof friction. In Northamptonshire oftheold forests mostofthelordshadlargeparts which provided forendless of disputes.The smaller thebackground series gentry, thewarperiodtried to screw who during as highas up their rents foundtheir besttenants tendedto move to moreeasily possible,
i68o--740
13
rented farms on the estates of the greatlords. The antagonism expresses itself sometimes in disputes aboutenclosures wherethe local gentry take sides againstthe enclosing lord. It nourished thehatred ofthesmall squires forthewarandaligned mostofthem behind theTorygroups. How does this change in the landowning classes relate to agrariandevelopment in the earlyeighteenth century?Rents, whichrose considerably betweenI640 and i690, hardly rose at all between i690 and 1720. Heavily mortgaged landowners attempted to raisethem, butfailed; and on landletat a rackrent there was often a decrease.For thisthere werefourmainreasons. The warand theincreasing expenditure on conspicuous consumption diminished the amount of money spent on repairsand improvements. The arrangements forordinary repairs differed on different estates, andtheeffect ofthediversion ofmoney was most marked where theresponsibility formaintaining in good repair fell on the lord. Whatever the covenants about repairs, the estates suffered forthelack of money to spendon building new barnsor maintaining ditches.The smaller in particular, owners, during the waryears, wereputting lessmoney intotheir atthevery estates time whenbyraising rents wereattempting they totake more outofthem. In thesecondplace at thehighrateof interest whichprevailed thewaryears themostimportant during improvement-enclosure -was nota profitable The actualcostof enclosure investment. is an important in thechronology element ofthemovement., Between to trace in these i640 and i690 it is possible twelve enclosures two counties: betweenI690 and 17I5 there wereonlythree.In the thenumber twenties increases thegeneral again,though tendency lowerprices thanthoseofthewarperiodandthough was towards due to the was not increasing. This increase is partly population a sufficiently in thepreceding fact that of thirty years largenumber had on some estates been boughtout. But themain freeholders of therateofinterest to a levelat which reasonis the decline the on enclosure an on capital. return represented adequatereturn which thetenantry forreasons willbe elaborated Thirdly, later, thanthey had been before werein a stronger bargaining position to shift theland thewar. Theywereable to prevent anyattempts wereoften able whenleaseswere taxon to their shoulders; they oftithe on to thelandowner;andthey to shift renewed theburden in to be ableto resist were a sufficiently to strong position attempts their raise rents. The fourth reasonforthelack of important agrarian developof the "new mentsbetweeni68o and 1720 lies in the character andearly ofthesixteenth seventeenth families." The improvements
14
THE ECONOMIC
HISTORY REVIEW
had in the main been the work of the new purcenturies improvebetween relationship direct chasers.Thereis no similar in thecounty a themselves mentand thefamilies who established backsignsof agricultural later. The moreconspicuous century leasesforlives-in i6oo wereto be found wardness-openfields, of greatlords; thiswas stilltrue on the estates mostfrequently later,but social and legal thoughto a lesserdegreea century muchof thisland comingon to the market. changesprevented good speculations, thenewpurchasers werenotseeking Moreover with income wouldyielda regular butwell-tenanted estates which about sales correspondence of trouble.In surviving a minimum is one as the acme of perfection the estatewhichis represented to a rent charge; an theincome mostclosely approximates where enoughto pay theirrents wealthy thatis, with tenants estate, own at their in good repair holdings their and maintain regularly are fixedand certain.The landed cost, and whereall payments most frequently at whose expensethe new purchasers gentry boughtwere among the most advancedsectionsof the landleasesat rack werelet on short-term estates classes; their owning somelandthemselves. cultivated and many rents, in any of the new ownersis not therefore The significance If theircapitaldid in fact director spectacular improvements. flowinto land it was not becausetheyhad boughtin orderto to do so by the situation but becausethey wereforced improve, and earlyeighteenth of the tenantry. In the later seventeenth of the shortage were accentuating of changes century a number and Bedford In Northamptonshire substantial peasantfarmers. in thesecondhalfof the someof theroyalparksweredisparked to cultivation;the consequent and turned seventeenth century and local importance, had considerable demandfornew tenants ofthesamedevelopment elsewhere. there mayhavebeeninstances character was thefactthatthegeneral But muchmoreimportant thedemand fortenants. The large oflandpurchase was increasing their own ofsmall freeholders who soldouthadcultivated number it was let out on lease. To a less estate land; joinedto thegreat of smallgentry also increased in thenumber extent thediminution in a farmers weretherefore the demand fortenants.The tenant them to thelandowners, whichenabled in relation position strong of of thelandtax on to theshoulders burden to throw theentire on therenewal them enabled andwhich gradually, thelandowners, on to thesameshoulders. of tithe thepayment of leases,to shift and theinducements in good tenants, Therewas in facta market The were improvements. offered landowners whichcompeting a higher showon an average account booksofthenewlandowners
I6o-z74o
ofnew as theprovision spent on suchthings ofincome proportion whenthe and efficient landdrainage.The rareoccasions buildings to paperand survive, about a lease werecommitted negotiations of an estate to obtain at onceto theanxiety ofthesteward witness would tenants wayinwhich andexacting tenants, andtothedetailed tendedto landowners The wealthy forimprovements. stipulate who werecapableof or at leastthetenants tenants, getthewealthy entirely dependent landowners, largefarms.The smaller holding in much estate to lettheir income, had usually on their agricultural to menwithsmaller capital resources. smaller holdings " improving " in the early landlords But the most important century arenotto be foundamongthenew purchasers eighteenth a steady to maintain didintolandinorder they whoputwhat money which who ownedestates rent butamong thelargeold families roll, in to improve and who had theincentive werevery undeveloped, and the capitalto make an increasing burdenof debt charges, incomefromnon-agricultural in theirfluctuating improvements sources. in theearly century werequiteclearas Landowners eighteenth by largefarmers to whatwas a good estate.It was one tenanted zoo acresor more, regularly andkeeping their rents paying holding methodsof the holdingsin repair. The threemost important end-conall devices to this in thisperiodwere improvement the of leases for and replacing enclosure, of holdings, solidation theywere a termof years-and in practice lives by leases *for of different ways. Consolidation related to eachin a greatvariety of largerand compact of strips for exampleand the formation took place without endingin enclosure.But in the farms often is a certain uniformity. of casesthere majority were precededby a large-scale All cases of enclosure buying had been of thesmallfreeholder The position out of freeholders. and in thisarea he had made muchworseby the war taxation, advantagefromhigherprices. His receivedno compensating the towards by the movement secondly, was weakened, position landin I66o was consolidation offarms.MuchofLord Montagu's method freeholders-a disadvantageous leasedoutto neighbouring at theexpense their own holdings worked becausethefreeholders i66o and 1730 it was a consistent ofthose they leased.Between to thelord thestrips belonging policyto consolidate partofestate tenant thelarger whichwould attract and so form farms compact freeholder. By I730 notan acrewas heldbya neighbouring farmer. is good reason andthere If that was at all amovement, widespread theposition ofthefreehaveweakened itwas,itmust forbelieving was thusweakened, While the freeholder holdersconsiderably.
B
i6
to buy because incentive had an additional the greatlandowner cheaper. risingthe land was becoming withthe rateof interest the purchased and the newcomers Both the large old families The EarlsofNorthampoffreeholders. number ofa great holdings of land fora hundred ton had not made a singlesmallpurchase
bought of thetitle i690 and I7I0 theholder butbetween years,
alone. on one ofhisestates smallowners acresfrom hundred three 1720 and I750 it was notthe between enclosed In theestates who suffered;theyhad alreadybeen reducedto a freeholders possible,and those to make enclosure smallnumber sufficiently to gainconsiderably enough substantial wereusually remained that withten tenants werethesmaller by it. The peoplewho suffered of enclosure theresults acres. It is clear,not onlyfrom to thirty in estatecorexpressed explicitly but also fromthe intention that was not simply of enclosure thattheattraction respondence, the and attracted it got ridof thesmaller butthat it doubledrents and enclosure before of the tenants tenant.A comparison larger in thoseholding diminution after showsa considerable someyears in theclasswho holdonlya increase a corresponding I0-30 acres, oflandheld in theamount andan increase anda homestead cottage to havecomeabout seems of I 50-25o acres.The change by farmers landon such holding already farmers thelarger in twoways. First, to hold enabled profitability werebecauseofan increased an estate werebid forby and becausewhenleasesranout theestates more, thesmall to holdin largeunits.Secondly, menwho hadthecapital and not the for subsistence tenantwho had producedmainly could not pay the doubledrentand could not derivethe market his landto pasture. by turning of enclosure advantage lessclear. for livesis considerably leases as regards The position on such held their estates of had families part of the great Most One rental. a annual low and on renewal fine a leaseswith large the in the home counties; decreased that they has theimpression for on leases held were estates of Warwickshire Duke Montagu's Pomfret's of the Earl in Somerset, Earl of the Northampton's lives, in the verynorthof estates in Dorset,some of the Fitzwilliam variety covera great lives for three might lease The Northampton. In the Duke of Montagu'sestateat of economicrelationships. mostof the leasesforlives were held by Beaulieu,forexample, at rackrents.The unitsof who sublet of Southampton townsfolk to the unitsof not did correspond were small, which leasehold, was clearly This were large. of which very some cultivation, and food in for timber market a of nearness great to the related was there where other estates the examined, But on Southampton. the cultivated was by land the usually feature, no suchdisturbing
16980-1740
17
persons who had thelegal estate in thelease. Such estates had a number of common characteristics. of their Theystillboremarks originin copyhold; theypaid no taxes, werenotboundby they no actionfordebtlay lease to observeanyhusbandry covenants, againstthemforarrears of rent. Fromthe pointof view of the had manydisadvantages. landowner, therefore, Theirsingle they himat intervals of aboutseven advantage was thattheybrought in fines forrenewals. years largesumsofmoney Theywerein fact a sortof mortgage. it is notpossible to discover In these counties to change forlivesintoleaseholds anyattempt leaseholds forterms of years in theyears before i690. Even in thenineties mostofthe greatlandowners wererenewing leasesforliveswhichfellin on is to thesamebasis. Butafter about I7I0 themoreusualpractice replace them by a leaseforsometerm of years at a rack-rent. On theestate oftheDuke of Montagu and Lord Fitzwilliam there are to buyouttheinterest oftheleaseholders signsofan active attempt themagnitude forliveswhichalmost of a campaign.This reaches of Parliament actionin thecounty withan attempt corresponds to them.Two Actswerepassedin thereign ofAnne legislate against the right whichgave the landowner to sue themfordebtwhen they werein arrears and protected himagainst evasionand fraud after thedeathof thelastlife. of thechangein leases were in manyways The consequences similar to thosefollowing enclosure;itwas againthesmalltenant tento thirty acres to be eliminated whotended farming bytherackBut thecausesof thechangein estate renting. policyare not so clear. It is the result of an increasing value placedupon annual income as opposedto periodic be lumpsums; andit maypossibly at thisperiodburdens connected withthefactthat on estates were of regular and fixed increasingly theform taking charges. The expansion of of thefield investment after i690, thegrowth of a wide rangeof alternatives to the purchase of land,and the whichthe increase development of the moneymarket of easily madepossible-all these realisable investments were developments and financial classesof Englanda more makingthe mercantile coherent and specialised their groupand centring more interests in London. And thoughthe connections completely between commercial weremanifold capitaland landowners theywerenot of There of thetwo classes those personnel. was lessinterlocking thanthere had been underElizabeth and the earlyStuarts.

English Landownership

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

English Landownership

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

English Landownership, 1680-1740 Author(s): H. J. Habakkuk Source: The Economic History Review, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Feb.

at theend of theCommonwealth TARRINGTON, writing

THE ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW

1710 and I730 (indeed increased between thisperiodon many

great estates in thisareahad homefarms, and though thenumber

in 1740 than didin i640 andalthough ownmore land they as a class

ENGLISH LANDOWNERSHIP, 1680-1740

wartaxation i692 and 1715 represents between heavier taxation

THE ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW

THE ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW

bought of thetitle i690 and I7I0 theholder butbetween years,

Anda mungkin juga menyukai