The Radical and Quaker MP John Bright (1811-89) used the 1861 census to charge that there were only 30,000 land-owners, and alleged that “fewer than one hundred and fifty men” owned “half the land in England,” and that it was a “practical monopoly on land “.
Edward Henry Stanley (1826-93), the 15th Earl of Derby, a Conservative, disagreed, thinking that many middle class individuals owned land, but he had no data. He asked a question in the House of Lords on the 19 February 1872 of the Lord Privy Seal: “Whether it was the intention of Her Majesty’s Government to take any steps for ascertaining the number of proprietors of land and houses in the United Kingdom, with the quantity of land owned by each proprietor”. The question was prearranged, as Gladstone’s Liberal government wanted such a survey. It rather backfired on the Earl, as the survey indeed showed that most land (and value, not the same thing) was owned by a relatively small number of individuals.
Google Books has an online copy which I used for this post. There were two volumes for England, sold for 10s 6d each. Each county had an alphabetical sequence of those who owned at least one acre in that county, giving the locality of their main residence, the amount of land, and the annual rental value. The information was derived from rate books, which used the actual or nominal rental value.
An acre is a little smaller than a football field, or about 16 tennis courts. The amount of land cited was very exact, as the acres were followed by roods and poles. Four roods made an acre, and 40 poles made a rood. In the list below I use the format 1.5 acres to mean one acre and two roods, or 1.25 acres for one acre and one rood, as that is easier to comprehend. I have ignored the roods.
There is a Wikipedia article giving much detail, Return of Owners of Land, 1873. It gives this amusing passage by John Bateman:
As an example of this [popularity among the rich], I may mention, that having a small party in my house during one of those dubious weeks which come in ‘twixt the close of the hunting and the beginning of the London season, I was saved all Marthean cares as to the amusement of my guests simply by leaving about on the table the two huge volumes of The Modern Domesday, over which I found bowed with the utmost constancy two or more heads. I heard from one of my guests that the copy of the work at the Ultratorium was reduced to rags and tatters within a fortnight of its arrival a lesson which was not wasted on the library committee of my own club, who caused the book to be so bound as to defy anything short of a twelve-year-old school-boy.
It must have been like finding out the balance of your neighbours’ bank accounts.
I give below all those in the Sussex section giving St Leonards as their address, plus a few others who are known to have had extensive local holdings. The data should be considered with care. Some who had holiday homes in St Leonards may have given a London address and so will have been missed by me. Land owned by St Leonards residents in other counties will be under those counties. And, of course, land owned by St Leonards residents might be elsewhere in Sussex, and those living elsewhere in the county could own land in St Leonards.
Those who owned farmland can be distinguished from more lucrative, mostly urban rents, as the nominal or actual rent cited was typically only one or two pounds per acre for farmland. For example, Mrs E. Kenward owned only one acre with a rent of £162, while Mrs T. Kenward had 14.5 acres but only a rental value of £16. It is not clear if their initials are their own or that of the husbands. Perhaps their husbands, as the 1871 census for the district does not have a female Kenward whose initial is T, but seven men named Thomas.
I have added a few notes to some of the names when I was certain of the identification. These notes include some valuations of the estate at probate. This included the value of leasehold land, but not of freehold land, and hence the property in this list was not taxed at death.
It is interesting that the Archery Ground was an independent entity. The Eversfield estate, who owned much of the area taken up by the modern town, appear to have made their money in the St Leonards area at least by selling off plots of land on 99-year leases to builders, and hence made capital gains, rather than relying on rental income from houses (other than ground rents). Hence their (relatively) low valuation. They don’t seem to have ever built a house.
The Burton land was in Alfred Burton’s name, perhaps in some sort of trust for the family. His was the largest by value in this list, at £6944, followed by Charles Gilbert Eversfield with £4756. The £6944 would be equivalent to £650000 today. Hence multiplying the sums by nearly one hundred gives present day values: or, adding two zeroes is about right.
Spot the clergymen in the list !
Adams, Edward A., St Leonards, 1.5 acres, £210.
Archery Gardens Co., St Leonards, 2 acres, £30.
Barton, Humphrey C., St Leonards on Sea, 544.75 acres, £482 [Humphrey Conwell Barton, of 25 Pevensey Road, born Lewisham, 1823, died Etchingham, 1893, estate £8766].
Burton, Alfred, St Leonards, 26.75 acres, £6944 [Son of James, founder of the town. In 1871 census at Bath, house owner, born London, 1802, died 64 Marina, 1877, estate £12000].
Coster, J. Exors of, St Leonards, 1.5 acres, £220.
Crake, V.B., Hastings, 211.5 acres, £751 [Vandeleur Benjamin Crake. In 1871 census at Hylands [Highlands House], Archery Road, barrister not in practice, born London, 1816, died Highlands House, 1894, estate £33278].
Cumberledge, Mrs, St Leonards, 1 acre, £175 [Probably Mary Cumberlege, widow of the Rev. John Cumberlege, who had died in 1869 at Tilsworth Lodge, Tivoli, St Leonards, with an estate of £12000; she died Tilsworth Lodge, 1889, estate £24208].
Deudney, Robert, St Leonards on Sea, 16 acres, £25 [Formerly of Gensing Farm. In 1871 census of Gensing House, Upper Maze Hill, yeoman, born St Mary Magdalen, 1802, died Gensing House, 1883, estate £34060].
Dyneley, Catherine, St Leonards, 2 acres, £120 [In 1871 census of Gensing Lodge, Upper Maze Hill, spinster, born Bloomsbury, 1795, died Gensing Lodge, 1880, estate £8000].
Eversfield, C.G., Denne Park, 3124.25 acres, £4756 [Charles Gilbert Eversfield. In 1871 census of Denne Park near Horsham, gentleman, ‘cripple’, born Catsfield, 1822, died 9 Warrior Square Terrace [now Terrace Road], 1886, estate £12575].
Gausden, Chas. Henry, St Leonards, 25 acres, £182 [in 1871 census of Newby Villa, [40] West Hill Road, auctioneer, born Brasted, Kent, 1826, died at Newby Villa, 1886, estate £5494].
Hatchard, [Rev.] John A., St Leonards, 1.5 acres, £1173 [John Alton Hatchard, in 1871 census of 97 Marina, clergyman without cure of souls, born Newton, Shropshire, 1817, died 107 Marina, 1895, estate £46364].
Kenward, Mrs E., St Leonards, 1 acre, £162.
Kenward, Mrs T., St Leonards, 14.5 acres, £16.
Leslie, Mrs, St Leonards on Sea, 296.75 acres, £285.
Leslie, Mrs, & others, St Leonards, 158.75 acres, £203.
Moon, Mrs, St Leonards, 3.75 acres, £29.
Moreing, Charles, Hastings, 8.5 acres £1930 [In 1871 and 1881 Hastings electoral registers of 67 Warrior Square. Born 1810, died 37 Spring Gardens, London, 1885, estate £2106, ‘architect and surveyor’ in probate record. Described as ‘Architect, builder and owner of the Warrior Square estate’, Hastings and St Leonards News, 15 May 1885].
Oak, Rev. Charles A., St Leonards on Sea, 1.5 acres, £15 [Charles Anthony Oak, in 1871 census of Park House, Quarry Hill, Rector of St Matthews, Silverhill, born Westminster, 1819, died Park House, 1883, estate £11177].
Parks, N.A., St Leonards, 1.75 acres, £4.
Pulteney, J.G.B., St Leonards on Sea, 5.5 acres, £19 [John Granville Pulteney, in 1871 census of Warminster, Wiltshire, house and landowner, born Leamington, Warwickshire, 1836, died Kenley, Kent, 1875, but late of Mount House, The Mount, estate £12000].
Ramsey, George Wm., St Leonards on Sea, 36.5 acres, £53.
Sellman, Aaron, St Leonards on Sea, 27.5 acres, £50 [in 1871 census of 39 Norman Road West, watchmaker employing 1 man, 1 son, farmer 111 acres employing 5 men, 1 boy, 1 son, born Ewhurst, Sussex, 1828; in 1896 electoral register of 3 West Hill Road, died Staplecross, Ewhurst, 1910, estate £66].
Staines, Francis Wm., St Leonards on Sea, 25.75 acres, £42 [In 1871 census of 3 Upland Views. Born 1800, London, died at the renamed 3 The Uplands, 1876, estate £80000].
Stone, Charles, St Leonards on Sea, 34 acres, £32 [probably Charles Henry Stone, the retired physician who in the 1871 census was at 2 Victoria Road, born Tunbridge Wells, 1807, died 1 Victoria Road, 1882].
Tottenham, Rev. J.W., St Leonards, 2 acres, £705 [John White Tottenham, Anglican clergyman and headmaster, in 1871 census of Aylesbury House, Quarry Hill, born Wexford, Ireland, 1828, died at The Lodge, 14 West Hill Road, 1904, estate £24810].