The Land Agent In Britain

Despite the fact that their archives survive in volume and depth across the country, relatively little is known about the fascinating and complex role of the land agent across time. For the very first time, this volume brings together historians, practitioners and representatives of the bodies overseeing the continuing professional development of agents to explore, in overview and through detailed case studies, the wide variety of skills required by those entering this profession. At the core of the contributions here is the sense of continuity which exists between the Anglo-Saxon Reeve and the highly qualified modern land agent. Skills such as a working knowledge of farming, entrepreneurialism, the ability to ‘get on’ with a wide variety of stakeholders as well as estate owners, conservation, environmental management and adaptability to fast changing economic climates or technological possibilities remain as important today as they have been in the past. Fusing together historical and modern perspectives, the contributors both trace the development and refinement of these skills and begin to look to the future of estates and their agents in a post-Brexit world characterised by uncertain subsidies, persistently low food prices, radical changes in the intensity of weather patterns and the need once more to build strong economic and socio-cultural bridges between town and country.

This book brings together leading researchers of British and Irish rural history to consider the role of the land agent, or estate manager, in the modern period. Land agents were an influential and powerful cadre of men, who managed both the day-to-day running and the overall policy direction of landed estates. As such, they occupy a controversial place in academic historiography as well as popular memory in rural Britain and Ireland. Reviled in social history narratives and fictional accounts, the land agent was one of the most powerful tools in the armoury of the British and Irish landed classes and their territorial, political and social dominance. By unpacking the nature and processes of their power, 'The Land Agent' explores who these men were and what was the wider significance of their roles, thus uncovering a neglected history of British rural society.

This book brings together leading researchers of British and Irish rural history to consider the role of the land agent, or estate manager, in the modern period. Land agents were an influential and powerful cadre of men, who managed both the day-to-day running and the overall policy direction of landed estates. As such, they occupy a controversial place in academic historiography as well as popular memory in rural Britain and Ireland. Reviled in social history narratives and fictional accounts, the land agent was one of the most powerful tools in the armoury of the British and Irish landed classes and their territorial, political and social dominance. By unpacking the nature and processes of their power, The Land Agent explores who these men were and what was the wider significance of their roles, thus uncovering a neglected history of British rural society.

While there is an extensive historiography which explores English agriculture in the nineteenth century, there has been less attention paid to individual estates and in particular the role of the land agent within their management, administration and participation in rural community relationships. Nowhere is this more obvious in the lack of research into the financial history of the landed estate, even though in the early nineteenth century these were some of the largest businesses in England. The Castleman letters are a rich source which detail the intricate working, financial, social and political relationships which constituted the foundation of the landed estate. The vouchers of which more than 10,000 have survived alongside the rental accounts have rarely been examined. On their own they illustrate, for example: the sums paid out on maintenance, the interest payments on mortgages, charitable expenditure, spending on property repairs and one-off payments for a wide and diverse range of items. Together with the diurnal correspondence all three aspects of the archive detail the daily financial undertakings and form the foundation of a new financial history of the estate. This book will show that estate management was underpinned by an inherent understanding of the financial decisions which needed to be taken, and will be of interest to academics and researchers of financial history.