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Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Estate management at Goodwood in the mid nineteenth century: A study in changing roles and relationships Thesis How to cite: Buzzing, Pauline (1989). Estate management at Goodwood in the mid nineteenth century: A study in changing roles and relationships. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 1989 The Author Version: Version of Record Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk 3X Z/o UNPTRtCTED ESTATE MANAGEMENT AT GOODWOOD IN THE MID NINETEENTH CENTURY: A STUDY OF CHANGING ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS PAULINE BUZZING B.A. THESIS SUBJYIITrED FOR THE DE(EE OF D(X'IOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF ThE OPEN UNIVERSITY (FACULTY OF Am'S) JUNE, 1986 At.&ktDrs ntwer A o87i ZDoX 5b,Sr D c-- 3: 3 M -J t 8 c ESTATE MANAGEMENT AT GOODt&3OD IN THE MID NINETEENTH CENTURY: A STUDY OF CHANGING ROLES AND RELATION-IIPS This is an investigation of management in the mid-nineteenth century, and of changing roles and relationships of key figures on the Goodwood Estate. The study examines the workings of an estate belonging to the fifth Duke of Richmond, a committed protectionist during the period when he had to cone to terms with the Repeal of the Corn Laws. It considers the Duke's paternalism as expressed in his altitude to Repeal, in the daily running of his own estate, in his dealings with agents, farmers, estate workers and the local townspeople of Chichester. Richmond's paternalism was concerned with the moral inprovement of those within his sphere, and the study examines the estate's financial resources which supported that paternalism, and the management structure which the fifth Duke created. The role of agent at Goodwood was particularly significant, and displayed change at a time of development for the estate, when a management hierarchy began to develop. The balances of rural society which Richmond maintained were in potential conflict with his task of leading in-çroved agriculture. Such irrprovement needed dynamic change, which was not encouraged in a highly traditional, rural context such as the west of Sussex. The study tests Errile's concept of the golden age against the evidence from estate papers, particularly in the light of the depression of 1849-1853. Efficiency in the Duke's own farming was not enough: there was a need toto spread agricultural irrçrovement among his tenant farmers. Farms, farmers and farming practice indicate that the spread of good practice was no easy task, and that progress was made by errploying a variety of tactics. The estate was subject to a variety of pressures which irrçinged on its authority structure, and the mid .-centruy was far from being a time of untroubled progress and txquali fled prosperity. ANOSALEEXE7Y1E1TS In a piece of sustained research, many people deserve thanks for their support over the years: colleagues, family, friends, and individuals in colleges, libraries, museums and records offices in different parts of the country. There are too many of them to mention individually, but their help was valuable, and gratefully received. Access to the Goodwood Papers was by courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Richrrond and Gordon, and with acknowledgements to the West Sussex County Records Office and the County Archivist. I should also like to thank Tim McCann of the West Sussex County Records Office, Mr E. Hampson and the staff of the Perkins Collection, Southampton University Library, and the staff of the Bognor College Library, West Sussex Institute of Higher Education. Finally, I must mention Dr dive Behagg, of the West Sussex InstitUte's History Department, who always managed to find the time to provide much valued support and advice. CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Contents Page List of Tables and Figures CHAPTER ONE Introduction CHAPTER TWO The Context of the Goodwood Estate: Landownership and Attitudes to Repeal .. .. 42 CHAPTER THREE Paternalism at Goodwood, 1646-1860 ........ .. .. .. 75 CHAPTER FOUR The Financial Context of the Coodwood Estate .. .. .. ...... 120 CHAPTER FIVE The Coodwood Agents Under the Fifth Ejke of Richmond ............159 CHAPTER SIX Farms, Farming and Farmers on the Goodwood Estate ............202 CHAPTER SEVEN Workers on the Goodwood Estate .......... .. ...... 268 CHAPTER EIGHT The Coodwood Estate and Wider Contacts .. .. .. .. ...... 303 tONCLUSION.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 339 APPENDIX A Tables and Figures .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. APPENDIX B Bibliography .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. xxxv TABLES AND FIGURES 1 Eleven Largest Sussex Owners (by area) .............. I 2 Squires, Great Landowners and Peers in Hanpshire, Kent, Surrey end Sussex .. I 3 Estates of Norfolk, Leconfield, Norfolk and Richmond ......... ii 4 Counties in Order of Density of Country Seats .............. iii 5 The Great Estates ........................iv 6 Nuwhers of Peers with their Principal Estates in English Counties V 7 Sizes of English Counties ....................vi 8 Sussex Landowners with Holdings of over 3,000 acres ..........vii 9 Largest Single Group of landowners in English Counties ........viii 10 Sussex Landownership ......................viii 11 Percentage of Counties Owned by Peers and Great Landowners ........ix 12 Sussex Landowners of Over 1,000 acres ................x 13 Percentage of Land in English Counties Owned by Different Categories of Landowners .. xl 14 Income of the Goodwood Estate ................xii 15 Rent as % of Total Income of the Goodwood Estate ............xii 16 Farms at Goodwood where the Farmer had Quit, 1850-1858 ........xiii 17 Annual Average Gazette Price of British Wheat ............xiv 18 Relative Price Movements: Arable and Livestock Products, 1851-1885......xiv 19 Average Wheat Prices for Seven Years ................xv 20 Income of the Goodwood Estate: Forestry ................xv 21 Wage Totals Paid to Goodwood Labourers, 1850 ............xvi 22 Income and Expenditure of Goodwood Racecourse, 1843-1849 ........xvii 23 Medals Won by Goodwood Estate at the Seithfield Show, 1829-1868 .. .. xvii 24 Sizes of Goodwood farms, 1851 • xviii 25 Percentage of Arable, Pasture and Down on Goodwood Farms, 1851 ......xix 26 Location of Goodwood Estate farms, 1851 ..............xx 27 Small, Medium and Large Farms on the Goodwood Estate, 1851 ......xxi 28 Size of Goodwood farms 1851, corçared to that in late Sixties xxii 29 Goodwood Farms and Parishes in Which they were Situated ......xxiii 30 Population Peaks in Parishes in Chichester Rape, 1801-1881 ......xxiv 31 Birthplaces of Goodwood Farmers ..................Xxv 32 Sums Spent om Buildings and Repairs, 1846-1856 ............xxvi 33 Population Growth in Selected Sussex Towns .......... xxvi 34 old and new Rents on Goodwood Tenant Farms, 1851 ........xxvii 35 Birthplaces of Workers Living in Westharipnett Parish, 1851 .. .. .. xxviii 36 Birthplaces of House Servants Working in Goodwood House Coapared to Other House Servants in WesthalTçnett Parish ............xxviii Figure 1, Map of West Sussex ....................xxix Figure 2, Family Tree of the Dukes of Richmond ..............xxx Figure 3 Map to show the general location of the Goowood Estate xxxi Figure 4 Map to show Parishes in which the Duke of Richmond owned Farmland, Population and Land litilisetion..................Xxxii Figure 5 Map to show Principal Farmsteads on the Goodwood Estate.. .. xxxiii APPENDIX B Bibliography ........................xxxiv ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviations for journals and newspapers are used: Ag.Hist - Agricultural History Review; E.H.R. - English History Review; Ec.H.R. - Economic History Review; J.P.S. - Journal of Peasant Studies; 3.R.A.S.E. - Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England; S.P.C. - Sussex Agricultural Collections; S.A.E. - Sussex Agricultural Express; S.N.Q. - Sussex Notes and Queries; W.S.G. - West Sussex Gazette. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In 1959, Asa Briggs called the third quarter of the nineteenth century 'one of the 1 least studied periods in English history'. Nine years later, E.L.Jones commented on a healthily growing volume of literature on the subject but concluded that the writings were still 'at an awkward, in-between stage', for coverage of English agriculture was neither comprehensive, nor was it sufficiently focused to 2 provide a series of ready made debates round which a survey might be arranged'. To some extent, Jones's judgement might be said to hold good today since even now, no such series presents itself. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify several areas which have occupied historians in their attempts to explore issues appertaining to agriculture in the mid-Victorian period. Three of these have a direct bearing on the workings of a great estate in the mid nineteenth century and are related to how far any landlord was able to implement his - philosophy. First, the landowner's political and social position; second, his role as leader of agricultural improvement; and third an economic weakening of the landowner's position during the period. Interesting as each of these factors is individually, collectively they indicate potential conflict, anomaly and choices which might result in confusion and contradiction when translated into practical terms in the daily running of a great estate. 1. A.Briggs, Victorian