This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and duplication or sale of all or part is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for research, private study, criticism/review or educational purposes. Electronic or print copies are for your own personal, non- commercial use and shall not be passed to any other individual. No quotation may be published without proper acknowledgement. For any other use, or to quote extensively from the work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder/s. Land agents and urban aristocratic estates in nineteenth century Staffordshire: a comparison of Longton and Walsall Cathal Rogers PhD March 2018 Keele University ABSTRACT This thesis examines the impact of the social and economic policies of two aristocratic landowners on the development of Staffordshire towns. The integral role of land agents is demonstrated by comparing the earl of Bradford’s Walsall estate with the duke of Sutherland’s land near Longton, in the Potteries. While agents’ importance to the management of rural estates is recognised, and the contribution of aristocrats to the development of towns is similarly established, the role of agents on aristocratic urban estates is largely overlooked. This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge by readdressing this imbalance using considerable volumes of agent’s correspondence, many of which remained uncatalogued until 2013. These letters represent an invaluable, and underused, source for analysing the physical, social and political development of urban landscapes. Land agents, from diverse social and professional backgrounds, are demonstrated to play an instrumental role in the management and development of urban estates, to a far greater extent than the often-disinterested landowners. Yet the professionalisation of the agent’s role is shown to be a staccato affair with old systems of patronage often continuing. Three chronological chapters chart the physical growth of Longton and Walsall throughout the nineteenth century, demonstrating the influence and autonomy of agents over all aspects of urban developments. This analysis is supplemented by two thematic chapters exploring the estates’ impact on the social development of the towns. The provision or restriction of recreation spaces and attempts to shape political developments in the formative decades following the Great Reform Act, demonstrate sometimes unwelcomed attempts at continued social control in the new urban environment. Agents forged the link, or often the buffer, between the landowner and his tenants. They addressed their employees’ conflicting desires for the maintenance of paternalism, and for profit maximisation, and directed the transition from a rural to urban society. i ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... i LIST OF MAPS .................................................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. vii 1.0: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 RESEARCH AIMS AND THEMES ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................... 12 1.3 SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 38 1.4 STAFFORDSHIRE ARISTOCRACY ................................................................................... 47 1.5 STAFFORDSHIRE TOWNS ................................................................................................. 51 2.0: URBANISATION FIRST PHASE: 1830-40 ............................................................................. 61 2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 61 2.2 AGENCY STRUCTURE AND ROLE OF THE AGENT ..................................................... 62 2.3 AGENTS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................... 78 2.4 AGENTS AND TENANTS .................................................................................................... 99 2.5 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 109 3.0 URBANISATION SECOND PHASE 1850-69 ........................................................................ 113 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 113 3.2 SECONDARY LITERATURE............................................................................................. 115 3.3 AGENCY STRUCTURE ...................................................................................................... 118 3.4 AGENTS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENTS...................................................................... 131 3.5 AGENTS AND TENANTS .................................................................................................. 145 3.6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 157 4.0 URBANISATION THIRD PHASE 1878-1900 ....................................................................... 159 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 159 4.2 AGENCY STRUCTURE ...................................................................................................... 162 4.3 AGENTS WITH LANDOWNERS ...................................................................................... 172 4.4 AGENTS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENTS...................................................................... 175 4.5 AGENTS AND TENANTS .................................................................................................. 202 4.6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 209 5.0 RECREATION ON ARISTOCRATIC ESTATES 1830-1900 ................................................ 213 5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 213 5.2 SECONDARY LITERATURE............................................................................................. 215 5.3 AN OUTLINE OF RECREATION IN THE POTTERIES AND BLACK COUNTRY ...... 220 iii 5.4 ALCOHOL ON ARISTOCRATIC ESTATES .................................................................... 226 5.5 OTHER RECREATIONS ON ESTATES ............................................................................ 237 5.6 PARKS AND ARISTOCRATIC GROUNDS ..................................................................... 243 5.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 252 6.0 POLITICS AND UNREST IN STAFFORDSHIRE, 1830-1900 ............................................. 257 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 257 6.2 SECONDARY LITERATURE ............................................................................................ 260 6.3 ARISTOCRATIC ESTATES AND PRE-REFORM POLITICS ......................................... 263 6.4 PRESSURE FOR REFORM AND 1832 .............................................................................. 268 6.5 ARISTOCRATS IN POST-REFOM POLITICS ................................................................. 275 6.6 THE BOROUGHS OF WALSLL AND STOKE-UPON-TRENT ...................................... 281 6.7 CHARTISM.......................................................................................................................... 290 6.8 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 298 7.0 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 301 7.1 AIMS .................................................................................................................................... 301 7.2 AGENTS AND PROFESSIONALISATION ....................................................................... 303 7.3 PATERNALISM, PROFIT MAKING AND THE ABSORPTION OF ARISTOCRATIC VALUES .................................................................................................................................... 310 7.4 PATTERNS OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT ...................................................................... 312 7.5 METHODOLOGY: BENEFITS & LIMITATIONS ............................................................ 316 7.6 OTHER AREAS OF ENQUIRY .......................................................................................... 318 7.7 EPILOGUE ........................................................................................................................... 321 APPENDIX 1: TIMELINE OF KEY INDIVIDUALS .................................................................. 325 SUTHERLAND