''The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland'' (originally ''The Acre-Ocracy of England'') is a reference work published by
John Bateman in four editions between 1876 and 1883, giving brief details of individuals owning land in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...
to a total of or
valuation of £3000 annual income. It has become a standard
primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...
for historians of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
.
Compilation
The information was abstracted from the
''Return of Owners of Land'' (1873–1876), a government publication nicknamed the "Modern
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
". Bateman collated the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
-by-county information, correcting errors, allowing for variations in spelling of surnames, noting with footnotes and asterisks discrepancies and complexities of ownership or income. Owners noted in
Evelyn Shirley's ''Noble and Gentle Men of England'' as in unbroken inheritance since the reign of
Henry VII were given a special mark; later editions also separately marked owners not listed by Shirley but who protested to Bateman that they had the same antiquity.
John Bateman
John Bateman (1839–1910), editor of ''The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland'', lived at
Brightlingsea
Brightlingsea (, traditionally , , ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the Tendring District, Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, Essex, River Colne, on ...
Hall in
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, and was a
justice of the peace and
deputy lieutenant for Essex and
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
. In 1865, he married Jessy Caroline Bootle-Wilbraham, sister of
Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom
Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom (12 December 1837 – 19 November 1898) known as The Lord Skelmersdale between 1853 and 1880, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. He was a member of every Conservative admi ...
. They had one daughter.
References
Editions
*
*
*
*
*
Sources
* Obituary in ''The Times'', October 13, 1910.
* Spring "Introduction" in Bateman 1971
Citations
History of agriculture in the United Kingdom
British biographical dictionaries
British landowners
1876 non-fiction books
1883 non-fiction books
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