Country Houses and the British Empire, 1700–1930

353 Pages·2014·32.397 MB·English

by  Stephanie Barczewski

STUDIES IN IMPERIALISM STUDIES IN IMPERIALISM
General editor: andrew s. Thompson
Founding editor: John M. Mackenzie
Country houses
Country houses and the British Empire, 1700–1930 assesses the economic
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and cultural links between country houses and the empire between the C
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the empire upon the British metropolis by showing both the geographical s
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variations and the different cultural manifestations of that impact.
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The first half of the book concentrates on economic issues, as it lists more
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than a thousand houses that were purchased using imperial wealth and
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analyses the attitudes that underlay those purchases. it also maps the p
concentrations of country houses purchased from imperial funds, showing io 1700–1930
how some parts of the United kingdom saw a significantly greater inflow reu
of wealth from the colonies than did others. The second half turns to the ,s
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cultural display of empire in the country-house context, which was focused 1
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around four discourses: a discourse of commodities, a discourse of 7
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cosmopolitanism, a discourse of conquest and a discourse of collecting. 0
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suitable for both a scholarly audience, postgraduate and advanced –d sTePHanie Barczewski
undergraduate students and more general readers, Country houses and the 1 t
British Empire offers a rare scholarly analysis of the history of country houses 9h
that goes beyond their architecture or biographical studies of their owners. 3e
it recognises their importance as the physical embodiments of imperial 0
wealth and as reflectors of imperial cultural influences. in so doing, it
restores them to their true place of centrality in British culture over the last
three centuries, and provides fresh insights into the role of the empire in
the British metropolis.
stephanie Barczewski is Professor of Modern British History at clemson University
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ISBN 978-0-7190-9622-8
9 780719 096228
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
general editors John M. MacKenzie and Andrew S. Thompson
When the ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series was founded more
than twenty-fi ve years ago, emphasis was laid upon the
conviction that ‘imperialism as a cultural phenomenon
had as signifi cant an effect on the dominant as on the
subordinate societies’. With well over a hundred titles now
published, this remains the prime concern of the series.
Cross-disciplinary work has indeed appeared covering the
full spectrum of cultural phenomena, as well as examining
aspects of gender and sex, frontiers and law, science and
the environment, language and literature, migration and
patriotic societies, and much else. Moreover, the series has
always wished to present comparative work on European
and American imperialism, and particularly welcomes the
submission of books in these areas. The fascination with
imperialism, in all its aspects, shows no sign of abating,
and this series will continue to lead the way in encouraging
the widest possible range of studies in the fi eld. ‘Studies
in Imperialism’ is fully organic in its development, always
seeking to be at the cutting edge, responding to the latest
interests of scholars and the needs of this ever-expanding
area of scholarship.
Country houses and the British
Empire, 1700–1930
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SELECTED TITLES AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES
REPRESENTING AFRICA
Landscape, exploration and empire in Southern Africa, 1780–1870
John McAleer
VISIONS OF EMPIRE
Patriotism, popular culture and the city, 1870−1939
Brad Beaven
EMPIRE OF SCHOLARS
Universities, networks and the British academic world, 1850–1939
Tamson Pietsch
CURATING EMPIRE
Museums and the British imperial experience
Edited by Sarah Longair and John McAleer
MUSEUMS AND EMPIRE
Natural history, human cultures and colonial identities
John M. MacKenzie
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Country houses
and the British
Empire, 1700–1930
Stephanie Barczewski
MANCHESTER
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Manchester and New York
distributed in the United States exclusively by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Copyright © Stephanie Barczewski 2014
The right of Stephanie Barczewski to be identifi ed as the author of this
work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS
ALTRINCHAM STREET, MANCHESTER M1 7JA, UK
and ROOM 400, 175 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10010, USA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Distributed in the United States exclusively by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 175 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10010, USA
Distributed in Canada exclusively by
UBC PRESS, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA,
2029 WEST MALL, VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA V6T 1Z2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN 978 0 7190 9622 8 hardback
First published 2014
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does
not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
Typeset in 10/12pt Trump Mediaeval
by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
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Contents
List of fi gures, charts and map — page vi
List of tables — page viii
General editor’s introduction — page ix
Preface and acknowledgements — page xii
List of abbreviations — page xviii
Introduction: British country houses and empire, 1700–1930 1
1 Colonial merchants 19
2 Indian nabobs 45
3 West Indian planters 69
4 Military and naval offi cers and other categories of imperial
estate purchasers 90
5 The impact of imperial wealth on British landed estates 122
6 The cultural display of empire in country houses 136
7 The discourse of commodities 164
8 The discourse of cosmopolitanism 180
9 The discourse of conquest 197
10 The discourse of collecting 219
Conclusion 242
Appendices 247
Select bibliography 291
Index 314
[ v ]
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Figures, charts and map
Figures
1 Servants’ bell-pull label for India Room, Osterley Park,
Middlesex (© National Trust Images/author) page 2
2 Crimson Drawing Room, Knole, Kent
(© National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel) 6
3 Sezincote House, Gloucestershire (© author) 145
4 Detail, entrance hall, Clandon Park, Surrey
(© National Trust Images/Chris Lacey) 149
5 Watercolour of Donnington Plantation, Jamaica
(© Norfolk Record Offi ce) 152
6 Inscription over entrance to Palmerstown House,
County Kildare (© author/Palmerstown House Estate) 153
7 Hinemihi (Maori meeting house), Clandon Park, Surrey
(© National Trust Images/Nick Meers) 156
8 Staircase, east range, Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire
(© National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel) 165
9 The Pineapple, Dunmore Park, Stirlingshire
(© National Trust for Scotland) 169
10 Hong bowl, Nostell Priory, Yorkshire
(© National Trust/Robert Thrift) 182
11 T’ing House, Adlington Park, Cheshire
(© author/Adlington Estate) 184
12 Gateway, Dromana House, County Waterford
(© author/Waterford County Council) 187
13 Shagreen globe, Buckland Abbey, Devon
(© National Trust/Linda Aiano) 197
14 Chinese house, Shugborough, Staffordshire
(© National Trust Images/Andrew Butler) 200
15 Wooden plaque depicting Captain Cook’s fi rst
voyage, Winkburn House, Nottinghamshire
(© author/Richard Craven-Smith-Milnes) 204
16 Triumphal arch, Parlington Park, Yorkshire (© author) 208
17 Tipu Sultan’s tent, Powis Castle, Powys
(© National Trust Images/Eric Pelham) 211
[ vi ]
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FIGURES, CHARTS AND MAP
18 Rudyard Kipling’s study, Bateman’s, Sussex
(© National Trust Images/Geoffrey Frosh) 220
19 Indian Museum, Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
(© National Trust Images/Robert Morris) 230
20 Entrance hall, Clandeboye House, County Down
(© Country Life) 235
Charts
1 Landed estate purchases by colonial merchants
by decade, 1700–1930 25
2 Location of landed estates purchased by colonial
merchants, 1700–1830 26
3 Location of landed estates purchased by colonial
merchants, 1831–1930 29
4 Nabob purchases of landed estates by decade, 1700–1850 53
5 Location of nabob estates, 1700–1820 55
6 Location of West Indian planters’ estates, 1700–1850 72
7 West Indian planters’ purchases of landed estates
by decade, 1700–1850 81
8 Location of military offi cers’ estates, 1750–1850 93
9 Military offi cers’ purchases of landed estates by
decade, 1750–1850 95
10 Naval offi cers’ purchases of landed estates by decade,
1750–1930 97
11 Location of naval offi cers’ estates, 1750–1850 99
12 Location of East India Company directors’ estates,
1758–1800 102
13 Social origins of military and naval offi cers who
purchased landed estates, 1750–1930 126
14 Landed estate purchases from imperial wealth by
decade, 1700–1930 127
15 Landed estate purchases from imperial wealth by
country, 1700–1930 128
16 Landed estate purchases from imperial wealth by
region, 1700–1930 130
Map
1 Density of country houses purchased with imperial
funds, 1760–1810 132
[ vii ]
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Tables
1 Landed estates acquired by colonial judicial offi cials,
1800–1920 page 54
2 West Indian heiresses whose wealth was used for landed
estate purchases 104
3 Returnees from North American colonies who purchased
landed estates, 1700–1830 108
4 Returnees from British settlement colonies who purchased
landed estates, 1830–1930 110
5 Proconsular positions taken by the elite to preserve
indebted estates 113
[ viii ]
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General editor’s introduction
Brodie Castle lies between the towns of Nairn and Forres in the County
of Moray in the north of Scotland. In the middle of the eighteenth
century, the estate ran into fi nancial diffi culties as a result of the
extravagance of the 19th Brodie of Brodie (as the laird was styled). In
1789 the 21st Brodie sailed to India to work for the East India Company
in an attempt to recoup the family’s fortunes. But in India he was
himself extravagant and built a second Brodie Castle, this time in
Madras (Chennai).1 But before he could make a real Indian fortune,
he died in a sailing accident in 1802. His younger brother, Alexander,
who never succeeded to the title or the estate, did however make a
very considerable fortune in India and this enabled him to purchase
the estates of Thunderton House in Elgin, and of both Arnhall and
the Burn in Kincardineshire. He was thus able to upstage the main
branch of the family. Subsequently, the Burn estate was bought by
two brothers, John and William Shand, who had made their fortunes
in Jamaica. The Burn estate and its fi ne eighteenth-century mansion
are now owned by the Goodenough Trust and are devoted primarily
to educational purposes, such that academics and students can hold
‘reading parties’ and research symposia there.2
Meanwhile, in another part of Scotland, Colonel Allan Macpherson,
who had just returned from India with a moderate fortune (he had
been duped out of much of it by his more famous cousin, James
Macpherson the fabricator of the Ossian sagas), bought a small 2,000-
acre estate at Blairgowrie in Perthshire on the edge of the Highlands.
The centre of the estate is Newton Castle, a Scottish tower house
with eighteenth-century additions. The Macpherson family subse-
quently produced a succession of sons who worked or settled in the
West Indies, in New South Wales and returned to India in the later
nineteenth century to join the civil service. Estate and castle are
still in the hands of the Macphersons, the present incumbent being
Sir William Macpherson of Cluny, a former High Court judge who
conducted the celebrated Macpherson enquiry into the Metropolitan
police.3
Yet another estate in Perthshire, Garth in Glen Lyon, had been
owned by Major General David Stewart (1772–1829), a Governor of
St Lucia, then by Sir Archibald Campbell (1769–1943), Governor of
New Brunswick. In 1880 it was bought by Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909),
who had made his fortune in imperial shipping, fi rst by founding a
[ ix ]
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