Description
Book SynopsisTraces the development of a typical British aristocratic family, its estates and its activities over the period when the landed aristocracy was at its height and over the period when the aristocracy had to cope with increasing democratisation. For over two hundred years, the Campbells of Cawdor were major landowners, industrialists and politicians. Originating in Nairnshire, Scotland, they moved in the late seventeenth century to south Wales, where they became the second largest landowner in Wales and owners of significant coal and lead mines. They participated politically in the British state as MPs, peers, lords of the admiralty including one first lord, treasury lords, admirals and army officers. They supported local good causes, were involved in London 'society' and were major art collectors. As such their story is fairly typical of many other aristocratic families in the period. This book traces the development of the family, its estates and activities from the late seventeenth to the late twentieth century. It shows how they established their wealth and power during the eighteenth century, the period when the landed aristocracy was at its height, how they responded in the nineteenth century to the moves towards more democratic forms of local and national government and how, despite the difficulties aristocratic families and estates faced in the twentieth century, they survived, selling off their Welsh lands and returning to their Scottish base, which remains a flourishing agricultural estate and tourist destination. JOHN E. DAVIES was the County Archivist for Carmarthenshire andis now an independent historical researcher. He completed his doctorate at Swansea University.
Trade Review[A] deeply researched and important study [...]. This is an important book and will be essential reading for historians of Scotland, Wales and Britain, as well as those working on class, especially the elite, landed and aristocratic classes. -- SCOTTISH HISTORICAL REVIEW
This book will not only become a standard work of reference but will undoubtedly stimulate further research. * ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS *
I have read this book with great interest and enjoyment. It is an excellent study of a great Welsh estate, covering all aspects of local landownership, based on massive archival research, and fully up to date with the relevant secondary literature. Studies such as this are very rare, and I strongly support and endorse the publication of this fine piece of scholarship. -- David Cannadine, Professor of History, Princeton University.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Cawdor and Campbell Estate administration The agricultural estate: the Cawdors as farmers and landlords The Cawdors as industrial landowners The Cawdors in the community: church and education The melee of local governance The Cawdors in politics: interest building, consolidation and decline Private and exclusive lives The end of the Welsh estates Conclusion Bibliography
