Stella & Rose's Books

Front cover

Contents

• Preface
• Maps
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I The English Aristocracy
• Chapter One Who Were the Aristocracy?
• The evolution of the aristocracy
• The English Aristocracy and the Continental nobility
• Numbers of the Aristocracy
• Requirements for admission
• Chapter Two The Making of the Aristocracy: Land
• Land and status
• The distribution of landownership and the consolidation of estates
• The importance of estate settlement
• Newcomers to the landed elite
• The changing pattern of land investment
• Alternative investments
• Stability of landownership
• Chapter Three The Making of the Aristocracy: The Channels of Admission
• Family pedigree
• Admission via education
• Admission via marriage
• Admission via political and state service
• Admission via commerce and industry
• Admission via local office
• Patterns of upward mobility
• Part II The Aristocracy and the Economy
• Chapter Four The Aristocratic Estates
• Responsibilities of estate management
• Professionalisation of estate management
• Absentee landlords and estate management
• Chapter Five The Aristocracy and the Agricultural Revolution
• Aristocrats as farmers: the home farm and innovation
• Aristocrats as farmers: agricultural shows and societies
• Aristocrats as farmers: parliamentary legislation
• Aristocrats as improvers: enclosure, drainage and building
• Aristocrats as improvers: investment
• Aristocrats as landlords
• The financial reward
• Chapter Six Aristocratic Entrepreneurs in Industry
• Aristocrats and mineral sources
• Aristocrats and mineral sources: coal
• Aristocrats and mineral sources: other mining interests
• Aristocrats and manufacturing industry
• Aristocrats and industry: parliamentary legislations
• The financial reward
• Chapter Seven The Aristocracy and Communications Improvements
• Aristocratic attitudes to communications improvements
• Active aristocratic participation in improvements
• Aristocrats and communications: parliamentary legislation
• The financial reward
• Chapter Eight The Aristocracy and the Towns
• London
• The Provinces
• The resorts
• The financial reward
• Chapter Nine The Aristocratic Contribution
• Aristocratic incomes
• Aristocratic indebtedness: mortgages and trusts
• Aristocratic indebtedness: means of financial rescue
• Aristocratic indebtedness: sources of credit
• Aristocratic borrowing and economic growth
• PART III The Aristocracy in Society and Government
• Chapter Ten The Aristocracy at Home: Social Leadership
• The country house: building and landscape gardening
• The country house and the community: consumption and employment
• The country house and the community: social mixing
• Aristocrats and the local community
• Aristocrats and the local community: the limits of deference
• Aristocrats and the local community: the diversion of urban life
• Chapter Eleven The Aristocracy at Home: Local Government
• Positions of responsibility in local government
• The practice of local government
• The breakdown of aristocratic local government: the countryside
• The breakdown of aristocratic local government: the towns
• The transfer of power in local government
• Chapter Twelve The Aristocracy and the State
• The Consolidation of Power
• The aristocracy and the executive
• The House of Lords
• The House of Commons
• Aristocratic control of parliamentary seats
• Chapter Thirteen The Aristocracy and the State
• The Maintenance of Power
• The aristocracy and electoral deference
• Reactions to aristocratic power
• The 1832 Reform Act
• The survival of aristocratic power after 1832
• Aristocratic power on the wane
• Final resistance
• Chapter Fourteen Conclusion: The Decline of the Aristocracy
• Survival through decline: the twentieth-century aristocracy
• The declining significance of landowership
• Appendix Counting the Aristocracy
• The peerage
• The baronetage
• The knighthood
• Index