Description:For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Sutherland Estates were the largest landed estates in western Europe; 1.1 million acres made up the Scottish estates, nearly the whole county of Sutherland, with a further c300,000 acres in England. This section will concentrate on providing an overview of the administrative structure of the Sutherland Estates in Scotland and the key political, social and economic events that affected them, as demonstrated by the Sutherland Estates papers held by Staffordshire County Record Office.
Structure and Administration
The Sutherland Estate had been the largest landed estate in the Highlands for much of the eighteenth century, and previous to that date; owned by the Gordon family, under their title of Earls of Sutherland until 1785, when Elizabeth Gordon, Countess of Sutherland married George Granville Leveson-Gower, Lord Stafford, combining nearly 1 million acres of land and one of the greatest fortunes of the Industrial Revolution. More land in Sutherland was purchased by the heirs of the Countess (Duchess from 1833) of Sutherland, principally the Reay Estate from Lord Reay in 1829, bringing the total acreage owned in Sutherland over the 1 million mark. Additionally, when in 1853 Lord Stafford, later to become the 3rd Duke of Sutherland, married Anne Hay Mackenzie, the ailing Cromartie Estate in Ross-shire also came under the umbrella of the Sutherland Estates.
This vast estate was administered through a complex and elaborate estate management structure. At the top was the duke of Sutherland, as owner and head of all the Sutherland estates; however, most of the day to day administration of the estates was left to a head factor, known as the Commissioner. He had responsibility for the management and policy decisions made on all the landed estates, as well as the ducal family’s extensive business and industrial investment portfolios, political and familial interests. The Commissioner was based principally in London, at Stafford House, but was often on the move, following the ducal family around their four principal country houses, and was additionally expected to spend at least two weeks out of every year in Sutherland. Under the Commissioner were factors ‘on the ground:’ the Sutherland estate was divided into three managements of roughly 300,000 acres each; Dunrobin, covering the east and centre of the county, Tongue, covering the north and centre and Scourie, covering the west and centre. Each of these managements had a factor, who was given a house, a sheep farm and a salary of roughly £600 each. They collected rents and taxes, carried out land improvements, organised leases and were the link between the tenants of the estate and the upper management. Under the factors were ground officers; one per parish, who dealt mainly with the small tenants and kept an eye on things for the factor.
A list of the key administrative positions and their holders from the early nineteenth century follows:
Dukes of Sutherland
George Granville Leverson-Gower, Lord Stafford, 1st Duke of Sutherland, 1758-1833
George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, 1786-1861
George Granville William Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland, 1828-1892
Cromartie Sutherland Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland, 1851-1913
George Granville Sutherland Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland, 1888-1963
Commissioners
James Loch, 1812 – 1855
George Loch, 1855 – 1879
General Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball, 1879-1886
R. M. Brereton, 1886-1889
Factors on the Sutherland Estate
Dunrobin Management:
Joseph Peacock, 1859-1885
Donald MacLean, 1885-1912
Colonel John Morrison, 1912-1920
Tongue Management:
John Horsburgh, 1839-1859
John Crawford, 1859-1885
John Box, 1885-1902
Colonel John Morrison, 1902-1912
Scourie Management:
Evander McIver, 1845-1895
Donald MacLean, 1895-1912
In addition to these staff, the estate secretariat and legal team was based at Stafford House, London, including personal secretaries to the dukes such as Henry Wright. Each separate estate also had a legal team on the ground; in Sutherland, Golspie-based solicitors were used.
Documents in Staffordshire Record Office reflect a variety of key themes in the Scottish estate management in the nineteenth century:
The changing financial health of the ducal family and estate: although the Sutherland family were one of the richest patrician landowning families in Britain, this did not mean that the landed estate in Sutherland was in good financial straights – indeed, the situation in Sutherland was often dire. A profit was rarely made from the estate and at key periods, money from other sections of the ducal empire was used to shore up the Sutherland estate finances, e.g. 1810-1833, 1847-1855 and 1869-1880.
Personal dynastic disagreements among members of the ducal family had a direct bearing on the personal reputation and financial health of the Sutherland estate. From 1888-1895 the ducal family underwent a series of tumultuous disagreements when the 3rd Duke of Sutherland married his long term mistress, Mrs Mary Caroline Blair, to the outrage of his family, including his heir, Lord Stafford, the future 4th Duke. The 3rd Duke re-arranged his will in favour of the new Duchess, and after he died in 1892, a three-year court battle between the Dowager Duchess and 4th Duke ensued, resulting in an out of court settlement of approximately £750,000 in the Dowagers’ favour. Aside from the personal scandal for the family, the sum granted to the Dowager was a huge financial blow to the estates.
The estate management had wider issues to worry about in the late nineteenth century, however: the land reform debate raged in the Highlands from the early 1880s, centring on crofters’ rights to the land, commonly known as the Crofters War. Much of the correspondence between the Commissioner and the factors from 1882 was concerned with this major issue and what the estate management could do to confront them and prevent land reform that would be detrimental to the estates’ interests.
Lastly, along with most other patrician landowners, the dukes of Sutherland had considerable political interests, which are dealt with in the estate papers. Despite the efforts in the First and Second Reform Acts, the dukes of Sutherland effectively controlled both the county seat of Sutherland (until 1884) and the Wick Burgh seat; local politics in the form of School and Parochial Board elections were also in the power of the local factors up to the 1880s.