Description:The Sutherland family were extensive landowners with estates in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Sutherlandshire in the Scottish Highlands. Many people wrote to the family about life on the estates. Their letters include subjects such as the implementation of Government legislation, community facilities and agricultural practice. These letters tell us about life on the Sutherland estates in the nineteenth century.
John Coates: Workhouses in Shropshire, 1836
John Coates, Chairman of the Newport Union, wrote to George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1786-1861), the second Duke of Sutherland about the provision of work houses in Gnosall and Lilleshall.
A. Macpherson: Estate Disputes, 1844
Macpherson was the Minister of Golspie on the Sutherland Estates. Read about his dispute with Mr. Gunn and his views on the running of the Highland Parishes.
William J. Tomlinson: Lilleshall Cricket Club, 1914-1918
Read about William’s campaign to save the Cricket Club for the brave men from Lilleshall fighting in the Great War.
Mary Law: Farming Success in Dornoch, 1824
Read about this successful business woman’s farm in the Scottish Highlands.
James Allen: Ketley Schools 1847
Read about James Allen’s campaign to promote the Ketley schools in Shropshire.
The image above shows a letter written to the Duke of Sutherland by John Coates in October 1836.