Description:One issue which motivated James Loch’s decision to advise the Marquis of Stafford to invest in railways concerned the income from the Bridgewater Canal.
In 1825 George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, who would become the second Duke of Sutherland on his father’s death in 1833, was yet to have any sons with his wife Lady Harriet Howard (1806-1868) whom he had married in 1823. If the couple failed to produce sons then the income from the Bridgewater Canal would pass to George Granville’s younger brother Lord Francis, meaning that George Granville’s daughters Elizabeth (born 1824) and Evelyn (born 1825) would fail to benefit from the money. In a letter dated 6th December 1825 Loch remarks ‘I am sorry to see what is mentioned as to the destination of the estate after Lord Francis’s boys, supposing you have none’.
By investing in the railways, the income of George Granville and the inheritance of his daughters would be secured from the development of these new innovations in inland transport.
For in-depth contextual analysis of correspondence relating to the development of inland transport during this period, see Professor Eric Richards The Leviathan of Wealth: The Sutherland Fortune in the Industrial Revolution (Routledge, 1973) which has formed the basis for interpretation of the letters featured here.