Staffordshire Landowners, 1873

The main aim of the project was to create from the return of owners in 1873 an accurate list of landowners for Staffordshire. This could be compared with Bateman's calculations of the number of owners in individual counties and the whole of England and Wales according to certain categories of status. Bateman defined these categories as possessing a certain fixed acreage and in some cases, but not all, a certain rental. He also included the owners in their main county of ownership to avoid duplication when he came to calculate figures for the whole of England and Wales. This project aimed to identify duplicate entries which arose from using the rate books for every parish as the method of compilation and to reassign certain entries designated as individuals to corporate ownership by parish authorities, limited companies and so on. It also necessitated an extensive search in the return especially for adjoining counties to determine where individuals had their main estate. The research required many biographical studies to establish whether entries were duplicates or not.