Consumption and the Country House, 1730-1800
This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and will last from 1 April 2010 to
the 30 November 2011. The project is linked to previous work carried out by Professor Jon Stobart
(Principal Investigator) and postgraduate students in the History subject area, as well as the
Postgraduate Research Assistant, Dr Mark Rothery. It is associated with an AHRC-funded PhD
studentship from 2010-2013, held by Hannah Waugh. The study examines patterns, spaces and
cultures of consumption in three country houses, located in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.
Outputs from the project will aim both at academic and public audiences.
For more details, contact Prof. Jon Stobart at jon.stobart@northampton.ac.uk
Outline, Aims and Objectives
Bedchamber at Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire.
This project provides an analysis of the
consumption practices of the elite of 18thcentury provincial England. The focus of the
project is on the consumption of everyday
goods and the mundane processes of
consumption and the systems of supply which
met the needs and desires of the elite. This
project engages with several wider debates in
the history of consumption. The first centres on
changing cultures of consumption. Eschewing
simple notions of conspicuous consumption or
of the elite as connoisseurs, the project will
establish how they fitted into wider patterns of consumer behaviour. Second, by focusing on the
systems of supply and the processes of acquiring goods, it stresses the everyday practicalities of
consumption and the relationship between buyers and sellers, exploring the extent to which 'ordinary'
tradesmen were seen as arbiters of taste. Third, it links to debates over the value systems which
shaped consumption and the relationship between the acquisition of goods and social identity.
At one level, the research explores the interaction between national and local identities: specifically the
position of London in structuring and articulating consumption. At another it foregrounds neighbourly,
familial and inter-generational relationships, and shows how a better understanding of the disposal as
well as the accumulation of goods provides important insights into consumer motivations.
The significance of this research stretches far beyond a better knowledge of elite consumption. First, it
will revise our understanding of the practices and motivations of consumers during a key period of
transformation in domestic material culture and consumerism. In particular, it challenges established
theorisations of consumption as primarily an expression of social status, stressing instead the
heterogeneity of cultural capital, and the everyday, contingent and relational nature of consumer
behaviour. Second, by exploring the ways in which people operated as part of a national and local elite,
but also as family members and as individuals with their own tastes and value systems, the research
questions the relationship between (social) structures and individual agency. Third, it throws new light
on the nature and construction of provincial culture, building on a growing appreciation of the resilience
of local identity through the 18th century to challenge the overweening importance accorded to
national-metropolitan systems of taste. Beyond the realm of academia, the research will provide the
wider public with a more nuanced understanding of the workings of the country house, and offer the
heritage industry opportunities to present different narratives of the country house as a lived space.
Case Studies; Houses and Families
The five families included in this study; the Leigh Family of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire; the
Newdigate family of Arbury Hall, Warwickshire; the Orlebar family of Hincwick House, Bedfordshire
were chosen due to the contrasts in their lineage and length of residence in their country houses, the
continuity of family inheritance and also in terms of their relative income and status at local and national
level. In comparative terms they afford insights into wider practices and attitudes amongst the provincial
elite and consumers in general. Equally, their estates were all within a fairly well defined region serviced
by a particular economic structure.
Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire
The history of the Leigh family at Stoneleigh
began with the purchase of the estate in 1562
by Sir Thomas Leigh, a former London
merchant. Famous for its connections with
Jane Austen, the Abbey was originally a
Cistercian Monastery built during the Twelfth
Century. During this period major building work
was carried out on the house between 1714
and the 1730s when a West Wing was added,
and again during the 1760s including new
elevations on the house, a North range and a
number of substantial changes to the interior
design and decoration. During this period the
there were three owners, Edward 3rd Lord
Leigh (1684-1738), Thomas 4th Lord Leigh
(1713-49) and Edward 5th Lord Leigh (1742-86).The 5th Lord, Edward, was declared a lunatic in 1773,
and died childless. The estate then passed, at his bequest, to his sister, Mary, at which point the title
became extinct. During the Eighteenth Century the Leigh estates were substantial, generating around
£3,000 per year during the mid-1750s. However, it was during the Nineteenth Century that the estates
grew to more the significant size of over 30,000 acres, placing the Leighs near the apex of British
landed society.
Arbury Hall, Warwickshire.
The Newdigate family were close neighbours of
the Leighs. They were resident since the
Sixteenth Century at Arbury Hall, another
former Monastic House. The House was
acquired by John Newdigate, in 1586, in an
exchange of property with a lawyer, Edmund
Anderson, for the Newdigate property in
Middlesex. Unlike the several exchanges of
inheritance that occurred at Stoneleigh, Arbury
Hall was managed by one owner between 1734
and 1806; Sir Roger Newdigate (1719-1806).
He inherited the title and estates after the death
of his two elder brothers. Partly due to Sir
Roger’s efforts, the Newdigate estates were far
more diversified than those of the Leigh family,
with a strong interest in mining, canals and other industries. This secured, by the 1780s, an income of
over £15,000 per year. Another of his legacies was the transformation of Arbury Hall, beginning with the
Library in 1748 and extending to structural changes and new interior designs. Partly due to the
longevity of Sir Roger’s stewardship of the estate, as well as his obsession with good economy, these
developments were more gradual and generally piecemeal than those at Stoneleigh. After his death as
a childless widower, in 1806, the estate passed to his cousin, Francis Parker.
Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire.
The Dryden family originally came from
Cumberland. They inherited the Canons Ashby
estates after the marriage of John Dryden to
Elizabeth Cope, the daughter and heiress of Sir
John Cope, in 1551. John began extending the
original farmhouse in Elizabethan style from this
date, using the remnants of a ruined Augustinian
Priory on the site. John’s second son, Erasmus,
was a Puritan and a London Grocer. He inherited
the estates from his Father and added an east wing
to the house in the 1590s, later purchasing a
Baronetcy in 1619. Further extensions to the house were carried out in the 1630s and, in 1710, a formal garden
was created by Sir Edward Dryden, 3rd Baronet, nephew of the poet Sir John Dryden, and another wealthy
London grocer, who died in 1717. Like the Leigh family, the Drydens suffered from several breaks in the male
line. The Baronetcy was extinguished upon the death of the 7th Baronet, John, who died childless. The Baronetcy
was recreated in 1795 for Sir John Turner, 4th Baronet of Ambrosden, Oxfordshire, after he married Elizabeth, a
niece of Lady Dryden (d. 1791). The Baronets Dryden were wealthy landowners, with estates in
Northamptonshire at Canons Ashby, Little Preston, Moreton Pinkney, Woodford and Hinton, Blakesley, and
further estates in Huntingdonshire at Chesterton and Haddon, in Warwickshire at Hodnell, Radbourne and
Itchington, and at Freiston in Lincolnshire.
Primary Sources and Methodology
The project makes use of a series of quantitative and qualitative evidence which include
household inventories, bills and receipts, correspondence, diaries and other ephemera
relating to consumption such as recipe books and garden planting plans.
Inventories and Sales Catalogues
SBTRO DR18/4/69, Inventory of Stoneleigh Abbey, 1786
Inventories are a key source for studying changing domestic material culture. Here, they are
used to analyse continuities and changes in the range and location of goods within the five
houses. All the available inventories will be entered onto a database and analysed in
conjunction with ground-plans to establish the changing ways in which rooms were furnished
and assess room use. The assemblages of goods revealed will be examined alongside
prevailing fashions to explore the extent to which these elite consumers engaged with
national systems of taste. Did they follow the trend towards less durable goods with lower
economic and higher cultural value, or did they retain a strong element of 'traditional'
expenditure on goods marking distinction? The database of inventoried goods will also
reveal the volume and nature of items removed and dispersed. These processes will be
further examined through analysis of sales catalogues, the contents of which will be entered
onto the database to allow cross-linking of items. These data will be used to explore intergenerational discontinuities in material culture.
Correspondence
Letters constitute a rich seam of information on values and feelings as well as individuals’
actions, and have been extensively mined by historians of the country house and
consumption. The project will analyse correspondence for evidence of motivations for,
influences on, and contexts of elite consumption. That with tradesmen is analysed to: reveal
the relationship between elite consumers and their suppliers, (the role of London as a centre
of fashion and supply), and the ways in which individuals engaged with broader notions of
taste. Correspondence with friends and family is used to: provide further insights into the
nature of links with London and fashion; assess how local social networks shaped tastes and
choices, and explore the influence of family. Letters written to stewards reveal much about
the character and influence of neighbourliness and local socio-economic rivalry.
The following excerpts from the correspondence of the Leigh Family, Stoneleigh, and the
Newdigate Family, Arbury, illustrate two important facets of evidence in this type of source.
The first, written in 1763, is an example of how the staff at country houses acted as arbiters
of taste and standards in the acquisition of goods. The second letter is an example of the
consumption of luxury goods, in this case whilst Sir Roger Newdigate was on a grand tour of
Europe. It illustrates how closely involved gentry landowners could become in the process of
consumption and a high level of fascination with objects.
SBTRO DR/18/17/27/84, Samuel Butler (Agent at Stoneleigh) to Mr Burnett (Furniture Maker,
London), 13 October 1763.
'Mr Greenhouse himself have lately had
some altercation about some goods sent
down to stoneleigh some time since. You
& he may probably have already
exchanged some letters upon the
occassion. But in order to set the matter
in its proper light & to prevent the saddle
being wrong placed, that is that he may
not say, himself was the only person who
did not condemn them I take the liberty of
relating to you the whole affair...When
the goods first came to stoneleigh and for
some time after (they were by all
suppos'd to have come from Mr Gomm) &
when unpack'd were universally
complain'd of, the wood appearing to be
(as it really is) very green, & the
workmanship shoddy. This proved the
topic of a discourse the next day at dinner
when every person present (without
exception to any) agreed in the above
relation and Mr Greenhouse particularly
mentioned that he supposed that they
were such as Mr Gomm usually exported;
it was then generally agreed (Hem, Cox)
that they ought to be return'd...Lord Leigh
& MR Craven view'd them, & his Lordship
order'd me to write a very severe letter to
Mr Gomm upon the occassion & Insist
upon them taking them again. Mr
Greenhouse soon Rec Mr Gomm and
declaring he never sent them [letter
damaged illegible]...the other day at
stoneleigh (for the last time before he
goes to Oxford) desired to know his
determination upon the affair when he
gave me positive orders to return them &
expects you should be at the expense of
the carriage. I this morning acquainted Mr
Greenhouse with his Lordships orders,
who seem'd not inclineable to comply, but
desirous of retaining some of the best of
them. I do not blame him for endevouring
to serve his Master as far as he decently
may, But Sr when I have his Lordship's
orders how I am to act I shall not submit
to have them countermanded by any
workman about the house, be he who he
will. I assure you Sr I have so good an
opinion of you, as to believe that you
would not endeavour to Impose any
goods upon his Lordship, but what were
deserving of reception, & I conclude these
were sent before you had inspected them.
It is true they are intended chiefly for
Servts rooms, and therefore only to be
plain, but you ought to be neat & good in
their kind, but the wood is really so green
that many of the joynts of those that are
in use begin to give way already. I have
desired Mr Greenhouse to write to you &
learn the charge upon each, & when I
know that, I will then write to his Lordship
for permission to keep such of them as
appear the best but will keep none
without his consent.'
Warwickshire Record Office, CR136/B2010, Sir Roger Newdigate,Rome, to Giovanni Battista
Piranese, Rome, 6 May 1775.
'I the undersigned bind myself to pay the
sum of a thousand Roman Scudi to Mr
Giovanna Battista Piranese in payment for
two big candleabra bought by me and
now in one of the rooms of his Museum.
These candleabra were found at the site
called Pantanello at the Villa Adraianna, as
he says in his published engracings of his
collection of vases and candleabra. One of
these candleabra is ornamented with
three standing birds in the middle and
with dolphins below. The patera (bowl) of
this candlestick is supported by a kneeling
fawn. The entire work is set upright on
three animal's fee, the whole thing being
of a triangular section. The other
condleabrum is likewise of the same
triangular section. In the middle upon the
panels is this arrangement there are
carved in low relief a Minerva, a Diana,
and a Silvanus. The round bowl is
supported by various bands of carving and
the whole work is supported in the same
way by the three animals feet. Such a
payment will be made by me in six
months from the date above written by
the hands of Mr Thomas Jenkins. These
candleabra will be consigned to the same
Mr Thomas Jenkins and therefore caused
to be packed up by Mr Piranese under the
direction of Mr Thomas Jenkins, at my
cost…'
Bills and Receipts
In place of the traditional focus on account books and analyses of income and expenditure,
attention centres on bills and receipts, and on networks of supply. The result will be a vivid
picture of the type, number and location of all the trades-people supplying the country house.
The data will also be used to explore the relationship with particular tradesmen, especially in
terms of longevity and monopoly of supply. Initial work suggests that the bills and receipts
can reveal much about the changing character and style of specific types of goods. Again,
this will be developed to assess the extent to which elite consumers followed the latest
fashions, cultivated an aura of discernment, or engaged in 'dynastic' consumption.
Diaries
There are numerous diaries and personal notebooks for these country houses which will
give detailed insights into practices and motivations. They are used to explore the ways in
which individuals related to broader social and cultural ideals, and how the dynamics of
familial relationships unfolded day to day. They are also drawn on for the insights offered into
visits made to friends and neighbours, and the impression made by the people and places
encountered. In addition to detailed qualitative analysis, a summary database of dates,
names and places will assist in record linkage and in building a clearer picture of the local
and national social networks which enmeshed the elite.
Other Ephemera
The archives of landed families are often highly varied and diverse in their contents,
including many idiosyncratic records. The Leigh archive includes detailed planting guides for
the gardens, which will be used to explore the ways in which the house and garden were
related. Other sources of this miscellaneous type include recipe books, notebooks, family
settlements and wills. The latter can tell us something about the intergenerational transfer of
goods. On a wider front, the published diaries and correspondence of other members of the
elite provide details of local and national networks in which the Leighs, the Newdigates and
the Orlebars operated, and insights into their neighbours’ and peers’ opinions of them and
their belongings.
Archives and Museums
This project aims to engage constructively with a number of different organisations and
archives, rather than merely tapping their archives for source material. Below is a list of
useful web-links to some of these organisations:
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-Upon-Avon:
http://www.shakespeare.org.uk
Warwickshire County Record Office:
www.warwickshire.gov.uk/countyrecordoffice
Northamptonshire County Record Office:
www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/community/ro/pages/default.aspx
Stoneleigh Abbey
www.stoneleighabbey.org
Canons Ashby
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-canonsashbyhouse
Arbury Hall
www.arburyestate.co.uk