Sir John Sinclair, the county surveys and the dissemination

Sir John Sinclair, the county surveys and the collection and dissemination of knowledge Heather Holmes

Sir John Sinclair

General view of the agriculture of ‘x’

The Pyramid of Statistical Inquiries 1. The Code of Agriculture In one volume 2 The General Report of Scotland In 3 vols (and 2 appendixes) 3. The county surveys of Great Britain Containing 85 Districts 4. The Statistical Account of Scotland. Containing 938 Parishes

The ‘original’ surveys

Publication of the Scottish surveys Year

No. surveys published

Surveys

1793

2

Ayr, Midlothian

1794

22

Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll and western Inverness-shire, Banff, Berwick, Clydesdale, Dumbarton, Dumfries, East Lothian, Elgin or Moray lying between the Spey and the Findhorn, Fife, Galloway, Hebrides, Nairn and the east coast of Invernessshire and part of Elgin and Forres, Carse of Gowrie, Southern districts of Perth, Central Highlands, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Tweedale, West Lothian

1795

3

Clackmannan, Kincardine, Northern counties and Islands,

1796

1 (+ appendix to MLO)

Stirling, Midlothian (private appendix)

1797

1

Kinross

Subject areas in the ‘original’ surveys No. Subject

No. Subject

No. Subject

1. Soil and climate

13. Seed time and harvest

25. Price of provisions

2. Land ownership

14. Inclosures

26. State of roads

3. Occupation of land

15. Advantages from inclosing land

27. State of farm houses and offices

4. Land use

16. Size and nature of inclosures

28. Nature of leases

5. Grass cultivation; species of stock; status of breeds

17. Impact on inclosure on population

29. Extent of commerce or manufactures in the district

6. Watering of land

18. Common fields

30. Practices in the district applicable to other districts

7. Types of grains cultivated

19. Difference in rent common fields/inclosure

31. Societies for the improvement of agriculture

8. Rotation of crops

20. Extent of waste lands

32. Spirit of improvement and its excitement

9. Fallowing

21. Wage rates; price of labour; work hours

33. Improvements to be undertaken in livestock or husbandry

10. Use of manures

22. Draining of land

34. Obstacles to improvement

11. Ploughs, carts and other implements

23. Paring and burning

35. The most active farmers who could correspond with the Board of Agriculture

12. Use of oxen and horses

24. Woodlands

The quarto format

The ‘corrected’ or ‘revised’ surveys

Differences in geographical scope of the ‘original’ and the ‘revised’ surveys Changes in geographical area

‘original’ and ‘revised’ surveys

Same survey area

Aberdeen, Angus, Ayrshire, Banffshire,Berwickshire, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, Dumfries, East Lothian, Kinross, Moray, Fife, Galloway, Hebrides, Mearns, Clydesdale, Midlothian, Tweedale, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Stirling, West Lothian

Counties and parts of a Argyll and the Western Coasts of Inverness - (Argyll) county brought within a Nairn and Eastern part of Inverness - (Nairn) survey area Monteath and Strathern in Perthshire, Interior districts in the Highlands and Carse of Gowrie - (Perth) A group of counties given their own survey

Northern counties - (Ross-shire, Sutherland, Caithness, Orkney Isles, Shetland Isles)

New survey

Bute

Surveyors of both the ‘original’ and ‘reprinted’ surveys Surveyor

Scottish Survey

Surveyor

English Survey

James Naismith

Clydesdale (Lanarkshire)

John Bailey and George Culley

Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland

George Robertson

Midlothian

John Boys

Kent

James Trotter

West Lothian

John Holt

Lancaster

James Robertson

Pt of Perthshire

Nathaniel Kent

Norfolk

Robert Lowe

Nottingham

John Billingsley

Somerset

William Pitt

Stafford

Arthur Young

Suffolk

Thomas Davis

Wiltshire

John Tuke

North Riding of Yorkshire

Messrs Rennie, Shirreff& Broun

West Riding of Yorkshire

Plan of the ‘revised’ reports Chapter number

Chapter heading

Chapter number

Chapter heading

Preliminary observations

10.

Woods and plantations

1.

Geographical state and circumstances

11.

Wastes

2.

State of property

12.

Improvements

3.

Buildings

13.

Live stock

4.

Mode of occupation

14.

Rural economy

5.

Implements

15.

Political economy, as connected with or affecting agriculture

6.

Inclosing – fences - gates

16.

Obstacles to improvement

7.

Arable land

17.

Miscellaneous observations

8.

Grass

Conclusion

9.

Gardens and orchards

Appendix

The octavo format

Publication of the ‘original’ surveys Year

No. Scottish surveys published

No. English surveys published

No. Welsh surveys published

Total no. surveys published

1793

2

5

0

7

1794

22

42

12

76

1795

3

2

0

5

1796

1 (+ appendix to MLO)

2

1

4

1797

1

0

0

1

Total

29

51

13

93

Publication of ‘revised’ surveys (1) Year

No. Scottish surveys

No. English surveys

No. Welsh surveys

Total no. surveys

1795

1

1

0

2

1796

0

3

0

3

1797

0

5

0

5

1798

3

2 (+2ndedn)(+3rdedn)

0

5 (+ edns)

1799

1

2

0

3

1800

1

1 (+ edn)

0

2 (+ edn)

1801

0

0

0

0

1802

1

0

0

1

1803

0

1

0

1

1804

0

1 (+3rdedn) (2nd survey)

0

1 (+ edn) (2nd survey)

1805

1 (+2ndedn)

1 (+2ndedn)(+3rdedn)

0

2 (+ edns)

Publication of ‘revised’ surveys (2) Year

No. Scottish surveys

No. English surveys

No. Welsh surveys

Total no. surveys

1806

0 (+2ndedn)

0

0

0 (+ edns)

1807

0

2 (+2ndedn)

0

2 (+ edns)

1808

1

4 (+2ndedn), (+2ndedn)

0

5 (+ edns)

1809

1

6

0

7

1810

4

4

1

9

1811

5

5 (+ 1 vol in 3 vols, 1811, 0 1815, 1817)

10 (+ edns)

1812

6

3

0

9

1813

1 (+2ndedn)

0

0

1 (+ edns)

1814

3

0

1

4

1815

0

2 (+ vol 2) (2nd survey)

0

2 (+ vol 2) (2nd survey)

1816

1

0

0

1

1817

0

0 (+ vol 3)

0

0 (+ vol 3)

Publication of ‘revised’ Scottish surveys Year

No. surveys

Surveys

1795

1

Midlothian

1798

3

Argyll, Clydesdale, Roxburgh and Selkirk

1799

1

Perth

1800

1

Fife

1802

1

Peebles

1805

1 (+2ndedn)

East Lothian, Argyll (2ndedn)

1806

0 (+2ndedn)

Clydesdale (2ndedn)

1808

1

Inverness

1809

1

Berwick

1810

4

Galloway, Hebrides, Kincardine, Ross & Cromarty

1811

5

Aberdeen, Ayr, Dumbarton, Moray and Nairn, West Lothian

1812

6

Banff, Caithness, Dumfriesshire, Renfrew, Stirling, Sutherland

1813

2 (+2ndedn)

Angus, Perth (2ndedn), Shetland Islands

1814

3

Clackmannan, Kinross, Orkney Islands

1816

1

Bute

Price of the revised Scottish surveys -1st edns Price of survey Survey 4s

Clydesdale (1798)

5s

East Lothian (1805)

6s

Argyll (1798), Fife (1800), Midlothian (1795), Perth (1799), Roxburgh and Selkirk (1798)

7s

Peebles (1802)

9s

Dumbarton (1811), Galloway (1810), Ross and Cromarty (1810), West Lothian (1811)

10s 6d

Banff (1812), Kincardine (1810), Orkney and Shetland Islands (1814), Renfrew (1812)

12s

Berwick (1809), Sutherland (1812)

14s

Inverness (1808), Moray and Nairn (1811)

15s

Aberdeen (1811), Caithness (1812)

18s

Ayrshire (1811), Dumfries (1812)

L1 1 0

Hebrides (1810)

Edinburgh, London and Dublin booksellers Edinburgh

London

Dublin

A. Constable& Co.

Faulder& Son, Bond Street

John Archer

W. Creech

J. Harding, St James’s Street

M. Keene

T. Bryce & Co.

J. Asperne, Cornhill

SilvesterDoig

Black, Parry and Kingsbury, Leadenhall Street

John Ballantyne& Co.

Richard Phillips, Bridge Street

Andrew Stirling

Cadell& Davies, Strand Reyolds, Oxford Street

G. & W. Nicoll, Pall-Mall G. & J. Robinson, Paternoster Row Robinson &Wilkie, Paternoster Row Sherwood, Neely & Jones, Paternoster Row

Regional and local centres of distributionand sale Book Centre Glasgow

Surveys published 1795-1804 Argyll, Roxburgh and Selkirk

Perth Aberdeen

Surveys published between 1805-11 1805-8 1810-11 Argyll, Clydesdale, East Lothian, Inverness

Ayr, Dumbarton, Kincardine, Moray and Nairn

Inverness, Nairn and Moray Roxburgh and Selkirk

Surveys published 1812-16

Argyll, Clydesdale, East Lothian, Inverness

Dundee

Inverness

Inverness

Inverness

Bute, Moray and Nairn, Renfrew, Roxburgh and Selkirk Inverness

Kincardine, Moray and Nairn,

Kincardine, Moray and Nairn,Roxburgh and Selkirk Moray and Nairn

Moray and Nairn, Ross and Cromarty

Stirling

Ayr

Ayr

Ayr

Banff, Caithness, Inverness, Moray and Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland

Paisley

Renfrew

Greenock

Renfrew

Phases in the distribution of the Scottish ‘revised’ surveys Period

Character of distribution

1795-1804

•Use of key bookselling centres. • The surveys were primarily sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. • Only in exceptional cases were surveys sold by regional or local booksellers.

1805-11

•Development and use of a more extensive network of booksellers. • The surveys were sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. • The surveys weredistributed by a larger number of booksellers in regional and local centres.

1812-16

•Use of two broad patterns of bookselling networks. • Some surveys that were published for the first time were only sold by (a smaller number of) booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. • Some surveys were sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin and were also sold in regional and local centres.

Distribution of the subscribers to the ‘revised’ Peebles survey Subscribers

Analysis

Geographical location

• Towns and villages and other places in Peebleshire • Farms and estates in Peebleshire •Neighbouring counties (egLanarkshire, Midlothian, Edinburgh, East Lothian) • Counties farther afield in other parts of Scotland (egClackmannan, Fife, Perth, Inverness, Elgin, Ayr, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Dumfries) • Outside Scotland (specific locations in England, Wales and Ireland)

Social and occupational groups of subscribers to the ‘revised’ Peebles survey Groups

Analysis

Social and occupational groups

• Landed classes and landowners • Farmers • Members of Parliament • Honorary members of the Board of Agriculture • Surveyors to the Board of Agriculture • Agricultural writers • Educationalists (university, college, parish school) • Professions (law, medicine, education, military, ministry) • Others associated with agriculture (saddler, land surveyor) • Public officials (provosts, sheriffs, collectors of taxes) • Other occupational groups (merchant, accountant, banker, insurance-broker)

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