Corporate Strategy or Individual Priority? Land Management, Income and Tenure on Oxbridge Agricultural Land in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article investigates land management and land income on the Oxbridge college agricultural estates in the mid-nineteenth century. It is based on parliamentary reports from the University Commissions of 1852, 1852/53 and 1874, the last of which (the Cleveland Commission) gives full details of land revenues and land tenure. Retrospectively, there is considerable detail on land management practices in the mid-nineteenth century. The main analysis involves the relative corporate and individual behaviour of the Oxford colleges relative to the Cambridge colleges, and it suggests questions that might be asked regarding land modernisation and management practices of institutions in mid-nineteenth-century England in general.