Overview

Henry Scott, the third Duke of Buccleuch (1746-1812), presided over the management of one of the largest landed estates in Britain during a time of dramatic agrarian, social and political change. Tutored and advised by the philosopher Adam Smith, the Duke was also an important patron of the Scottish Enlightenment, lauded by the Edinburgh literati the as an exemplar of patriotic nobility and civic virtue, while his alliance with Henry Dundas dominated Scottish politics for almost forty years. Combining the approaches of intellectual, economic and landscape history, this book examines the life and career of the third Duke, focusing in particular on his relationship with Adam Smith and the improvement of his extensive Scottish estates. By examining the influence of one of the eighteenth century's foremost philosophers of improvement upon the career of one Scotland's largest landowners, this book explores the various influences - intellectual, economic, moral and political - which helped shape Scotland's distinctive agricultural revolution. In its exploration of the cultural as well as the economic roots of improvement and in its assessment of previously unappreciated aspect of Adam Smith's career, this book will appeal to both specialist scholars and general readers interested in the Scottish Enlightenment, estate management and the culture of improvement in eighteenth-century Scotland.

Full Product Details

9781399563758

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Reviews

Brian Bonnyman’s study of Adam Smith and the Third Duke of Buccleuch is a model of historical scholarship: deeply researched, excellently written, and profoundly informative. Bonnyman shows in detail how Scotland’s quintessential civic-minded aristocrat, influenced by the thinking of his intellectual and moral mentor, undertook a program of agricultural improvement intended not only to increase his estates’ productivity but advance the culture, the governance, and the ethical tone of Scottish society. And Bonnyman makes clear throughout how the issues at stake then have their parallels in modern society. The book is invaluable for its insights as well as the information it provides. It is also a pleasure to read. -- Benjamin M. Friedman, William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. Author of 'The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth and Religion and the Rise of Capitalism'. Although much has been written on the intellectual history of the period, this book is the first attempt to examine the process by which the insights of contemporary political economy were applied to the management and improvement of a landed estate. As such it will be of great interest to readers concerned with agricultural and improvement history, landed elites and estate management, and Enlightenment thought and its application. -- Professor Annie Tindley, Newcastle University. Author of 'The Sutherland Estate, 1850-1920'. ‘[A] striking dimension of Bonnyman’s work is the close attention paid to husbandry and the environment. This is an historian who has walked the bounds of the place he writes about. Accordingly, the two chapters on improvement follow the contours of the Duke’s land, exploring the distinct economic and ecological possibilities of his Lowland and upland estates. … In effect, Bonnyman lets us glimpse the ecological basis of the Scottish Enlightenment. … Bonnyman’s book shows us how to weave together intellectual, economic and political history in new exciting ways. This is a superb book that deserves to be widely read. -- Professor Fredrik Albritton Jonsson, University of Chicago. Author of 'Enlightenment’s Frontier: The Scottish Highlands and the Origins of Environmentalism'.

Brian Bonnyman’s study of Adam Smith and the Third Duke of Buccleuch is a model of historical scholarship: deeply researched, excellently written, and profoundly informative. Bonnyman shows in detail how Scotland’s quintessential civic-minded aristocrat, influenced by the thinking of his intellectual and moral mentor, undertook a program of agricultural improvement intended not only to increase his estates’ productivity but advance the culture, the governance, and the ethical tone of Scottish society. And Bonnyman makes clear throughout how the issues at stake then have their parallels in modern society. The book is invaluable for its insights as well as the information it provides. It is also a pleasure to read. -- Benjamin M . Friedman, Harvard University

Author Information

Brian Bonnyman is Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

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