Welsh Journals

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Finally, the steward was occasionally expected to act as an election agent for his master. At election times he had to arrange transport for the voters, in addition to food and, more important, drink for them. In a Glamorgan poll-book of 1745 there is an entry which illustrates this political role of the stewards: "The Candidate Thomas Mathews Esq. enters a protest against Gabriel Powell gent., agent to the Rt. Hon. Lord Viscount Windsor and David Rees gent., steward to the Hon. Bussy Mansel for appearing as managers and continuing on the booth after being desired by the Sheriff to quit the same" [481. David Rees was also accused of telling one of the voters what he should say. In general, the impact of the land stewards on the economic development of eighteenth-century Glamorgan was an indirect one. As Professor Habakkuk has written, "Supervision of estate management rather than the promotion of agricultural improve- ment was their characteristic contribution[49]." A conscientious steward would know all the tenants on the estate and visit them at least once a year, though communication may have been hampered, particularly in the more remote, mountainous districts of Glamorgan, by the fact that many of the stewards were English and spoke little or no Welsh. It is worth noting that the founder of the Glamorgan Agricultural Society, John Franklen of Llanmihangel, was an estate steward. According to Iolo Morganwg, writing in 1796, "He (Franklen) has been the principal means of introducing the modern, improved system of agriculture into this county"[50]. Estate management certainly became increasingly efficient during the course of the eighteenth century and the number of stewards who were little more than rent-collectors decreased. The gradual abandonment of three-life leases and the introduction of shorter terms for holding the land increased the responsibilities of the landowners and brought more work for their stewards. More frequent contacts with the tenants were necessary and, in the case of annual tenancies, the landlord had to assume much of the responsi- bility for taxes and repairs: a responsibility which had previously fallen principally on the leaseholders. Such changes led landowners to demand a higher standard of accounting and the effect of this is immediately evident from the surviving documents. Instead of odd scraps of paper and accounts drawn up at long, irregular intervals