Autograph Letter Signed (“Selborne”) concerning agricultural labourers, landlords and the rural clergy – Blackmoor, Petersfield – 15 December 1891

Autograph letter signed, three pages. 17.7 × 11.3 cm.

A substantial political and social letter from Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne, former Lord Chancellor, discussing relations between agricultural labourers, landowners and the clergy in late Victorian England.

Writing from Blackmoor, Petersfield, Selborne responds to enquiries concerning a recent public meeting which had apparently presented agricultural labourers as being at odds with landowners and the established Church. While declining to accept the gathering as necessarily representative of wider opinion, he argues that his own experience leads him to a very different conclusion.

Selborne writes that he considers:

“the parochial clergy, generally, to be the very best friends that the agricultural labourers have”

and further expresses his belief that:

“the good majority of the owners of land” were sincerely concerned with promoting labourers’ welfare.

Particularly striking is his criticism of those who encouraged class antagonism in the countryside, observing that those who sought to persuade labourers otherwise were:

“greatly and cruelly misleading them.”

The letter offers a revealing statement of late Victorian paternalist opinion at a period of growing rural political organisation and debate concerning agricultural labour, landownership and social reform. It provides a valuable insight into contemporary elite attitudes towards class relations in the English countryside.

Roundell Palmer served as Solicitor-General, Attorney-General and twice as Lord Chancellor before being created Earl of Selborne in 1882. He was among the most respected legal, constitutional and political figures of Victorian Britain.

Apparently unrecorded.

Condition: Folded as sent, with light creasing, minor toning and handling wear. Very good condition overall.

A substantial and revealing letter on rural society, agricultural labour and Victorian social thought by a former Lord Chancellor.

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