Agricultural History Review, Volume 65 Part 2 (2017), p. 346

This edited volume is a collection of sixteen papers, which tells the stories of country houses and their families between 1914 and 1918. Derived from estate and family papers from across Ireland and Britain, many of the sources are still retained in private family collections rather than local or national record offices and most are relatively little known. Rather than just presenting a single experience of the war, the book describes a range of differing experiences for the individuals involved, be they men or women, adults or children, living in towns or in the country.

The editors note that the country house community in Ireland made a greater than proportionate contribution to the war effort in comparison with the rest of the population: this initial assessment leaves the door open for further analysis of the sources to understand the subsequent effects on this community and on society in general. The editors are both associated with the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at Maynooth University, which surely explains the emphasis in the book on examples drawn from Ireland.

The first paper by Fergal Browne looks at the life of Robert Heard, heir to the Pallastown estate. Whilst serving in the war, he was injured on three occasions and recuperated on the estate: during this time, he was involved in agricultural developments, as well as in the local community through agricultural shows and ploughing matches. A further paper by Edward Bujak notes that the skills acquired through fox-hunting were transferrable to flying an aeroplane, which led initially to a ‘winged aristocracy’: in due course, pilots were recruited from lower social orders, who in turn were accepted by the aristocracy.

Through a large archive of letters between Edward Richards-Orpen and his wife, Philip Bull steps back from the front line of fighting to examine Richards-Orpen’s role in the army’s Motor Transport School of Instruction. Although serving in France, Richards-Orpen was granted agricultural leave between August 1917 and the following May, during which time he managed the harvesting on the Monksgrange estates in Ireland (which he inherited in 1927), as well as the sowing for the following season. Whilst Richards-Orpen survived the war, Fidelma Byrne examines the loss of family members at the ‘big houses’ of Ireland. She highlights one case where an estate had to find death duties arising from the loss of three successive owners in an eight-year period: the outcome was that the estate was leased out by the young widow left in charge.

Caroline Carr-Whitworth looks at the effects of the war on the community at Brodsworth Hall in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Noting that ‘a large number of the little army of men who find employment on the Brodsworth estate are now serving their king and country’ (p. 62), she considers the need for women to take over traditional male roles, as well as the effect on the estate of the ten lives lost. This impact on manpower is a common theme with Fidelma Byrne noting one estate where thirteen staff had enlisted, leaving the head gardener and a boy to manage the estate.

Several papers reflect the effect of World War I on the Anglo-Irish gentry through the stories of individuals: amongst these are Ian d’Alton’s discussion of Norman Leslie of Co. Monaghan; Donal Hall’s examination of the Bellingham family of Co. Louth; and Colm McQuinn’s paper on the Hely-Hutchinson brothers of Co. Dublin. These stories contribute to an underlying theme that those Anglo-Irish families who fought for Britain in the war were seen by nationalists as being on the side of England and therefore not supporters of an independent Ireland.

For Britain, Paul Holden considers the case of the parish of Lanhydrock in Cornwall and the effect of the war on the Agar-Robartes family (who lived at Lanhydrock House) and other families. After the war the parish struggled, not only as a result of the loss of men to the war, but also due to the collapse of both the mining and agricultural industries. Christopher Hunwick relates research undertaken for a war exhibition at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, which resulted in over 30 names being added to the Roll of Honour, originally prepared in 1924. A paper by Ronan Foley demonstrates how country houses, acting as auxiliary hospitals, provided an extension to the network of war-time care for injured service personnel through a therapeutic landscape, whilst Brett Irwin considers Lady Londonderry’s role in setting up the Women’s Legion, which influenced the government’s approach to organizing female labour later in the war.

This well-produced book of sixteen papers, with very few errors, presents a wide range of viewpoints on the effect of the First World War on the families who lived in the country houses of Ireland and Britain. Whilst some simply extract the information relating to individual war service as contained in the original archive material, others present a detailed and engaging view on the contributions that these families made to the war.