Property and Politics, 1870-1914

Land and house property is part of the core experiences and institutions of Victorian and Edwardian England. This book begins with the law and institutions of land transfer. it provides estimates of landed property and mortgage debt, and describes urban property markets and relation of local and national taxation. Liberal and Conservative doctrines helped to form the identities of the respective aprties, and continue to influence policy up to the present day. Tenurial values also formed part of the culture of late-Victorian society, and influenced the interaction of society and nature. An Edwardian urban crisis, highlighted in this book, was compounded to collapsing property values, rising taxes and thwarted expectations. It led to the stormy years between 1909 and 1914, to Lloyd George's dramatic budgets and his ambitious land schemes. Conservative doctrines were devised to defend large property owners with a "rampart" of owner-occupiers, supported by tax relief. This remains a bulwar of conservatism today.