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Did British landlords 'cripple prosperity'? The battle for mineral rents in the age of empire
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DOI：10.1016/j.exis.2026.101914.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Coinciding with the European depression of the 1870s, a remarkable confrontation emerged between British 'pit lords' and landlords over the rents of mines. Capitalists argued that landlords squeezed profits, crippling prosperity and hindering the British industry. Predating all acts of enclosures, landlord ownership of the minerals of the subsoil was a legal principle protected by English courts. For the first time, capitalists contested 'unreasonable' and 'oppressive' rents for coal, copper, and tin that sustained the lavish lifestyle of landlords. The challenge marked the rise of an unprecedented 'bourgeois revolutionism,' championed by colliery and mine owners half a century before the nationalization of coals in 1940s. Largely ignored by social and economic historians, the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties (A.D. 1889-1893) gathered testimonies from expert witnesses from both sides of the Atlantic, seeking to understand and settle the ongoing battle for mineral rents. The Commission uncovered a daunting Babel Tower of intricate rent figures and landlord mining demands. The article discusses the real rent events that emerged during the long-term secular decline of British mining profits during 1870s-1890s. It argues that at stake was a desperate attempt by this class to destroy the monopoly landlords held over mineral deposits. To British capitalists, mineral rents seized by landlords represented a mass of surplus needed to sustain the industry during the Great Depression crisis. Landlords, for whom the large cash profits of the mining industry depended upon the underground wealth of their lands, stood in defense of the monopoly price of land.
Keywords:
Coal
Copper
Landlords
Mineral rents
Tin
Royalties
British empire
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