Cary Elwes (1718 – 1772): Landowner and Landlord

Cary Elwes began to develop the family estates after inheriting in 1752. He saw great potential for Brigg, situated as it was on both the River Ancholme and the turnpike road between Lincoln and Barton. Cary rebuilt the estate’s traditional mud and brick housing in brick and tile. He added a ‘party wall’ between every two residences. This wall was a brick and a half thick. He also insisted that it should rise above the tile to ‘prevent the communication of fire as in London’.

The new housing saw an increase in rent for tenants. Cary realised that he could make more money using land for housing rather than farming. Among the tenants who lost fields to housing were the landlords of the Angel and the Packhorse Inn. Many tenants were angry, and a series of minor riots took place in 1760. Cary instructed his Lincolnshire agent, Henry Holgate, to deal with the rioters. Those who continued to riot were threatened with losing their houses. Within a month all was calm again in Brigg.

At election time, Cary would visit Brigg to influence votes for Parliament. His tenants were expected to vote for his favoured candidates. He would view a vote cast for another candidate as a personal insult. In 1760 he asked his agent, Holgate, for the names of the tenants who did not vote for Lord Brownlow Bertie. Although not evicted, they would have lost favours such as access to extra land.

Cary also exercised control over religion. He made attempts to rout out non-conformists from his estates. In 1773 he asked Holgate to investigate Methodism in Wrawby. Then, in 1775 he ordered the eviction of Methodist tenants in Roxby.
This behaviour was much like that of other landowners of the time. Yet, unusually for an absentee landlord, he knew the names of all his tenants and their family history. He was also very kind to tenants he believed had earned it. In 1858 he instructed his Yorkshire agent to offer assistance to Jane Smallwood of Morkside after her husband died. He was responsible for much of the building development of his estates. He also gave money to schemes such as the Brigg Turnpike Trust.

• The Dying Gladiator, Brigg, 1919. The image is from a sale catalogue of buildings from the Elwes estate.
• Cary Elwes’ development of Brigg made Wrawby Street a very desirable place to live.