National Land Company
Encyclopedia
The National Land Company was founded as the Chartist Cooperative Land Company in 1845 by the chartist
Feargus O'Connor
to help working class people satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats in Great Britain
. It was wound up by Act of Parliament by 1851.
worth £10 and holders of long-term leases (more than sixty years) on land worth £10 and holders of medium-term leases (between twenty and sixty years) on land worth £50 and to tenants-at-will
paying an annual rent of £50.
The chartists had, as one of their objectives, the enfranchisement of the working man. O'Connor focussed his energies on enabling working class people to satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats. In his single minded pursuit of this objective he diverged from the mainstream of Chartism.
O’Connor declared that Great Britain
could support her own population if her lands were properly cultivated. As has been pointed out, he had no use for cooperative tillage; his plan was for peasant proprietorship. In his book 'A Practical Work on the Management of Small Farms' he set forth his plan of resettling surplus factory workers on little holdings of from one to 4 acres (16,187.4 m²). He held that the only possible way to raise wages was to remove surplus labour out of the manufacturers’ reach, and thus compel him to offer higher wages. He had no doubts of the yields obtainable under such spade-husbandry.
The form of the company was problematic. A set of rules were drawn up for a friendly society
and submitted for approval in January 1846. They were rejected. Another set of rules were submitted and again rejected in July 1846. The company was provisionally registered as a joint stock company
, the Chartist Cooperative Land Company, on 24 October 1846.
The provisional registration allowed the company to enrol shareholders and to collect deposits on he shares. It did not allow any trading activity, nor the purchase, contracting for purchase, or holding of land. In order to complete the registration it was necessary to collect the signatures of one quarter of the shareholders.
The company was renamed to the National Cooperative Land Company on 17 December 1846, and its stated objectives were expanded. The registration was still on a provisional basis.
Flaws such as these were heavily emphasised by early historians. However, since the 1990s several studies of the Chartist Land Company have advanced more-positive interpretations that help to clarify why the scheme was so popular. It has even been suggested that the National Land Company was a benchmark - sometimes positive, sometimes less so - for subsequent UK land reformers.
Among the working men the prestige of Chartism was growing again. The land plan offered more immediate promise of help than the Charter with its long-range promises. O’Connor’s carelessness and inaccuracy with financial matters, as well as the free hand he had in purchasing land as he saw fit, were inherent weaknesses in the administration of the scheme. The plan would have soon collapsed had he not been an able promoter.
In the same year O’Connor ran for parliament again and won over Hobhouse
for the Nottingham
seat. When he had taken his seat he proposed in The Labourer that the government take over the National Land Company to resettle the English peasantry on a large scale. His opposition within the Chartist movement accused him of being “no longer a ‘five point’ Chartist but a ‘five acre’ Chartist.” O’Connor replied to his critics in an appearance before a mass meeting of his partisans in Manchester. His followers demonstrated at this meeting how devoted they were to him.
In the meantime, in April 1848, a new petition to have the NLC registered as a friendly society was produced with about 6 million signatures, but an investigating committee in Parliament found that it contained not quite 2 million bonafide signatures. This came as a shock to O’Connor since his lieutenants had not let him know that all was not in order.
O'Connor introduced a bill to legalise the NLC, with a second reading reading set for 12 June 1848. This prompted some investigation, led by Sir Benjamin Hall
, which quickly turned up the fact that O'Connor was registered as the owner of all the estates, and of the associated bank. This prompted the House of Commons to set up a Select Committee to look into the NLC on 24 May 1848.
After a number of court cases an act to wind-up the company was passed by parliament in July 1851 and all its affairs were passed to the Court of Chancery
. The settled shareholders mostly disappear from the records of the estates in the years following, and the estates themselves were auctioned off.
Also called O'Connorville.
103 acre (0.41682658 km²) of land at Heronsgate
, Hertfordshire
were bought in March 1846 for £2344. The plots were allocated by ballot of the 1487 eligible shareholders on 20 April 1846 (Easter Monday
) in Manchester
; 17 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 5 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; and 14 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots. An exhibition day was held on 17 August 1846 which started with a march from the west-end of Oxford Street (now Marble Arch
). The allotees moved in on 1 May 1847 (Location Day). After the company was wound up, the estate was auctioned on 27 May 1857. By 1858 only three of the original allotees remained, two of whom had rural backgrounds. The influx of more affluent residents provided a market for the produce of the poorer residents.
170 acre (0.6879662 km²) of land at Lowbands in Redmarley D'Abitot
, Worcestershire
(now in Gloucestershire
) was bought in October 1846 for £8100.
Compared to Heronsgate: water was more readily available, lime was half the price, sand was free for the taking, labour was cheaper at 10s/week, and bricks were 17s per 1000 cheaper. The ballot was held on 1 August 1846. The estate comprised 15 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 8 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; 23 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots; a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) water meadow; and a common, "Forty Green". A visiting day was held on 28 May 1847, and Location Day was 16 August 1847. A second visiting day was held on 12 June 1848 (Location Day for Snigs End). After the company was wound up, the estate was auctioned on 2 June 1858.
268 acres (1.1 km²) of land at Snigs End in Staunton and partly in Corse, Gloucestershire
was bought on 5 June 1847 for £11000. The purchase was completed in October 1847. The ballots were held through the autumn of 1847 for the plots, 35 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 12 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; 35 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots. A procession through Cheltenham was held on 10 January 1848. Location day was on 12 June 1848, while the Select Committee was still inquiring into the NLC.
Also called Charterville.
300 acres (1.2 km²) of land at Minster Lovell
in Oxfordshire
was bought on 24 June 1847 for £10878. The estate straddled the Cheltenham
to Oxford
and Witney
to Brize Norton
roads, removing the need to provide roads on the estate. Construction began on 21 August 1847 and neared completion by the end of the year. Unlike the other estates which had a formal Location Day, Minster Lovell was occupied piecemeal through the summer of 1848.
52.354766°N 2.099547°W
280 acres (1.1 km²) of land at Great Dodford, Worcestershire was bought in the winter of 1847/8 for £10350, with a £5000 mortgage. The Select Committee report had been issued before the plots were allocated, effectively forbidding the continued use of lotteries to allocate the plots. A quarter of the estate was assigned to winners from previous ballots, and the rest was assigned by auction, which they called a "bonus" system. The average winning bonus was £75. The bonus system robbed the poor, who had been the NLC's greatest backers, of any hope of getting a plot and precipitated the decline of the NLC.
Location day was set for 12 May 1849, then pushed back to 2 July 1849. Some families arrived much earlier. Three families were reported as applying for parish relief as early as 8 February.
The failure of the tenants to pay any rent forced O'Connor to put the estate up for auction on 15 April 1850. Only three lots sold at the auction, and another three by private contract later.
One of the cottages, Rosedene, is owned and maintained by the National Trust
, and is open to visitors by appointment.
The land at Mathon, Herefordshire
, was planned, a deposit placed, but never carried through.
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
Feargus O'Connor
Feargus O'Connor
Feargus Edward O'Connor was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan.- Background :Feargus O'Connor was born into a prominent Irish Protestant family, the son of Irish Nationalist politician Roger O'Connor...
to help working class people satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It was wound up by Act of Parliament by 1851.
Chartism
The Reform Act of 1832 extended the franchise. In county constituencies in addition to forty shilling freeholders franchise rights were extended to owners of land in copyholdCopyhold
At its origin in medieval England, copyhold tenure was tenure of land according to the custom of the manor, the "title deeds" being a copy of the record of the manorial court....
worth £10 and holders of long-term leases (more than sixty years) on land worth £10 and holders of medium-term leases (between twenty and sixty years) on land worth £50 and to tenants-at-will
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
paying an annual rent of £50.
The chartists had, as one of their objectives, the enfranchisement of the working man. O'Connor focussed his energies on enabling working class people to satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats. In his single minded pursuit of this objective he diverged from the mainstream of Chartism.
O’Connor declared that Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
could support her own population if her lands were properly cultivated. As has been pointed out, he had no use for cooperative tillage; his plan was for peasant proprietorship. In his book 'A Practical Work on the Management of Small Farms' he set forth his plan of resettling surplus factory workers on little holdings of from one to 4 acres (16,187.4 m²). He held that the only possible way to raise wages was to remove surplus labour out of the manufacturers’ reach, and thus compel him to offer higher wages. He had no doubts of the yields obtainable under such spade-husbandry.
Establishing the company
An enterprise in which working men could purchase land on the open market was proposed by him. The land was to be reconditioned, broken up into small plots, equipped with appropriate farm buildings and a cottage, and the new proprietor was to be given a small sum of money with which to buy stock. The plan was approved at the Chartist conference in April 1845.The form of the company was problematic. A set of rules were drawn up for a friendly society
Friendly society
A friendly society is a mutual association for insurance, pensions or savings and loan-like purposes, or cooperative banking. It is a mutual organization or benefit society composed of a body of people who join together for a common financial or social purpose...
and submitted for approval in January 1846. They were rejected. Another set of rules were submitted and again rejected in July 1846. The company was provisionally registered as a joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
, the Chartist Cooperative Land Company, on 24 October 1846.
The provisional registration allowed the company to enrol shareholders and to collect deposits on he shares. It did not allow any trading activity, nor the purchase, contracting for purchase, or holding of land. In order to complete the registration it was necessary to collect the signatures of one quarter of the shareholders.
The company was renamed to the National Cooperative Land Company on 17 December 1846, and its stated objectives were expanded. The registration was still on a provisional basis.
Flaws
As well as the obvious defects in O’Connor’s land plan that he either did not see or consider important, there were flaws in the execution:- Consideration was not given to the difficulty that would be encountered by town people, many who had never lived in the country, in becoming farmers.
- If his plan worked, the more land he bought the higher the price of future purchases would become. His plan was built upon the assumptions that land could be bought in unlimited quantities and at reasonable rates.
- He assumed that all subscribers would be successful farmers who would repay promptly.
- Few persons would have agreed with his optimistic calculations that prosperous farming could be carried on on such small scale and with the primitive methods that he advocated.
- His plan to push the Charter in the background in favour of his land plan caused a storm in the Chartist movement.
- O'Connor was left in control of the company whithout check or supervision. He was uninterested in record keeping and detail.
- The inherent conflict in deciding the sizes of the plots. The larger the plot, the more likely it was that the settlers would make a success of it. But larger plots also served to delay the acquisition of plots for the remaining shareholders. The smaller the plot, the more shareholders could be settled. But smaller plots also meant that it was harder for the settlers to make a living.
- This meant that the settlers, who for the most part had no rural experience, were settled on plots which would be demanding even for those who had rural experience.
- The size of the estates meant that the settlers generally formed a large percentage of the communities to which they were attached. It was feared that the influx of a large number of poor people could overwhelm the parish's resources as had happened at Cholesbury, BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
in the early 1830s.
Flaws such as these were heavily emphasised by early historians. However, since the 1990s several studies of the Chartist Land Company have advanced more-positive interpretations that help to clarify why the scheme was so popular. It has even been suggested that the National Land Company was a benchmark - sometimes positive, sometimes less so - for subsequent UK land reformers.
Settling the estates
Money came in at a remarkable rate, considering the poverty of most of the subscribers. The subscribers who got the land were chosen by ballot. They were to pay back with interest and ultimately all subscribers would be settled. The Labourer magazine was started by O’Connor and Jones to promote the project. Soon hundreds of households were settled, and an outcry of opposition went up from hostile Chartists, the press, the Poor Law authorities who feared the weight of their failures, and other quarters.Among the working men the prestige of Chartism was growing again. The land plan offered more immediate promise of help than the Charter with its long-range promises. O’Connor’s carelessness and inaccuracy with financial matters, as well as the free hand he had in purchasing land as he saw fit, were inherent weaknesses in the administration of the scheme. The plan would have soon collapsed had he not been an able promoter.
In the same year O’Connor ran for parliament again and won over Hobhouse
John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton
John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton GCB, PC, FRS , known as Sir John Hobhouse, Bt, from 1831 to 1851, was a British politician and memoirist.-Background and education:...
for the Nottingham
Nottingham (UK Parliament constituency)
Nottingham was a parliamentary borough in Nottinghamshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295. In 1885 the constituency was abolished and the city of Nottingham divided into three single-member constituencies....
seat. When he had taken his seat he proposed in The Labourer that the government take over the National Land Company to resettle the English peasantry on a large scale. His opposition within the Chartist movement accused him of being “no longer a ‘five point’ Chartist but a ‘five acre’ Chartist.” O’Connor replied to his critics in an appearance before a mass meeting of his partisans in Manchester. His followers demonstrated at this meeting how devoted they were to him.
Continuing efforts to establish the company
The efforts to establish the company as a friendly society or as a joint stock company had foundered. The effort to collect the signatures of the shareholders was abandoned in 1848. (Later investigation showed that the required number of signatures had been reached, but the company failed to appreciate the difference between the number of shares and the number of shareholders.)In the meantime, in April 1848, a new petition to have the NLC registered as a friendly society was produced with about 6 million signatures, but an investigating committee in Parliament found that it contained not quite 2 million bonafide signatures. This came as a shock to O’Connor since his lieutenants had not let him know that all was not in order.
O'Connor introduced a bill to legalise the NLC, with a second reading reading set for 12 June 1848. This prompted some investigation, led by Sir Benjamin Hall
Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover
Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover PC , known as Sir Benjamin Hall, Bt, between 1838 and 1859, was a British civil engineer and politician.-Political career:...
, which quickly turned up the fact that O'Connor was registered as the owner of all the estates, and of the associated bank. This prompted the House of Commons to set up a Select Committee to look into the NLC on 24 May 1848.
Select Committee
The Select Committee issued minutes of its hearings, and then a final report on 1 August, delivered in the House on 31 July. Its principal findings were:- Lottery
- The Select Committee found that the company's plans would not ensure that all the shareholders would get a plot of land. It was therefore a lottery, which barred it from registration as a company. They found it to be a lottery by two analyses.
- The financial lottery
- O'Connor's financial projection at the outset was as follows:
- Sell 2000 shares at £2 10s, raising £5000.
- Buy 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) at £18 15s per acre (£2250) and then build, fit out, and stock (£2750), total £5000.
- 60 two acre plots would each generate £5pa, totalling £300pa.
- The freehold could be sold for 20 years rental, £6000, which would finance the next, larger, cycle.
-
- The select committee's figures, based on the reality went as follows:
- There were 70000 shareholders, each needing a plot & house costing £300. A total of £21 million would be required to satisfy them all.
- There were 70000 shareholders, fully paid up at an average of £3 18s, yielding £273000.
- Mortgaging the first tranche would raise £182000 for the second tranche, based on the two-thirds mortgages, the best then available. By the eighteenth tranche the mortgage would be insufficient to build another. At this point £819114 would have housed 2730 shareholders, leaving 67270 shareholders unhoused.
- The time lottery
- Even if it were possible to mortgage the properties for 100%, so that there would be no limit to the number of times this cycle could repeat, time would be a limiting factor. Assuming a buy-build-settle-remortgage cycle could be completed in a year, it would take 75 years before all the shareholders could be settled.
- O'Connor's Bill
- Since the company was a lottery it was not consistent with the principles of a friendly society. O'Connor's bill was therefore useless.
- Expectations
- The National Land Company was an illegal scheme that would not fulfill the expectations held out to the shareholders.
- Records
- The books had been imperfectly kept; in fact, O’Connor had lost £3400 by the company. Ironically, had the records been better kept those collecting shareholder signatures would have realised they had met the threshold to finalise the company's registration. The bill which precipitated the Standing Committee (and the company's demise) would not have been necessary.
- Recommendation
- It was recognised that the parties had got into their predicament in good faith. It was therefore proposed that they should be given the opportunity to wind up the company's affairs themselves.
- The select committee's figures, based on the reality went as follows:
Aftermath
The illegality of the company, and the need to wind it up, exposed the conflicting interests of the four groups involved.- Settled shareholders, didn't want to pay the rent which was due, and wanted clear title to their plots.
- Unsettled shareholders, wanted the settled shareholders to pay their rents so that the pot of cash to be divided out among all shareholders would be maximised.
- Directors, wanted to avoid any liability for outstanding debts of the company.
- O'Connor, wanted to recover his expenses before any payout to shareholders.
After a number of court cases an act to wind-up the company was passed by parliament in July 1851 and all its affairs were passed to the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
. The settled shareholders mostly disappear from the records of the estates in the years following, and the estates themselves were auctioned off.
Heronsgate
51°38′24.94"N 0°31′12.17"W103 acre (0.41682658 km²) of land at Heronsgate
Heronsgate
Heronsgate is a settlement on the outskirts of Chorleywood, Hertfordshire founded by Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Cooperative Land Company as O'Connorsville or O'Connorville in 1846...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
were bought in March 1846 for £2344. The plots were allocated by ballot of the 1487 eligible shareholders on 20 April 1846 (Easter Monday
Easter Monday
Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is celebrated as a holiday in some largely Christian cultures, especially Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox cultures...
) in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
; 17 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 5 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; and 14 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots. An exhibition day was held on 17 August 1846 which started with a march from the west-end of Oxford Street (now Marble Arch
Marble Arch
Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...
). The allotees moved in on 1 May 1847 (Location Day). After the company was wound up, the estate was auctioned on 27 May 1857. By 1858 only three of the original allotees remained, two of whom had rural backgrounds. The influx of more affluent residents provided a market for the produce of the poorer residents.
Lowbands
51.981285°N 2.328973°W170 acre (0.6879662 km²) of land at Lowbands in Redmarley D'Abitot
Redmarley D'Abitot
Redmarley D'Abitot is a civil parish and village in the Forest of Dean district, Gloucestershire, South West England. In addition to the village of Redmarley, the civil parish also includes the settlements of Lowbands, Haw Cross, Playley Green, Kings Green and Durbridge...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
(now in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
) was bought in October 1846 for £8100.
Compared to Heronsgate: water was more readily available, lime was half the price, sand was free for the taking, labour was cheaper at 10s/week, and bricks were 17s per 1000 cheaper. The ballot was held on 1 August 1846. The estate comprised 15 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 8 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; 23 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots; a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) water meadow; and a common, "Forty Green". A visiting day was held on 28 May 1847, and Location Day was 16 August 1847. A second visiting day was held on 12 June 1848 (Location Day for Snigs End). After the company was wound up, the estate was auctioned on 2 June 1858.
Snigs End
51.959156°N 2.303739°W268 acres (1.1 km²) of land at Snigs End in Staunton and partly in Corse, Gloucestershire
Corse, Gloucestershire
Corse is a village in the English county of Gloucestershire.St Margarets Church is mainly 14th century. Corse Court is mediaeval.The settlement of Snig's End, about 1½ miles from the village, was the site of a settlement for industrial workers under the auspices of the National Land Company in...
was bought on 5 June 1847 for £11000. The purchase was completed in October 1847. The ballots were held through the autumn of 1847 for the plots, 35 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plots; 12 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) plots; 35 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plots. A procession through Cheltenham was held on 10 January 1848. Location day was on 12 June 1848, while the Select Committee was still inquiring into the NLC.
Minster Lovell
51.791948°N 1.54727°WAlso called Charterville.
300 acres (1.2 km²) of land at Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush about west of Witney in Oxfordshire.Minster Lovell village has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New Minster. Old Minster includes St. Kenelm's Parish Church, Minster Lovell Hall and the Old Swan Inn and Minster Mill Hotel...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
was bought on 24 June 1847 for £10878. The estate straddled the Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Witney
Witney
Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....
to Brize Norton
Brize Norton
Brize Norton is a village and civil parish east of Carterton in West Oxfordshire. The original part of RAF Brize Norton is in the parish.-Toponym:...
roads, removing the need to provide roads on the estate. Construction began on 21 August 1847 and neared completion by the end of the year. Unlike the other estates which had a formal Location Day, Minster Lovell was occupied piecemeal through the summer of 1848.
Great Dodford
- See also:Chartist Dodford
52.354766°N 2.099547°W
280 acres (1.1 km²) of land at Great Dodford, Worcestershire was bought in the winter of 1847/8 for £10350, with a £5000 mortgage. The Select Committee report had been issued before the plots were allocated, effectively forbidding the continued use of lotteries to allocate the plots. A quarter of the estate was assigned to winners from previous ballots, and the rest was assigned by auction, which they called a "bonus" system. The average winning bonus was £75. The bonus system robbed the poor, who had been the NLC's greatest backers, of any hope of getting a plot and precipitated the decline of the NLC.
Location day was set for 12 May 1849, then pushed back to 2 July 1849. Some families arrived much earlier. Three families were reported as applying for parish relief as early as 8 February.
The failure of the tenants to pay any rent forced O'Connor to put the estate up for auction on 15 April 1850. Only three lots sold at the auction, and another three by private contract later.
One of the cottages, Rosedene, is owned and maintained by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, and is open to visitors by appointment.
Mathon
52.10988°N 2.38983°WThe land at Mathon, Herefordshire
Mathon, Herefordshire
Mathon is a village and civil parish in the English county of Herefordshire, lying just to the west of the Malvern Hills between Malvern and Ledbury. Nearby villages include Cradley and Colwall.-External links:* *...
, was planned, a deposit placed, but never carried through.