1. Sir John Sinclair, the county surveys
and the collection and dissemination
of knowledge
Heather Holmes

2. Sir John Sinclair

3. General view of the agriculture of ‘x’

4. The Pyramid of Statistical Inquiries
1.
The Code of Agriculture
In one volume
2
The General Report of Scotland
In 3 vols (and 2 appendixes)
3.
The county surveys of Great Britain
Containing 85 Districts
4.
The Statistical Account of Scotland.
Containing 938 Parishes

5. The ‘original’ surveys

6. Publication of the Scottish surveys
Year No. surveys Surveys
published
1793 2 Ayr, Midlothian
1794 22 Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll and western Inverness-shire, Banff,
Berwick, Clydesdale, Dumbarton, Dumfries, East Lothian,
Elgin or Moray lying between the Spey and the Findhorn, Fife,
Galloway, Hebrides, Nairn and the east coast of Inverness-
shire and part of Elgin and Forres, Carse of Gowrie, Southern
districts of Perth, Central Highlands, Renfrew, Roxburgh,
Selkirk, Tweedale, West Lothian
1795 3 Clackmannan, Kincardine, Northern counties and Islands,
1796 1 (+ Stirling, Midlothian (private appendix)
appendix to
MLO)
1797 1 Kinross

7. Subject areas in the ‘original’ surveys
No. Subject No. Subject No. Subject
1. Soil and climate 13. Seed time and harvest 25. Price of provisions
2. Land ownership 14. Inclosures 26. State of roads
3. Occupation of land 15. Advantages from inclosing land 27. State of farm houses and offices
4. Land use 16. Size and nature of inclosures 28. Nature of leases
5. Grass cultivation; species 17. Impact on inclosure on 29. Extent of commerce or manufactures
of stock; status of breeds population in the district
6. Watering of land 18. Common fields 30. Practices in the district applicable to
other districts
7. Types of grains cultivated 19. Difference in rent common 31. Societies for the improvement of
fields/inclosure agriculture
8. Rotation of crops 20. Extent of waste lands 32. Spirit of improvement and its
excitement
9. Fallowing 21. Wage rates; price of labour; 33. Improvements to be undertaken in
work hours livestock or husbandry
10. Use of manures 22. Draining of land 34. Obstacles to improvement
11. Ploughs, carts and other 23. Paring and burning 35. The most active farmers who could
implements correspond with the Board of Agriculture
12. Use of oxen and horses 24. Woodlands

8. The quarto format

9. The ‘corrected’ or ‘revised’ surveys

10. Differences in geographical scope of
the ‘original’ and the ‘revised’ surveys
Changes in ‘original’ and ‘revised’ surveys
geographical area
Same survey area Aberdeen, Angus, Ayrshire, Banffshire,Berwickshire,
Clackmannan, Dumbarton, Dumfries, East Lothian, Kinross,
Moray, Fife, Galloway, Hebrides, Mearns, Clydesdale,
Midlothian, Tweedale, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Stirling,
West Lothian
Counties and parts of a Argyll and the Western Coasts of Inverness - (Argyll)
county brought within a Nairn and Eastern part of Inverness - (Nairn)
survey area Monteath and Strathern in Perthshire, Interior districts in
the Highlands and Carse of Gowrie - (Perth)
A group of counties Northern counties - (Ross-shire, Sutherland, Caithness,
given their own survey Orkney Isles, Shetland Isles)
New survey Bute

11. Surveyors of both the ‘original’ and
‘reprinted’ surveys
Surveyor Scottish Survey Surveyor English Survey
James Naismith Clydesdale John Bailey and Cumberland,
(Lanarkshire) George Culley Northumberland,
Westmoreland
George Robertson Midlothian John Boys Kent
James Trotter West Lothian John Holt Lancaster
James Robertson Pt of Perthshire Nathaniel Kent Norfolk
Robert Lowe Nottingham
John Billingsley Somerset
William Pitt Stafford
Arthur Young Suffolk
Thomas Davis Wiltshire
John Tuke North Riding of Yorkshire
Messrs Rennie, West Riding of Yorkshire
Shirreff& Broun

12. Plan of the ‘revised’ reports
Chapter Chapter heading Chapter Chapter heading
number number
Preliminary observations 10. Woods and plantations
1. Geographical state and 11. Wastes
circumstances
2. State of property 12. Improvements
3. Buildings 13. Live stock
4. Mode of occupation 14. Rural economy
5. Implements 15. Political economy, as
connected with or affecting
agriculture
6. Inclosing – fences - gates 16. Obstacles to improvement
7. Arable land 17. Miscellaneous observations
8. Grass Conclusion
9. Gardens and orchards Appendix

13. The octavo format

14. Publication of the ‘original’ surveys
Year No. Scottish No. English No. Welsh surveys Total no. surveys
surveys surveys published published
published published
1793 2 5 0 7
1794 22 42 12 76
1795 3 2 0 5
1796 1 (+ appendix 2 1 4
to MLO)
1797 1 0 0 1
Total 29 51 13 93

15. Publication of ‘revised’ surveys (1)
Year No. Scottish No. English surveys No. Welsh Total no.
surveys surveys surveys
1795 1 1 0 2
1796 0 3 0 3
1797 0 5 0 5
1798 3 2 (+2ndedn)(+3rdedn) 0 5 (+ edns)
1799 1 2 0 3
1800 1 1 (+ edn) 0 2 (+ edn)
1801 0 0 0 0
1802 1 0 0 1
1803 0 1 0 1
1804 0 1 (+3rdedn) (2nd 0 1 (+ edn) (2nd
survey) survey)
1805 1 (+2ndedn) 1 (+2ndedn)(+3rdedn) 0 2 (+ edns)

16. Publication of ‘revised’ surveys (2)
Year No. Scottish No. English surveys No. Welsh Total no. surveys
surveys surveys
1806 0 (+2ndedn) 0 0 0 (+ edns)
1807 0 2 (+2ndedn) 0 2 (+ edns)
1808 1 4 (+2ndedn), (+2ndedn) 0 5 (+ edns)
1809 1 6 0 7
1810 4 4 1 9
1811 5 5 (+ 1 vol in 3 vols, 1811, 0 10 (+ edns)
1815, 1817)
1812 6 3 0 9
1813 1 (+2ndedn) 0 0 1 (+ edns)
1814 3 0 1 4
1815 0 2 (+ vol 2) (2nd survey) 0 2 (+ vol 2) (2nd survey)
1816 1 0 0 1
1817 0 0 (+ vol 3) 0 0 (+ vol 3)

17. Publication of ‘revised’ Scottish surveys
Year No. surveys Surveys
1795 1 Midlothian
1798 3 Argyll, Clydesdale, Roxburgh and Selkirk
1799 1 Perth
1800 1 Fife
1802 1 Peebles
1805 1 (+2ndedn) East Lothian, Argyll (2ndedn)
1806 0 (+2ndedn) Clydesdale (2ndedn)
1808 1 Inverness
1809 1 Berwick
1810 4 Galloway, Hebrides, Kincardine, Ross & Cromarty
1811 5 Aberdeen, Ayr, Dumbarton, Moray and Nairn, West Lothian
1812 6 Banff, Caithness, Dumfriesshire, Renfrew, Stirling, Sutherland
1813 2 (+2ndedn) Angus, Perth (2ndedn), Shetland Islands
1814 3 Clackmannan, Kinross, Orkney Islands
1816 1 Bute

18. Price of the revised Scottish surveys -1st
edns
Price of survey Survey
4s Clydesdale (1798)
5s East Lothian (1805)
6s Argyll (1798), Fife (1800), Midlothian (1795), Perth (1799), Roxburgh
and Selkirk (1798)
7s Peebles (1802)
9s Dumbarton (1811), Galloway (1810), Ross and Cromarty (1810), West
Lothian (1811)
10s 6d Banff (1812), Kincardine (1810), Orkney and Shetland Islands (1814),
Renfrew (1812)
12s Berwick (1809), Sutherland (1812)
14s Inverness (1808), Moray and Nairn (1811)
15s Aberdeen (1811), Caithness (1812)
18s Ayrshire (1811), Dumfries (1812)
L1 1 0 Hebrides (1810)

19. Edinburgh, London and Dublin
booksellers
Edinburgh London Dublin
A. Constable& Co. Faulder& Son, Bond Street John Archer
W. Creech J. Harding, St James’s Street M. Keene
T. Bryce & Co. J. Asperne, Cornhill
SilvesterDoig Black, Parry and Kingsbury, Leadenhall
Street
John Ballantyne& Co. Richard Phillips, Bridge Street
Andrew Stirling Cadell& Davies, Strand
Reyolds, Oxford Street
G. & W. Nicoll, Pall-Mall
G. & J. Robinson, Paternoster Row
Robinson &Wilkie, Paternoster Row
Sherwood, Neely & Jones, Paternoster
Row

20. Regional and local centres of
distributionand sale
Book Surveys Surveys published between 1805-11 Surveys published
Centre published 1812-16
1795-1804 1805-8 1810-11
Glasgow Argyll, Argyll, Clydesdale, East Ayr, Dumbarton, Bute, Moray and Nairn,
Roxburgh and Lothian, Inverness Kincardine, Moray and Renfrew, Roxburgh and
Selkirk Nairn Selkirk
Perth Inverness, Nairn and Inverness
Moray
Aberdeen Roxburgh and Argyll, Clydesdale, Kincardine, Moray and Kincardine, Moray and
Selkirk East Lothian, Inverness Nairn, Nairn,Roxburgh and Selkirk
Dundee Inverness Moray and Nairn
Inverness Inverness Moray and Nairn, Ross Banff, Caithness, Inverness,
and Cromarty Moray and Nairn, Ross and
Cromarty, Sutherland
Stirling Ayr
Ayr Ayr
Paisley Renfrew
Greenock Renfrew

21. Phases in the distribution of the
Scottish ‘revised’ surveys
Period Character of distribution
1795-1804 •Use of key bookselling centres.
• The surveys were primarily sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh
and Dublin.
• Only in exceptional cases were surveys sold by regional or local
booksellers.
1805-11 •Development and use of a more extensive network of booksellers.
• The surveys were sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin.
• The surveys weredistributed by a larger number of booksellers in
regional and local centres.
1812-16 •Use of two broad patterns of bookselling networks.
• Some surveys that were published for the first time were only sold by
(a smaller number of) booksellers in London, Edinburgh and Dublin.
• Some surveys were sold by booksellers in London, Edinburgh and
Dublin and were also sold in regional and local centres.

22. Distribution of the subscribers to
the ‘revised’ Peebles survey
Subscribers Analysis
Geographical • Towns and villages and other places in Peebleshire
location
• Farms and estates in Peebleshire
•Neighbouring counties (egLanarkshire, Midlothian, Edinburgh, East
Lothian)
• Counties farther afield in other parts of Scotland (egClackmannan,
Fife, Perth, Inverness, Elgin, Ayr, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Dumfries)
• Outside Scotland (specific locations in England, Wales and Ireland)

23. Social and occupational groups of
subscribers to the ‘revised’ Peebles
survey
Groups Analysis
Social and • Landed classes and landowners
occupational groups • Farmers
• Members of Parliament
• Honorary members of the Board of Agriculture
• Surveyors to the Board of Agriculture
• Agricultural writers
• Educationalists (university, college, parish school)
• Professions (law, medicine, education, military, ministry)
• Others associated with agriculture (saddler, land surveyor)
• Public officials (provosts, sheriffs, collectors of taxes)
• Other occupational groups (merchant, accountant, banker,
insurance-broker)

24. Thank you!