New men of wealth and the purchase of land in Great Britain and Ireland, 1780 to 1879

Of all the indicators of the integration of the bourgeoisie class and the aristocracy, the most important was the purchase of a residence and a landed estate by 'new men of wealth'. In new research, 2566 new men of wealth have been identified who purchased estates of over 1000 acres and a rental of £1000 in Great Britain and Ireland between 1780 and 1879. Of those, 1439 purchased estates of over 2000 acres in extent and £2000 in rental, which represents an estimated turnover of over 38 per cent over the century. Although there is no consensus about what level of upward mobility is required for an elite to be 'open', these figures demonstrates that there were sufficient purchasers to sustain the contemporary belief that Britain's elite was indeed open.