PART I: INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING THE RURAL SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES 1. 'Unimportant Minorities': The Landholding Peasantry of Britain and Ireland, C.1600-1850 2. People Above and Below: 'Landlordism', 'Estate Studies', and Relationships Between Owners and Workers of Land 3. Methodologies: The Practice and Theory of Petitions, and the Choice Of Estates PART II: LANDED ESTATES: PERSONNEL, ORGANISATION, DOCUMENTATION, AND ELEMENTS OF VARIANCE 4. Stewards and Other Estate Officials 5. The Estates and the Petitions 6. Petitions and the Rhythms of Estate Life 7. Empty Spaces: The Missing Estate Petitions of Eighteenth- and Early-Nineteenth-Century Wales PART III: AUTHORSHIP, PHYSICAL FORM, AND WRITTEN STYLE OF PETITIONS 8. Authenticity and Authorship 9. Physical Form 10. Address 11. Ending 12. Delivery and Receipt PART IV: THE CONTENT OF PETITIONS 13. The North of Ireland, C.1750-1850 14. North-West England, c.1600-1800 15. The Highland Margin of Scotland, C.1770-1860 V. LAND, PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE 'HARD SURFACES OF LIFE': ASKING FOR POOR RELIEF ON LANDED ESTATES 16. Poverty and Self-Help in North-West England and Wales 17. Petitioning For Relief on Breadalbane: Estate Policy, Family Life, and Strategies for Care 18. Poverty and its Relief in the North of Ireland: The Place of the Estate 19. Psychology and Necessity: Attachment to the Land in Parts of Scotland and Ireland PART VI: CONCLUSION: THE LANDLORDS AND TENANTS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 20. Paternalism and Deference 21. Oppressions, Freedoms, and their Politico-Legal Context 22. The Texture of Rural Society In Parts Of Britain And Ireland
