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Thomas Eccleston (1752-1809)

A Progressive Lancastrian Agriculturalist

by John M. Virgoe
Third Series, Volume #49, Publication Year: 2012
Available to purchase £18.00

The Book

This book offers the first detailed assessment of the life and achievements of Thomas Eccleston of Scarisbrick, near Ormskirk. One of the lesser Catholic gentry of south-west Lancashire, Eccleston’s main interest was in agriculture, and he went on to acquire a national and international reputation as a progressive farmer. He was an expert in land drainage, the sponsor of the first Englishman to acquire a veterinary qualification, and a patron of Joseph Elkington, a disseminator of farming knowledge and opponent of the Corn Laws.

The Author

John Virgoe is a retired chartered geologist who worked for over thirty years in the glass industry. In retirement he received a PhD from the University of Liverpool for a thesis on rural south-west Lancashire in the eighteenth century. His previous historical publications have included (with A. J. Gritt) The Memoranda Books of Basil Thomas Eccleston, the father of the subject of this volume.

Reviews

  • ‘Virgoe rightly selects Eccleston for close scrutiny, and highlights south-west Lancashire as a place of significant agricultural developments during the industrial revolution. … This book is based on an impressive array of letters, diaries, accounts, surveys and memoranda of various types, as well as a range of contemporary published sources. The scale and diversity of the archive is made very apparent by this book, and Virgoe has clearly developed an unrivalled knowledge of the manuscript collection.’ Agricultural History Review, 62 (2014), 179-80

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