Agricultural History Review, Volume 47 Part 2 (1999), pp. 182–195

The significance of the aristocratic improver has been questioned by recent research which has tended to see financial return as the sole motive for agricultural development. This paper seeks to re-assess the role of the improving landowner by offering the first modern study of one of its leading examples, the fifth Duke of Bedford (1765-1802). It argues that he was influential both in his county and in the broader development of scientific agriculture. His motivation was not financial return but derived from the intellectual and political environment of his time. Indeed, his policy was doomed as it took no proper account of return on investment and, if generally pursued by his class, would have quickly destroyed their elite position. 

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