A Reconsideration of the Economic Decline of the British Aristocracy 1858-2018

Historical accounts of the British aristocracy have argued its economic decline was owed to its anachronistic characteristics helped by declining agricultural land values and rising inheritance taxes. We reconsider these arguments by examining the hereditary peerage’s probates over 1858-2018. Aristocratic wealth fell substantially although aristocrats remained rich. Decline began during the inter-war years, later than existing historical accounts. We could not find links between aristocratic wealth and farmland prices. Top marginal rates of inheritance tax were linked to reduced aristocratic probate values, but we argue this has more to do with tax avoidance than reductions in intergenerational transmission of wealth. Aristocrats followed the rich with their share of wealth dwindling over the 20th century. Together these arguments suggest the British aristocracy detached economic interests from status characteristics enabling them to persist more effectively than previously thought.