434
DEVONSHIRE,
pasture of the cultivated area, about 158,000 acres in hill pasturage. Over 86,000 acres are under woods and about 27,000 acres under orchards, chiefly of apple trees, nearly every farm having a large orchard for the manufacture of cider. Of the acreage under corn crops, more than one-half is under oats, and less than a third under wheat, the acreage of which has diminished since 1880 about a third. The bulk of the acreage under green crops is occupied by turnips, mangold, and cabbage, potatoes occupying only about a tenth of the whole acreage. The following table gives the larger main divisions of the cultivated area at intervals of five years from 1880 :— Total Area Corn PermanGreen tinder Cul- Crops. Past- Fallow. Crops. Clover. enture. tivation. 1880 1,150,888 278,413 138,735 190,197 509,694 33,833 1885 1,193,108 252,244 140,822 196,743 582,203 21,063 1890 1,208,467 242,864 132,485 201,326 615,230 15,532 1895 1,213,913 222,896 127,905 218,965 633,055 9,596 1900 1,210,034 225,203 122,769 219,091 634,427 7,179 The following table gives particulars regarding the principal live-stock for the same years :— Total Total Cows or Heifers Year. Horses. or in Sheep. Pigs. Cattle. in Milk Calf. 1880 53,944 229,471 80,280 773,916 84,815 1885 54,579 253,421 874,606 99,513 90,937 1890 55,280 259,876 95,960 913,562 123,227 1895 59,916 263,506 94,685 874,408 123,937 91,872 1900 54,526 279,728 846,324 95,944 Industries and Trade. —According to the annual report for 1898 of the chief inspector of factories (issued 1900), the total number of persons employed in factories and workshops in 1897 was 36,887, as compared with 34,608 in 1896. Textile factories employed only 2356, of whom 1197 were employed in the manufacture of woollen goods, lace employing 879. Honiton lace is made in other parts of the county as well as in Honiton. In non-textile factories 24,002 persons were employed, there being an increase between 1895 and 1896 of 10‘4 per cent., and between 1896 and 1897 of 7'6 per cent. In the manufacture of machines, appliances, conveyances, and tools, 8534 persons were employed, chiefly in the Government establishments at Devonport and Keyham ; in the clothing industry 2800, there being a considerable trade in costumes and outfitting ; in the manufacture of paper 2755 ; in the clay and stone industry (including articles in pottery and terra-cotta at Bovey Tracy, Watcombe, &c.), 1047. Of the 10,529 persons employed in workshops as many as 6342 were employed in the clothing industry, and 1576 in the manufacture of machines, appliances, conveyances, and tools. For mineral purposes Devon is included in the duchy of Cornwall. The total number of persons employed in mining in 1899 was 3085. Increasing quantities of marble, granite, and other building stones, as well as limestone and roofing slates, are being dug. In 1899 as many as 527,026 tons of limestone were raised, 290,991 tons of clay (value £82,244), 48,651 tons of granite, 71,487 tons of sandstone, and 13,901 tons of slate. Manganese and tin are mined in only very small quantities. The following table gives particulars regarding the production of arsenic, china clay, and copper in 1890 and 1898 :— China Clay. Copper. Value. Tons. Value. Value. Tons. 1890 4133 £34,224 60,346 £30,173 6038 £9197 990 £2292 1899 2468 £40,941 52,198 £30,187 Much of the fishing is carried on within the 3 mile limit. Pilchard, cod, sprats, brill, plaice, soles, turbot, shrimps, lobster, oyster, and mussels, are met with, besides herrings and mackerel, which are rather plentiful. The principal fishing stations are Brixham and Plymouth, but there are small ones in all the bays and river outlets. The total amount of fish landed at Brixham in 1899 was 62,337 cwt., valued at £70,685 ; and at Plymouth 138,972 cwt., valued at £89,003. The annual average for all stations is about 280,000 cwt., valued at £180,000. Much of the fish landed at Plymouth is from Cornwall. Bibliography.—Among later works are Boase. Devonshire Bibliography. London, 1883.—Sir W. R. Drake. Devonshire Notes and Notelets. London, 1888.—Hewett. Peasant Speech of Devon. London, 1892.—Chudleigh. Devonshire Antiquities. Exeter, 1893.—Worth. History of Devonshire (popular county history series). London, 1886, new edition 1895.—D’Urban and Mathew. Birds of Devon. London, 1895 ; and Worthy’s Devonshire Wills. London, 1896. (t. f. h.) Year.
DUKE, OF
Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of (1833), was born on 23rd July 1833. He was the son of the seventh duke of Devonshire (who died in 1891 at the age of 83), a man who, without playing a prominent part in public affairs, exercised great influence not only by his position but also by his abilities. In 1854 the marquis of Hartington, as he then was, took his degree at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1857 was returned to Parliament for North Lancashire. At the opening of the new Parliament of 1859 he moved the amendment to the address which overthrew the Government of Lord Derby. In 1863 he was Under Secretary for War, and on the formation of the Russell-Gladstone administration at the death of Lord Palmerston he entered it as War Secretary. He retired with his colleagues in July 1866; but upon Mr Gladstone’s return to power in 1868 he became Postmaster-General, which office he exchanged in 1871 for that of Secretary for Ireland. When Mr Gladstone, after his electoral defeat and consequent resignation in 1874, temporarily withdrew from the leadership of his party in January 1875, Lord Hartington was chosen his successor. Mr W. E. Forster, who had taken a much more prominent part in public life, was the only other possible nominee, but he declined to stand. Lord Hartington’s rank no doubt told in his favour, and Mr Forster’s Education Bill had offended the Nonconformist members, who would probably have withheld their support. Lord Hartington’s prudent management in difficult circumstances laid his followers under great obligations, since not only was the opposite party in the ascendant, but his own former chief was indulging in the freedom of independence. After the complete defeat of the Conservatives in the general election of 1880, a large proportion of the party would have rejoiced if Lord Hartington could have taken the Premiership instead of Mr Gladstone, and the Queen, in strict, conformity with constitutional usage, sent for him as leader of the Opposition. Mr Gladstone, however, was clearly master of the situation : no Cabinet could be formed without him, nor could he reasonably be expected to accept a subordinate post. Lord Hartington, therefore, gracefully abdicated the leadership which he had temporarily assumed, and became Secretary of State for India, from which office, in December 1882, he passed to the War Office. His administration was memorable for the expeditions of General Gordon and Lord Wolseley to Khartum. In June 1885 he resigned along with his colleagues, and in December was elected for the Rossendale Division of Lancashire, created by the new Reform Bill. Immediately afterwards the great political opportunity of Lord Hartington’s life came to him in Mr Gladstone’s conversion to Home Rule. Lord Hartington’s refusal to follow his leader in this course inevitably made him the chief of the new Liberal Unionist party, composed of a large and influential section of the old Liberals. In this capacity he moved the first resolution at the famous public meeting at the Opera House, and also, in the House of Commons, moved the rejection of Mr Gladstone’s Bill on the second reading. During the memorable electoral contest which followed, no election excited more interest than Lord Hartington’s for the Rossendale Division, where he was returned by a majority of nearly 1500 votes. In the new Parliament he held a position much resembling that which Sir Robert Peel had occupied after his fall from power, the leader of a small, compact party, the standing and ability of whose members were out of all proportion to their numbers, generally esteemed and trusted beyond any other man in the country, yet in his own opinion forbidden to think of office. Lord Salisbury’s overtures, at all events, were declined, and Lord Hartington con-
