The Return of Owners of Land in England and Wales
The Return of Owners of Land in England and Wales aimed to show the number and names of owners of land of one acre and upwards, whether built upon or not, together with the estimated acreage and the annual gross estimated rental of the property, and the number (but not named) of owners of land of less than 1 acre..

The reason the return was called for was due to a discussion which had taken place in the House of Lords, between The Earl of derby and The Lord Privy Seal, when the Earl had said, "..there was from time to time a great outcry raised about what was called the monopoly of land, and, in support of that cry, the wildest and most reckless exaggerations and mis-statements of fact were uttered as to the number of persons who were the actual owners of the soil."

The outcries the Earl was referring to originated out of newspaper reports, quoting the 1861 census, which had stated that the number of owners of land was approximately 30,000, which, given the 1861 population of England and Wales was returned as 20,065,811, put the ownership of the land in England and Wales in the hands of around 0.15% of the population.

The figures in the 1861 census were misleading, as various owners of land were not returned under that heading, but under other headings, such as gentleman, merchant, shopkeeper, farmer etc.

The Earl felt that 300,000 was nearer the mark (but he was way off too, as we shall see).

The information in the return was culled from local valuation lists for rating purposes, and padded out with the names of lessees who held a lease for 99 years or more, or those lessees who had a right of perpetual renewal, both of which were to be considered as 'owners'.

The term 'owner' also included bodies such as Poor Law Guardians, Overseers, Churchwardens, Trustees, Executors of Wills etc.

The final results were as follows:

Number of owners of land > 1 acre: 269,547
Number of owners of land < 1 acre: 703,280

Giving a total of 972,836, or 4.8% of the population (in the East Riding the proportion was higher, at around 7.3%).

The following list shows owners of land of 1 acre or more, who were resident in Bubwith, but whose land may not necessarily have been in the parish. I was unable to discover from the notes to the Returns why the entry for Weddall had the address of 'Bubwith' in parentheses.
Name
Address
A
R
P
£.
s.
Ask
Robert
Bubwith
1
2
25
37
0
Boldan
Robert
Bubwith
25
2
36
83
11
Bramley
Charles
Bubwith
3
1
23
31
0
Brown
John
Bubwith
4
0
24
69
0
Brownbridge
R.
Bubwith
13
0
0
16
18
Chaplin
Mrs. Francis
Bubwith
4
0
0
30
0
Collins
Rev. H.
Bubwith
44
1
19
62
2
Derwent Bridge Co.
Bubwith
2
2
0
65
0
Glew
George
Spaldington, Howden
2
3
6
4
3
Harrison
Thomas
Bubwith
1
0
0
11
0
Hepton
John
Bubwith
4
2
28
70
1
Howdle
William
Bubwith
3
0
0
33
12
Hutchinson
Miles
Foggathorpe
4
3
9
9
10
Newstead
Trustees of
Bubwith
20
2
14
67
6
Overseers of
Bubwith
Bubwith
6
2
22
10
0
Patrick
G. Trustees of
Bubwith
5
2
18
39
0
Powell
Joseph
Bubwith
4
2
28
17
3
Precious
John
Spaldington
3
0
0
9
18
Ross
John
Bubwith
1
1
0
7
10
Rutlidge
Mr.
Bubwith
1
0
0
3
1
Sargison
Joseph
Foggathorpe
10
3
30
35
10
Scaife
William
Breighton
12
0
3
33
15
Scholcroft
Exors of
Bubwith
8
0
22
16
0
Smith
George
Bubwith
1
3
4
53
8
Weddall
E. C.
(Bubwith)
80
1
23
172
3
Wilkinson
Rev. W. G.
Bubwith
66
1
4
141
0