Landowners in the nineteenth century

In response to a question asked in the House of Lords in 1872, returns of landowners in England and Wales (except for London) were compiled and published. Both Archive CD Books and S&N Genealogy Supplies have produced copies on CD-ROM as Return of Owners of Land 1873 (Archive CD Books, £35.00) and as English and Welsh Landowners of 1873 (S&N Genealogy Supplies, £19.95). Everyone who owned more than one acre of land was included. The publication is arranged by county, with an alphabetical list of those owning land there and where they lived themselves. Most people, of course, lived on their property but some lived outside the county to this publication might help locate an elusive land-owning ancestor who isn't resident where a genealogist would expect him or her to be.