Lee Olson

Fulcrum Publishing, Golden Colorado, 1993, 234 pages

Summary by Judd Adams

The British were an important factor in settling and developing the West, including our community, in the mid 1800s contributing significantly to the development of the cattle and sheep businesses, also mining and the construction of several hotels in Cheyenne, Denver and Kansas City. They contributed people, money, and a different type of culture. A major factor for their emigration to the American West was a British inheritance practice, known as primogeniture, applicable to the country’s nobility (the upper class) and embodied in the common law. Upon a father’s death the entire estate (land, wealth, title or office) was passed to the eldest son. This practice kept major family estates intact through the generations with attendant wealth and power for the lucky few families. It lasted for 800 years, until the First World War.

The UK is a country where most of the land has been claimed for centuries. In the mid 1800s, when much of this emigration occurred, 80% of the land was controlled by 7,000 families whose estates exceeded 1,000 acres, with a smaller group of 250 families controlling estates exceeding 30,000 acres, some dating back to 1066 "when William the Conqueror rewarded his loyal Norman followers with grants of land and titles." Primogeniture brought stability, control (as for example, tax collection) and protection from invasions. It was wonderful for the eldest son. However if you weren’t the first son, what were your options? The family could use its influence to secure an officer’s commission, a place with the clergy, a government post, or placement in some profession, if you had been reasonably diligent in your studies and had learned to act as a gentleman. And strangely for us, the British law defined gentleman as a person without an occupation, that is, a member of the upper class whose family had lots of land and people, often numbering in the hundreds, to work the land and generate the wealth that sustained the estate. The British system had strong similarities to the South and slavery in the U.S. British gentlemen went to elite schools, were expected to be interested in and proficient at sports including riding horses and playing polo.

Opportunities for second sons (a catch-all term for all sons who weren’t the eldest) changed in the 1870s when the army ceased selling commissions and selecting officers based upon merit.

"But if you were slow getting started, inclined to be a flop or a trouble maker, out you went," often to far away places where their behavior could cause no embarrassment to the family. Some however went for the pure adventure.

The financial support from the estate was known as a remittance which could come monthly (as an allowance) or in larger amounts with different time frames, such as a particularly large amount to purchase land, cattle, or build a hotel. In some cases the remittance was genuinely viewed by the family as an investment in a mining or cattle venture, which might return money to the family. In others, it was acknowledged as a means to keeping a near-do-well from embarrassing the family name. Some used their money wisely to develop a profitable business, while others wasted the money on whiskey, sport and women. Thus, many second sons of the British aristocracy left their native land and traveled to the far corners of the world – Australia, India, South Africa, Canada, and the American West, including Larimer County and mountain ranching country of the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre.

"Remittance men seldom married, they drank too much."

SNAPSHOTS OF SOME REMITTANCE MEN

William Drummond Stewart ... the "first remittance man" ... family owned 32,000 acres in eastern Scotland ... achieved fame in Napoleonic War (1815) ... romanced a maid from nearby estate, and married her (unusual for the times)... chose a self-imposed exile ... older brother provided him with "just enough money to stay away from the castle" ... left wife and son in Edinburgh for adventure, a hunting trip to the U. S. ... hooked up with fir trading party sponsored by William Sublette (Oregon Trail fame) ... attended 1833 rendezvous at Green River Wyoming Wyoming ... sent two bison and 1 grizzly (all alive) home to Scotland (to impress family and friends?) ... hung out with trappers and attended rendezvous for several more years ... older brother dies of cancer, so William inherits estate ... commissions Alfred Jacob Miller to make historic paintings of the West to take back to Murthly Castle ... Miller is "first man in all time to fully paint the actual Rockies" and becomes famous ... Steward returns home in 1839 to claim inheritance with Miller in tow.

Clement Bengaugh (Ben-goff) ... Bristol banking family ... much of the U.S. – Caribbean slave trade financed by Bristol Bankers ... "estate profits dropped under the impact of imported grain and meat from abroad (America principally) ... to cope with financial strain family moves out of main house to dower house and rented main house ... 1886-87 goes to Wyoming "to seek his fortune in his mid 20s ... likes to ride and hunt ... worked as a ranch man 1 year near Laramie Wyoming to learn the business with remittance paid to the rancher ... being well educated in Latin did not ensure success as a rancher.

Joseph Henage Finch, 7^th Earl of Aylesford ... 20,000 acres of "best farm land in Midlands" of England including 300 room Packington house ... while on a tiger hunting trip in India with the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) his wife the Countess Edit was "visited" by George Churchill (uncle of Winston Churchill (the famous future Prime Minister), eventually turning into a major scandal ... "seduction of another man’s wife was not unusual in Victorian England" ... he returned home to England and then left for U.S. with $50,000 (equivalent) remittance ... to Texas ... when he couldn’t find lodging he bought Cosmopolitan Hotel for $4,000 (more than it was worth) ... one day he bought a saloon for an all night drinking party for his friends and sold it back the next day.

Darrell Duppa provided the names for two Arizona cities: Phoenix and Tempe ... helped establish the Arizona irrigation system in the area of the Salt River Valley by recognizing and reviving ancient native American ditches.

George Duppa, his family’s estate struggling, emigrated to Australia and then to New Zealand where he went to homestead some land and make his fortune ... established a huge and profitable sheep operation ... followed by a transport system to haul sheep, cattle and wool to England, which he sold in 1863 for 100,000 pounds (1/2 million U.S. $) ... returned to England and purchased family’s bankrupt estate from brother Darrell.

"American remittance men" were Ivy League gentlemen who went West to seek their fortune, or adventure such as Teddy Roosevelt. Spence Penrose made a fortune at Cripple Creek and then in Utah’s Bingham cooper pit and with his wealth purchased the Broadmore. Horace Deveraux built Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs with $100,000 from British investors