‘Between two interests’: Pennant A. Lloyd’s Agency of the Penrhyn Estate, 1860–77

This chapter uses the Penrhyn estate in Wales as a case study to examine the land agent’s sense of dualism and impartiality, of having responsibility for representing and intermediating between two factions – rich and poor. In this respect, the chapter reinforces one of the central themes highlighted across the case studies featured within this collection; that of the challenges land agents had to face. Though landlords and tenants usually had a strong mutual interest in sustaining good relations, maintaining a balance between their priorities could be fraught with difficulties. On top of this complex role specification, Penrhyn and its environs was emerging as a primary theatre for the playing out of a fierce confrontation about the nature and future of Welsh society.