‘K is for Keeper’: the roles and representations of the English gamekeeper, c. 1880–1914

Abstract

The gamekeeper was an important but controversial presence in the late Victorian and Edwardian countryside. Admired by some for his skills in woodcraft and deep understanding of nature, for others the keeper was much less benign: a destroyer of wildlife; a barrier against wider public access to the land; and the upholder of fiercely contested laws. At a time when debates about the land and its present and future use formed a major part of contemporary political discourse, and when an urbanising society was investing ever more meaning in its idea of the rural, consideration of the keeper takes us beyond the study of field sports towards broader histories of the English countryside and its attendant ruralist culture. Situating the keeper in a dual setting of material production and recreational service provision, the following examines both what he did and was expected to do, and the ways in which this was represented. Not only were keepers active agents in their own representation, eager to project themselves as skilled professionals, they might also elicit support from unusual quarters. As will be seen, keeper representation was as varied as his many roles.

Exploring changes in gamekeeper numbers in England (1851–1921)

“…11 The evolution of the game laws, the role of the elite in the development of shooting estates, and the incidence of poaching and motives of the poacher, have all been examined, 12 but the gamekeeper has been a peripheral character in these analyses, often portrayed as the bad guy, fighting hard done by poachers. 13 Generally, gamekeepers have been central in practical manuals and autobiographies, but featured only in passing in studies of rural society, although P. B. Munsche examined their role in the eighteenth century and Stephen Ridgwell considered their roles and representations in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. 14 Apart from the works of Harvey Osborne and Michael Winstanley, who considered gamekeeper numbers when examining rural and urban poaching in Victorian England, there has been no systematic examination of the numbers and locations of gamekeepers.…”

Reconfiguring the place of estate-based game management: challenge, change and opportunity within rural England and Wales today

“…A figure Jeffries (1896, p.14) refers to as "holding a position more nearly resembling the retainer of the olden time than perhaps any other institution of modern life". More studies as such have focused on the historical role and representation of such individuals' lives and work (Munsche, 1981;Ridgwell, 2021). A famous example of such narratives being the folk song 'The Manchester Rambler', written after MacColl participated in the Kinder Trespass, a national land rights and access protest and act of civil disobedience by urban dwellers from cities bordering…”