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in 1903 and remaining there until his death in 1944. He was first apprenticed as a gardener in Strathmore and in 1900 became foreman gardener for the Duke of Wellington. In 1902 he returned to Scotland before taking up his appointment at Monteviot, with more than twenty gardeners under him, at an annual salary of £65.33 According to his grandson, fuel was paid for by the estate, as were the fees for his children to attend grammar school. His terms of appointment included mention of fifty-five tons of coal annually, of which six were for the head gardener, five for the garden bothy, with the balance for the hothouses and glass-houses. In 1915, when he was offered the role of assistant superintendent of parks for the city of Glasgow, his reference was exemplary: ‘he is very good with the men and gets a large amount of work out of them, and in a very quiet way.’ When Lady Lothian heard of the offer, however, she doubled his salary to persuade him to stay.34

Gardeners and other outdoor servants were paid in cash wages and given cottage accommodation; they were not expected to live in the house nor to eat in it. Many head gardeners, such as the two examples above, were much respected and valued by their employers; the gardens of a country house contributed to its setting and were still intended to impress visitors. Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, recorded how her own love of gardening was engendered by her head gardener, Mr Barnes, the ‘marvellous and creative’ being who managed thirty-five gardeners, with eighteen in the glasshouses, and ‘fulfilled my extravagant plans’. She was honest enough to add: ‘Of course, I never actually did anything myself; I never dug a hole with a trowel or put a bulb in or anything like that.’35

If gardens added to the prestige of a country house in the early years of the twentieth century, so too did the great shooting parties of the period. These legendary social events, which usually took place over a matter of weeks rather than weekends, would need intricate and careful planning. The steward, housekeeper, cook and the entire indoor staff were involved in preparing ahead for a full house, as well as when the whole event was in full sail.

The gamekeepers – rearing birds and protecting them from depredations by poachers or vermin – would have to ensure that numbers would be sufficient, and at the turn of the century the bags could be in the thousands. One famous gamekeeper, Tommy Taylor, keeper at Elveden for a half a century, confirms in his memoir that by 1914 some 20,000 pheasants were bred annually for the sport, cared for by complex system of underkeepers.36

As well as the rearing of game birds, the shoots themselves would require an almost military-style management of underkeepers, loaders, cartridge boys and beaters, who by walking up from a given point would drive the birds towards the guns. This system provided a great deal of sport to the crack shots of the early twentieth century, while in more recent years wild-bird shooting, using dogs rather than beaters, is increasingly favoured.

The great Edwardian shooting parties – whether at shooting lodges in Scotland, or on the great shooting estates such as Blenheim, Chatsworth and Elveden Hall in Suffolk (bought in the 1890s by the Earl of Iveagh), not to mention Sandringham – define our image of country-house life. Yet they became increasingly elaborate only in the later nineteenth century, especially after the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, became an enthusiast. Lord de Grey, who was present at one great Edwardian shooting party, contrasted its excesses unfavourably with the past: ‘When I am sitting in a tent taking part in a lengthy luncheon of many courses, served by a host of retainers, my memory takes me back to a time many years ago when we worked harder for our sport, and when seated under a hedge, our midday meal consisted of a sandwich . . . I am inclined to think those were better and worthier days.’37

Shooting parties on a lavish scale declined with the First World War, as did the taste for the very large