19th Century - Income and Wealth The degree of wealth-holding in Scottish society is difficult to measure in the absence of reliable data, but from what research has been carried out into the subject there were some very wealthy Scots in the 19th century and a good deal of prosperous members of the middle classes. Of the forty largest fortunes in Britain in the period 1809-1914, six were Scottish. They included the Lanarkshire ironmasters, William Baird and William Weir, the Paisley thread manufacturers, Peter and James Coats, and Charles Tennant, chemical manufacturer. The only landowner to appear was the third Marquis of Bute. All were worth more than two million pounds when they died. Although on first appearances not as wealthy as some of the industrialists, the landed aristocracy were still fabulously rich compared to most Scots. The Duke of Sutherland owned 90.5%, or 1,176,343 acres, of Sutherland in 1874 which yielded him an annual rental of £56,395; while the Duke of Buccleu