The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland (originallyThe Acre-Ocracy of England) is a reference work published byJohn Bateman in four editions between 1876 and 1883, giving brief details of individuals owning land in theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to a total of 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) orvaluation of £3000 annual income. It has become a standardprimary source for historians of theVictorian era.^[1]

The information was abstracted from theReturn of Owners of Land (1873–1876), a government publication nicknamed the "ModernDomesday Book". Bateman collated thecounty-by-county information, correcting errors, allowing for variations in spelling of surnames, noting with footnotes and asterisks discrepancies and complexities of ownership or income. Owners noted inEvelyn Shirley'sNoble and Gentle Men of England as in unbroken inheritance since the reign ofHenry VII were given a special mark; later editions also separately marked owners not listed by Shirley but who protested to Bateman that they had the same antiquity.

John Bateman (1839–1910), editor ofThe Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland, lived atBrightlingsea Hall inEssex, and was ajustice of the peace anddeputy lieutenant for Essex andStaffordshire. In 1865, he married Jessy Caroline Bootle-Wilbraham, sister ofEdward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom. They had one daughter.

• Bateman, John (1876).The Acre-ocracy of England; a list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards, with their possessions and incomes, arranged under their various counties, also their colleges and clubs; culled from the Modern Domesday Book. London: Basil Montagu Pickering. Retrieved22 May 2020 – viaHathiTrust.
• ⸻ (1878).The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland: A list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards, worth £3,000 a year, in England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales, their acreage, income from land, college, club, and services, culled from the Modern Domesday Book; with an analysis. London: Harrison and Sons. Retrieved22 May 2020 – viaHathiTrust.
• ⸻ (1879).The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. A list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards, worth £3,000 a year, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & Wales, their income from land, acreage, colleges, clubs, and services, culled from the Modern Domesday Book; corrected in the vast majority of cases by the owners themselves (new [2nd], with the addition of 1,320 owners of 2,000 acres and upwards ed.). London: Harrison. Retrieved22 May 2020 – viaHathiTrust.
• ⸻ (1883).The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. A list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards, worth £3,000 a year; also, one thousand three hundred owners of two thousand acres and upwards, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & Wales, their acreage and income from land culled from the Modern Domesday Book; also their colleges, clubs, and services; corrected in the vast majority of cases by the Owners themselves (4th, revised and corrected throughout ed.). London: Harrison. Retrieved22 May 2020 – viaInternet Archive.
• ⸻ (1971) [1883].The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. "Victorian Library" series. Spring, David (introduction) (4th ed.). Leicester / New York:Leicester University Press / Humanities Press.ISBN 978-0-7185-5013-4.OCLC 1079198448 – viaInternet Archive.

• Obituary inThe Times, October 13, 1910.
• Spring "Introduction" in Bateman 1971

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