In 1835, western Cornwall saw the death of one of the great scions of the local indigenous gentry, Francis Basset of Tehidy, Baron de Dunstanville. Dunstanville's funeral procession took twelve days, travelling from London to Tehidy, and the hearse ‘plumed, with pennons bearing the Basset Arms, was drawn by plumed horses carrying velvet cloths’. Behind it were two other mourning coaches, carrying Lady Basset and Sir John St Aubyn of Clowance, the head of another great family. When the procession reached Truro, 800 tenants gathered to follow it into Tehidy. It was probably the largest, most grand funeral ever seen by the local inhabitants. At least 20,000 people were believed to have attended the final interment, and a large monument was erected on top of the highest hill in the area, Carn Brea, in Lord de Dunstanville's memory. St Aubyn followed the Baron de Dunstanville in death four years later, and was himself the subject of a magnificent funeral. Rather than simply being a performance to exemplify the superior authority of the gentry, the funerals also signified something different:

The funerals can be seen as a symbolic turning point in Cornish social history; the influence of the Bassets and St Aubyns was waning. Another great Cornish family, the Arundells of Lanherne, had already lost prominence after 1752 when they began to sell off their Cornish estates.

Few studies mention the role of the gentry as lords of the manor with the right of wreck, and of those, most concentrate on the pre-modern period. In more contemporary works, the lord of the manor is little commented upon. One of the few treatments is that of Victorian journalist Cyrus Redding, who included an attack on privilege in his travel and history narrative.