O'Brien (Blatherwycke) 1612-1874, 183 docs., ref. OB(B)
The Staffords had owned Blatherwycke since the 15th century but in 1720 their estate was partitioned between two heiresses. Susanna married Henry O'Brien, the youngest son of an Irish baronet, and got Blatherwycke. Anne married the future Lord Carbery and got Laxton. The O'Briens immediately built a new mansion. The family remained in this house until it was demolished in 1948.
Mainly deeds for properties in counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary in Ireland. Some deeds for properties in Blatherwycke and Tixover (Rutland), including estate partition deed and contract for rebuilding the mansion 1720 and Tixover inclosure agreement 1723.
Jackson O'Brien scrapbooks and photograph albums, 19thC.
Mainly deeds for Blatherwycke and Irish estate.
Ormonde (Kilkenny ) c.1225-1920, 66 boxes, ref. OK
Mainly deeds of the Clerke/Clarke family, the majority (uncatalogued) relating to Derbyshire. (Early 20thC. Catalogues of charters exist within the archive). The collection was purchased for the Record Office in 1996.
Sir George Clerke (d.1649) purchased the manor of Watford from the Burnaby's in 1623. He came from a family settled at Willoughby (Warwickshire). His son George (d. 1689) divided most of the estate between his 6 daughters, one marrying Sir George Gilbert Clarke of Chilcote (Derbyshire). The manor went to his nephew Sir Robert Clerke (d. 1736). His grandson George (d. 1787) was the last of the family. He had married Anne Pilkington (d. 1837) who remarried a John Bennett. She went mad in 1832 and her next of kin Henry Pilkington sold the Watford estate to Lord Henley in 1836.
The 1st Marquess of Ormonde of Kilkenny castle in Ireland married Anna Maria Catherine Price-Clarke in 1805, the heiress of the Clarkes of Chilcote. Evidently on the death of George Clerke in 1689 the Watford estate deeds were not handed over to his nephew but became part of the Clerke of Chilcote archive
Deeds for Ashover, Brampton, Chesterfield, Condor, Dovebridge, Duckmanton, Eaton Dovedale, Haynor, Langley, Scarscliffe, Sutton in le Dale and elsewhere (all in Derbyshire) including patents for leake baronetcy 1611 and Earldom of Scarsdale 1645. deeds for Ulcombe, Rochester, Isle of Grain, Leybourne and elsewhere (all in Kent). Deeds of the Bouns of Coundon (Warwickshire) from 1293 and Coventry, Radford, Willoughby, Keresley, Allesley and Woolscot (all Warwickshire). Deeds of the Craven family in Kensington (Middlesex), also plans and building contract for Portugal Row, Lincolns Inn Fields 1700. Deeds of the Franklin family of Bolnehurst and Wootton (Bedfordshire). Deeds of the Earls of Arran and Earls of Ormonde for Tutbury Castle, Uttoxeter and elsewhere (Staffordshire and Surrey). Clerke of Watford charters and deeds, court rolls 1569 – 1658. Miscellaneous grants, appointments and family papers of the Ormondes 1626 – 1920 including a patent for Marquessate of Ormonde 1642, 19thC. Addresses from tenants etc.
A fine collection of great seals from Henry III
(see also the Henley of Watford collection)
(The main archive of the Ormondes is in the National Library of Ireland)
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Osborn (Northampton) 1774-1897, 521 docs., ref. 0(N)
Francis Osborn (d.1823) and his brother George Osborn senior were both grocers in and aldermen of Northampton and were successively treasurers of the Corporation. George Osborn established a bank with his son George Osborn junior (d. 1869). He continued in the grocery business and also served as an alderman and treasurer.
Letters and papers on 19thC. Business as grocers and bankers. Early 19thC. Northampton corporation records including treasurer's accounts 1816 – 1818, 1823 – 1825 and charity accounts. 19thC. Family papers and correspondence including letters from the Jeyes family and specification for building a house in the Drapery 1838/9. Papers of various executorships, for the late Philip Constable, John Veasy, the Gillings family.
This catalogue is available on the National Access to Archives website, see related links below.
Overstone (Overstone) 1361-1900, 106 vols., 11,000 docs., ref. 0
Lewis Loyd (d. 1858), a former dissenting minister made a fortune as a banker and purchased extensive estates in Northamptonshire and other counties including Overstone Hall in 1832. His son and successor Samuel Jones Loyd (d. 1883) took over the family bank and was one of the leading economists of the day. He was made Lord Overstone in 1850 and rebuilt the mansion in the early 1860's. His only daughter Harriet Sarah married Robert James Lindsay who was made Lord Wantage in 1885. Overstone was sold in 1921.
Very large collection of deeds and papers for estates in Overstone, Sywell, Pytchley, Broughton, Orlingbury, Moulton, Brixworth, Stanwick, Braybrooke, Great Oxendon, Fotheringhay, Holcot, Mears Ashby, Abington, Weston Favell, Little Billing, Great Houghton, Hackleton, Piddington, Appletree and Prescott (Oxfordshire). Drayton Grange near Daventry, Wing and Aston Abbotts (Buckinghamshire), Little Paxton, Southoe, and Magrey, (Huntingdonshire), Wolvey and Little Copson (Warwickshire), Coldham (Cambridgeshire), Chilworth and Great Milton (Oxfordshire), Foston (Leicestershire) and Clotherholme (Yorkshire)
Comprehensive 19th/early 20thC. estate records including cropping books, cottage books, agents' note books, fire insurance survey 1875. Papers on the development of the Abington area of Northampton.
Deeds and business records of the Champion family of London. Lewis Loyd's second wife was Mary Champion. Including deeds for the estates of the Cooke and Browne families from the 16thC., particularly Bredfield, Debach, Boulge and Hasketon (all Suffolk). Business records of Champion, Dickason and Co., wholesale weavers and general merchants of London, account of stock 1773, bonds for shipping, papers on French investments 1792-1818, licenses for bills of exchange. Papers on bankruptcy of John Fletcher of London, insurance broker and chapman, 1781-1802.
(Lord Overstone's personal papers are in the University of London Library. Some of his correspondence was published by Professor D.P. O'Brien 1971.)
(The Overstone scrapbooks, early l9thC. views of Northamptonshire, are in Reading University Library.)
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