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Manorial Documents Register Project

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Blog 3: Final Findings-Phipps Collection

I have now completed cataloguing the Phipps collection, which if you have been following my earlier blogs has produced some rather interesting finds. I recently presented a talk on the findings of the cataloguing project, which gave me a real opportunity to reflect on what I’d been able to find out about Samuel Phipps from the documents in his collection, and this blog will detail those findings.

One of the most important aspects of cataloguing an estate collection is a good understanding of the family involved. Ideally the estate owners’ birth and death dates, when they owned their property, how they acquired it, who were their ancestors, and did they have any heirs? Interestingly, with this collection, some parts of that information remained hidden, indeed, it wasn’t until my talk, when I met a gentleman who had also researched Phipps that I was able to establish a date of birth for Samuel Phipps – in my research, he remained elusive. Samuel Phipps was born in 1733 and died in 1781 making his age at death 48. A search through some local history books gave us the descent of one of Phipps’ properties, Barmoor Estate. In the 1912-1915 Berwick Naturalist’s Society Book, it states rather mysteriously that Barmoor was ‘acquired directly or indirectly’ from the representatives of the Bladens, by Samuel Phipps. This implies they were unsure of how Phipps came to own the property. The answer to this question came about in an unexpected place – I was reading a set of sales particulars for Barmoor estate, when I spotted a handwritten note on the second page (see below).

This inconspicuous looking bit of text tells us that Barmoor Estate was purchased by William Sitwell (Phipps’ great uncle), from Fenwick Stowe, for £30,500. Today that would be about £2,626,187.25. The note mentions that the transaction was witnessed by Samuel Phipps. In Phipps’ will, he notes that he inherited Barmoor from William Sitwell, though it should be noted that Sitwell’s will only states that he bequeathed the sum of £10,000 to Phipps, he does not mention the estate. We can at least infer from this that Phipps inherited the estate from Sitwell, though the wills perhaps explain the woolly explanation given in our history book.

Phipps died without issue and Barmoor was inherited by his second cousin, Francis Hurt, who later took on his maternal family name of Sitwell. We also know from some family history research, that in addition to the Sitwells, Phipps was also related to the Reresby family of Ecclesfield, through his maternal line.

Phipps held extensive property, this much is clear from his records and from his will. Much of the land was in Northumberland, including Barmoor, Yeavering and Coupland, but there was also Ferney Hall in Shropshire, and estates in Yorkshire and Derbyshire amongst others. His main base appears to have been at Lincoln’s Inn, Middlesex, where he practiced his business as a barrister, though we have plenty of receipts for travel, showing that he visited his other properties. Examples include these rather lovely hotel receipts (below), for example, which tell us that ale would have cost Phipps 6 pence in North Allerton, but surprisingly only be 3 pence in Harrogate!

When I first opened the boxes in this collection, nothing was in any kind of order, so all of this information was very useful to help me to identify how the material should be arranged. I could separate out the material into the various estates, and I could understand why letters from the Sitwells and Reresbys were found in the collection. I could also start to separate out records which related solely to Phipps work as a barrister, and not to his own land holdings.

One of my favourite aspects of this collection was the sheer number of purchase receipts, and the detail they provided about Samuel Phipps as a person. We do tend to focus on the running of estates when looking in these sorts of collections, and it can be easy to forget that we’re looking into the history of a real person. These receipts bring Phipps to life and can also tell us about the life of a wealthy gentleman in the late 1700s.

There are documents like this perfumier receipt for 1790-1791 (below left). Phipps died in 1791, so these we his final months, but even at that time he’s buying a ‘swan down puff’, ‘powder’ and multiple pots of ‘pomatum’ (used to slick down hair) – fashionable to the end! We also have a wine list, which includes Madeira, a popular wine at the time, but also a 1726 stock vintage wine for £3 and 15 shillings, or £241.80 in today’s money, he seems to be a man of expensive tastes.

One account which divulged a surprising amount about Phipps, was his funerary expenses. The list is very detailed and not only tells us a lot about what might be included in a gentleman’s funeral at the time but also gives us some idea about Phipps’ physical appearance. Unfortunately, our collection does not include a painting or likeness for Phipps, so this is the closest that I came to having an idea of what he looked like, albeit in quite a morbid fashion! If you look at the image below, which is a snippet of funerary expenses from the appropriately named ‘John Heaven’, the first entry is for a ‘very long Elm Body Coffin lined with superfine Crape and dup ruffled’. The latter terms are archaic spellings of ‘crepe’ and ‘dup’ fabrics, both popular with funerals at the time. Note that they are ‘superfine’ implying a higher-grade fabric. We can also see from the term ‘very long’ that Samuel Phipps was a tall gentleman, at least for the time. Later in the same document, there is an expense of a ‘very large fine quilted mattress for the body to lay on’ – again ‘very large’ implies quite an imposing gentleman.

NRO 2372-G-1-2-1-1-004 – Phipps’ funerary expenses

All of the fabrics noted in the expenses, seem to be of the highest quality, and this even extends to those working at the funeral. One entry is for ‘6 rich Black Silk Scarfs for Ministers, Clerk, Steward, Apothecary, and Undertaker’, these set the executors back £15, which in modern currency would be £861.46 – more than the cost for his coffin!’ Not to mention what would be an additional £60 in modern money just on ostrich feathers to decorate the procession.

We can also use these expenses to gain a bit of an understanding of funerary arrangements in general. In this same document, towards the bottom of the list, we find ‘The usual allowances for Beers for all the Inn porters and under officers’, this implies it was an expectation at the time to provide that. We also find a payment for two ladies to sit ‘up with the corps: 5 nights & 5 days’ – that’s quite a wake! Perhaps this was as much to protect the fine garments and funerary items as the body. The final fee for the funeral was £127 10s 7d (£10,980.84 in modern currency) with an additional £10 (£861) for the gravestone.

From these expenses, Phipps appears to have been affluent and fashionable, and this may inspire an almost Dickensian image of a rich gentleman, though Samuel Phipps appears to have been a very charitable man. The collection includes letters and accounts which can tell us a bit about Phipps’ personality. In one such account, Thomas Johnson owed Samuel Phipps a debt for £473 3s (£40,826.45 in modern currency). Despite this sizeable debt, a note added to the account shows that Phipps ‘advanced for the support of Thomas Johnson, his wife and children £9 19s 6d’ that would be nearly £860 today, so it’s a significant additional sum given by Phipps to ensure Johnson is still able to provide for his family. There are sales particulars included with this account which show that Johnson, a coach-master, did eventually have to auction off his household furniture to pay for the debt. From a historical perspective, this is interesting in itself, though for a property in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. Included in the inventory are ‘crimson check furniture’, ‘A set of 3 beautiful, rare old Gold Japan image bowls’ and ‘a large hair trunk’ – I’ll admit the latter concerned me on a first read but I’ve since learned that this is a leather trunk where the hair hide remains!

We do have a copy of Phipps’ will, though is very fragile and hard to read. Fortunately, there is a scan of the original available online. This tells us that in addition to his charitable nature in life, he bequeathed annuities (annual payments) to many of his servants in sums of up to £30, ensuring their care after his death.

In the Phipps collection there are many estate records and surveys, so anyone from the Barmoor, Yeavering or Coupland areas at least should be able to find out some information about their local area in the collection. As this is a cataloguing project, I was not able to spend too long researching the records I found, but I will mention here that we had some finds like the sketch below.

Sketch and plan of an un-named property in Yeavering (undated).

While I don’t know much about this property, indeed the sketch is even undated and I can’t say for sure if the property still stands, but this remains a fascinating find. It’s not the only sketch or plan found in the collection which may hold answers to one of your questions.

I hope this blog has given you an idea of some of the information you could find if you researched this collection. You may have an interest in the local area, in everyday life in the 1700s, or specifically an interest in Phipps and his family, all of these topics can be researched in this collection. The Phipps collection has been catalogued and this catalogue will be going online in the next two months, so do look out for that.

The project was completed with funding from the NACT and the Community Foundation Windfarm, with support from Northumberland Archives, so I will end with a final note of thanks – without that funding this collection would remain uncatalogued and these findings would still be a mystery.

Beth Elliott, Project Archivist

Manorial Documents Register Project

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Blog two: Who was Samuel Phipps? Delving into our uncatalogued “Phipps of Barmoor” collection, to try and find out.

Recently, I worked on a project to catalogue an estate collection for the Phipp’s family (NRO 2372). The collection mostly relates to Samuel Phipps, largely compiling of accounts detailing his expenditure in life, and further accounts and inventories of his properties following his death in 1791. The majority of these records relate to his lands in Northumberland, with Phipps owning the Barmoor estate during his lifetime, but there are records for his lands in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and London. In my previous blog, I included the following image of correspondence, noting that these sorts of records can tell us a lot about the families concerned.

The Contents of NRO 2372, Phipps Box 4

A closer look will tell you that there are detailed accounts of Phipps’ expenditures, both within his estate and annuity payments to relatives. Many of these relatives are members of the Sitwell family, alluding to the family connection – Phipp’s second cousin, Francis Sitwell, was his heir. The outputs are extensive, implying Samuel Phipps was quite a wealthy man. We do have some evidence of attempts to reduce expenditure though. Many of the documents in this collection which were written during Samuel Phipp’s lifetime, relate to his attempts to sell or lease his land in Northumberland. He even employs two well-known agricultural surveyors of the day, George Culley and John Bailey to survey his land. Culley and Bailey were known for their 1794 publication ‘A General View of The Agriculture of The County of Northumberland with Observations on the Means of Its Improvement.’ This level of investigation is useful for us as it means that we have maps and plans of the Barmoor estate within this collection. This allows us to see exactly what was included in Phipps’ estates, and better understand the boundaries.

In one set of correspondence, Bailey writes to Phipps with regards to his attempt to lease ‘Barmoor Hall Farm’. He states that in attempting to locate someone to rent the farm as one property, he is receiving offers which are far below the value of the lands. The asking price was £600 per annum for 21 years, and their last offer, for example was for £500 for the first 10 years, and £600 for the final 11 years of the lease. Bailey has then attempted to advertise the land in three farms, instead of one, but this somewhat backfired, in that the original interested party rescinded his offer for the whole, and requested only one of the parts, again for less than asked. If you look at the plan below, which was enclosed with Bailey’s letter, the sections that he refers to seem to be the West Moor, East Moor and Kenning(?) Moss. Bailey even pencilled in the interested parties.

Plan of Barmoor Hall Farm, enclosed with Bailey’s letter.

When asking other potential farmers why they would not bid for the property, Bailey states that they all replied similarly: “There was so much bad land, and the harvest so late, that they could not think about it”. Bailey argues that there is 300 acres of good land, and 1300 acres of bad, but that the price is set accordingly. Bailey then goes on to detail the lease agreements for the other sections of the farm. Unfortunately, the issue of whether the advertised lands were leased is not resolved in this letter, though this short 4 pages of correspondence, is certainly packed full of useful information. From this, we can see exactly what lands were included in the farm, who the neighbouring landowners were, the value of the leases, and we’ve learnt that there was a consensus at the time (though contested!)  that much of the Barmoor land was struggling to yield crops.

In one letter sent from John Bratins at Darnall Colliery (Yorkshire), we find Bratins strongly suggesting that the ‘machines’ should be ‘shut off’ to save on costings. The ‘machines’ referred to here were used to remove accumulated water from the coal fields, allowing access to the lower levels of coal. Bratins states that without access to this level, they will still be able to collect enough coal to cover both their own ‘in-house’ needs and their supply demands, so use of the machines is a costly and unnecessary expense. He renders competition from the Duke’s neighbouring colliery as the reason for their lack of demand, and mentions that the Duke is aware of the suggestion to turn off the machines, and has not objected, despite this meaning that the water will likely travel to his fields. The move to turn off these machines does suggest an attempt to reduce expenditure.

Letter to Samuel Phipps from John Bratins, Darnall Colliery.

We also have some fascinating indications of Samuel Phipps daily life in this collection, in the inventories from his properties. Many of the inventories were taken following Phipps’ death and would have been used to identify the inheritance owed to his heirs. Inventories were written for each of his properties, and in this collection include contents of rooms, which can give us a good idea of the type of property Phipps was living in, and the furniture which adorned his living quarters. From a general interest viewpoint, this can tell us a lot about life in the late eighteenth century – what furniture was fashionable, for example. My personal favourite inventories though are the lists of books held by Phipps at his various properties. Each of the books are named, and a value assigned to them. They include novels, non-fiction books and publications, and provide a real insight into the sorts of books which could be found in a personal collection at the time. Of course, these books may have merely been purchased as an investment, though the number of publications does, at least to me, suggest a man who had an interest in reading. In the image below, you can see a list of books which were offered to a J. Briggs, during Phipps’ lifetime. There is a nice letter at the end of the book, which confirms that this promise was made, and that his executors ensured Briggs received the books.

A catalogue of Samuel Phipp’s books given to J. Biggs, during his lifetime.

These are just some observations from the Phipps collection and hopefully provide a hint of the sorts of information to be found in the collection. Keep an eye on this blog for future findings, I’m sure that there will be some interesting finds ahead!

Beth Elliott, Project Archivist.

Beer Token

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We are currently cataloguing bundles of documents from the Blackett’s of Wylam collection, relating to Poor Law and poor relief in the 1830’s.

In this collection, we came across the following note, where Jacob Rowell is instructed to allow George Hunter to have a pint of cask porter and the sender, James Gray, will pay the bill.

ZBK/D/11/53

Further research in the collection shows that James Gray managed Wylam Colliery on behalf of the owner Christopher Blackett. We can also see that on the 1841 Census, Jacob Rowell was the innkeeper at The Black Bull Inn at Wylam and lived there with his wife and family. It is therefore quite possible that he was already at the Black Bull in 1833.

So, who was George Hunter and why was he getting free beer? Was this relief for a pauper? It seems unlikely. On the rear of the note is a calculation. This may be the handwriting of Jacob Rowell, and it shows that Hunter had twenty pints of porter between the 8th and 27th of May 1833, so this appears to have been an ongoing arrangement.

ZBK/D/11/53

Another search of the 1841 Census shows that a George Hunter who was a mason, lived just up the road at Houghton Hill Head near Heddon on the Wall. Maybe it was this George Hunter, and he was doing building work at the colliery and because it was thirsty work, perhaps James Gray issued this note for Hunter to obtain daily refreshments.

We may never know for sure, but any other theories (wild or otherwise) are most welcome.

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