Showing 193 results

Leases mainly by members of the Ormsby Gore family of Brogyntyn, of lead, copper, manganese and sulphur mines, and of slate quarries in the parishes of Llanaber, Llandanwg, Llandecwyn, Llanddwywe, Llanelltud, Llanfihangel-y-traethau and Llanfrothen in the county of Merioneth, 1837-1947. The sites include Bwlch-y-Plwm, Pant y maesudor and Pant-y-Maesydd, 1837-1875, Rhosiger, Farchynys and Sylfaen, 1859-1888, Lletty Fwyalch and Llechwedd Du, 1867-1872, Hafod Ucha, 1872-1873, Rhosydd, 1890-1891, and others. One file (ref. 55/8) contains a lease by Queen Victoria to William Richard Ormsby Gore of coal, metals, metallic minerals and ores, limestone and slate on or under land in the parishes of Llanenddwyn, Llanddwywe and Llanelltud, Merioneth, 1894.

Bundles of vouchers from the Merioneth and Caernarfonshire (i.e. Glyn and Clenennau) estates of the Ormsby Gore family, 1860-1874. Most are numbered but some are missing. They comprise bills and receipts, typically for slates and other building materials; ironmongery; freight of goods by boat and railway; repairs to Glyn Hall, Singrig Mill, Clenennau, Ystumcegid and other estate properties; wages for estate labour; rent dinners; gamekeeping; rent allowances; crown rents; taxes, poor rates; subscriptions to schools at Llanfihangel-y-traethau, Harlech, Dyffryn, Barmouth, Llanenddwyn, Penmorfa, Cricieth, Beddgelert, and the sewing school at Llanystumdwy; alms for the poor of Penmorfa; the Charity for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Clergymen within the Diocese of Bangor; the Royal National Lifeboat Institution; clothing clubs; Tremadoc Friendly Society; Cricieth Corporation dinner; and Harlech marsh drainage. Specific items of interest are described at file level.

Papers which were probably compiled during the audits of the Brogyntyn estate, comprising memoranda and statements of errors in the rentals, 1834-1847, and reports on the Brogyntyn and Glyn rentals and accounts, 1919-1926

Manuscript London newsletters from John Gadbury and others, 1676-1710, addressed mainly to Sir Robert Owen, which strongly reflect the government, politics and society of the Stuart period. Recurrent topics are the relations between the Stuart monarchs and Parliament; proceedings of Parliament and government departments; English election results; events at the royal court; the establishment of Protestantism; antipathy towards Catholics and Protestant dissenters; political conspiracies; foreign affairs in Europe; British overseas trade and colonisation; local government in London; City gossip and Oxford University news. Items of specific interest include the murder of Sir Edmund Berry [Godfrey], 1679; rebellion of the Scottish Covenanters, 1679; the Titus Oates plot and its repercussions, 1679-1685; the trial of Lord Stafford, 1680; the Rye House Plot, 1683; the formation of a mounted bodyguard for Charles II, 1683; effects of Quo Warranto, 1683, and subsequent restoration of London and other corporation charters, 1688; the Austro-Turkish War, 1683-1691; the controversial electorship of Cologne, 1688; a protest by seven bishops against the Declaration of Indulgence, 1688; the abdication of James II and accession of William and Mary, 1688-1689; reviews of revenue and excise, 1688-1689; abolition of the Council of the Marches of Wales, 1688-1689; Jacobite rebellions in Ireland and Scotland, 1688-1691; War of the Grand Alliance, 1688-1697; the papal successsion, 1689; government of the Scottish Church, 1689; the suicide of Lord Teviot, 1694; the War of Spanish Succession, 1710; and activities of Dr Sacheverell, 1710.

Rentals of the manors of Aber and Cemais in Caernarfonshire and Anglesey, 1591 and legal papers from the manors of Whittington, 1632-1709, 1749-1774, and Aston in Shropshire, 1768-1769.

Deeds relating to leasehold properties held by various members of the Ormsby Gore family in London, 1795-1895. The locations are Stanhope Street and Welbeck Street, Portland Place and St James Place, Grosvenor Crescent, and Halkin Street West in Belgrave Square. The leaseholds usually included a coach house and stables. Some files contain details of fixtures and fittings

Title deeds, 1498-1829, of properties of the Llanddyn estate, situated mainly in Trefor Uchaf, Llangollen, and also in Cristionydd Cynrig, Rhiwabon, acquired or disposed of at different times by the owners, John Edwards, 1498, 1505, William Maurice, 1587, John Lacon, 1596, William Owen, 1653-1674, Sir Robert Owen, 1679-1686, William Owen, 1729, Mary Jane Ormsby, 1807, and William Ormsby-Gore, 1829.

Original compositions, copies and extracts of works both published and unpublished, the majority written in English, with some in French, Welsh and Latin, 1624-1868. They consist of poems, songs, riddles, letters and stories, often satirical in nature, together with press cuttings and printed notices, relating to the British constitution, politics of the Stuart and Hanoverian periods, patriotism, moral and romantic themes, historical events, and figures of national and local significance, including members of the Owen and Ormsby-Gore families. Poetry by members of the Gore family can be seen in the files dating from 1785 onwards. Most of the works are contained in bound volumes or scrap books, but a proportion of them are on loose sheets.

Notebooks containing copies of published poems, ballads, songs and prose works in English, French and Italian, translations from classical and continental authors, and original compositions, compiled mainly by Frances Morres Gore in her own hand, with some contributions by others and a small number of printed items, 1809-1832. The authors most commonly represented here are Lord Byron, Mme de Stael, Thomas ('Anacreon') Moore, Mary Robinson, Robert Southey and Edward Young. Others include Robert Burns, Thomas Campbell, William Cowper, Richard Cumberland, Thomas Dibdin, Mme de Genlis, Oliver Goldsmith, Reginald Heber, Horace, Leigh Hunt, John Langhorne, C[harles] L[loyd]?, John Milton, Mary Russell Mitford, James Montgomery, Cornelius Neale, Sydney Owenson, Petrarch, Alexander Pope, Charles Phillips, Sir Walter Scott, Percy Shelley, James Smith, Mary Tighe, Voltaire and Richard West, as well as Frances Morres Gore and her son William Gore. The content of the volumes is similar throughout, with the exception of the last. Many of the works relate to themes of romance, friendship, women, mortality, moralistic and philosophical platitudes, mythology, the natural world and the Irish landscape. Other compositions concern historical figures, the foibles of contemporary society, antipathy to the Georgian monarchy, Hanoverian government policies, and the Napoleonic Wars. Mrs Gore 's interest in the theatre is evidenced by a significant number of items referring to actors and playwrights, George Colman, William Conway, Robert Elliston, David Garrick, the Kemble family, Henrietta O'Neill, Alexander Fisher Palmer, Shakespeare, R.B. Sheridan and Sarah Siddons in performances at various English and Irish theatres between 1808 and 1824.

Legal papers, 1410-1834, which include writs, bills of complaint, defendants' answers, breviates, court orders, cases with opinions of counsel, affidavits, interrogatories and depositions of witnesses, jury lists, copies and abstracts of deeds, lawyers' accounts, pedigrees to prove title and notes on legal procedure.
A large part of the records comprises disputes over title to land, inheritance or debt in North Wales and Shropshire, which took place in the High Court of Chancery, the Court of the Exchequer, the Court of King 's Bench or the Council in the Marches of Wales, or which were treated as equity cases in the Court of Great Sessions. The most substantial of them concern Sir William Maurice 's quarrels with the Ellis family of Ystumllyn over the title to lands in Gest, [c.1597]-1620; his financial disputes with his step-son, Sir Henry Johnes of Abermarlais, 1611-1620; and Sir Robert Owen 's disputes with Col. William Price of Rhiwlas over the title to lands in Rhedynogfelen and Gest, 1679-1694. A number of the cases provide information about the distribution of both freehold properties and leasehold crown lands in Eifionydd, Caernarfonshire, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Several other files contain papers relating to the Flintshire estates of the Conway family of Nant, dated from around 1540 to 1633; boundary disputes and trespasses in Merionethshire, 1587-1749; property of the Wynn family of Glyn, 1587-1686; the indebted estate of Sir Robert Owen, 1698-1705; and the illicit activities of William Owen 's agents on the Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire estates, 1733-1754.

Legal papers of the Ormsby Gore family of Brogyntyn, 1863-[c. 1924]. They cover three main aspects of work handled by the office of Longueville and Co., firstly prosecutions by or against the Ormsby Gore family in the High Court of Justice, Oswestry Borough Session, and the county courts of Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire; secondly petitions to the High Court of Chancery in connection with family trust settlements; and thirdly, cases for legal opinion. The most substantial of the files comprise the matter of Fanny Mary Katherine Ormsby Gore, to enable a settlement upon her marriage to Lloyd Kenyon, 1863; a petition to the High Court of Chancery concerning powers of leasing mines under the Ormsby Gore family settlement, 1866-1875; Borth-y-gest ejectment [c. 1874]-1879; Cooper and Allen vs Harlech concerning a contract for a land purchase, 1876; Harlech vs Hall in a claim for money, 1880-1884; lawsuits on behalf of Lord Harlech in a case of assault and a boundary dispute, 1889; and Lord Harlech, Jones and Lewis vs Parry in a case to recover lands at Morfa Bychan, 1896. There is also a file of solicitor’s working notes from the office of Longueville and Co. [c. 1924]

Title deeds of properties belonging to the Brymbo estate near Wrexham, 1555-1765, the Lea Hall estate in Preston Gubbals, Shropshire, 1682-1719, and other premises in Bangor-is-coed, Wrexham and Gresford belonging to Robert Jeffreys of Acton, 1574-1725.

Bills and receipts, 1586, 1711-1743, 1750, and rentals and estate accounts, 1710-1734, for the Lea Hall estate in Preston Gubbals, Shropshire, and the Brymbo estate near Wrexham. They include some interesting items relating to equine management and horticulture.

Miscellaneous papers deriving from administration of the Lea Hall and Brymbo estates, comprising mining and timber industry records at Brymbo, 1684-1738, a terrier, [18 cent., first half, and correspondence, 1736, 1739.

Memoranda of leases and agreements concerning tithes and properties on the Lea Hall and Brymbo estates, 1736-1737, 1749.

Papers relating to applications by the Brogyntyn estate mainly between 1870 and 1955, under government schemes in accordance with the Improvement of Lands Acts 1864 and 1899, the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, and the Town and Country Planning Acts, 1947 and 1954. The lands in question included Brogyntyn mansion, Home Farm (Ty Coch), Glyn, Sylfaen and Ystumcegid, 1870-1883; Penrhos, Old Port and Cross Lanes (Pentrepant), 1903-1905; Mardy Farm, Selatyn, 1905-1906; Ystumcegid Isaf, 1911; and Brogyntyn mansion and farm, Oerley Hall, The Mount, Brick Kilns, Harlech Camp, stone quarries and sand pits in Shropshire, Caernarfonshire and Harlech, 1949-1955.

Journals and diaries of Emily Charlotte Seymour (married name Ormsby-Gore), dated between 1844 and 1890. The first seven volumes contain accounts of the family's voyages with her father, Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, to Chile, Peru and the Falkland Islands, and overland journeys from Valparaiso to Santiago and elsewhere in Chile, 1844-1847, followed by visits to Juan Fernandes and Rio [de Janeiro] in 1848, describing throughout the travelling conditions, climate, landscape, animals, native inhabitants, immigrant settlers, entertainments and systems of government. The contents of some of the volumes are repeated. The later volume of 1890 is mostly concerned with family and domestic matters at Brogyntyn and in London; it also reflects Emily 's interests in music, high society, the Victorian court, parliamentary news, conservative politics and the Primrose League, and her involvement with the Oswestry and Ellesmere Cottage Hospital, Pantglas School and general parish affairs in Selatyn, Oswestry and Llanfihangel-y-Traethau. There is also a diary of her mother, Georgiana Mary Seymour, containing brief entries relating to family and friends, 1869-1870.

Rentals for the lands of William Gore, 1775-1829, Owen Ormsby, 1781-1809, Mary Jane Ormsby, 1812-1854, and William Ormsby-Gore, 1815-1858, in the counties of Westmeath, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo and Roscommon. The Westmeath and Leitrim estates are not listed after 1776. The rentals after 1789 are mainly in printed format. The lands of Mary Jane Ormsby-Gore are listed separately from her husband's Irish estates, but they appear to have been managed by the same agent, with the rentals organised on an annual basis from May 1st. Between 1846 and 1850 the crisis of the Irish Potato Famine is evident from the allowances made to some tenants for losses of animals and crops, and ejection of numerous others from their holdings, with considerable loss of rent arrears to the landowners.

Letters to Roger Parke, agent to the Ormsbys, 1793, William Gore, 1797-1805, Mary Jane Ormsby-Gore, 1819-[c. 1851], William Ormsby-Gore, 1824-1859, and William Richard Ormsby-Gore, 1850-1887, from agents, tenants and other individuals, accompanied by occasional replies and relevant letters from third parties. They mainly concern routine estate business such as rent collection and leases, but they also discuss the poverty and ejectment of tenants, complaints against a bailiff, repairs to Willowbrook House, 1850, fishing rights and agricultural practices. Letters to William Ormsby-Gore describe a proposed road construction through an estate at Letterbrone, county Sligo, 1824; political unrest among protestants, 1828; a request by a minister for stone to build a school at Carigallen, Leitrim, 1842; aims of the Society for Draining and Cultivating Irish Bogs, 1843; conditions during the Potato Famine, 1847; a civil bill affecting landlords' rights to eject tenants; and the processing of flax, 1851. Other items include detailed reports of farm work and wages paid to labourers on the estates of William Richard Ormsby-Gore in Dromod, Leitrim, 1875, 1878; and a circular analysing eviction returns for the Irish counties, 1886.