Fonds GB 0210 MSPANT - Panton Manuscripts

Following Paul Panton junior's death in 1822 the manuscripts and papers were inherited by his brother Jones Panton (d. 1837). They then came to Jones's youngest son William Barton Panton (d. 1875) and his wife Anne (d. 1890), who removed them from Plasgwyn to Garreglwyd, Holyhead; during this period the manuscripts were inaccessible to researchers, reputedly being stored in chests in a stable loft, with all requests to inspect them refused. The manuscripts appear subsequently to have passed to Major John Owen Jones Priestley (d. 1893), the widower of William and Anne's daughter, Anne. On J. O. J. Priestley's death the collection was purchased by his brother, Andrew Browning Priestley (1855-1907) (see NLW, Calendar of Wynn (of Gwydir) Papers in the National Library of Wales and Elsewhere (1926), p. x). It was apparently Andrew's only child Georgina Henrietta Ruck (1883-1972), wife of Oliver Laurence Ruck, who sold the Panton papers in September 1919; they were purchased for NLW by the Rt Hon. Sir John Herbert Lewis (see NLW, Sir John Herbert Lewis Papers D42/121-125). Georgina Henrietta Ruck, therefore, is also the most likely source of the Ieuan Fardd manuscripts, acquired by the Library in 1914.