Fonds GB 0210 ROBEVS - Roberts & Evans, Aberystwyth (Solicitors) Records,

Ardal dynodi

Cod cyfeirnod

GB 0210 ROBEVS

Teitl

Roberts & Evans, Aberystwyth (Solicitors) Records,

Dyddiad(au)

  • 1589-1993. (Creation)

Lefel y disgrifiad

Fonds

Maint a chyfrwng

13.45 m3 (464 small archival boxes, 26 large archival boxes, 6 'tabloid' boxes, 102 loose volumes; 715 bundles, 598 envelopes, 489 volumes, 447 folders, 28 items, 18 items, 6 rolls, 4 boxes). The 13.45 m3 excludes the 102 loose volumes.

Ardal cyd-destun

Enw'r crëwr

Hanes gweinyddol

The collection includes personal and family papers of several of the partners in the business. James Hughes of Aberystwyth, the principal of Hughes & Roberts, the predecessors in business of Roberts & Evans, married Mary Bonsall in 1820. In 1824 she inherited the Glanrheidol estate, at which point Hughes changed his surname to Hughes-Bonsall. James Hughes, the Bonsall and Hughes-Bonsall families, and the Glanrheidol estate are all well represented in this collection. In 1834 Frederick Rowland Roberts of Starkly, co. Bucks, gent., entered articles of clerkship to Horatio Hughes of Aberystwyth, solicitor. Frederick was the son of Rev. Richard Roberts of Eltham, Kent, and Elizabeth his wife, nee Elizabeth Elwyn of Canterbury (post nuptial settlement, 1812). Frederick died in 1888, survived by Jane Roberts his widow. Their son Frederick Richard Roberts (1859-1921; probate of will, 1928) was also a partner in the business. He and his wife Blanche Juliet Hope Roberts (d. 1928) had children Frederick Rowland Roberts (of The Neuadd, Aberdyfi, esq., in 1930) and Algernon Cassan Roberts (fl. 1972), solicitor.

The successor in business to the firm of Roberts & Evans is now (2014) Morris & Bates of Aberystwyth, solicitors.

Hanes archifol

(i) The 1988 deposit was received in Aug. 1988 in 148 boxes, and the 'Summary inventory' prepared. Boxes 1-25, relating to the Trawsgoed and Glanpaith estates, were returned as detailed above. At some point the remaining boxes were renumbered A 1-68, B 1-30, C 1-25 and D 1-9, and the bundles within many of the boxes numbered. By an oversight, two boxes were numbered A 36, and the numbers A 51-59 and bundle numbers A 4/2-3 were not used.

(ii) A second deposit in 125 boxes was received in 1998, the boxes being numbered Z 1-125, and a summary boxlist created.

(iii) Assessed taxes (boxes Z 45-56?) and land tax assessments (boxes numbered 55-63, but probably originally boxes Z 63-65) were extracted, sorted, boxed, and in the case of the land tax assessments, listed separately. The R&E Cardiganshire Land Tax Assesments were transferred to Ceredigion Archives in 2017.

(iv) The contents of a number of boxes from throughout the collection were calendared on slips by Glyn Parry, and their boxes renumbered 1-77.

(iv) During the summer of 2004, Anna Skarzynska, a UCW archive student, listed twelve boxes of minor clients: A 66, C 1-7, C 9-10 and Z 95-96.

(v) This current list was compiled, mainly 2011-2013, incorporating Glyn Parry's and Anna Skarzynska's work, but excluding the assessed taxes (see (iii) above) already extracted.

(vi) A number of boxes cannot be definitely accounted for, although they probably contained volumes that came to the present cataloguer as loose volumes. Also C 20-24 (originally boxes 134-138), described in the 1988 preliminary schedule as "papers of the clerk of the county council, mainly 1917-20 [we suggest that these should be deposited with the Ceredigion Record Office]", and C 25 (originally box 139), described as "Bible, hymn books and prayer books of the Earl of Lisburn [we suggest that these be returned to the Earl of Lisburne]", were not found, and are presumed to have been transferred to Ceredigion Archives and the Earl of Lisburne respectively.

(vii) During the course of the current cataloguing, an unnumbered box was found in Jan. 2012 on the shelf after box C 19, probably representing work in hand when work on the collection came to a halt on a previous occasion. Boxes C 20-25 are assumed to have been dispersed (see (vi) above), so for the purposes of identification this box was given the notional number C 26.

(viii) Three small R&E accessions, detailed above, have been incorporated into this catalogue.

(ix) CG 2/9a originated as part of the Roberts and Evans archive and passed into the custody of the family of Mrs Shirley Ellis, Botwnnog, before it was donated to NLW .

Ffynhonnell

The bulk of the archive was deposited in two groups. The first group of 148 boxes (summary inventory initially numbered 1-148) was deposited by Roberts & Evans in Aug. 1988 (NLW Annual Report, 1988-89, p. 67). The second group was deposited in 1998, comprising 125 boxes (numbered Z1-125 at NLW), plus ledgers, letter books and instructions from clients (comprising the bulk, if not all, of the c.300 loose volumes when the collection came to be catalogued) (NLW Annual Report, 1997-98). Also included is a probate record (CG 2/9a) which originated as part of the Roberts and Evans archive and was donated in April 2011 by Mrs Shirley Ellis, Botwnnog.

A group of papers deposited earlier was amalgamated into the collection. These are papers relating to Jones v. Powell, re. the Welsh estate of John Jones of Derry Ormond, esq., dec., Messrs Hughes & Roberts of Aberystwyth, solicitors, the predecessors of Roberts & Evans, being the receivers of the estate (one box).

An additional file of papers, being the probate record of Owen Prys, 1884, and probate documents of John Prys, 1926, was donated by Ifan Moelwyn Hughes, Aberystwyth, in Jan. 2010 (1 folder).

A further group of Roberts & Evans papers relating to the Cwmcynfelyn estate was received from Carolyn Evans, London, in April 2011 (five large boxes).

Ardal cynnwys a strwythur

Natur a chynnwys

Papers of Roberts & Evans (R&E), solicitors of Aberystwyth, and their predecessors in business, including office and clients' papers. Also including the personal and family papers of the Roberts family.

Gwerthuso, dinistrio ac amserlennu

Croniadau

Accruals are not expected.

System o drefniant

Arranged at NLW into three groups: clients' papers, legal papers and office papers.

Ardal amodau mynediad a defnydd

Amodau rheoli mynediad

Office records less than thirty years old are not available for consultation. The seven volumes to which this applies (as of 2014: SA 1/27-28, SA 4/29-30, SA 6/27, SB 21 and SE 7) are noted at the level of the individual records.

Amodau rheoli atgynhyrchu

Usual copyright regulations apply.

Iaith y deunydd

  • Saesneg
  • Cymraeg

Sgript o ddeunydd

Nodiadau iaith a sgript

English; a very few Welsh items.

Cyflwr ac anghenion technegol

Cymhorthion chwilio

Ardal deunyddiau perthynol

Bodolaeth a lleoliad y gwreiddiol

Bodolaeth a lleoliad copïau

Unedau o ddisgrifiad cysylltiedig

County and other public papers, 1765-1969, were transferred to Ceredigion Archives in May 2014, comprising papers relating to Aberystwyth Harbour Trust, Aberystwyth infirmary, Cardiganshire clerk of the peace, county council, county roads board, county treasurer, elections, inclosures, lieutenancy, quarter and petty sessions, shrievalty and county court, tax papers, and tithe commutation, and deposited railway maps and books of reference (c.125 boxes, 40 rolls and bundles, 8 volumes). The Cardiganshire land tax assesments were transferred to Ceredigion Archives in 2017.

The following material was returned to the depositor: (i) Boxes 1-25 of the 1988 deposit were returned as follows: box 25, relating to Glanpaith, was returned almost immediately; Trawsgoed boxes 19-24 were returned to Morris & Bates in March 2006, and boxes 1-18 (plus Z 120-123 of the 1998 deposit) were returned to Trawsgoed in May 2013. (ii) A number of items were returned to the depositor on completion of the current catalogue, mainly series of solicitors' diaries, 1845-1888, office ledgers, 1844-1948, and office postage books, 1919-1948. Also most of the draft leases, mortgages, conveyances etc., 1825-1955 (the draft probate records, drafts of public utility interest, and a number of miscellaneous drafts have been retained; see SD 1-3). A number of original bundles and numbers of loose receipts, promissory notes and cheques, 1820s-1860s, were also returned.

Other material previously deposited or donated by Roberts & Evans, or by individual partners, and comprising or included in other collections, includes (i) minute books, accounts etc. of the North Cardiganshire turnpike roads trust, 1770-1870 (Cardiganshire County Roads Board Records); (ii) copy of Peter Williams (ed.): Y Bibl Sanctaidd (1776), with an interleaf containing entries of birth of members of the family of Rees Peter of Aberystwyth, shoemaker, & Jane, his wife (NLW MS 17447E); (iii) deeds re. properties in Cotheridge, co. Worc., [c.1275x1300], and Talgarth, co. Brec., 1706 (NLW Deeds 814-821); (iv) a receipt from Augustus Brackenbury ('Y Sais Bach'), Aberystwyth, to Enoch Davies of t. Trefenter, p. Llangwyryfon, 1830 (NLW Misc Records 218); (v) Cwmystwyth lead mines leases, 1860-1861 (NLW Man Adnau 1170B); (vi) a group of railway plans, plans of works, estate plans & other maps (NLW Dept of Pictures & Maps; NLW annual report 1973-74); (vii) two leases by Augustus Brackenbury ('Y Sais Bach') of parcels of land in p's Llanrhystud and Llangwyryfon, 1829, and pre-nuptial settlement of David Jones of Bryncroyau, p. Llanddewibrefi, and Eleanor Jones of Tanycastell, p. Llangwyryfon, 1882 (NLW Deeds 980-982).

The following material was transferred to other collections within NLW: Tabernacl, Aberystwyth, Sunday school attendance register, 1856-1857, and church record book, 1884-1896, have been transferred to NLW, Calvinistic Methodist Archive as EZ 1/142/25-26. Other transfers of Roberts & Evans material to more appropriate NLW collections (posters, plans, photographs etc.) are noted at the level of the files from which the material has been removed.

Disgrifiadau cysylltiedig

Nodyn cyhoeddiad

Two previously prepared box lists are superceded by this current schedule: 'Summary inventory of the archives of Messrs Roberts & Evans, Aberystwyth, solicitors' (NLW), and 'A check list of land tax assessments' (NLW).

Ardal nodiadau

Nodiadau

Title supplied from the name of the solicitors' business at the time of the deposit of the fonds. Some clients' papers predate the solicitors' business.

Dynodwr(dynodwyr) eraill

Virtua system control number

vtls004018001

CAIRS System Control Number

(WLABNL)P1Saan0000017180

GEAC system control number

(WlAbNL)0000018001

Pwyntiau mynediad

Pwyntiau mynediad pwnc

Pwyntiau mynediad lleoedd

Pwyntiau mynediad Enw

Pwyntiau mynediad Genre

Ardal rheolaeth disgrifiad

Dynodwr disgrifiad

Dynodwr sefydliad

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rheolau a/neu confensiynau a ddefnyddiwyd

Description follows ANW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Statws

Lefel manylder disgrifiad

Dyddiadau creadigaeth adolygiad dilead

Iaith(ieithoedd)

  • Saesneg

Sgript(iau)

Ffynonellau

Nodyn yr archifydd

Compiled by Stephen Benham. The following sources were used to compile the descriptions of some of the major clients: Thomas Nicholas, 'Annals & antiquities of the counties & county families of Wales' (2 vols, 1872), and Francis Jones, 'Historic Cardiganshire homes & their families' (2000).

Ardal derbyn

Pynciau cysylltiedig

Pobl a sefydliadau cysylltiedig

Genres cysylltiedig

Lleoedd cysylltiedig

Storfa ffisegol

  • Text: Roberts & Evans (Solicitors) Records.