Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1589-1993. (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
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.
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
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.
Archival history
(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 .
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
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).
Content and structure area
Scope and content
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.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Accruals are not expected.
System of arrangement
Arranged at NLW into three groups: clients' papers, legal papers and office papers.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
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.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright regulations apply.
Language of material
- English
- Welsh
Script of material
Language and script notes
English; a very few Welsh items.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
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).
Notes area
Note
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.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
CAIRS System Control Number
GEAC system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows ANW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
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).