Several branches of the Dealtry family exist in Yorkshire. One branch held the manor of Full Sutton from the time of one William Dealtry (Dawtry) in the 13th Century until both were sold, the manor in 1676 (Allison, History of the county of York, iii, pp.61, 158, 164, 170-3).
The papers in the collection are those of the Reverend William Dealtry (circa 1746-1834). William Dealtry's branch of the family had a longstanding connection with the church. James Dealtry, who was admitted as a sizar to Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1660 was probably the father of William Dealtry, who was sizar at Queen's in 1681. He became vicar of Filey and then rector at Skirpenbeck before dying in 1741. Two of his sons followed in his footsteps; William, who was at St John's College in 1710 and went on to become vicar of Garton-on-the-Wolds in the 1720s, and John, who was sizar at Jesus College in 1727. John's son, William, was the owner of the papers in the collection (Venn, Alumni Cantabrigiensis).
William Dealtry was admitted as a pensioner at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1764, suggesting a birth date of about 1746. He took BA and then MA and was a fellow of the college between 1769 and 1775 when he took up rectorial duties at Skirpenbeck in Yorkshire. He held this position until his death in 1834. William Dealtry was a pluralist, thereby amassing quite a number of church properties, tithes and glebe lands. After Skirpenbeck, in 1783, he became rector of Bishop Wilton, and in 1785 rector of Barnby. In the same year he became prebend of Southwell (and the collection contains documents about Southwell Minster and vicarage), and a year later added to the collection the rector's duties (properties and rights) to Hatcliffe in Lincolnshire and Wigginton in Yorkshire. He held the lot until his death, though he sold some of the property in the 1790s and resisted enclosure. The collection is, thus, of interest to church historians, especially those with a local interest or interest in pluralism and patterns of clerical ownership (Venn, Alumni Cantabrigiensis).
William Dealtry married, first, Henrietta Southeron, though there appear to have been no children and when she died (before 1776) she left her estate to her brother, Admiral Frank Southeron, and his son, Peregrine, a London lawyer. William Dealtry married again, Elizabeth Francis Barber, in 1776, and they had a son, Francis William Dealtry, who was a pensioner at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1797 before following his father into the church. Francis William Dealtry was rector of Ingoldmells and then Upper Helmsley, before his death in 1822. His father outlived him and when William Dealtry died in 1834 he left his estate to Frank and Peregrine Southeron (Venn, Alumni Cantabrigiensis).
