Wolverhapton Deeds

Deeds relating to property in Wolverhampton, identified as [later] the property of Lord Calthorpe.
These deeds almost certainly derive from the Gough family of Perry Hall, whose estates lay mainly in Perry Barr, Great Barr and Handsworth, and in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and elsewhere. They appear to complement deeds relating to the Gough estate in Cock Street, Lichfield Street and Quabmeadow in Wolverhampton which are held amongst Gough family records at Birmingham Archives and Heritage.

The parties include members of some of the most influential Wolverhampton families of the period and reflect the usual conveyancing practice of the times. An indication of the value of property is shown by the rents payable in the two leases. The badly shrunken lease (M40/22) demonstrates the effect of damp on parchment; its counterpart (M40/23) is in its original state.

The Gough family of Perry Hall amassed considerable estates in Perry Barr, Great Barr and Handsworth, and in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and elsewhere.
Sir Richard Gough (1659-1727), a merchant in India and China, increased the family property by purchasing the 1,700 acre Edgbaston Hall estate in 1717. His son, Sir Henry Gough, first Baronet, (1708-1774) married Barbara, daughter and heiress of Reynolds Calthorpe of Elvetham, Hampshire. Their son, Henry (1749-1798), second Baronet, was created Baron Calthorpe in 1796 having assumed the additional surname of Calthorpe upon inheriting his maternal uncle's Hampshire and Norfolk estates in 1788. In 1900, Augustus Cholmondeley Gough-Calthorpe (1829–1910), sixth Baron Calthorpe, offered a first gift of 25 acres of the family's Edgbaston estate to Joseph Chamberlain for premises for the new University of Birmingham. It is presumably due to this link that these items were purchased by the university: the sale catalogue identified the items as property of Lord Calthorpe.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough-Calthorpe_family (accessed May 2013); Hampshire Record Office, introduction to catalogue 26M62

Upon purchase the deeds were found packeted into seven brown envelopes marked Sotheby & Co. The sale lot number, number of items and their covering dates were marked on each envelope. The deeds have been listed in order of the lot numbers: lots 21-26, 28, and within each lot, in chronological order.
Lot 21: items 1-2; lot 22: items 3-4; lot 23: items 5-8; lot 24: items 9-11; lot 25: items 12-15; lot 26; items 16-18; lot 26: items 19-24.
The deeds are packed in four boxes in a non-sequential order due to their being conserved and mounted into supports before being catalogued. The first box contains MS40/1-5, 16, 21; the second box contains MS40/6-12, 20; the third box contains MS40/13-15, 17-18; the fourth box contains MS40/19, 22-24.

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

The deeds were purchased from Sotheby and Co, being lots 21-26 and 28 of deeds in the sale of 14 December 1977.

Please see full catalogue for more information.

The deeds have been flattened and placed in archival foam-board supports.

Papers arranged and described by A. George, April 2013

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk).

Former location: MSS 1/iii/7

Birmingham Archives and Heritage holds records of the Gough family of Perry Hall, including medieval deeds relating to Wolverhampton, reference: GB0143 MS 3145 and MS 2126
Hampshire Record Office holds records of the Gough-Calthorpe family, Barons Calthorpe, in Hampshire, Norfolk, Warwickshire and elsewhere, reference: GB0041 26M62 and MS272
Staffordshire Record Office holds records of the estates of the Leveson-Gower family, Dukes of Sutherland, including medieval deeds relating to Wolverhampton, reference: GB00169 D593