Papers of the Paget family including records of the Manor of Rampton, Nottinghamshire, 1778-1939

The collection comprises legal papers associated with the Paget family and correspondence accumulated by the family's solicitors in the course of representing family trusts, settlements, inheritance and property.

The collection contains the following groups of records, all relating to the Paget family unless otherwise mentioned:

• Legal papers including mortgages and conveyances relating to land in the manor, parish and prebendry of Rampton, Nottinghamshire during the tenancy of the Eyre family and their predecessors, 1778-1893 (PGR 1);
• Legal and estate papers relating to land in the manor, parish and prebendry of Rampton, Nottinghamshire relating to the Paget family, 1893-1899 (PGR 2);
• Legal papers and sale particulars relating to property in Middlesex including 35 and 37, Hampden Road, Hornsey, 1914-1923 (PGR 3);
• Legal papers and accounts of the estates and trusts of Lord Alfred Paget, 1868-1914 (PGR 4);
• Legal papers, inland revenue documents, marriage settlements and accounts of the estates and trusts of Lady Cecilia Paget, 1868-1913 (PGR 5);
• Other legal and family papers, 1847-1939 (PGR 6);
• Subject correspondence files maintained by Farrer and Company (solicitors) relating to the family, its trusts and other interests, 1914-1929 (PGR 7).

Lord Alfred Henry Paget (1816-1888) was the son of Henry William Paget (1768-1854), first Marquis of Anglesey and his second wife Charlotte, daughter of Earl Cadogen. Alfred was educated at Westminster School, became a lieutenant in 1834 and later joined his father's regiment, the 7th Hussars, rising to the rank of general. He was chief equerry to Queen Victoria and clerk-marshal intermittently for some twenty-seven years between 1846 and 1874. He married Cecilia Wyndham (1830-1914), daughter of George Thomas Wyndham of Cromer Hall, Norfolk. At the time of her marriage, her guardians were William, Earl of Listowel and Maria Augusta, Countess of Listowel.

Lord and Lady Paget had a large family of six sons and seven daughters, including the Rt Hon. Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy (1851-1938) and Admiral Sir Alfred Wyndham (1852-1918).

Following the death of Lord Alfred, the executors of his estate (including the 3rd Earl of Listowel and Lady Paget) established the Lady Alfred Paget Trust fund for the benefit of his children. The trust built up a modest portfolio of rented and mortgaged property in Middlesex. It also invested in land in Rampton, Nottinghamshire following the sale of the estate by Colonel Eyre in 1893.

Colonel Henry Eyre was born in 1834, son of the Reverend Charles Wasteneys Eyre of Rampton and Lucy Dorothy, youngest daughter of John Robinson Foulis of Helserton, Yorkshire. Henry was educated at Harrow and Oxford and in 1861 married Kathleen (d.1899) daughter of Reverend Robert Machell of Beverley, Yorkshire. They had a son, Gervas Malcolm, in 1862. Henry was a magistrate for Nottinghamshire, a lieutenant of the Rifle Brigade and Lieutenant-colonel Commanding Nottinghamshire Rifle Volunteers. He served in the Crimea and India. Henry became Lord of the Manor of Rampton on the death of his father in 1862. He also owned land in Tresswell, Nottinghamshire. He died in Lincoln in 1904.

Eyre sold the greater part of the Rampton estate, comprising about 1,400 acres, at an auction at Retford in June 1893 arranged by Wynne and Son (solicitors) of 31 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. The manor house and two farms were bought by Mr Cottham who in turn sold them to Charles R. Ellis JP in 1902.

William Hare KP, PC, JP (1833-1924) the 3rd Earl of Listowel, was co-executor of Lord and Lady Alfred's estate and his name appears frequently in this collection. Hare succeeded his father, Vice-Admiral William Hare Windam, to the earldom in 1856. He married Lady Ernestine Mary Brudnell-Bruce and they had a son and two daughters. Hare was a lieutenant in the Scots Guards in 1852 but was severely wounded in battle.

The collection has been divided by document type into sections. Within these sections, items have been arranged chronologically where possible.

ACCESS: Pending full cataloguing, access to the collection is limited and is available only to registered readers by advance notice and agreement.

LANGUAGE: English

This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright in the description belongs to The University of Nottingham.

• Other collections that may be of interest to users of this collection are recorded on the National Register of Archives.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

COPYRIGHT: Permission to make published use of any material from this collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but this can be difficult and the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the person wishing to publish.

The collection was acquired through the British Records Association by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in October 1999 from the London law firm of Farrer who had represented the Paget family's interests during the period covered by this collection.

• The University of Nottingham; Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections: Deeds, manorial records, family and estate papers of the Eyre and Harcourt-Vernon families of Nottinghamshire (including Rampton), Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, 16th-19th centuries. Reference: Ey