The Thomas Ford Papers

This material is held atUniversity of Leicester Special Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 338 PR8
  • Former Reference
    • GB 338 MSF
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1773-1821
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 4 volumes

Scope and Content

The Thomas Ford Papers include personal manuscript notebooks and a list of sermons preached by Dr. Thomas Ford (1742-1821).

Dr. Thomas Ford was Vicar of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, between 1773-1821. One notebook (PR8/1) contains notes of travels, meetings and events in various counties of England and Wales. Each county is arranged in alphabetical order, with a map from John Cary's atlas and a list of parishes with their patrons.

There is a chronological list of sermons (PR8/2) with a brief biography of Ford's life and many of the sermons themselves can be read in PR8/4.

The indexed notebook (PR8/3) contains poems, speeches and literary fragments on a variety of topics. There are accounts of public events in Melton Mowbray and district and some personal writings, such as a tribute to his wife Elizabeth, written on 22 October 1816.

Thomas Ford's sermon of 1 December, 1782 was published to help raise money for the relief of the poor of Melton Mowbray.

A pamphlet entitled Reminiscences of Dr. Ford was published by Vincent Wing (1864?) and is bound with other pamphlets on Melton Mowbray in our Special Collections (reference: SCM 12897).

Administrative / Biographical History

Dr. Thomas Ford was Vicar of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, between 1773-1821.

Arrangement

The papers have been arranged into the following:

PR8/1 Notebook
PR8/2 Diary of Sermons
PR8/3 Notebook
PR8/4 Sermons

Access Information

The Special Collections Reading Room is open Monday-Friday. Opening hours vary, for updates see our Archives Hub repository page.

Researchers are required to book an appointment before their visit, through specialcollections@le.ac.uk or 0116 252 2056.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Hove Public Library in c.1955

Other Finding Aids

Included in the publication: 'A handlist of the manuscript collection' , compiled by Brian Burch and Jenny Clark (Leicester University Library, 1998).

See also: Ker, N.R. ' Medieval manuscripts in British libraries ', (Clarendon Press, 1969-1983), Vol.III, pp.85-86.

Related Material

A pamphlet entitled 'Reminiscences of Dr. Ford' was published by Vincent Wing (1864?) and is bound with other pamphlets on Melton Mowbray, which is available to consult in the Special Collections reading room (reference: SCM 12897).