Shipperdson Papers

Personal papers of Revd. E.H. Shipperdson (1806-1879), comprising family papers of the Shipperdson and Hopper families, both of Co. Durham, and deeds etc. relating to their property. Most of their estates were in Murton and Pittington, Co. Durham; accordingly the papers include material relating to the miners' strike of 1844, the development of the village of Murton Colliery, and coal accounts 1826-75 for various collieries and companies, notably the Hetton Coal Co. There are title deeds and papers relating to agriculture not only at Murton and Pittington but also at Walworth in the 18th and 19th century; there are plans relating to Walworth. Deeds relating to an estate in Marton-cum-Grafton, West Yorkshire, are present because the estate was settled on E.H. Shipperdson's grand-daughter and heir, Ethel Adeline Pottinger, on her marriage in 1885 to Sir Henry Meysey Meysey-Thompson, from 1905 Lord Knaresborough; some of these deeds seem to illustrate the process by which compact holdings were built up within the open-field system.

Revd. Edmund Hector Hopper (1806-1879), son of Walter Carles Hopper, was ordained priest in 1830. He took the name of Shipperdson in 1856 on inheriting the estates of his uncle, Edward Shipperdson of Pittington Hall Garth, Co. Durham (died 28 December 1855). Having been an assistant curate in four successive parishes in the years 1829-1844, E.H. Shipperdson seems to have given up clerical work after 1844, but he took an active interest in the provision of a church for Murton Colliery and in the discouraging of Catholic innovations at the church of Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham. After buying the Hermitage estate at Chester-le-Street he had plans prepared for a new house there by George Gilbert Scott.

Arranged in two sections: personal deeds and papers, and property deeds. The personal material is broadly arranged by family, and the property material by county and place therein. Both sections are then arranged chronologically within these categories.

Open for consultation

Deposited by the solicitors to the trustees of the will of the Revd. E.H. Shipperdson.

Online catalogue, available at online catalogue

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