Miscellaneous Papers from Dunham Massey Hall

The subfonds EGR13 comprises the residue of material from Dunham Massey Hall which could not be attributed to any single member of the Booth or Grey families and did not naturally constitute part of any other subfonds within the archive. It includes bundles of miscellaneous papers which, had they been found singly and not in bundle form, would have been assigned to more than one subfonds, and items which were purchased or otherwise acquired by the 9th and 10th Earls of Stamford. Among the latter are a volume of documents relating to the 2nd Earl of Stamford, and several letters written by members of the Booth and Grey families to other parties, which have been returned to Dunham Massey.

The subfonds contains the following items: a volume of documents written by, or relating to, Thomas Grey (1654-1720), 2nd Earl of Stamford, including a rental of Stamford estates in Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, 1681-1723 (EGR13/1); a commission from Thomas Grey appointing a deputy lieutenant of Devon, 1696 (EGR13/2); two letters to Samuel Kinder, bailiff of Mottram in Longdendale, from George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, and Mary Countess of Stamford, 1739 & 1771 (EGR13/6); a translation of the will of Lady Catherine Grey, 1748 (EGR13/7); a tea, coffee and chocolate consumption book, 1766-8 (EGR13/9); three children's exercise books, 1734/5-1833 and n.d. [?1780s-90s] (EGR13/5 & /18-19); an envelope containing letters from the 5th and 6th Earls of Stamford, 1805 & 1842 (EGR13/24); two bundles of miscellaneous papers, 1806-c.1835-40 and 1807-60 (EGR13/25-26); two letters describing the elopement of Lady Henrietta Charlotte Grey and Rev James Thomas Law, 1820 (EGR13/29); two racing lists for Chester races, 1821-2 (EGR13/30); letters to Farmer Taylor of Chicknell House, Bridgnorth, 1816-22 (EGR13/27 & /31-32); a schoolboy's diary, 1822 (EGR13/33); the commonplace book of George Walton, 1822-31 (EGR13/34); the notebook of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, 1840-8 (EGR13/37); two letters from Rev Harry Grey (1783-1860), 1842-3 (EGR13/38-39); a register of operatives, n.d. [?1850s] (EGR13/41); and a cuttings book relating to the centenary of the death of the naturalist Rev Gilbert White, 1893 (EGR13/46). There are also numerous poems, verses, quotations, notes, postcards and empty envelopes.

The items in EGR13 were found intermingled with other documents in various locations within Dunham Massey Hall. Because of the disparate nature and provenance of the items within the subfonds, no attempt has been made to arrange them into series. Rather, they have been arranged in approximate chronological order.

The items in EGR13 were transferred on deposit by the National Trust from Dunham Massey Hall to the John Rylands University Library in several accessions, on 12 September 1978, 29 June 1990, 24 January 1992 and 8 May 1992.

The provenance of many of the items in EGR13 is not known. Some items clearly do not constitute part of an 'organic' archive, but were collected by the 9th and 10th Earls of Stamford during the twentieth century, through purchase or gift. In most cases it is not known how or when the items came into the Earls' possession. Four items relating to the Stanley family (EGR13/19, /29, /33 & /37), were probably given or bequeathed to William Grey (1850-1910), 9th Earl of Stamford, by his friend Mrs Catherine Maria Vaughan, daughter of Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, and wife of the Dean of Llandaff; she left the bulk of her estate to Lord Stamford.