Great Tew Books and Documents

This material is held atBirmingham Archives and Heritage Service

  • Reference
    • GB 143 MS 3782/9
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1815 - 1844

Scope and Content

These are records relating to M. R. Boulton’s estate at Great Tew, Oxfordshire, and were kept by the cashier in the Mint Office at Soho. They comprise the following:
Journal, 1816-1818.
Letter Book, 1816-1844.
Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence, 1815-1821.
Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts, 1815-1821.
Memorandum Book of Articles Sent to Tew, 1816-1823.
Cashier’s Jottings of Entries and Memoranda, 1816-1819.
Rough Journal Entries and Jottings, 1819.

(The last three items are grouped together in the List under the general title Cashier’s Jottings and Memoranda.) For descriptions of these records, see below. The Cash and Bankers’ Book, 1820-1827, for the M. R. Boulton Private and Great Tew accounts has been listed with the Private Books.

Management of the Tew estate.
Matthew Robinson Boulton purchased the estate of Tew Park in Great Tew, Oxfordshire, in 1815. It comprised, besides the mansion, the lodge, and the adjacent park and plantations, and a number of cottages and farms. Most of the farms were let to tenants, but a few were retained "in hand" and these are usually referred to in the records simply as the Farm.
In the latter half of 1815 Boulton appointed a land agent and a bailiff to manage the estate. The land agent was Thomas Fulljames, an experienced surveyor with an office in Gloucester and a residence at Hasfield Court in the same county. His duties included such matters as negotiating leases, collecting rents, and checking accounts, and in the early years he was assisted by his brother Trophemus.
Fulljames, however, did not reside at Great Tew, and only visited it from time to time. The everyday running of the estate was therefore in the hands of the bailiff, Michael Thompson. In April 1816 Thompson and his family moved into Tracey Farm, one of the farms "in hand" and the operations of the estate were directed from there until he removed to Grove Ash Farm in May 1820. Besides the bailiff, the principal servants on the estate were the butler, the housekeeper, the gardener, and the gamekeeper, who between them oversaw the mansion, the lodge, the gardens and plantations, and the park respectively. (At a later date there may have been a coachman at Tew, responsible for the stables, but there is no reference to one during the period covered by these records.) The bailiff supplied these persons with cash when they needed it, and they accounted for it in their respective accounts; he also paid for any labour carried out under their direction, and occasionally settled bills on their behalf. For the most part he probably left them alone to carry out their duties, being himself chiefly concerned with supervising the remainder of the outdoor work on the estate. In particular, he was entirely responsible for directing the work carried out on the Farm.

Bailiff’s accounts.
At first the bailiff compiled his own accounts, but from 8 June 1816 he was assisted by a clerk, or cashier, P. Moore. As noted above, the bailiff’s original records are not among the Matthew Boulton Papers, though some may be preserved at Tew. They included a Ledger; a regular Cash Book, showing his receipts and payments; a Labour Book, containing a detailed record of the work done by his labourers and their wages; and a Stock and Produce Ledger, recording the increases and decreases of the various kinds of stock and produce on the farm. He-or, rather, his cashier-also retained, as vouchers to the entries in the books, the invoices paid, and the notes of work done in the gardens and plantations, and the park.
The bailiff’s cashier used these various documents to compile the accounts sent up from time to time to the cashier at the Soho Mint Office. Besides a few, mostly early, accounts, these comprise three regular classes, as follows: M. R. Boulton, Disbursements accounts, Cash and Bills Received accounts, and Farm accounts. These were sometimes inspected by the land agent before being sent on to Soho (though this was not always the case), and this may be why they are referred to on the original bundle labels as "Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts". Otherwise, it may be that the bundles formerly contained accounts presented by Fulljames himself; for certain entries in the journal appear to have been compiled from such accounts, though none have been found. The Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts are discussed in more detail later.

Records of the Soho cashier.
In the course of the year 1816, William D. Brown, the cashier at the Soho Mint Office, began keeping a regular Ledger and Journal for the transactions relating to the Tew estate. The purpose of doing so was, no doubt, to incorporate the transactions relative to Tew into the main set of Boulton’s private accounts, but it is not clear how this was done. The ledger does not survive, but a table of its contents, compiled from the cross-references in the journal, has been added as an Appendix to the List. Entries in the journal (pp. 20 ff., 54 ff., and 89 ff.) indicate that the ledger was balanced at the end of each year.
These main books of account were compiled by Brown from various Vouchers, each of which was marked with the folio number of the corresponding journal entry. The most numerous of these were the Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts already mentioned; these are discussed in detail below. In addition, the cashier retained vouchers for sums paid or received by him for the Tew estate, quarterly statements of the M. R. Boulton, Tew Estate account at the London banking agency, M. R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Co., and a small amount of related correspondence. These documents make up the files of Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. These files also include the Cash and Bills Received Accounts for 1816-1818, which are discussed below with the Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts.
Also preserved are a number of Brown’s own memoranda , including jottings made by him in the course of preparing the accounts (Cashier’s Jottings of Entries and Memoranda and Rough Journal Entries and Jottings).
The books were balanced to the end of 31 December 1818, and no later entries appear in the journal. Brown compiled rough journal entries for 1819, but died some time in that year. His successor John Robinson, who came to Soho at the beginning of 1820, continued to keep the various vouchers, but it does not appear that he used them to compile books of account, for no folio numbers are marked on them. Accounts for the period 21 February-15 April 1820 are wanting; the reason for this is not known.
No cashier’s records for Great Tew exist for the period after 31 December 1821, with the sole exception of the Memorandum Book of Articles Sent to Great Tew, which is continued to 1823. It seems, however, that such records continued to be kept, for they are referred to in a cashier’s minute dated April 1822. The minute describes a proposed arrangement of "the Documents occurring in the department of the Cashier and Agent in the office at the Mint", and the relevant passage is as follows:
The Documents of Great Tew will be chiefly Cashiers Vouchers, the Correspondence connected therewith and considered as such, the other correspondence will be retained by M R Boulton and deposited with his documents at the House-They will therefore require only one Box labelled
Great Tew
Cashiers Vouchers

Besides the financial records discussed above, a Great Tew Letter Book (1816-1844) was kept, containing copies of the correspondence of the Soho agents on business connected with the Tew estate. It contains a loose index. Note that similar volumes were kept by the agents for Private and Household business.

Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts.
The Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts are contained in five files, each covering a year or two. Each file contains accounts of different types, discussed individually below. Note, however, that the Cash and Bills Received accounts, 1816-1818, are in the first file of Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence.
The M. R. Boulton Disbursements Accounts (1816-1821) were compiled by the bailiff’s cashier. They record all the disbursements made by the bailiff except those relating to the farm, for which see the Farm accounts. Each usually covers a period of four working weeks, and is in two parts, namely, one sheet headed "M. R. Boulton, Disbursements" and another headed "Tew Estate Labour". The sheets normally show a fortnight’s entries on either side. The Disbursements account is the main account of estate expenses, while the Labour account shows in detail the nature and costs of the work done on the estate in the same period, fortnightly totals being carried over to the main account. The earliest document of this type covers a much longer period than any of the later ones, and here the entries for labour expenses are intermingled with the others on a single sheet of four pages. An abstract of these was, however, compiled under the heading "Acct. of Labour performed for the Improvment of Great Tew Estate". (See the Miscellaneous accounts.)
At the end of the year the period covered by the Disbursements account was sometimes extended so that the last account of the year might conclude on or near 31 Dec., the first account of the new year being correspondingly shorter. This was presumably to assist with the balancing of the ledger. In such cases, however, the matching Labour account only relates to fortnights completed in the period covered by the main one. Between 17 Nov. 1817 and 24 Jan. 1818 the Labour accounts were made up a fortnight to a sheet. There are two copies of the accounts for 20 Apr.-16 May 1818, and those for 21 Oct. 1816-16 Nov. 1816 are accompanied by an inventory of implements, &c. Those for the period 21 Feb.-15 Apr. 1820 are wanting.
The commonest entries in the accounts, besides those for labour, are for advances of cash to the butler, the gardener, the gamekeeper, and the housekeeper, and for the payment of bills on their behalf. These servants each kept their own accounts in which they were required to answer for the money advanced to them. Sums of money were also occasionally advanced to builders and other tradesmen working on the estate. The costs of work done under the direction of the gardener or gamekeeper were not included in the separate Labour account, but were entered directly in the main account from fortnightly labour notes passed to the cashier. (Compare the pay notes among the Soho land agent’s records.) Other entries record the payment of the cashier’s own wages, purchases of ponies for the gamekeeper, and of lime, coals, and other materials and equipment, and sundry general expenses of travel , carriage, postage, stationery, beer for labourers, wharfage at Hayford Wharf, &c. There are also references to money received at the London House from Guerrier and Co., apparently for sales of livestock (the entry for 6 Sep. 1817 refers to 40 sheep ); however, it is not clear why these transactions were recorded here rather than in the Farm accounts.
Except where stated otherwise, each document comprises two sheets and covers a period starting on a Monday and ending on a Saturday.
The Cash and Bills Received accounts (1816-1821), which record the bailiff’s receipts, were compiled by his cashier. (The accounts for 1816-1818 are with the Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence.) Each is a single sheet, usually covering a period of four working weeks, a fortnight’s entries on either side. At the end of the year, however, the period was sometimes extended so that the last account of the year might conclude on or near 31 Dec., the first account of the new year being correspondingly shorter. This was presumably to assist with the balancing of the ledger. The earliest account, headed "Cash Received by Michael Thompson", covers a much longer period than any of the later ones. The entries for 2 Aug. 1816 are explained in detail in a supplementary account. The accounts for the period 21 Feb.-15 Apr. 1820 are wanting.
The receipts recorded were chiefly of two kinds: namely, money received ultimately from the London House, and cash received from sales of livestock, produce, and other estate property.
The Tew estate was expensive to run, especially in the early period when the bailiff was making considerable purchases of stock, materials, and so on. It was therefore necessary to provide him with a constant supply of funds. These appear to have been always ultimately derived from the London banking agency, M. R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Co., where an account in the name of "M. R. Boulton, Tew Estate" was opened on 17 Apr. 1816. The first few payments to the bailiff were made by the medium of Thomas Fulljames, probably in the form of drafts on the London firm ; and for a short time after this the bailiff was authorized to draw cheques on the Banbury bank, Cobb, Wheatley, & Co., initially to a limit of £1000, though this amount was soon exceeded. At the same time, however, the London House began to send the bailiff parcels of Bank of England notes by coach , and in time this became the established method of providing him with money; though a few receipts were made in the form of bills of exchange drawn on the London firm (e.g., on 22 Jul. 1816, and 25 Jun. 1821).
The first sale-"Old Popit a worn out Horse"-was entered on 22 Jul. 1816, and subsequent entries for sales far exceed in number (if not in financial value) those for remittances from London. They chiefly record sales of corn, livestock, wool, and sheep-skins, and also lime burnt at the estate’s lime-kilns. There are also frequent references to cash received for "Halling [i.e. hauling] for Tew Estate." Receipts for sales of farm produce were also recorded in the Farm accounts (q.v.) and there are occasional cross-references thereto.
Each document is a single sheet. Except where stated, the first date of each pair is a Monday and the second a Saturday.
The Farm accounts (1815-1821) were compiled by the bailiff’s cashier. They record the receipts and expenses of the farm, and contain subsidiary information about stock, produce, and labour. In compiling his journal, the Soho cashier only used them to supply sums of farm expenditure, because farm receipts were already accounted for in amounts posted from the "Cash and Bills received" accounts. The accounts used to compile the journal are therefore marked merely "Farm Expenditure", though they contain other information besides.
The Farm accounts form a uniform series, with the exception of three early items among the "Miscellaneous Accounts" in the first file. Of these, one (9/7/6) is a volume of printed forms, entitled Harding’s Farmer’s Account Book. The forms, which are very similar to those in the uniform series (see below) are filled up for the period from 8 Dec. 1815 to 20 Jul. 1816. 9/7/4 comprises numbered sheets cut from the same volume, on which have been copied out again the accounts for 20 May-29 Jun. 1816. (There is also a slip of paper inserted, headed "Womens Work from May 25th to June 1st 1816".) These two documents were not used in compiling the journal: the information for the period after 6 May appears again in the uniform accounts, while farming expenses for the period 8 Dec. 1815-30 Apr. 1816 were posted to the journal from a document entitled "Farming Disbursements before any operations of Husbandry" (9/7/2).
The uniform series of Farm accounts begins on 6 May 1816. Each one is a large sheet (29 in. x 17 in.) folded in half to form four pages. Printed on these pages are various forms filled up by the bailiff’s cashier, as described below. Each usually covers a period of two working weeks. The accounts for the period 21 Feb.-15 Apr. 1820 are wanting.
Page 1. On this page is a journal of Occurrences relating to stock and produce, such as sales of corn, and sales, purchases, births, and deaths of livestock.
Pages 2 and 3. These pages contain a table headed "State of Labour, &c.", showing the work done by the farm labourers and the amounts of their wages. The labourers names appear in a column on the left, divided under the headings "Horses", "Day Labour", and "Task Labour", and beside the names of the labourers in the first two categories are more columns, showing, for each one, a description of the work done every day, the number of days worked, the price per day, and, finally, the amount of his or her wages. The work of each task labourer is merely described in a sentence, followed by a sum in the Amount column. At the foot of the last column is entered the Total Amount of Labour.
Page 4. On the last page is the Account Current of Receipts and Expenses of the Farm. The Total Amount of Labour is brought forward from page 3 to the expenses side of this account, which also includes a subsidiary account headed "Articles consumed, being the Produce of the Farm." At the end of the year this account was sometimes extended beyond the customary period of two weeks, so that the last account of the year might conclude on or near 31 Dec. The first account of the new year was then correspondingly shorter. This was presumably done to assist with the balancing of the ledger. The details on pages 1, 2, and 3, however, only relate to fortnights completed during the period covered by the main account.
Except where otherwise stated, each document is a single sheet, and the first date of each pair is a Monday and the second a Saturday.

ACCESS AND USE

There are no restrictions on access to or use of the Great Tew Books and Documents. However fragile items or those in a poor state of repair may not be served at the discretion of the Duty Archivist.

List prepared by Adam C. Green, Project Archivist, Birmingham City Archives, under the Archives of Soho Project, November 1998 to March 2004.
LIST

Ledger.
Ledger. 14 Apr. 1816-1 Dec. 1818. (Not found.)

Contents of the Great Tew Ledger, compiled from cross-references in the Journal.

Folio. Account.
1. Michael Thompson. C/f to. f. 35.
2. General Expenses. C/f to f. 38.
3. Materials, &c.
4. Rents.
5. M. R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Co. C/f to f. 34.
6. Live Stock.
7. Farming Utensils.
8. Tew Estate. C/f to f. 40.
9. Thomas Fulljames.
10. Interest.
11. Seeds and Corn. C/f to f. 36.
12. Labour.
13. Farming Expenses. C/f to f. 39.
14. Taxes, &c.
15. Wages.
16. Charles Osborne.
17. House, Furniture, &c.
18. George Bullock.
19. Robert Niven.
20. Housekeeping Expenses.
21. William Snelson.
22. John Shelton.
23. Coals.
24. Samuel Shelton.
25. Susanna Niven.
26. John Hicks.
27. Lime.
28. James Haden.
29. Carriage.
30. Iron.
31. Farms in Hand.
32. Tew Establishment.
33. Arrears of Rents.
34. M. R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Co. B/f from f. 5.
35. Michael Thompson. B/f from f. 1. C/f to f. 41.
36. Seeds and Corn. B/f from f. 11.
37. Grove Ash Farm.
38. General Expenses. B/f from f. 2.
39. Farming Expenses. B/f from f. 13.
40. Tew Estate. B/f from f. 8.
41. Michael Thompson. B/f from f. 35.
42. Southam's Farm.
43. Private Account, Soho.

Journal.
1. Journal. 14 Apr. 1816-1 Dec. 1818. (1 vol.) (Not to be served.)

Letter Book.
2. Letter Book. 25 Nov. 1816-30 Mar. 1844. (1 vol.)

Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence.
3. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1816-1818. (1 file)*
4. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1819. (1 file)*
5. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1820. (1 file)*
6. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1821. (1 file)*

Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agents Accounts.
7. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1815-1816. (1 file, 1 vol.)*
8. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1817. (1 file)*
9. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1818. (1 file)*
10. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1819. (1 file)*
11. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1820-1821. (1 file)*

Cashier’s Jottings and Memoranda.
12. Memorandum Book of Articles sent to Great Tew from Soho. 1816-1823. (1 vol.)
13. Cashier’s Jottings of Entries and Memoranda. 1816-1818. (1 file)*
14. Rough Journal Entries and Jottings. 1819. (1 file)

OLD REFERENCES

Ledger.
Ledger. 1816-1818. (Not found.)

Journal.
1. Journal. 1816-1818. (1 vol.) [185]

Letter Book.
2. Letter Book. 1816-1844. (1 vol.) [155] Index. [471]

Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence.
3. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1816-1818. (1 file) [460]
4. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1819. (1 file) [459]
5. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1820. (1 file) [459]
6. Cashier’s Vouchers and Correspondence. 1821. (1 file) [459]

Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts.
7. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1815-1816. (1 file, 1 vol.) [459, 191]
8. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1817. (1 file) [458]
9. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1818. (1 file) [458]
10. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1819. [457]
11. Cashier’s Vouchers: Bailiff and Agent’s Accounts. 1820-1821. [457, 460]

Cashier’s Jottings and Memoranda.
12. Memorandum Book of Articles sent to Great Tew from Soho. 1816-1823. (1 vol.) [458]
13. Cashier’s Jottings of Entries and Memoranda. 1816-1818. (1 file) [460]
14. Rough Journal Entries and Jottings. 1819. (1 file) [459]