York Family Papers

Personal papers of York family, comprising general correspondence, 1886-1979; papers of Whittell York, including commonplace book, correspondence, accounts, legal papers and notes, 1788-1816; papers of Richard York, including general correspondence, official and military papers, papers relating to the living of Gargrave, 1790-1841; correspondence between John Peart and Whittell and Richard York, ; correspondence between Sydney Smith and Richard and Edward York, 1817-1841; diaries, commonplace book, and correspondence of Mary Ann York, 1786-1831; papers of Edward York, including diaries, correspondence and news cuttings, 1815-1861; correspondence and papers of Penelope York, 1838-1870; papers of Edward Christopher York, including diaries, accounts, and correspondence, 1842-1885; bank passbook and sympathetic address of C. Rose York, 1880-1886; papers of Edward York, including diaries, commissions and mobilization papers, financial papers, correspondence, family photographs, and Hutton Hall visitors’ book, 1891-1952; watercolour by C. W. Maud of Edward York and his orderly in the Boer War, 1909; C Squadron regimental diary and order book, 1914-1916; private correspondence and personal papers of Violet York, nee Milner, 1906-1919; papers and personal memorabilia of Diana York, including prayer book, passport, correspondence and photographs, 1919-1950; papers of Christopher York, including diaries, papers relating to political career, papers relating to presidency of Royal Agricultural Society and Yorkshire Agricultural Society, press cuttings, correspondence, financial papers, photographs, and probate documents, 1911-2001; papers relating to the Christopher York Charitable Trust and the Long Marston Charitable Trust, 1960-1981; settlements and executorship papers, 1807-1953.
Domestic papers, including inventories, cash books, accounts, employees’ pension scheme account book, and photographs of the renovation of Long Marston Manor, 1845-1962.
Estate papers, including correspondence, accounts and other financial papers, day books, farm ledgers, surveys, maps and plans, 1867-1990s; file of papers concerning the building of South Park, 1967-1972; file of papers concerning sale of Marston Moor Manor, 1967-1972; papers relating to Hutton Wandesley Farm Company, including minutes of staff meetings and budget sheets, 1971-1983; papers concerning repairs and alterations to Wighill Church, 1830-1854; papers relating to sport, including hunting journals, game books, fishing book, cricket scorebook, accounts and correspondence, 1820-1955.
Miscellaneous items, including notebooks, letters, recipes, newspapers and other printed works, locks of hair and other artefacts, 18th-19th century.
Papers of related families, comprising Stafford family papers, including pedigrees, legal and financial papers, settlements, and deeds, 1579-1836; Langford family papers, including correspondence and papers, 1761-1838; and the correspondence, account book, and notebook of Christopher Sykes of Roos, 1768-c.1782.
Additional unlisted material.

The Yorks of Long Marston are descended from Richard Sheepshanks of Linton in Craven, whose son Whittell, a prominent Leeds merchant and twice mayor of the town, changed his name to York by Royal Licence in 1796. He married Mary, the widow of Vic Peart of Grassington, and had by her a son, Richard, and a daughter, Mary, who married the Reverend Anthony Lister, vicar of Gargrave. His stepson, John Peart of Settle, acted as financial adviser to the family.
Richard York, Whittell's son, married in the face of opposition from her family, Mary Ann Lascelles, younger daughter of the first Earl of Harewood. They lived for a short time at Swansea before settling down in Yorkshire, first at Ingmanthorpe and after 1811 at Wighill a property which the family continued to occupy until 1874.
The only child of Richard and Lady Mary York was Edward, who married in 1835 Penelope, younger daughter of the Reverend Christopher Sykes, rector of Roos in Holderness, and his wife Lucy Dorothea Langford, daughter of Henry Langford and Sarah Stafford. It is through this connection that the Stafford and Langford family documents have been preserved amongst the family papers. Edward commanded the troop of cavalry which dispersed a chartist demonstration at Cleckheaton in 1842.
His son, Edward Christopher York, acquired the Long Marston estate in 1874 and built Hutton Wandesley Hall, also known as Hutton Hall, which became the family seat thereafter. Edward married firstly Isabel Augusta Fairfax, daughter of Thomas Fairfax of Newton Kyme, and secondly Celina Rose, the third daughter of the Reverend Charles Marsden, vicar of Gargrave. She was a granddaughter of Anthony Lister by Whittel York's daughter Mary, the Listers having been obliged to change their name to Marsden in the course of a prolonged testamentary dispute which threatened to deprive Anthony Lister of his benefice at Gargrave. His brother-in-law, Richard York was involved in endeavouring to procure the intercession of the Archbishop of York in the case, as a result of which Anthony Lister/Marsden retained his living at Gargrave and was succeeded in it by his son.
Edward Christopher died in 1885 and was succeeded to the estate by his son Lieutenant Colonel Edward York, who was in turn succeeded by his son Christopher in 1951. Today the estate is held by Colonel Edward Christopher York, born 1939, the son of Christopher York and his wife Pauline Fletcher.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws. 24 hours' notice is required to access photographic material.

The archive was deposited at the Borthwick Institute by the York family in 2005. Further additions were made to the archive in 2011, 2014 and 2019.

The Yorks of Long Marston are descended from Richard Sheepshanks of Linton in Craven, whose son Whittell, a prominent Leeds merchant and twice mayor of the town, changed his name to York by Royal Licence in 1796. He married Mary, the widow of Vic Peart of Grassington, and had by her a son, Richard, and a daughter, Mary, who married the Reverend Anthony Lister, vicar of Gargrave. His stepson, John Peart of Settle, acted as financial adviser to the family.
Richard York, Whittell's son, married in the face of opposition from her family, Mary Ann Lascelles, younger daughter of the first Earl of Harewood. They lived for a short time at Swansea before settling down in Yorkshire, first at Ingmanthorpe and after 1811 at Wighill a property which the family continued to occupy until 1874.
The only child of Richard and Lady Mary York was Edward, who married in 1835 Penelope, younger daughter of the Reverend Christopher Sykes, rector of Roos in Holderness, and his wife Lucy Dorothea Langford, daughter of Henry Langford and Sarah Stafford. It is through this connection that the Stafford and Langford family documents have been preserved amongst the family papers. Edward commanded the troop of cavalry which dispersed a chartist demonstration at Cleckheaton in 1842.
His son, Edward Christopher York, acquired the Long Marston estate in 1874 and built Hutton Wandesley Hall, also known as Hutton Hall, which became the family seat thereafter. Edward married firstly Isabel Augusta Fairfax, daughter of Thomas Fairfax of Newton Kyme, and secondly Celina Rose, the third daughter of the Reverend Charles Marsden, vicar of Gargrave. She was a granddaughter of Anthony Lister by Whittel York's daughter Mary, the Listers having been obliged to change their name to Marsden in the course of a prolonged testamentary dispute which threatened to deprive Anthony Lister of his benefice at Gargrave. His brother-in-law, Richard York was involved in endeavouring to procure the intercession of the Archbishop of York in the case, as a result of which Anthony Lister/Marsden retained his living at Gargrave and was succeeded in it by his son.
Edward Christopher died in 1885 and was succeeded to the estate by his son Lieutenant Colonel Edward York, who was in turn succeeded by his son Christopher in 1951. Today the estate is held by Colonel Edward Christopher York, born 1939, the son of Christopher York and his wife Pauline Fletcher.

This material has not yet been catalogued. A partial box list is available for consultation, please contact the Borthwick Institute for more information.

Created 28-09-15. Revised 30-09-15.

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are expected.

For related material held by the Borthwick Institute, see the Harewood West Indian Papers, which comprises the records of the Lascelles family's plantations in the West Indies, and the parish records of Wighill. The Raymond Burton collection also includes a manuscript volume comprising wills and other legal papers pertaining to the Sykes family of Sledmere.
The full estate and family archive of the Sykes family of Sledmere is held by Hull University Archive.

Published

GB 193