Papers of the Codrington Family

Microfilm copies of papers relating to West Indian estates, Antigua and Barbuda, 1700-1869.

In 1649 Christopher Codrington (of Cheltenham) emigrated with his family to Barbados. In 1684 his son founded a sugar estate at Betty's Hope, Antigua. The following year, he leased Barbuda from the British Crown at the rent of one fat sheep per year, the lease continuing until 1870, when Barbuda and Antigua were united. In 1689 he became Captain-General of the Leeward Islands. His own son took the same title, but after an unsuccessful campaign against Guadaloupe during the war against France and Spain at the end of the 18th century, he resigned his position and retired from Barbados to the family home in Antigua. After his death in 1710 he left land in Barbuda to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for the founding of a missionary college. Thereafter the family line decended through his uncle John Codrington, who became Treasurer of Barbados and Colonel of the island's Life Guards. John's eldest son William was created 1st Baronet of Dodington in 1721. He inherited two further Antiguan estates, 'The Cables' and 'Cotton Estate'. William also bequeathed to his third son, Christopher Bethell the Antiguan estate known as 'Rooms' and to his fourth son, Edward the 'Folly' estate. Edward later purchased the estates of 'Bolans' and 'Jennings'. A fuller account of the descent of the Codrington family up to 1894 can be found in The Codrington Correspondence 1743-1851 by Robson Lowe (London, Robson Lowe Ltd., 1951), available in the library reading room. found

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Listed as no. 777 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

The papers of the Codrington family were deposited by Sir Simon Codrington at Gloucestershire Record Office in 1959 but withdrawn again in 1980 by the family and put up for sale. A campaign was launched to save the records relating to the family's domestic estates (the papers having been temporarily purchased by a sympathetic businessman with a view to encouraging such an appeal). Consequently, they were purchased by the Gloucestershire Record Office, where they are still held as the papers of the Codrington family of Dodington, 1462-1940 (ref. D1610). Original material relating to the family's estates in the West Indies was purchased at Sotheby's by a Swiss businessman on 15th December 1980 for 106,000, although the Gloucestershire Record Office holds microfilm copies. These papers are now held by the National Archives of Antigua.

The library holds papers of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (ref. SPG Papers), which include material on Codrington College. Gloucestershire Record Office holds papers of the Codrington family of Dodington, 1462-1940, relating to their domestic estates, and architectural plans and building accounts of Dodington House, 18th-19th centuries (ref. D1610).

National Archives of Antigua, Long Street, St. Johns, Antigua