Comprising: Subject Files and Papers, etc 1825-1935; General Correspondence 1905-1956; Financial Records 1899-1933; Photographs of Wheatley Hall 1924,1930; Plans 1898-1931; Inventory of Birds and Mammals, early 20 cent.
Records accumulated by Dawson's Estate Agents (Doncaster).
The Cooke family of Wheatley owned land in Wheatley (including its seat at Wheatley Hall) and Bentley. From the later nineteenth century the family did not live at Wheatley and the estates were managed by a local agent. By the 1890s this was John Waring of Bentley who was succeeded in 1905 by John Dawson and Sons (see DYDAW/12/38 below). Few of the records catalogued here predate this transfer. The firm managed the affairs of the estate thereafter but not, of course, legal matters, which were dealt with by a firm of Leeds solicitors. However, there was little business after the early 1930s when most of the property was disposed of, although the last business on behalf of the Cooke family was transacted in 1956 (see DYDAW/1/80). The Bentley area of the estate underwent rapid urban development following the sinking of the Bentley colliery by Barber, Walker and Co of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire after 1905. There are records relating to this aspect of the estate at 12/11, 12, 14, 30, 34-38, 42, 43, 56, 61, 85 and 93. Land was also sold for housing development, local government services and railway-building (see DYDAW/12/45 for a statement of sales from 1907 to 1911)
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Part of the records of Dawson's Estate Agent (Doncaster)
