Two files relating to the management of Teversal Manor estate records including the minerals

Descriptions below are kindly provided by the former owner of the files:

Two large ‘“K&J” Lever Letter Binder’ folders.

One comprises correspondence and material relating to the mining in Teversal 1895-99, including transactions of the company Forster- Brown and Rees who took over as minerals agents for the 4th Earl of Carnarvon’s second wife/widow, Elsie, Lady Carnarvon. Like her husband a descendant of the Molyneuxs, she had been left the estate by the Earl and she used her brother, Edward Stafford Howard, to manage it for her from 1895. Among the letters in this binder there are approx. 31 from Howard.

The second binder contains correspondence and material of general estate business - farm rentals, estate personnel, shooting matters and building work – for most of the calendar year 1898. Among the letters there are eleven autograph ones from Elsie Carnarvon herself as well a quantity from Edward Stafford Howard, his nephew/assistant and approx. 105 copy-letters from the Nottingham firm, Mellors, Basden and Mellors who succeeded Howard in July 1898.

FOLDER ONE: Label on spine “Teversal Minerals” and label on front cover “Teversal Minerals 1895, 1896, [unreadable]”. Most pages numbered 1 to 177 (others unnumbered). Total number of pages/folios approx. 194.

Documentation in Folder One runs from 2nd November 1895 (no.2) to 16th August 1899 (no.177).

The collection seems to start after the appointment of Edward Stafford Howard [SEE BELOW*] (ESH) as agent for the Teversal Manor estate belonging to his sister Elsie, Dowager Countess of Carnarvon, see letter dated 12th April 1896 (no.15) on Highclere Castle headed paper.

The first document, a letter dated 2nd November 1895 (no.2), from Forster-Brown & Rees (FB&R) Mining and Civil Engineers, of Guild Hall Chambers, Cardiff and 12 Victoria Street, Westminster Abbey to ESH sets out their terms “… to do Lady Carnarvon’s mining work..” Copy reply on verso, 6th November 1895, from ESH “…. I am authorised by Lady Carnarvon to ask yr Firm to undertake the mining work in connection with her Teversal Manor Estate in Nottinghamshire….. The arrangement with her present Surveyor will end on December 31st…..”

No.1 of the documents, actually dated 10th November 1895, is a letter to ESH from William Wright, of Wollaton, Nottingham. “ ….. Thank you for your letter informing me that Lady Carnarvon has adopted your proposal to place the mineral survey in the hands of Messrs Forster & Co - ……. I have taken infinite pains……. all my labour has been unappreciated…… unkind treatment I have received…. be thankful to be rid of any remaining business…. I have given 22 years….”

ESH’s agency ends June/July 1898 with the appointment of Messrs Mellors, Basden & Mellors (MBM), Chartered Accountants, 1 King John’s Chambers, Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham. See copy letter from ESH to Forster Brown & Rees, 4th July 1898 (no.126).

Most of the correspondence is addressed to ESH, some bear his copy replies/memo of reply on the verso etc, and then subsequently most correspondence is addressed to Messrs Mellors, Basden & Mellors, Chartered Accountants. Other recipients include Lady Carnarvon.

Subjects/Places covered: Teversal, Kneeton, Skegby, Blackwell, Pleasley, Railway Co. purchases, Coal, Minerals, Hucknall mines, Rents, Leases, Teversal collieries, Royalties, Teversal glebe, Silverhill Colliery, Coke ovens, Manors, Devonshire Estate, Bricks, Smoke nuisance, Thurgarton Exploration Co., Patronage of livings, Stanton Company, Blackwell Church, Coke.

LETTERS, from:

ESH, (mostly reply copy letters), of 1 Whitehall Place, SW./9 Egerton Place/Thornbury Castle, Gloucs – 31 total. (6 of which are on verso of original letters from FB&R, FF and Stanton Works).

Forster Brown & Rees, Mining and Civil Engineers – 71 total.

Mellors, Basden & Mellors, Chartered Accountants (copy letters to FB&R, Lady Carnarvon etc.) – 20 total.

Forster, Frere & Co., Solicitors, of Lincoln’s Inn/Frere & Co./Frere Cholmeley, – 19 total. (2 to Lady C.).

Milles & Co., Solicitors, of Whitehall Place – 1 total, copy letter to FF.

William Wright, of Wollaton – 2 total.

Diminsdale Colliery Co., Alfreton/Blackwell Colliery Co./New Hucknall Colliery Co. – 13 total.

Lady Carnarvon – 1 total, copy letter to FF.

Mr McGraw, Highclere Castle – 1 total.

Devonshire Estate Office, Chesterfield – 3 total.

Stanton Iron Works Cos./Mr Longden – 15 total.

Alice M. Buller (on behalf of Lady C) – 1 total.

OTHER DOCUMENTATION:

Memorandum of meetings – 2 total. (3/11/1896, re. Coke ovens, smoke nuisance etc (copy, no. 70) and 11/11/1896, re. Teversal mineral estate, 4pp).

Memorandum of Agreement – 1 total. (1897 agreement between the Duke of Devonshire & Lady Carnarvon and The Blackwell Colliery Co.).

Memoranda – 2 total. (Re. Pillar of coal underneath Blackwell Church etc, (nos. 91 & 102)).

Receipts – 3 total.

Sketch plans – 2 total.

Schedule of Documents – 3 total.

*(Sir) Edward Stafford Howard (1851-1916) KCB, DL, JP. Son of Henry Howard (1802-1875), son of (Lord) Henry Howard Molyneux Howard (1766-1824), (heir to Sir Francis Molyneux (1738-1812), of Teversal), son of Henry Howard (1713-1787) and Juliana Molyneux (1736-1808), sister to Sir Francis Molyneux. ESH’s sister Elizabeth Howard (1856-1929) m.1878 her first cousin, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon and inherited the Teversal estates.

FOLDER TWO.

No surviving labels.

The first two items are slim volumes, in pink paper wraps, of an alphabetical index for Folders 1 and 2 of people, places and subjects with numbers corresponding to the numbered documentation. Excluding these volumes there are approx. 329 pages/folios in Folder 2.

The documentation, some numbered 307 to 438 (numbering basically stops with ESH’s departure, July 1898), mostly deals with general Teversal Manor/Kneeton estate matters, beginning February 22nd 1898 and ending September 30th 1898, during and post the agency of ESH. He is assisted by his first wife’s nephew Cuthbert Archibald Lambton [CAL] (1871-1946) and Mr A. Allen [AA] ( - ), deputy steward/farm bailiff based in Teversal, who manages the day to day dealings with tenants etc.

Various letters cover the agency takeover by Mellors, Basden & Mellors (MBM) in July 1898

The bulk of the correspondence are copy letters from ESH, CAL, AA and MBM to each other, Lady Carnarvon, tenants, Banks, suppliers etc.

Subjects covered include: Tenancies, valuations, railways, repairs, drunken behaviour/dismissal, accounts, Teversal church organist, shooting rights, shooting days, school furniture, agreements, bills, receipts, fire grates, gamekeeper duties, fire insurance, water supplies, subscriptions, Kneeton vicarage/appt of new incumbent, farm/stable supplies, building repairs, Teversal Manor, pigeon match, tithes, glebe, dog licenses, sewage, cricket, Queen Anne’s Bounty, water pollution, Dovedale Farm, Stanley Grange etc.

LETTERS/Correspondence, from:

ESH/CAL – 68 approx, mainly copy letters, some originals.

AA – 31 approx, original letters mainly on Teversal Estate Office headed paper.

MBM – 105 approx, copy letters.

Lady Carnarvon – 11 approx, original autograph letters, mainly to MBM.

FB&R – 4 total.

James Walker, Building Contractor, Bingham, Notts – 2 total.

Edward Baker, Kneeton – 4 total. ?Steward for Kneeton estate.

George Cox, Valuer, Mansfield – 1 total.

W(illiam) P(ole) J(ones) Allsebrook, Valuer, Wollaton – 4 total. Robert A, son of WPJA lived at Silver Hill, Teversal.

William Richardson, The Limes, Mansfield Woodhouse – 2 total, re. water supplies etc to Teversal Manor.

J. A. Munks, Building Contractor, Hucknall – 3 total.

Rev. J Hyde, The Vicarage, Sutton in Ashfield – 1 total.

Great North Railway – 2 total, one is a copy letter.

W. E. Knight, Coal Merchant, Newark – 2 total.

Thomas Pye, Midland Sawing & Turning Mills, Mansfield – 2 total.

Blackwell Colliery Co. – 2 total.

Hucknall-Huthwaite UDC/T. C. Birkhead/G. H. Hibbert et al – 12 total, includes 2 newspaper clippings, all re. sewage schemes.

National Telephone Co. Ltd – 1 total.

Teale Fireplace Co, Leeds – 1 total.

J. T. Hobson, Timber Merchants, Bedford – 1 total.

Teversal Cricket Club – 1 total.

Frances M. Dodsley/Robert Dodsley, Skegby Hall – 2 total.

Mr McGraw – 2 total.

Alice M. Buller – 3 total.

Skegby RDC – 1 total.

Frere & Co. – 1 total.

Midland Railway, Derby –2 total.

W. Singleton, Slater/Builder – 1 total.

Midland District Miner’s Fatal Accident Relief Society – 1 total.

Rev. Tufnell S. Barrett, The Rectory, Teversal – 3 total.

Mansfield Bank – 4 total.

William Allon – 1 total.

J. Ashmore, Wild Hill, Teversal – 2 total.

Rev. Morris, Blackwell – 1 total.

John Lane, Contractor, Skegby – 1 total.

Henry Ainge, Skegby – 1 total.

Mr Deamon, Blackwell – 2 total.

Eking & Wyles, Solicitors, Nottingham – 4 total.

Blackwell RDC – 2 total.

Nottingham & Notts Banking Co. Ltd – 2 total.

Luke Ball – 1 total.

?L. R. Morgan, Hurst Lodge, Tibshelf – 1 total.

County Fire Office, Nottingham – 4 total.

New Hucknall Colliery Co. – 3 total.

Charles Neale, Kneeton – 1 total.

Stanton Iron Works Cos. – 1 total.

George & Frederic W. Hodson, Civil Engineers, London & Loughborough – 1 total.

John Thomas Boot, Mining Engineer, Beeston – 1 total.

Lockwood, Gamekeeper, Teversal – 3 total.

OTHER DOCUMENTATION:

Memoranda, on The Bath Club, London notepaper – re. possible employees/new gamekeeper – 1 total.

Water Bill, 1st Quarter, 1898 – 1 total.

Notes, re. appointments – 1 total.

Telegrams, re. Shooting Party arrangements – 2 total.

The Teversal branch of the Molyneux family, to which the collection chiefly relates, traces its ancestry from William de Molines, through the Earls of Sefton and the Nottinghamshire branch founded by Sir Thomas Molyneux (d 1492) of Haughton and Thorpe, to Francis Molyneux, High Sheriff of Nottingham. He inherited Teversal by his marriage to Elizabeth, grand daughter of Roger Greenhalgh, in 1562. Sir John Molyneux (Francis Molyneux's grandson) was created a baronet in 1611 by James I. The baronetcy became extinct in 1812 when Sir Francis Molyneux, the seventh baronet, died without issue.

The estates passed to his nephew, Henry Thomas Howard (1766-1824) who assumed the name Molyneux. His daughter, Henrietta, married Lord Porchester in 1830 who became the third Earl of Carnarvon in 1837. Elizabeth Catherine Howard (1856 -1929), known as "Elsie”, was the daughter of Henry Howard, MP, of Greystoke Castle, and Charlotte Caroline Georgiana Long. She became the second wife of her cousin Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon and stepmother to the Earl Canarvon, known for his connection to Howard Carter and the tomb of Tutankhamen. The Molyneux estates stayed in the Carnarvon family until 1929, when they were offered for auction by Alfred Savill and Sons.

Teversal Manor is in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. The Molyneuxs were connected with coal mining in the area since the 17th century and in 1793 there are records of them driving a sough (drainage ditch' below a seam of coal). The Molyneaux sough was extended over many years, eventually reaching Huthwaite. Another seam was discovered in 1780, known as the Dunsil Seam. In 1820 workings were abandoned, but operations resumed in 1856, with the colliery leased to John and German Buxton and then Eastwood and Swingler after 1865. In 1869 four men drowned when water filled the mines. An inquest found that the Molyneux Colliery was seriously under-capitalised, using primitive winding gear and lacking a second escape route. The Molyneux pit closed in 1877, unable to compete with the new Teversal and Silver Hill collieries.

No arrangement has been necessary.

Accessible to all readers.

This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright in the description belongs to The University of Nottingham.

Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in writing on our Permission to Publish form (see the Reprographics Services part of our website or email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk)

Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

The files were purchased on Ebay by a resident of Teversal who later sold them on to the University in 2022.