Milnes-Coates Archive

Family and estate papers of the Milnes-Coates family of Helperby Hall, c 1555-c.1979, including,
Correspondence and papers of Annabella Hungerford Milnes, née Crewe, wife of Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, c 1820s-1874, including (but not limited to) correspondence between Annabella and her sister Henrietta Mary Crewe; correspondence with her children Amicia, Florence and Robert Milnes (later 1st Marquess of Crewe); letters from her aunt Elizabeth Emma Cunliffe Offley, née Crewe; letters from her cousin Emma Blackburne, née Hesketh; letters from her friend Ellen Tollet of Betley Hall; letters from her friend Charlotte Williams Wynn; letters from her friend Caroline ‘Nina’ Hill, née Cotton. There are also a small number of letters from Frances Anne Crewe to her daughter Elizabeth Emma Cunliffe Offley, c 1816, and from Richard Monckton Milnes to his children, in particular to his daughter Florence (later Florence Henniker).
Personal and professional papers of Lady Celia Milnes Coates, née Crewe-Milnes, including her personal correspondence, and papers concerning her work with Heworth Moor House Diocesan Mother and Baby Home, c 1949-1980; and the Women's Land Army in Yorkshire, c 1939-1950s.

The name of Milnes-Coates originated with the marriage, in 1906, of Captain Edward Clive Coates (1879-1971) of Helperby Hall, Yorkshire, and Lady Celia Hermione Crewe-Milnes (1884-1985), daughter of Robert Crewe-Milnes, Marquess of Crewe, and Sibyl Marcia Graham. Through her father Lady Celia was the granddaughter of Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, and his wife Annabella Hungerford Crewe, sister of Hungerford, 3rd Baron Crewe. Edward was the son of Edward Feetham Coates, who had been created 1st Baronet Coates of Helperby Hall in 1911. The 1st Baronet was a member of Coates, Son & Company, stockbrokers, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Lewisham from 1903 to 1918.
In 1921 Edward succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet. Sir Edward had achieved the rank of Captain in the 15th Hussars during the First World War and had also been Military Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. As his father in law, the Marquess of Crewe, had no surviving male heirs, in 1946 Sir Edward took the additional name of Milnes, becoming Sir Edward Milnes-Coates. Sir Edward and Lady Celia had four children together: Robert Edward James Clive in 1907; Bridget Sibyl in 1910; Elizabeth Hermione in 1914; and Anthony Richard in 1920.
Sir Edward died in 1971 and was succeeded by Robert as 3rd Baronet. Sir Robert had served in the Coldstream Guards from 1927, serving as aide-de-camp to the Commander in Chief in India between 1930 and 1933 and then with the Transjordan Frontier Force from 1937 to 1940. He married Lady Ethel Patricia Hare, daughter of the 4th Earl of Listowel, in 1945 and the couple had two children, Mary Freda in 1947 and Anthony Robert in 1948.
Sir Robert died in 1982 and was succeeded by Anthony Robert as 4th Baronet. Since 1990 Sir Anthony has been Professor of Microbiology at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London.

The archive has been partially box listed, please contact the Borthwick Institute for more information.

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 gifted to the Borthwick Institute by the Milnes-Coates family in 2013.

The name of Milnes-Coates originated with the marriage, in 1906, of Captain Edward Clive Coates (1879-1971) of Helperby Hall, Yorkshire, and Lady Celia Hermione Crewe-Milnes (1884-1985), daughter of Robert Crewe-Milnes, Marquess of Crewe, and Sibyl Marcia Graham. Through her father Lady Celia was the granddaughter of Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, and his wife Annabella Hungerford Crewe, sister of Hungerford, 3rd Baron Crewe. Edward was the son of Edward Feetham Coates, who had been created 1st Baronet Coates of Helperby Hall in 1911. The 1st Baronet was a member of Coates, Son & Company, stockbrokers, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Lewisham from 1903 to 1918.
In 1921 Edward succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet. Sir Edward had achieved the rank of Captain in the 15th Hussars during the First World War and had also been Military Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. As his father in law, the Marquess of Crewe, had no surviving male heirs, in 1946 Sir Edward took the additional name of Milnes, becoming Sir Edward Milnes-Coates. Sir Edward and Lady Celia had four children together: Robert Edward James Clive in 1907; Bridget Sibyl in 1910; Elizabeth Hermione in 1914; and Anthony Richard in 1920.
Sir Edward died in 1971 and was succeeded by Robert as 3rd Baronet. Sir Robert had served in the Coldstream Guards from 1927, serving as aide-de-camp to the Commander in Chief in India between 1930 and 1933 and then with the Transjordan Frontier Force from 1937 to 1940. He married Lady Ethel Patricia Hare, daughter of the 4th Earl of Listowel, in 1945 and the couple had two children, Mary Freda in 1947 and Anthony Robert in 1948.
Sir Robert died in 1982 and was succeeded by Anthony Robert as 4th Baronet. Since 1990 Sir Anthony has been Professor of Microbiology at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London.

The archive has not yet been catalogued. Please contact the Borthwick Institute for further information.

Created by S. A. Shearn, 10.05.17.

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 not expected.

Mavis Smith and Peter Smith, eds. 'Letters from Ellen Tollet to Annabel Crewe', Betley 2019.

Sally-Anne Shearn, 'An early description of Lady Charlotte Guest, translator of The Mabinogion' in Morgannwg: The Journal of Glamorgan History, Volume LXII, 2018.

Sally-Anne Shearn, 'William Huskisson and the Vicaress of Eccles', from the Borthwick Institute Blog, September 2019 (http://borthwickinstitute.blogspot.com/2019/09/william-huskisson-and-vicaress-of-eccles.html)

Sally-Anne Shearn, ed. 'Letters of Sidney and Charlotte Williams Wynn to Annabel Crewe' (https://www.york.ac.uk/media/borthwick/documents/projects/Edited%20Letters%20of%20Charlotte%20and%20Sidney%20Williams%20Wynn%20to%20Annabel%20Crewe%201837-1852.pdf), April 2019

Sally-Anne Shearn, 'The Fiery Rail: The Crewe Family and the Coming of the Railway', for Out of the Archive Box: The Borthwick Institute for Archives podcast, 26 October 2020. https://anchor.fm/borthwick/episodes/The-Fiery-Rail-The-Crewe-family-and-the-coming-of-the-railway-elga81

Sally-Anne Shearn, 'Lady Mary Arundell and the Italian Convent at Loughborough', from the Borthwick Institute Blog, May 2021 (https://borthwickinstitute.blogspot.com/2021/05/lady-mary-arundell-and-italian-convent.html)

Sally-Anne Shearn, 'Henrietta Crewe and Prior Park' from Prior to Now, May 2021 (https://www.combedown.org/combe-down-development-timeline/ralph-allen-and-prior-park/the-priory/?target=henrietta-at-the-priory)

Lorna J. Clark, 'Discoveries in the Archives: New Sarah Harriet Burney Letters at the Borthwick Institute for Archives', in Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Volume 40, Number 1, Spring 2021

Published

GB193