Part 1. Personal and family correspondence, papers and deeds of Jonathan Backhouse junior, his wife Hannah Chapman Backhouse, and their descendants and related families, in particular the Gurneys of Norfolk but also including items relating to all the families mentioned under Administrative/Biographical history above.
Part 1 contains the following sections: A. (items 1-45) Deeds, wills, marriage settlements, trusts and transactions relating to properties in various counties (see below), 1352, 1657, 1721-1864. A number reflect the wide-spread business interests of the Hustler family, ranging from the promotion of canal companies to the wool-trade in Yorkshire and mining and the coal-trade in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Co. Durham. Some Fox documents concern the mining of ores in Cornwall. Places covered by deeds include:
- Norfolk (Wendling, 1352)
- Lancashire (Orrell coal mines, 1781-1847; Upholland, 1781-1792; Standish cum Langtree, Shevington, Worthington, Coppull, Duxbury and Wigan coal mines, 1798; Ulverston, 1739/40)
- Yorkshire (Hunderscliffe or Undercliffe in Bradford, 1756; Scarborough, 1791; Shipley in Bradford, 1735; Shelf coal mines, 1760; Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co. tolls, 1778-1781)
- Cornwall (Balmynheer mine in manor of Helston in Kerrier, 1864; Perranarworthal, 1809-1829; South Wheal mine in Calstock parish, 1845; Wheal Vyvyan mine in Constantine parish, 1834)
- Co. Durham (Darlington, 1822; Trimdon Colliery, 1855; West Auckland and St. Helen Auckland collieries, 1856);
- Hampshire (Andover, 1800)
- Cheshire (iron foundries at Poulton cum Seacombe in Wallasey parish, 1852).
Much of the correspondence in this section, especially that for the early 19th century, illustrates Quaker doctrines and activities and Quaker attitudes to such topics as war, slavery, prison reform and the payment of church rates. Some letters concern Quakers in North America, Australia and Holland and missionary trips, including those made by Jonathan Backhouse junior and Hannah Chapman Backhouse to Ireland in the 1820s and North America in the 1830s. Some correspondence, again chiefly from the first half of the 19th century, gives information on political and business conditions in England and on international affairs.
C. (items 273-280) Journals, 1797-1848. These chiefly consist (items 275-280) of the journals of Hannah Chapman Backhouse (see also section B above) but also include: (item 273) diary of William Hustler of Bradford, Yorkshire, 1797; (item 274) an anthology of verse and prose compiled by Jonathan Backhouse junior, 1797; and (item 280) an account of family marriages by Rachel Barclay, 1848.
D. (items 281-294) Pedigrees and genealogical notes, compiled 18th-19th centuries.
E. (items 295-312) Miscellanea, ca.18th-early 20th centuries.
Part 2. This deposit is still being sorted and listed. Many of the documents are very similar in nature and content to the material in Part 1 of the Backhouse Papers, although there are more business papers and probably more items from the second half of the 19th century in Part 2. Many of the papers concern Jonathan Backhouse junior, his wife Hannah Chapman Backhouse, and their descendants, and also the descendants of John Backhouse (1784-1847), brother of Jonathan Backhouse junior.
Provisional list of contents:
A. Personal papers, including personal and family correspondence and papers, journals (including Hannah Chapman Backhouse's American journal 1831-1832), accounts and vouchers. The papers of Jonathan Backhouse junior and Hannah Chapman Backhouse in particular are closely linked to the material found in Part 1 of the Backhouse Papers and the family correspondence of Hannah Chapman Backhouse forms the largest part of this section.
Groups of papers accumulated by the following people have so far been identified:
- Jonathan Backhouse junior (1779-1842)
- Hannah Chapman Backhouse, née Gurney, (1787-1850), wife of Jonathan Backhouse junior
- Jonathan Edmund Backhouse, 1st Bart. (1849-1918), grandson of Jonathan Backhouse junior and Hannah Chapman Backhouse
- John Backhouse (1784-1847), brother of Jonathan Backhouse junior
- John Church Backhouse (1811-1858), son of John Backhouse
- John Henry Backhouse (1844-1869), son of John Church Backhouse
- Eliza Barclay, née Backhouse, (1812-1884), daughter of John Backhouse
- Thomas Backhouse (occ. 1854), [?great-nephew of Jonathan Backhouse junior] (one item only)
B. Business and testamentary papers, including correspondence, papers, accounts, bills, ledgers and vouchers relating to business and banking matters, share certificates, insurance policies, trusts, settlements, executorships (including probate valuations), legal and financial matters and land transactions. Many of these concern the affairs of descendants of John Backhouse (1784-1847) but others are business papers of Edmund Backhouse, M.P. (1824-1906), son of Jonathan Backhouse junior and Hannah Chapman Backhouse, and of Edmund's son, Jonathan Edmund Backhouse.
C. Marriage and birth certificates, 1811-1848 (7 items).
D. Wills, 1783-1867 (8 items).
E. Deeds and related papers, including schedules of deeds, some wills, appointments of trustees, and a marriage settlement. The deeds relate chiefly to places in Cornwall, Co. Durham, Middlesex and Yorkshire.
F. Property surveys and valuations. (A few items only).
G. Plans. (A few items only).
H. Deeds and papers concerning an estate in America: 51 tracts of land in the counties of Northumberland and Lucerne in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the Waters of Tawandee and Loyalsock (Loyal Sock), about 150 miles from Philadelphia, 1794-1839. (A few items only).
I. Overseers' papers for Leyburn and Borrowby, North Yorkshire, 1756-1827 [FRAGILE].
J. Apprenticeship indenture for Thomas Leatley or Lightly of [Eryholme] (Ariom) [in Great Smeaton parish], Yorkshire, 14 March 1744/5.
K. Pedigrees and genealogical notes. (A few items only).
L. Book of profiles.
M. Miscellanea.
Part 3. Pedigree, compiled by Mr. Kinloch, of the descendants of John and Sarah Backhouse of Lancashire, 17th-20th centuries, with particular reference to the descendants of Sir Jonathan Edmund Backhouse, 1st Bart. (1849-1918), banker, of Darlington, Co. Durham, and his wife Florence Salusbury-Trelawny (died 1902).