COPIES OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO WINCHELSEA AND THE MANOR OF IHAM IN THE PETWORTH HOUSE ARCHIVES
Administrative history:
Introduction
These documents relate to the management of the Wyndham interest in the borough of Winchelsea between 1762 and 1771. A list of the documents at Petworth relating to Winchelsea, indicating which have been copied for inclusion in AMS6541, appears on the last page of this introduction
Charles Wyndham, Earl of Egremont, purchased the borough of Winchelsea and manor of Iham in 1762. After Egremont's death in August 1763 the family's interest there was managed by his brother Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Earl of Thomond. The borough and manor belonged to the recusant Caryll family of Ladyholt in Harting between 1661 and 1752, when John Caryll sold to the London banker William Belchier, who hoped to establish a political interest. In the previous year, the Anglo-Irish merchant Albert Nesbitt had purchased other property in Winchelsea, evicted opponents from their houses and unfriendly customs-officers from their posts
Belchier bought more property in the town, built four new houses to accommodate his displaced supporters, established the former customs officers in farms on his estate and advanced money to them for stock. The scene was set for a classic eighteenth-century political conflict, known to contemporaries as the Winchelsea Causes
The pivotal individual in Winchelsea was the lawyer Edwin Wardroper of Rye, who had become a freeman of Winchelsea in the 1730s and town clerk in 1747. He also held offices in the customs as deputy to his fellow attorney John Collier of Hastings, the chief treasury agent for the eastern part of Sussex, for whom he acted as sub-agent. Wardroper had managed the borough for Belchier and continued to act for the Wyndham interest
Wardroper managed the interest successfully until August 1768, when Nesbitt achieved a procedural victory at the assizes. Wardroper blamed inept counsel, but Lord Thomond and his advisers became increasingly convinced of his duplicity. Wardroper's personal affairs were certainly inextricably involved with those of the patrons of the borough, and in September 1768 he revealed his desperate financial position and impending bankruptcy. A series of meetings, demands, offers and counter-offers followed, in the course of which Wardroper hinted that, if bankruptcy proceedings were to begin, his evidence to the commissioners would be highly embarrassing to the Wyndham interest as it would reveal the sums he had received and the uses to which they had been applied. Thomond to George Grenville, 1 Oct 1768; The Grenville Manuscripts (John Murray), 222
Thomond was highly suspicious that the Wardropers had gone over to Nesbitt's party, and successfully resisted their attempts to extract financial support. Edwin Wardroper resolved to leave Winchelsea for France and his son Richard to settle in Jamaica; Thomond determined to recover the court-books and documents which Wardroper held and to prevent the tenants from paying their rent to him
In his negotiations with Thomond, Wardroper had attempted to make a settlement on behalf of Nathaniel Dawes who, as well as being town clerk and having served as mayor in 1766-1767, was tenant of Wardroper's house and tanyard in Winchelsea
That attempt failed, and as a result of the collapse of the Wardropers, in November 1768 Nesbitt recruited Nathaniel Dawes and brought actions against the eight freemen who had been elected with him and against Richard Wardroper as a former mayor (see SAS/WH 383-462, 475). No doubt as part of their strategy, Dawes was made bankrupt and his goods assigned to Arnold Nesbitt and William Marten. On 15 June 1769, acting through the Battle solicitor John Tilden, Edwin Wardroper distrained on the stock of the tanyard for five years' arrears of rent, provoking an action of replevin in the Winchelsea court of record. Tilden nevertheless made a second distraint on 1 July (WIN 356-8, 387,). The action, against Tilden rather than Wardroper, was enrolled on 11 July (WIN 61A) and it is clear from John Tilden's bill-book (in which 'Mr Wardroper' is decribed as of Eltham in Kent) that it was removed out of the Winchelsea court by certiorari (RAF 1/3/1, p26)
The father and son succeeded in holding Thomond to ransom, handing over the documents in November 1769 only when their bonds were returned. At that point Edwin Wardroper was 'in France, never to return' and Richard said to be about to leave for Jamaica (AMS6541/1/63). Once the transaction had been completed, Thomond wrote to his sister-in-law that 'all transactions with those scoundrels will be finished' (AMS6541/1/64)
The defeat of the Wardropers was the end of the Egremont interest at Winchelsea; Edwin Wardroper's son-in-law Walter Gybbon seems to have acted as agent for the estate only (AMS6541/1/56-65). Thomas Orby Hunter, MP since 1754, died in November 1769 and Arnold Nesbitt was returned, without opposition, in January 1770
Edwin Wardroper died at Boulogne on 7 June 1771. Information from a descendent of Edwin Wardroper's daughter Katherine, 1993
Whether Richard Wardroper fulfilled his intention of leaving for Jamaica is unknown. He came to Midhurst in 1772 and on 18 August 1773, a widower aged 37, he obtained a licence to marry Mary Geering aged 17, the daughter of a Midhurst mercer (SRS 32 263); they were married the following day and their sons Richard, Charles and Edward were born in 1775, 1778 and 1782 (microfilm index to the Midhurst PR, ESRO XA 14/9). In 1792 and almost certainly from his arrival he was in practice in the town as a solicitor. Universal British Directory, 1792. His will of 1791 was proved in 1796 (PRO PROB 11/1274 (copy ESRO AMS6326/99))
Richard's eldest son Richard Wardroper remained at Midhurst. In 1797 he married Frances Cutfield of Aldingbourne (SRS 35 442) and their children were baptised between 1798 and 1815. In 1808 he stood unsuccessfully for the coronership of the western division (SAC 71 51). Richard Wardroper the younger, presumably his son, was of Great James Street, Bedford Row, gent, in 1820 (GIL 1/78/101)
Charles Wardroper was established at Hawkhurst as a solicitor by 1818, in partnership with William Pain Beecham, but had retired by 1834; he resided at Seacox Heath in Etchingham. He was one of the trustees of the estate of the Eversfield family of Denne Park in Horsham, whose land at St Leonards was developed in the 1820s and 1830s (AMS6454, introduction; GIL 1/78)
For contemporary copies of a map of the borough produced for Edwin Wardroper by Charles Stevens in 1763, reproduced in William Durrant Cooper's History of Winchelsea (1850), see AMS5806/3 and WIN 2315
For letters written to John Collier by Edwin Wardroper, William Belchier, Albert, Arnold and Edward Nesbit and others concerning Winchelsea politics, 1747-1758, see SAY 141-153, 430-432, 450-579; for letters of Richard Wardroper concerning Collier's holdings of the manor of Iham, 1765-1770, see SAY 2729-2731
For the papers of Nesbitt's attorney Christopher Hull the younger of Hare Court, Inner Temple, 1766-1769, see SAS/WH 383-462, 475
For a brief history of the constituency in this period, see Namier and Brooke, The House of Commons, 1754-1790 (HMSO, 1964) 457-8. For a fuller narrative of the events covered by these documents, including a photograph of a portrait of Arnold Nesbitt, see Janet H Stevenson, 'Arnold Nesbitt and the Borough of Winchelsea' in Sussex Archaeological Collections 129 (1991), 183-94
Schedule of Documents at Petworth relating to Winchelsea
PHA1455 Thomas Browne's survey, 1759
PHA3373 map of Winchelsea by Charles Stephens, 1762 not copied
PHA6370 case-papers in Egremont v Belchier, 1761-62
PHA6632 vouchers, Sheephouse Farm, 1762-67 selective copies
PHA6633 vouchers, Winchelsea houses and marshland, 1762-65 selective copies
PHA6634 vouchers, Castle Farm, 1761-66 selective copies
PHA7593 tenants' agreement and bond to William Belchier, 1752
PHA8443 correspondence with and concerning Edwin Wardroper, 1761-1771
10H/C12 abstracts of title and conveyancing documents, [1486]-1762
NARRATIVE OF THE TITLES OF THE MANOR OF IHAM AND OF PROPERTIES IN WINCHELSEA PURCHASED BY LORD EGREMONT, [1486]-1762
Manor of Iham, purchased by Charles [Wyndham], earl of Egremont, in June 1762
On 6 October 1486 and 17 January 1506 the crown granted the manor of Iham to Richard Guldeford, kt, and to his heirs in tail male. By patent of 10 April 1610 the crown granted the estate to Henry Guldeford, kt, and to his heirs in tail male. On 8 January 1661 the crown granted the estate, described as the manor of Iham, the office of bailiff of Winchelsea, the creeks called the Camber otherwise Wainway and the Puddle, marshes called Camber Marsh and Salts and the advowsons of St Thomas and St Giles to Edward Guldeford, esq, to be held by a fee-farm rent of £20. On 14 December 1661 Guldeford and his trustees (Augustine Belson, esq and George Gery, gent) conveyed the manor to John Caryll the elder of Harting, esq and his trustees (Mervyn Touchet, esq and Francis Carrington, esq) with the exception of Camber Farm, occupied by William Dunke, which was let to Walter Everenden, esq and his trustee John Woolfe, gent for the lives of John and Thomas Guldeford at £51
On 12 and 13 May 1663 the estate was regranted to John Caryll and John Weston of London, esq, and the manor freed from the fee-farm rent of £20 to the crown, the payment of which by Guldeford being secured by a conditional conveyance of Camber Farm
On 4 July 1667 the findings of a commission dated 30 June 1596, which had resulted in the survey of salt marsh called The Camber at 1368a and produced a map, was confirmed by a jury
On 20 October 1674 John Weston of Sutton in Surrey and his wife Mary sold their moiety of the manor for £2580 to John Peacock of Heath House in Hampshire, esq, and to [trustees for Charles Bruning, gent] (Robert Oxenbridge, esq, John Dean, esq, William Carr, gent and Francis Bruning, gent)
On 28 and 29 April 1675 John Caryll the elder settled his moiety on himself for life, with successive remainders to his sons Richard and Philip Caryll in tail male. On 13 and 14 October 1697 Richard Caryll, his son John and their trustees (named) settled their moiety by recovery. On 26 March 1707 John Caryll purchased a quarter-share of the estate from the heirs of Charles Bruning (named)
On 12 July 1712 three-quarters of the manor was settled on the marriage of John, son of John Caryll, with Mary Mackenzie, only sister of William [Mackenzie], earl of Seaforth. On 25 and 26 December 1715 John Caryll the elder and his trustees mortgaged a quarter of the manor for £1050 to James Tooker, who assigned to Francis Sone on 20 and 21 April 1731. In January 1738 John Caryll of Ladyholt, his mother and grandmother settled the estate by recovery, and in the following June it was settled on Caryll's marriage with Dorothy, daughter of Richard [Molyneux], lord Molyneux
John Peacock, by his will of 1695, left his quarter-share of the estate to his nephew Andrew Matthew; it descended to his son Henry Matthew, who in 1725 joined John Caryll to convey part of Castle farm (34a 3r 2p, bounds), occupied by Thomas Cruttenden, to the Rye Harbour Commissioners. In 1749 administration of the goods of Henry Matthew was granted to his son Andrew Matthew
On 25 and 26 May 1748 John Caryll of Ladyholt mortgaged three-quarters of the estate to William Hamilton, esq (who had been a trustee of the settlement of 1738) for £1400, of which Caryll owed Hamilton £1150; further charges of 1749 and 1751 increased the mortgage debt
On 25 July 1752 William Belchier of Lombard Street, esq, bought the advowson of Winchelsea from George Woodward Grove and Thomas Peace, to whom it had been sold in June 1751 by John Caryll and Andrew Matthew. Matthew sold Belchier his quarter-share in the manor for £4300 on 3 and 4 August 1752, and the deed was enrolled in chancery (Matthew being a Roman Catholic) in 1755. In August 1753 John Caryll and his wife Dorothy agreed to sell their three-quarters share to Belchier for £12,350, part of which remained on mortgage to William Hamilton; the conveyance was executed in May 1755 and enrolled in September 1760
In December 1760 Belchier, who had borrowed £20,000 from the partnership funds of his bank, granted the manor to trustees for the benefit of himself and his partners (Ann widow of Edward Ironside and Philip How)
On 2 and 3 June 1762 the estate was bought for £20,000 by Charles [Wyndham], earl of Egremont. Part of the purchase-money was paid to the trustees of Belchier's bank and part to the executors of William Hamilton's will of 1753 (his brother Alexander Hamilton of Lincoln's Inn, his son William Gerard Hamilton and his nephew William Pitcairn of London, doctor of physic)
In 1754 an agreement had been reached concerning the portions charged on the estate in favour of John Caryll's sisters, Elizabeth Caryll, spinster and Catherine Frances Baptista (then deceased), formerly wife of Joseph Edward Gage. In 1761 Elizabeth Caryll of Ladyholt and in 1762 Gage, of Paris, released the estate from their claims on payments by Belchier of £500 and £1481 respectively
Two houses in Winchelsea and Castle Field in the liberty of Hastings, Winchelsea St Giles, purchased by Charles [Wyndham], earl of Egremont, in June 1762
Castle Field, purchased by Edward Odiarne in 1743
On 1 April 1651 John Bankes, yeoman and George Cheesman, yeoman, sold a piece of land of 1½a in Winchelsea St Leonard and a part of the Castle Field (7a) in St Leonard and St Thomas to Simon Mois of Winchelsea, jurat. By his will of 1 Feb 1660, Mois left the Castle Field to John and Thomas Benden, sons of Richard Benden, deceased
On 23 and 24 April 1705 Thomas Benden, butcher, and his wife Mary sold his moiety to his brother John Benden, butcher, who sold to Richard Weller, yeoman, on 2 and 3 February 1719. By his will of 28 June 1738, Weller left his two fields back to his kinsman John Benden, who mortgaged them for £100 to George Worge in the course of 1740, and in 1741 included them in the mortgage to Worge of a larger estate for £1050. In July 1741 the property was sold to John Benden the elder, butcher, and discharged from the mortgage, the term created by which was assigned to James Philcox, leather-cutter; in August Benden mortgaged Castle Field for £150 to Thomas Freebody, gent, who assigned to Thomas Sharpe, gent, in April 1742
On 19 and 20 October 1743 the field was sold by John Benden the elder, butcher and his wife Judith to Edward Odiarne of Winchelsea, gent and the mortgage-term assigned to William Marten, gent, in trust for him. It formed part of a final concord by which included property owned by Francis Tress, gent and his wife Elizabeth and Edward Gybbons, yeoman and his wife Mary
The Horsehead House and ¼a in the 9th quarter and the Paradise Orchard, purchased by Edward Odiarne in 1744
The Horsehead House, purchased by William Willes in 1727
On 24 November 1685 John Rippingale, cordwainer, mortgaged the property for £21 to John Hyland, distiller; it was described as
A messuage called The Horsehead House, an orchard and a little piece of ground (¼a) in the ninth quarter, occupied by James Austin
On 12 January 1688 the mortgage was assigned to Thomas Markwick. The freehold of the property passed to Francis Jenkins, cordwainer, and on 14 and 15 February 1696 his executors (Edward Marten and Moses Wilmshurst) sold it, subject to the mortgage, to Thomas Soane, carpenter. On 18 February 1696 Markwick's executor Samuel Jeake [of Rye] assigned the mortgage to Thomas Paine the younger, yeoman
On 20 March 1701 Thomas Soane and his wife Ann settled the property on the marriage of Thomas Cooper, carpenter and Ann Hicks, spinster, and the mortgage-term was assigned to Richard Seers, carpenter, for their benefit on 22 March
On 25 June 1706 Cooper mortgaged the property for £30 to John Hawkins
On 6 and 7 March 1721 Cooper's only daughter Mary Cooper of Battle sold the property, occupied by Ann Cooper, widow, to Thomas Martin of Crowhurst, gent for £63. It was described as
Messuage called The Horsehead House, and orchard [and a little piece of ground of ¾a deleted in some versions] (W,S,N: street; E: garden and ground called Paradise)
Martin, as Thomas Martin the elder, mortgaged this and other property for £100 to John Collier [of Hastings], gent, on 13 and 14 November 1722
On 24 and 25 July 1727 Martin sold the property to William Willes, clerk, to whose trustee Thomas Fuller, gent, the property was reconveyed by the mortgagee on 27 and 28 July 1727
The Paradise Orchard, purchased by William Willes in 1732
By his will of 23 December 1712, Samuel Newman of Winchelsea, jurat, left all his lands in Winchelsea to his youngest son Robert Newman at 21. On 20 and 21 October 1730 Robert Newman, gent, sold the property to William Willes, clerk. It was described as
A piece of land called Paradise Orchard and a stable or building and two little garden spots adjoining (1½a), occupied by William Willes and George Hood
On 10 June 1732 Henry Smith, salter, assigned several mortgages made by Robert Newman to Thomas Hussey, gent, in trust for the purchasers of Newman's estate: Maximilian Gott, esq, William Willes, clerk, Thomas Cruttenden, gent and Thomas Fuller, gent
The whole estate
On 22 and 23 May 1744 William Willes, clerk, sold the Horsehead House with its summer-house, buildings and gardens and the adjoining Paradise Orchard, stable and land, two acres in all, to Edward Odiarne, gent
By his will of 16 February 1753, Edward Odiarne bequeathed his two messuages, stable, malthouse, buildings and land in Winchelsea, occupied by himself and John Cogger, and his piece of land called Castle Field, to his niece Ann Odiarne. On 24 September 1757 she and her husband John Edward Wilson, clerk, granted a seven-year lease of the two houses, occupied by Wilson and John Cogger, to Thomas Martin of Winchelsea, yeoman, at £20
On 15 November 1757 Mr and Mrs Wilson settled the property, then described a messuage with malthouse, stables, gardens and a piece of land called Paradise (2½a), and a small messuage with the stables and the Castle Field (7a)
An opinion on the title was given by William Rivet on 5 July and on 28 and 29 November 1759 John Edward Wilson and his wife Ann were joined by the representatives of the trustees in whom mortgage-terms were vested (Thomas Fuller, farmer, son of Thomas Fuller and John Philcox, leather-cutter, son of James Philcox) and by Ann Wightwick, widow and Ann Coates, widow, to settle the property. An abstract of title was drawn by [Hugh] Hammerlsey and an opinion given by Beversham Filmer on 5 February 1760
John Edward Wilson agreed to sell the property to William Belchier of Lombard Street, esq, for £840 but no conveyance was executed although £600 was paid
On 7 May 1761 Wilson settled the remainder after his death on his wife Ann who, as Ann Wilson of New Romney, widow, was joined by her cousin Edward Odiarne, late of Rye, gent, purser of HM sloop Spye and her father's heir at law, to convey the property to Edwin Wardroper, gent, for the outstanding sum of £240 on 21 and 22 August 1761. The messuage, malthouse, stables and land called Paradise were occupied by Thomas Marten and Robert Lake, the small messuage and stable by Thomas Marten and John Cogger and the Castle Field by Joash Adcroft
On 1 May 1762 John Clarke, Thomas Ward and Abraham Ward, the three sons and executors of Martha, widow of John Hawkins (who had been granted a mortgage of the Horsehead House in 1706) assigned the term to Richard Wardroper in trust for his father Edwin Wardroper
On 2 and 3 June 1762 Edwin Wardroper of Rye, gent, William Belchier of Lombard Street, esq and Richard Wardroper of Rye, gent conveyed the property for £840 to Charles [Wyndham], earl of Egremont
Six houses in the 14th quarter of Winchelsea, purchased by Charles [Wyndham], earl of Egremont, in July 1762
In 1752 William Belchier bought two houses and land in the 14th quarter and built four more houses on the land. They were conveyed to Lord Egremont on 27 and 28 July 1762 for the consideration which had already passed on the sale of the manor of Iham at the beginning of June
On 25 November 1689 Daniel Clarke, carpenter, mortgaged a garden and orchard in the 14th quarter, on which a house had stood and been burnt down and on which another had been built (N: road; S: land formerly Richard Chesson, sometime Daniel White, esq; W: land of John Sennock, late Thomas Farnham), to George Head, gent, for £13
On 13 and 14 February 1712 Clarke's grand-daughter Ann, wife of William French, husbandman, sold the property to James Briggs, yeoman and the mortgage-term was assigned to Ralph Norton, gent, in trust for Briggs
On 19 and 20 January 1713 Briggs sold the property to William Tidgewell, fisherman, who mortgaged it for £10 to Alice Stretton, spinster, on 26 January 1713. Tidgewell's will, proved on 21 February 1720, left the house in which he lived (bought from James Briggs), a spot of land (bought from Thomas Cooper), deceased, and the cliff or pendents of the hill (bought from John Sampson, Ann Cooper and her son William Reeves) to his friend William Garland of Winchelsea, weaver, who settled the estate by fine in 1721
By his will of 5 May 1746, Garland left the property to his wife Mary Garland for life with remainder to his four daughters: Elizabeth wife of Edward Catt, farmer, Sarah wife of Thomas Alce, carpenter, Mary Garland and Lucy Garland
On 29 and 30 November 1752 these beneficiaries sold the property to Wiliam Belchier; Mary was then the wife of John Calloway, carpenter and Lucy the wife of Robert George Jenkins, tanner. The following day it was agreed to levy a fine, to which Joseph Rimington, shopkeeper and his wife Mary were to be parties. The property was described as
Two messuages, a stable and land in the 14th quarter, occupied by Mary Garland, widow and Samuel Honeysett, before William Garland and John Pavis (N,E: road; S: house and garden of Ann Eyles, widow, before Daniel White, esq, before Richard Chesson; W: house and garden of Edward Rubie, before John Sennock, before Thomas Farnham)
A 99-year lease of part of the ground from Belchier to Nathaniel Pigrim, to run from 25 December 1752, was prepared but not executed
On 27 and 28 July 1762 William Belchier sold the property to Charles [Wyndham], lord Egremont. The original two houses were occupied by John Knight the elder and [blank] Peadle and three of the four new houses by Mary Garland, Joash Adcroft and William Norton; the fourth was empty
Correspondence
AMS6541/1 1761-1771J Laverick, Harcourts Buildings, Inner Temple, for William Belchier, to [Hugh H]ammersley
AMS6541/1/1 20 Nov 1761Contents:
Arrangements for the payment of the rent from the estate and the tenants' bonds; needs an answer concerning letting the houses and the sale of the estate late [John Edward] Wilson, for which Mr Norton is ready to pay
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye [to Hugh Hammersley]
AMS6541/1/2 23 Nov 1761Contents:
The tenants will be late with their rent and are unable to pay the bond; [William] Belchier accepted £2300 as a composition from the seven on whom he had distrained; encloses a copy of their agreement [AMS6541/2/7], still unexecuted; Belchier's refusal to complete purchase from [John Edward] Wilson, who has died; expects the writ for the Winchelsea election any day; will use his endeavors to compel Mr Belchier to do the tenants justice in regard to the bond
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Hugh] Hammerlsey, Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street
AMS6541/1/3 1 Feb 1762Contents:
Has ignored the report that Lord Egremont has declined the purchase from [William] Belchier, but as [Arnold] Nesbitt has begun to repair the houses, pretends he has bought the estate and threatens to turn out the tenants, he would welcome a letter to assure them that Egremont intends to buy, 'the tenants being very uneasy as they expect every thing bad from Nesbitt's resentment'
William Belchier, Lombard Street to Hugh Hammersley
AMS6541/1/4 1 Jul 1762Contents:
Has sent the papers concerning his purchase of Mr [John Edward] Wilson's estate, which Lord Egremont has agreed to buy; 4 Mar 1762, with receipt for legal charges
Thomas Frewen to Mr [Edwin] Wardroper, Rye
AMS6541/1/5 nd, [Apr 1762]Contents:
The whereabouts of the conveyance of a house and spot of ground in Winchelsea from Widow [Mary] Gayland [recte Garland] and others to [William] Belchier, which TF drew ten years before; the old deeds handed over with the court-books of the manor of Iham; 'I am really inclined to believe that Mr Belchier has them himself if he would give himself the trouble to search for them'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Hugh] Hammerlsey, Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street
AMS6541/1/6 14 Apr 1762Contents:
The whereabouts of [John] Hawkins' mortgage [of 1706]: his 'representatives live near me but as they are seamen cannot be certain when to meet with them'; could get a conveyance from [William] Garland's heirs 'which I would readily do to oblige my Lord but not upon Belchier's account'; the Rye Harbour bill has passed without new commissioners for want of Lord Egremont's being well enough to look after it
William Belchier, Lombard Street to Hugh Hammersley
AMS6541/1/7 17 Apr 1762Contents:
Has heard from Mr [Thomas] Frewen about the writings; has he mentioned to Lord Egremont the interest on the bond, and the power of attorney to [his trustee] George Thomson of Greenfield in Shropshire, esq?
E[dwin] Wardroper Rye, to [Hugh] Hammersley
AMS6541/1/8 18 May 1762Contents:
Has received the drafts of [William] Garland's conveyance from [Thomas] Frewen, though Belchier should be pressed to pay the demands of [Thomas] Alce and others on the estate 'otherwise such kind of people are apt to cast reflections which tho' his lordship may never hear are best avoided and no handle left for them'; 'the other executor of [the mortgagee John] Hawkins is not yet come home, though expected every tide'; encloses AMS6541/1/9
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [William Belchier]
AMS6541/1/9 18 May 1762Contents:
Enclosed in AMS6541/1/8 has received the drafts from [Thomas] Frewen; the demands of [Thomas] Alce and Mrs [Mary] Garland before they will sign
Note of E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye
AMS6541/1/10 9 Jun 1762Contents:
To [Hugh] Hammersley to pay £26 5s to Thomas Dodson
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/11 7 Sep 1762Contents:
His tenant Edward Catt has hired a little house with a farm and wishes to quit his holding of 30 acres; has heard nothing of Mr Butler's deputation
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Hugh Hammersley]
AMS6541/1/12 25 Sep 1762Contents:
John Hasle, a copyholder of Iham, has requested a court; would HH bring down the manor book if he comes to survey Lady [Frances] Powell's estate; the manor is small and in danger of being lost, and two or three tenants dead and their heirs unadmitted
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/13 4 Nov 1762Contents:
Has attended the Rye Harbour commissioners, who have referred the repairs to any surveyor he appoints; recommends [William] Green of the Office of Ordnance, employed some years in surveys and works upon this coast and now at Brighton, 'much the best qualified of anybody hereabouts'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/14 14 Jul 1763Contents:
Joash Adcoft's wool is now sold and his rent will be paid; [John] Parnell is in possession of the place of supervisor and [his son-in-law Walter] Gybbon has entered upon the farm
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/15 21 Jan 1764Contents:
Rents; has not received Mr [William] Norton's, who is in London; the land has suffered for want of repairs; the sheep-pound quite down; Mr Norton to quit the houses at Lady Day; has written to Mr Brown with proposed clauses for the Rye Harbour bill for the preservation of the estate against the sea; requests the return of a mislaid bond, which has been paid
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/16 21 Feb 1764Contents:
Needs instructions for letting the houses built by [William] Belchier and let to Mr [William] Norton, who quits at Lady Day; 'the people will be entirely destitute of houses if your lordship should suffer Mr Norton to continue them, besides the new houses are got ready for the Frenchmen who now dwell there'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/17 1764Contents:
List of four houses to be let to John Johnson, Richard Tireman, John Peters and Richard Stileman; a court should be held for the manor of Iham; 3 Mar 1764
Answered 13 Mar 1764
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/18 15 Mar 1764Contents:
EW's son will bring the leases to be signed and collect the court rolls and EW's bond; requests a lease to [his son-in-law Walter] Gybbon which the late Lord Egremont promised when he provided the late tenant [John] Parnell a place in the customs
E[dwin] Wardroper, Rye to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/19 14 Apr 1764Contents:
Has received the [manor of Iham] court-books and sends a rental [AMS6541/2/22]; his proposed visit with Lord Egremont would be a good time to hold a court; the state of the pounds has been a hindrance to the tenant, who has been obliged to set up wattles during the lambing season; encloses an account of the cost of building one pound and repairing another [AMS6541/2/23]
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/20 1 Dec 1764Contents:
Will obey his commands concerning Mr [Thomas] Sewell [MP for Winchelsea]; could prevail on two or three of the Iham manor tenants to travel to London in order to hold a court
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/21 1765Contents:
Solicits a lease of two acres to a person who wishes to make a kiln and burn bricks for the navigable sluice proposed by the Rye Harbour Trustees, which adjoins Lord Egremont's land; the carriage of bricks from the nearest kilns being 4 or 5 shillings a thousand; 19 Feb 1765
Answered 23 Feb 1765
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/22 26 Feb 1765Contents:
Details of James Jeakin of Rye, carpenter and brickmaker; who has a kiln seven miles away; requests a 21-year lease of five acres of [his son-in-law Walter] Gybbon's farm; Mr [Thomas] Baldwin has seen the land and heard Jeakin's proposal; once the harbour work is over 'I apprehend it will for the future be a very great convenience to this town and neighbourhood, where bricks for building are extremely dear'; shall send two of the [Iham] copyholders to Petworth
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/23 14 May 1765Contents:
Has held a court for [Iham] manor, but the heirs of [John] Collier and [Joseph] Offley still not admitted; proposes to mark the boundaries, 'known to a very few persons and those pretty ancient', with stones or posts, since derelict land may in future be inclosed; method of ditching and fencing; a good estate of about £200 a year, with little or no building and half a mile away, to be sold
Thomas Baldwin, Petworth to [Edwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea
AMS6541/1/24 6 Aug 1765Contents:
Captain [Thomas] Isemonger will set out with the posts and rails in a few days and deliver them to the new harbour; TB will follow in about three weeks; 28 Jul 1765, with receipt by TI to EW for £31 10s for freight
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/25 6 Aug 1765Contents:
[Arnold] Nesbitt's visit, threatening to displace those with customs places; [John] Parnell the supervisor actually displaced; the fencing just arrived; Thomond's tenant [Joash] Adcroft has become Nesbitt's chief agent
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/26 5 Oct 1765Contents:
[Arnold] Nesbitt's visit with Mr Macguire to canvass the borough; encloses a list of freemen [AMS6541/?2/28]; the officers would rather quit their employment than join him; requires advice of Thomond and [Thomas Orby] Hunter on his future conduct
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond
AMS6541/1/27 1766Contents:
Recovered from his disorder and intends to come up to take measures for the mayoralty election at Easter; has been removed from the patent place; 25 Jan 1766
Endorsed: answered 28 Jan and desired him to come 11 or 12 February
E[dwin] Wardroper to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/28 1761-1766Contents:
Has sent as much of the account to 24 March 1766 as has been received; will bring a sketch of disbursements since 1761, which amounts to over £3000; Monday evening [?3 Feb 1766]
[Edwin] Wardroper, Fleece Inn, Tothill Street, Westminster, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/29 10 May 1766Contents:
Came to town to defend the attack made by [Albert] Nesbitt; should he succeed in putting out their outdwelling freemen he must lose his own and preserve their majority; has a tenant to propose for [Joash] Adcroft's land
[Edwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea to [Alicia Maria Wyndham], countess of Egremont, London
AMS6541/1/30 30 Jul 1766Contents:
His return from the assizes, his daughter's illness and death; has defeated [Albert] Nesbitt
[Edwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/31 23 Aug 1766Contents:
[Richard] Stileman a very substantial farmer for the land of [Joash] Adcroft, who has hired more land of [Arnold] Nesbitt and intends to drive his stock off at Michaelmas; 'Mr Nesbitt having failed in his scheme I hope will give us no further trouble'
[Edwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/32 11 Oct 1766Contents:
Has employed labourers to cut the thistles on [Joash] Adcroft's land, a tenant for which ([John] Knight having refused it) must be decided; again proposes [Richard] Stileman; 2 Oct 1766
Endorsed: answered from Shortgrove [in Essex]
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/33 21 Oct 1766Contents:
Rumoured departure of Sir Thomas Sewell, [MP], to Ireland; [Thomas Orby] Hunter's help in defending lawsuits; [James] Murray 'said he was a great enemy to Mr Nesbitt and wished for nothing so much as an opportunity to oppose him at Winchelsea in which he did not care what expence he might be at'; [Arnold] Nesbitt here and intends to propose his brother [Albert or Alexander]; 'PS my hand was so weak I could not write the letter myself
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/34 30 Oct 1766Contents:
[Richard] Tireman to vacate the living, which is small and requires constant attendance; mentions Mr Goodwin, a very worthy clergyman in this neighbourhood who has a family is forty years of age and no preferment, he would be very agreeable to the inhabitants, would reside here and might serve your family in regard to the borough interest as Mr Tireman has always done' [?recte R Gibson, curate of Pett]
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/35 11 Nov 1766Contents:
Rumours concerning Sir Thomas Sewell; [Arnold] Nesbitt's failure to control the election for mayor despite the intervention of the ministry, 'most of those he did get might have been prevented if you could have been prevailed on to use the means I proposed'; his losses through Thomond's indifference; 'the power I have acquired here is of long standing and of such a nature as can't easily be taken from me'; Mr [Richard] Stileman has entered on [Joash] Adcoft's farm
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/36 1766-1767Contents:
Despite [Arnold] Nesbitt's defeat, has heard from [Gibbs] Crawford that he expects the affair of [John] Johnson and [John] Easton to be tried at the next assizes; the advantages of a trial at which they must succeed; he will communicate with [Thomas Orby] Hunter; 22 Jun 1766
For Thomond's report of a conversation with Edwin Wardroper concerning his ability to stand by the Egremont interest, 13 Nov 1767, see The House of Commons, 1750-1790
Thomas Orby Hunter, Southampton, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/37 1768Contents:
Although Wardroper's interest is affected by the forthcoming case, he is unwilling to pay for the defence; Wardroper must undertake it, as [Gibbs] Crawfurd is gone into the north to Sir Laurence Dundas, and will probably use [the attorney Isaac] Bargrave, whom he has always consulted in his Winchelsea suits; at Southampton for the benefit of sea bathing for his wife's health; 29 Jun 1768
Endorsed: write to Wardroper in consequence of this, 3 Jul 1768
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/38 6 Jul 1768Contents:
Has been to London to investigate the tactics of [Arnold] Nesbitt, who has engaged three of the most able counsel; after Sir Fletcher Norton, who cannot be afforded again, Mr [?John] Morton might be had for 50 or 60 guineas; needs funds as he is £300 or £400 out of pocket
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/39 9 Jul 1768Contents:
Mr [?John] Moreton sets out for Chester before the assizes, so some other person must be found 'if you should not choose to trust the conduct of these causes to Mr Burrell'
E[dwin] Wardroper, London to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/40 20 Jul 1768Contents:
In London to settle the special jury; Sir Fletcher Norton sees no need to attend the trial but [?Peter] Burrell 'is of a different opinion or rather doubtful of his own abilities'; Norton had heard of their enquiries after Mr [?John] Moreton, 'and seemed not pleased about it'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Boreham Street [in Wartling], to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/41 3 Aug 1768Contents:
Verdicts against [John] Johnson and [John] Easton through the misconduct of [counsel, the case failing on the pleadings; this will encourage them to proceed against [Nathaniel] Dawes the mayor; encloses reports of the case from two [London] newspapers
Thomas Orby Hunter, Southampton to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/42 9 Aug 1768Contents:
Encloses AMS6541/1/43; the loss of the case may provoke an [election] petition; whether to apply for a new [trial depends on Sir Fletcher [Norton]'s opinion
E[dwin] Wardroper, Boreham Street [in Wartling], to [Thomas Orby Hunter]
AMS6541/1/43 3 Aug 1768Contents:
Enclosed in AMS6541/1/42; fuller version AMS6541/1/42; is mortified with the affair but blames poor counsel
Thomas Orby Hunter, Southampton, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/44 10 Aug 1768Contents:
Does not suspect collusion by Wardroper, as 'it was more his own cause than ours', but his show of indifference made to induce them to pay for the case; an agent to assist [Gibbs] Crawfurd, whose return to London near; 'I never was more strongly in opinion with your lordship, than in the point of not leaving any thing entirely to the conduct of Wardroper'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to Thomas Orby Hunter, esq, Southampton
AMS6541/1/45 16 Aug 1768Contents:
Enclosing AMS6541/1/46 and enclosed in AMS6541/1/47; new trials should be obtained or a move made against Tom Marten and [John] Peters, to preserve their majority for [Nathaniel] Dawes [as mayor]; is convinced that residence is not necessary, and that they are rid of [Arnold] Nesbitt, his brothers and friends
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Gibbs] Crawfurd
AMS6541/1/46 [4 or 5 Aug 1768]Contents:
Enclosed in AMS6541/1/45; full account of the trial at assizes before Baron [Sidney Stafford] Smyth and Serjeant [Richard] Leigh, and the conduct of [?Peter] Burrell ('sensible of his lack of weight'), [James] Wallace, Mr Bishop and [?William] Baker of counsel, who 'quarreled among themselves for the diversion of the audience'; the political situation in Winchelsea and the consequences of loss; '[John] Parnell is growing worse; his death and some favourable alterations elsewhere may turn things more in our favour'
Thomas Orby Hunter, Southampton, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/47 1768Contents:
Enclosing AMS6541/1/45 and 46; [Gibbs] Crawfurd advises that the verdict strengthens the position of the old freemen; will return to Waverley [in Surrey] on 14 September to meet his daughter and Mr Fortescue before their return to Ireland; proposes a meeting in London; 3 Sep 1768
Answered 20 Sep
Thomas Orby Hunter, Waverley near Farnham, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/48 21 Sep 1768Contents:
Enclosing AMS6541/1/49, brought by young [Richard] Wardroper; arrangements for a meeting in London with [Edwin] Wardroper, whose plight 'a storm which has been long gathering
Copy, E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, to [Thomas Orby] Hunter
AMS6541/1/49 17 Sep 1768Contents:
Enclosed in AMS6541/1/48; must leave Winchelsea on account of the daily trouble and expense caused by N[esbi]t and his agents; [EW's son-in-law] 'Mr [Walter] Gibbon alone is easy in circumstances but can't of himself keep up much interest' and Wardroper's son [Richard] would be advised to 'try his fortune some where else than to stay here and starve'; 'three years ago I was happy, now how miserable'; will send the corporation books and papers to [Gibbs] Crawford
Notes
AMS6541/1/50 1768Contents:
[Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond's] notes of negotiations with [Edwin and Richard] Wardroper; 30 Sep 1768: EW's determination to stay, RW's to leave the country; their request for £5000 refused; promise to assist petition and deliver documents; [Gibbs] Crawfurd to inspect chancery bill against EW; 1 Oct 1768: EW afraid of imprisonment for fraud and prefers to fly to France; scheme to settle EW's debts upon which 'he now promises everything for our service'; 7 Oct 1768: EW will not have a commission [of bankruptcy] taken out against him; R W will not remain at Winchelsea; Nathaniel Dawes should be paid
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond
AMS6541/1/51 1768Contents:
Requests an appointment to communicate the counsel's opinion; has had an interview with the gentlemen [Edwin and Richard Wardroper], 'of whom he begins to have a much more unfavourable opinion than... during the whole negotiation'; Thursday noon [?6 Oct 1768]
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/52 1768Contents:
Encounter with 'the two gentlemen' [Edwin and Richard Wardroper] and communication to them of Thomond's offer of the salary to [Edwin] 'even if he should be obliged to go abroad', and that he should maintain only sufficient residence to retain his title if not; but that nothing further could be offered to D[awe]s; they are likely to comply; Saturday Night [?8 Oct 1768]
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond
AMS6541/1/53 1768Contents:
Encloses AMS6541/1/54 if his proposal is not accepted, Wardroper intends 'to save from the wreck as much as he can, and retreat to France for the remainder of his life'; has sent the letters to Lord Egremont's tenants [warning them not to pay their rents to Wardroper]; 11 Oct 1768
Answered 12 Oct
'Copy, E[dwin] W[ardroper] to [Gibbs] Crawfurd
AMS6541/1/54 10 Oct 1768Contents:
Has no objection to going to France, 'but how then are the people at W[inchelsea] to be kept together', necessary so long as [Arnold] Nesbitt's views remain; 'my personal interest has hitherto with difficulty prevailed, but with absence and known poverty it will soon cease'; the scheme would not preserve his dignity, but if set free of his difficulties he would remain their debtor and slave forever
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond
AMS6541/1/55 15 Oct 1768Contents:
Has written to [Edwin] Wardroper for the court rolls and books; his servant met [Edwin and Richard] Wardroper near Rye, 'and I fancy the next news will be that of the old one's being in France, probably never to return'; will consult Sir Fletcher Norton on his return concerning [Nathaniel] Dawes's defence; flattering expression of his willingness to undertake the Winchelsea legal work
Walter Gybbon to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/56 16 Oct 1768Contents:
Has paid the Michaelmas rent to [Edwin] Wardroper who has not called for the Lady-day rent, which is due; he and Mr [Richard] Stileman shall wait on his further orders
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond
AMS6541/1/57 18 Oct 1768Contents:
Encloses AMS6541/1/58; the whole Chatham party intending to resign and [William Pitt] has done so; 'I hope this will prevent a petition'
E[dwin] Wardroper, Winchelsea, [to Gibbs Crawfurd]
AMS6541/1/58 15 Oct 1768Contents:
Will send two court-books of the manor of Iham; requests the return of his bonds; has received the rents to 29 September 1767 but no more; the [town] books and records shall be lodged with the mayor; encloses paper regarding freemen's sons [not present]; 'I purpose to set out in a fortnight'
Walter Gybbon to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/59 23, 24 Apr 1769Contents:
Negotiation with the foreman of Rye Harbour concerning land needed to lay earth dug from the new channel; will consult Mr Thomas Lamb tomorrow but suspects they have no intention of taking more than half an acre; postscript that Mr Lamb, 'who seems to have the whole direction of it' says Mr [William] Green the engineer will set out the land required; likely benefit to the estate but immediate loss of the salts to WG; advises an amicable settlement 'for if the harbour goes on it will benefit the estate that way, and if it is dropped (as I confess I think more probable) the land reverts of course to the estate as derelict land contiguous, so that in all probability you will be paid for the land and in a few years it will fall to you again'
Walter Gybbon, Rye, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/60 1769Contents:
Has agreed for the purchase by the commissioners at £33 an acre for 1a 0r 20p fresh land and at £15 for 16a 2r 4p salts, the same terms as the rest of the owners; will attend the next meeting and have the land measured; has provided for the securing of the sewer; 2 May 1769
Endorsed: answered May 10th and gave notice that I should send a person to receive and settle rents for Lord Egremont
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/61 20 Jul 1769Contents:
Encloses an account of the rents [not present]; John Knight's farm occupied by [Walter] Gybbon; arrears on houses due to [John] Johnson being in France; the houses of [Richard] Stileman and [Richard] Tireman 'were kept as residences for their votes and never intended to be paid for by them'; details of tenants; [Joash] Adcroft's application to hire [Richard] Stileman's land, whose manner of occupying 'no temptation to a landlord to allow him to keep it', being mostly let to undertenants; [Edwin] Wardroper unlikely ever to return; his financial dealings; no new freemen made except [Arnold] Nesbitt himself
Walter Gybbon, Winchelsea, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien], Lord Thomond, Dover Street
AMS6541/1/62 28 Aug 1769Contents:
Regrets Thomond's displeasure, probably brought about by his enemies, and withdraws his claim to compensation from the [Rye Harbour Commissioners]; the repairs were for two years; history of the tenure of land, discussed with Thomond 'when you was down at the election'; cannot be blamed for [Edwin] Wardroper's conduct
G[ibbs] Crawfurd, Essex Street, to [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond]
AMS6541/1/63 20 Nov 1769Contents:
Sends an account of the rents to 25 March 1769 [not present]; has seen Young [Richard] Wardroper, who has been instructed by his father not to deliver the court-books until the notes are given up; as the father is in France, never to return, and the son going very soon to Jamaica, recommends their delivery or else the books 'may very probably be lost'
Drafts [Percy Wyndham O'Brien, Lord Thomond] to his sister [-in-law Alicia Maria Wyndham], lady Egremont
AMS6541/1/64 23 Nov 1769Contents:
Instructions, if she approves, for finding [Edwin] Wardroper's bonds and notes and delivering them to [Gibbs] Crawfurd, 'then I think all transactions with those scoundrels will be finished'; draft to Gibbs Crawfurd, esq, to receive the papers; has taken no steps to fill the vacancy caused by the loss of 'our most valuable friend' [Thomas Orby Hunter, MP on 20 Oct 1769]; condoles with GC on the loss of 'so sincere a friend'
Walter Gybbon, Winchelsea, to Gibbs Crawfurd, Stamp Office, Lincoln's Inn
AMS6541/1/65 5 Mar 1771Contents:
Not surprised that the report of his failure to measure the salts came from Mr T[homas] L[amb], who claims the wall for the harbour; history of the rights to the road along the wall, originally allowed by Mr [John] Caryll; will have the canal measured as soon as it is finished; describes the process, and explains the meaning of the words colt and foreland; has sent a hare but very few killed, 'as I cannot keep the poachers off and you forgot to procure me the [gamekeeper's] deputation I desired'; requests instructions for the houses of [Thomas Orby] Hunter, [John] Johnson and Old [John] Knight; 'Mrs G was brought to bed last Friday, has another boy'