Catalogue description LOVEDEN PAPERS

Estate and family papers of the Loveden family of Buscot

ACCOUNTS: Thomas Baker's cash book, c.1705-10; Edward Loveden Loveden's cash books, 1773-1808 (incomplete), day book, 1791-1795, and receipt books, 1795-1805; Elizabeth Loveden's cash books, 1784-1788

BUSINESS RECORDS: papers concerning shares in the New River Water Works [Herts], 1702-1791, the River Lee Company, 1767-1778, and the Thames & Severn Canal Navigation, 1783-1819; Buscot Lock toll accounts, 1797-1808; papers re cutting of canal between Ashby Wolds, Leics, and Leicester, 1786; papers of John Darker re Newhall Colliery, Derbyshire, 1780-1782; papers of Edward Loveden Loveden re Pembrokeshire collieries, 1783-1784; accounts of African goods, 1747; estimate for horse-powered engine, 19c

CORRESPONDENCE: correspondence of Edward Loveden Loveden, 1777-1822; of Pryse Pryse, c.1822-1849; and of Pryse Loveden, 1860

ESTATE RECORDS: accounts for building of Buscot Park, 1779-1784; plan and elevation of stables, c.1790; inventories of linen, 1773-1832, and plate, 1776-1826; cellar stock books, 1795-1818; housekeeper's accounts, 1783-1834 (incomplete); steward's accounts, 1788-1819 (incomplete); meat accounts, 1819; coal and salt accounts, 1829-1839; garden memoranda book, 1781-1791; gardener's accounts, 1786-1822 (incomplete); stable accounts, 1786-1790, 1814-1822; kennel accounts, 1786-1822 (incomplete); gamekeeper's accounts, 1795-1822; coachman's accounts, 1805-1822; miscellaneous estate and household bills and receipts, c.1740-1836; terriers of Buscot estate, 1538-[?1557]; survey of Buscot, Eaton Hastings, Faringdon, [Little] Coxwell and Stanford [in-the-Vale] estates, 1795-1801; cottage rental, 1801-1810; agreement for management of Buscot manor, 1638; farming memorandum and account book, 1777-1778; stock sale accounts, 1777-1778, 1821-1822; farming accounts, 1792-1822 (incomplete); labourers' wages accounts, c.1770-1804 (incomplete); Park Farm stock book, 1798-1810; stock and farm produce accounts, 1798-1822 (incomplete); grain accounts, 1788-1807; bailiff's accounts, 1785-1804; John Powell's accounts, 1789-1795; building and repair accounts, 1804-1806; John Fidel's accounts, 1831-1832; timber accounts, 1832; appointment of gamekeeper, 1714/5; correspondence accounts, 1812-1816; papers re taxes, 1813-1815; statements of disposal of purchase money on sale of Buscot estate, 1860; inventory of trees on an estate at West Challow, 1778; option re liability for tithes of woodland in Eaton Hastings, late 18c.; papers re Collings Ground, Faringdon, 1720-1742; rental of property in Faringdon, South Newington, Oxon, and London, c.1773-1775; miscellaneous papers re Berkshire estates, 1784-1822; papers of Thomas Townsend of Cirencester, Glos, re his estate, 1753-1756; accounts of John Timbrell, Cirencester, 1776-1789; terrier of Queniborough manor, Leics, 1752; papers re inclosure of Queniborough, 1794-1796; rentals of John Darker's estates, c.1775-1789; accounts of the same, 1785-1790; miscellaneous re the same, 1785-1801; inventory of furniture and effects at Edward Loveden Loveden's house in Queen's Square, London, 1785; bills and receipts re Edward Loveden Loveden's London expenses, 1817; terriers of estate at South Newington, Oxon, 1745; Woodstock, Oxon, estate accounts (various), 1813-1830; inventory of furniture and effects at [Elizabeth Nash's] house in Clapham, Surrey, 1785; tax accounts on land at Norbiton, Surrey, 1798-1799; inventory of Edward Loveden Loveden's property at a house at Bulford, Wilts, 1812-1813, details of his visits there, 1812-1815, and household accounts, 1812-1814; tracings of maps of land in Wales, n.d.; Cardiganshire sheep accounts, 1788-1790; bond for payment of rent for property in Ireland, 1640; miscellaneous sale particulars, 1784-1803; and papers of William Chapman, Edward Loveden Loveden's agent, 1798-1814

FAMILY PAPERS: Loveden family: statutes staple, 1557, 1619-1630, 1649, 1725; assignments of wardship of John Loveden of Lambourn, minor, 1584; deed of covenant to pay legacies to Walter Loveden's children, 1585; memoranda of births of Loveden children, c.1588, 1661, 1695; bond re George Scudamore's trip to Constantinople, 1614; marriage settlements, 1620-1653; bond re legacy of Lady Katherine Cornwaleys, 1631; probates, 1652-1661, 1682, 1714; settlement by Roger Loveden on his daughters, 1659; miscellaneous, 1634-1719

Edward Loveden Loveden : bank pass books, 1783-1817; funeral bills and receipts for his second wife, Elizabeth, 1788; admon of Elizabeth Loveden, 1789; papers re division of estate of Thomas Lintall, 1799-1817; correspondence with R Weeks, suitor of his daughter Jane, 1808-1809

Pryse family : draft marriage settlement of John Pughe and Elizabeth Scudamore, 1708; Pryse Pryse's accounts, 1784-1792; text of funeral sermon of Margaret Pryse, 1798; marriage settlement of Henry, Viscount Ashbrook and Deborah Freind, 1802; portrait of Pryse Pryse, n.d.; list of L[oveden's] Pryse's beagles, 1907

Darker family : Richard Darker's pass book, 1740-1747; John Darker's pass book, 1772-1784, and papers, 1777-1779

Nash family : William Nash's cash books, 1754-1772; Joseph Nash's cash books, 1766-1778, and ledger, 1766-1773

Miscellaneous : probates or copy wills of William Beach, 1790; Thomas Blagrave, 1585/6, 1699/1700; Philip Boxe, 1654/5; Philip Box, 1681; Edward Coles, 1785; Avice Collins or Ward, 1766; Elizabeth Dearing, 1634; Ann Lambert, 1772; John Lewes, 1773; Thomas Mooren, 1668; John Ridley, 1685; Mary Roberts, 1746; Elizabeth Sheen, 1780; and Francis Syms, 1684

LEGAL RECORDS : depositions in Stonor vs Loveden, c.1570; injunctions in Loveden vs Top, 1603, and Loveden vs Gardyner, 1609; papers re suits over inclosure of Buscot manor, 1614-1634/5; papers re various suits involving John Loveden and other relatives, 1622-1627; papers re Loveden vs Holcrofte, 1625-1627; answers of defendants in Smyth vs Loveden; papers re Taylor, Gilmore and Loveden vs Loveden, 1630/1-1636; appointment of proctors in Court of Arches by Joanna Loveden, 1639; papers re Lee, Gilmore, Deering and Loveden vs Loveden, 1657; deposition in Yate vs Loveden, 1685; release of actions in Ward als Collins vs Ward als Collins, 1721/2; papers re Gilpin vs Stibbs, 1737-1761; pedigree (evidence in Loveden vs Green), 1745; papers re Shuttleworth and Fettiplace vs Fettiplace, 1744-1791; brief in Loveden vs Hunt, 1774; opinion re legal settlement of George Green, 1789; draft case re marriage settlement of Margaret Loveden, c.1803; papers re Loveden vs Loveden (divorce case), 1809-1810; bill of complaint in Herbert vs Denniston, 1824

MANORIAL RECORDS : Buscot manor survey (one page only), c.1630; court roll, 1775

OFFICIAL RECORDS: army commissions, 1683, 1706/7; militia accounts, 1803-1808; Faringdon inclosure act, 1773, and copy of award, 1773; election accounts at a Gloucestershire election, 18c., Edward Loveden Loveden's election accounts, Abingdon, 1784-1785; correspondence of Edward Loveden Loveden re Abingdon election, 1789; ms list of electors in Faringdon, Forest, Ganfield, Wallingford and Wantage divisions, c.1790s; part of ms list of Abingdon electors, 1802; Shaftesbury, Dorset, poll books c. 1806-1807; parliamentary papers, 1845; Quarter Sessions commission to examine Abingdon and Reading Houses of Correction, 1782; Buscot land tax assessment, 1784

MAPS AND PLANS : plans of Buscot Wharf, c.1780; Buscot, mid 19c.; an estate in North Buscot, mid 19c.; Mile House Farm, Eaton Hastings, late 18c.; land in Pitchcomb, Glos, 17c.; and an estate at Long Handborough, Oxon, 1818

PARISH AND CHARITY RECORDS : presentation to Buscot rectory, 1573; grants of advowson, 1619, 1782; abstract of Thomas Horde's charity, 1813

TITLE DEEDS : deeds of property in Abingdon, 1796; Balking; 1794; Buscot, 1190-1800; Great Coxwell, 1749-1801; Little Coxwell, 1749-1792; Eaton Hastings, 1642-1801; Faringdon, 1547-1787; Hinton Waldrist, 1642; Lambourn, 1551-1801; Stanford-in-the-Vale, 1773-1794; Buckingham, Bucks, 1718/9; Llanbadarn Fawr and Llanfihangel Glyn, co Cardigan, 1786; Newhall and Stanton, co Derby, 1786-1800; Chelmsford, Essex, 1339-1523; Margaretting, Essex, 1381; Plaistow, Essex, 1786-1787; various parishes, Glos, 1631-1760; Pensholt, West Meon and Catherington, Hants, c.1649; Pennington, Hants, 1591; Sapley, co Huntingdon, 1787; Oldham, Lancs, 1655; various parishes, Leics, 1786-1787; London, 1547 [a former chapel], 1776-1779; various parishes, Northants, 1776-1792; various parishes, Oxon, 1417-1774; Southwark, Surrey, 1786; West Tarning, Sussex, 1690; various parishes, Wilts, 1622-1736; and soapworks in Ireland, 1635

MISCELLANEOUS : Great Seal of the Commonwealth, 1648; draft sermons, 1755; catalogue of paintings at the Luxembourg Palace, 1762, household recipes, c.1780-c.1835; satirical verses on Charles Dundas, MP, n.d.: copy petitions of Katherine Baily to War Office, c.1830

Principal abbreviations used: ELL for Edward Loveden Loveden

PP for Pryse Pryse (formerly Loveden)

Loveden family of Buscot Park, Berkshire

Deposited in November 1954 (acc. 633).

• Buscot, Berkshire

The Lovedens originated from Crendon, Bucks, where the family is recorded among the local gentry in 1433. Initially they settled at Earl's Court, Lambourn. The connection with Buscot started in 1557 when Walter Loveden of Fyfield purchased Buscot manor from Sir Francis Stonor, whose family had owned it since 1417. A number of the estate and family papers in this collection date from the late 16th and 17th centuries, although there is little for the early 18th century. There are also some medieval deeds for property in Buscot and Chelmsford, Essex; the latter probably coming to the family with the marriage in 1586 of John Loveden to Johan Ive of Chelmsford. The oldest of the Buscot deeds (T2), dated 1190, is notable for its remarkably well-preserved seal

The bulk of the archive relates to the estates and activities of Edward Loveden Loveden (c.1749-1822). He was born Edward Loveden Townsend, son of Thomas Townsend of Cirencester, Glos, by his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Baker of Buscot by his wife Martha, who was a Loveden. The direct male line of the Lovedens died out in 1749 with the death of Martha's brother Edward, who never married, but in his will he bequeathed all his estates to his infant great-nephew. In 1772 Edward Loveden Townsend changed his surname and arms to those of Loveden by royal licence

Edward Loveden Loveden was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Oxford. He served as high sheriff of Berkshire in 1781-2; he was a magistrate in Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire; lieutenant colonel of the Berkshire militia, 1794-6; served as MP for Abingdon, 1783-96, and Shaftesbury, Dorset, 1802-12; and in 1793 became the first chairman of the parliamentary committee into the Thames Navigation acquiring the popular nickname of "Old Father Thames". He was an independent MP, although he faced opposition in Abingdon due to his support of Fox on the Regency Bill, 1788. He was a co-founder of the Board of Agriculture (now the Royal Agricultural Society) in 1793, and became its vice president in 1807

He was extremely rich, benefiting from his own father's estate, inherited in 1767, the Loveden estate, and from three provident marriages. His first wife, Margaret Pryse, could trace her descent from an 11th century king of Gwent, and after her brother's death in 1776 she was the heiress to a considerable estate at Gogerddan, co Cardigan, and to her own mother's inheritance at Woodstock, Oxon. The bulk of this property was settled on her son Pryse (who adopted the surname Pryse in 1798, following the death of his maternal grandmother), but over thirty thousand pounds was left to each of her two surviving daughters in addition. She died in 1784, and the following year, Edward Loveden Loveden married a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Nash. She was the daughter and heiress of John Darker, MP for Leicester, a London hop merchant who had retired to estates in Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and elsewhere. Elizabeth's first husband, Joseph Nash, was the son of another London merchant, William Nash, who had served as Lord Mayor of London in 1771, and whose family seems to have originated in Buscot. Elizabeth had two daughters by her first marriage, Mary and Elizabeth, but her death in 1788 left Edward Loveden Loveden with a life interest in her estate. His third marriage was to end in scandal. Anne Lintall, who he married in 1794, was considerably younger than her husband, and in 1809 was revealed to have been committing adultery with the Revd Thomas Barker, a young protégé of Edward Loveden Loveden's and fellow of an Oxford college. Proceedings for divorce were brought, but ultimately Edward Loveden Loveden dropped the case, due to his disapproval of the generous financial provision made for Anne by the House of Commons. See Laurence Stone, Broken Lives

(Oxford 1993) for a detailed description of the affair

His elder daughter, Margaret, married soon after reaching the age of 21, against her father's wishes; the younger, Jane, was restricted by a disability to the ground floor at Buscot Park. Her one suitor, R Weeks, another friend and protégé of her father, was ordered by him to leave the house after proposing marriage in 1809, and Jane herself died a few years later. Edward Loveden Loveden seems also to have had a ward or natural daughter, Harriet Thayer, who was painted by Laurence

Between 1780 and 1783 Edward Loveden Loveden built Buscot Park, probably to his own design. The archive contains a considerable quantity of records (mainly accounts) relating to the house's construction and the general upkeep of the estate, including records of labourers employed. He enlarged the Buscot estate by extensive purchase, often of lands his ancestors had sold off or settled on daughters

Edward Loveden Loveden died in January 1822, leaving the estate to his son Pryse Pryse, entailed on the latter's sons on the condition they adopted the name Loveden. Pryse Pryse lived predominantly at his grandmother's Woodstock estate after he inherited it in 1798, moving to Buscot after his father's death. He was MP for Cardigan, 1818-1849, where his extensive Gogerddan estate gave him an interest. Pryses had represented the borough in parliament since the early 17th century, and continued to do so until the Second Reform Act of 1868

Pryse Pryse died in 1849, to be succeeded at Buscot by his eldest son Pryse Loveden, and in 1855 by the latter's son, Sir Pryse Pryse, first baronet. The latter's main interests were in the Pryse estates in Wales, and in 1860 he sold Buscot Park and the estate to the Australian tycoon Robert Campbell

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