Catalogue description Title deeds and other papers relating to the Gumley Hall Estate

The deeds of the property also record the subsequent history of the estate; its lease to Viscount Ingestre and the assignment of the lease in 1868 to Henry Parker on the death of Sir Edmund Cradock Hartopp. This last mentioned deed, though of little importance to the Gumley Estate, which was acquired the following year by a new owner, Captain T.C.D. Whitmore, is of interest for the involvement of several prominent political figures of the day, such as Lords Russell and Clarendon and Chichester Fortescue, as trustees for family trusts and settlements.

Captain Whitmore bought the estate in 1869 for £46,815. He carried out much of the building work left undone by Cradock and his successors. By 1893 however Whitmore had removed to Orsett in Essex and the property was leased to a succession of tenants until 1897 when it was sold to George Murray Smith for £40,000.

The period after the estate's purchase, like that before its sale by Cradock, is not documented. In 1940 the Murray Smiths moved from the hall to the adjacent rectory, making way for a wartime military occupation. After the war it was divided into flats for ex-servicemen. In 1964 the hall was demolished.

The collection consists almost entirely of title deeds to the various pieces of land, houses and other property which were gradually accumulated to form the Gumley Hall estate. The principal parts are the lands associated with Gumley Hall itself, Laughton Lodge, the Thorpe Lubenham Estate and properties in the parishes of Gumley, Laughton, Lubenham and Thorpe Lubenham. The descent, from one owner to another, of one piece of property, known as 'Henchman's Land' is particularly well illustrated. Some of the deeds date from the Commonwealth period and because of a departure in their form from the normal practice are of some interest in themselves.

I. Gumley

DE1316/1-15 Deacon's Cottage and land 1740 - 1868

DE1316/16-39 Dovehouse, malting office, 85 acres &c. 1767 - 1824

DE1316/40-53 'The White Lion' 1769 - 1838

DE1316/54-77 Old Mill Closes &c. 1778 - 1874

DE1316/78-104 Mill Field 1780 - 1831

DE1316/105-150 Gumley Hall Estate 1793 - 1969

DE1316/151-163 'The Hartopp Arms' and adjoining land 1839 - 1884

DE1316/164-212 Cottages on Main Street 1851 - 1912

DE1316/213-222 Rectory glebe land 1869 - 1922

DE1316/223. II. Knighton, Leicester St. Margaret, Long Clawson, Sutton Bassett and Weston-by-Welland 1662

III. Laughton

DE1316/224-255 'Henchman's Land' 1648 - 1836

DE1316/256-265 Little Close, First Close, Daniels Close, Hobgoblin Close, Well Hill Close and Church-had-land 1682 - 1831

DE1316/266-276 Mill Hill Close 1715 - 1835

DE1316/277 Laughton, Market Harborough, Smeeton Westerby and Wigston Magna: 99 acres of land 1737

DE1316/278-287 Three Closes of 26 acres 1760 - 1869

DE1316/288-298 Wadcom Close and Meadow 1765 - c.1880

DE1316/299-321 Farm house, Smith's Laughton Close, Rush Close and Blackdole Close 1799 - 1873

DE1316/322-337 The Lodge and 24 acres 1843 - 1967

DE1316/338-354 Top, Long and First Closes 1861 - 1925

DE1316/355-376 Two cottages and land 1868 - 1899

DE1316/377 Middlecombe Meadow 1903

DE1316/378-382 Land on Mowseley Road 1919 - 1927

IV Lubenham

DE1316/383-401 Old Close, Upper Meadow and Nether Meadow 1777 - 1878

V Thorpe Lubenham

DE1316/402-417 Thorpe Lubenham Estate 1900 - 1912

Gumley Hall Estate

Deposited on indefinite loan: 10 April 1973

• Cradock, Joseph, 1742-1826, author
• Murray Smith family of Gumley, Leicestershire
• Smith, Murray, family of Gumley, Leicestershire
• Hartopp, Cardock, family, baronets, of Freathby
• Cradock Hartopp family, baronets, of Freathby
• Gumley, Leicestershire
• Lubenham, Leicestershire
• Laughton, Leicestershire
• Thorpe Lubenham, Leicestershire

Although the Gumley Hall estate only became the property of the Murray Smith family in 1897, upon its purchase by George Murray Smith, the collection contains the title deeds for two and a half centuries before.

The estate purchased by Murray Smith contained land in several parishes, in addition to Gumley itself, which had been accumulated in a piecemeal fashion with each successive owner of the lands. The names of several local families; the Deacons, Smiths, Simons, Wartnabys and Jessons, are prominent in the title deeds, but unfortunately, before 1793 there is no mention of Gumley's most eminent resident, Joseph Cradock (1742-1826).

After a brief but seemingly eventful period spent amongst London's literary and theatrical society's most distinguished representatives, Cradock returned to his property in Gumley and commenced, in 1764, the building of Gumley Hall. Although the house was unfinished at his death, Cradock had clearly envisaged life on a grand scale, creating an impressive library and landscaping the gardens which were then opened to the public. Analysis of mineral water found on the estate led to comparison with the spa water of Epsom and Tunbridge Wells. Cradock's own entertainment was on a lavish scale too, with private theatrical productions in which Garrick offered to perform and which Lord Sandwich was pleased to attend.

By the 1820s the need for economy led to Cradock's departure from Gumley for a less financially exacting existence in London. Cradock's successive mortgages from 1793 and finally his sale of Gumley Hall and its lands to his heir, Edmund Cradock Hartopp in 1824, are charted through the deeds, which also provide evidence of the improvement and landscaping of the grounds during Cradock's residence.

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