Catalogue description RECORDS OF THE CURZONS OF BREEDON-ON-THE-HILL AND LOCKINGTON HALL

This collection is an important family and estate archive from the north-west of Leicestershire, recording the activities and fortunes of middle-ranking gentlemen farmers, lawyers and clergymen who increased and improved their estates, sought good education and cultural life, generally participated fully in the traditional activities of their class and lived at a time when the industrial and agricultural revolutions were gaining pace.

The records have been divided into sections for estate administration, formal duties and general domestic and social activities.

The first mainly comprises deeds and accounts which are briefly described in the sectional introduction, the second comprises local manorial records and also deeds, together with papers relative to the foundation of Frisby National School, material for the drilling of local militia and volunteers which may also indicate a general interest in current military thinking and technology and records of the career of Rev. John Curzon, while the third comprises material giving an insight into the religious persuasion of the Curzons which seems to have been liberal or non-conformist, detailed records of the education of N.C. Curzon and records of other social activities including travel, the turf, racing and hunting.

The bulk of the records relates to the Curzons' period at Breedon-on-the-Hill, home of the family for several centuries. The Curzons, Earls Howe acquired estates at Lockington by 1870 and Nathaniel Charles Curzon acquired Lockington Hall c.1872, transferring the family seat from Breedon Hall.

The members of the family represented most in the collection are Nathaniel Curzon, John Curzon and Nathaniel Charles Curzon and the last is the one whose stamp is most impressed on the records.

The records should be useful for inquiry into the local history of the area including Derbyshire, although the run of deeds is poor. Social and agrarian history are well illustrated by the farm account books, surveys and estate vouchers which should also be a good source for the genealogist with labouring or tradesmen ancestors as far afield as Derby; the local quarrying activities are recorded in surveys, valuations and letters and the religious reading matter demonstrates the strength of Methodism in the Midlands.

These records, in addition to the military and religious records already mentioned, together with various material on education and possibly because the Curzons were sympathetic to their preservation, perhaps make the Lockington Hall records more diverse and deserving of study than many similar sized deposits.

Finally, there are simple items of antiquarian and topical interest which like the records above, indicate that the collection is untypical, including the Atlas to Capt. Etienne Marchand's voyage of 1790-1792, c.1801 (400), an MS poem critical of Charles Darwin [?] c.1860 (412) and a pin-printed booklet L'Amitié c.1850 (409).

CREATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES 1612-1897

PROPERTY 1612-1897

Deeds and business 1612-1860 1-106

Surveys, valuations and particulars of sale 1769-1891 107-123

Mining concerns 1766-c.1872 124-134

ACCOUNTS c.1759-1897

Farm 1882-1897 135-147

Estate and farm diaries 1813-1845 148-163

General c.1759-1870 164-176

Domestic accounts and litigation 1766-c.1860 177-194

Estate, farm, household and garden vouchers 1837-1897 195-255

FORMAL DUTIES 1720-c.1916

MANOR OF CASTLE DONINGTON (COURT BARON) 1739-1848

Court records 1770-1844 256-259

Deeds 1739-1848 260-271

FRISBY NATIONAL SCHOOL 1850-1852 272-273

MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS 1845-c.1916 274-282

REV. JOHN CURZON 1720-1735 283-289

DOMESTIC INTERESTS 1742-1913

ORTHODOX AND HETERODOX RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 1787-1867

Tracts, sermons and booklets 1787-1867 290-347

Magazines 1797-1852 348-368

SCHOOL 1742; 1835-1847

Letter 1742 369

Textbooks 1835-c.1845 370-372

Copy books and exercise books 1839-1847 373-383

SOCIAL AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES c. 1750-1913

The turf, hunting, animals and sport 1759-c.1869 384-397

Cultural interest c.1750-c.1880 398-416

Family and friends 1768-1913 417-430

Curzon family of Breedon on the Hill and Lockington, Leicestershire

Deposited on indefinite loan June 1966.

• Breeedon on the Hill, Leicestershire
• Lockington, Leicestershire

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