Catalogue description Earls of Onslow of Clandon Park, Deeds and Manorial Records

This accession comprises the records of the 15 Onslow manors in West Surrey: the manors of West Clandon, Merrow alias Temple Court & Dedswell, 1626-1925 (see G97/1/-); manors of Ripley & Send, 1533-1930 (G97/2/-); manor of Papworth alias Papercourt, Send, 1424-1923 (G97/3/-); manor of Pyrford, 1474-1938 (G97/4/-); manors of Chobham, Bisley & Woking, 1663-1943 (G97/5/-); manor of Worplesdon, 1562-1922 (G97/6/-); manors of Shalford Bradston & Shalford Clifford, 1558-1934 (G97/7/-); manor of Fosters alias Windlesham, 1646-1905 (G97/8/-) and the manors of Wanborough & Burpham, 1610-1884 (G97/9/-).

For further documents relating to more than one manor, 1751-1939, see G97/10/-. There is also a miscellaneous group of documents (G97/11/-), including a court roll for the manor of Wyke and Sonde, 1457-1492 (G97/11/8). Wyke and Wanborough inclosure papers, 1803-1841, are held as G97/12/-.

The collection also comprises deeds 'found in presses and chests at Clandon House, Surrey relating to the Onslow estates, 1817' (see G97/13/-). A schedule list only is available for these deeds at Surrey History Centre. The deeds relate to Onslow property in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Yorkshire, Cornwall, Berkshire, Derbyshire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Essex, London and Middlesex. This collection also includes office copies of Onslow and other wills, 1570-1774.

Other significant groups of documents in the archive include deeds of The Ship, High Street, Guildford, 1707-1904 (G97/17/-); papers largely relating to the settlement of the Onslow estates, but including some farm leases, 1842-1920 (G97/18/-); deeds and papers relating to the development of property in Holborn, London, 1872-1929 (G97/19/-); Clandon estate and household accounts, 1877-1911, and inventories of the furniture and pictures at Clandon Park, 1899 (G97/21/-).

The unusual and somewhat illogical arrangement of this collection reflects the addition of subsequent deposits over a period of 34 years to the original catalogue list.

The collection is divided into the following basic groups: manorial records, 1424-1943 (G97/1/- to G97/11/-); records relating to the inclosure of Wyke and Wanborough, 1803-1841 (G97/12/-); deeds and other legal papers relating to Onslow estates in England (G97/13/- to G97/20/-) of which the main group (G97/13/-) is listed only in a solicitor's schedule of 1817; and household and estate accounts, 1877-1911, and an inventory of the furniture at Clandon Park, 1899 (G97/21/-).

For political, official and family papers (chiefly of the 4th and 5th Earls), 1660-1968, see G173/-; for Onslow estate records, including title deeds and manorial papers of the Stoke Park estate, Guildford, 1232-1946, see 1320/-; for two Onslow family settlements, 1761 & 1776, see 1186/-; for additional estate, and family and political papers relating to the 4th and 5th Earls, c.1709-c.1945, see 5337/-.

Onslow family, Earls of Onslow, of West Clandon, Surrey

No document may be consulted for legal purposes without the permission of Lord Onslow.

Deposited by Messrs Smallpeice and Merriman, solicitors, on behalf of Richard 5th Earl of Onslow (1876-1945), Arthur, 6th Earl of Onslow (1913-1971) and his widow Jo, Countess of Onslow, between 1938 and 1972.

O Manning & W Bray, History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, vol 1, pp166-173 for Stoke manors and the Stoke Park estate; Victoria History of the County of Surrey, for the Onslow manors. CE Vulliamy's The Onslow Family (1953) only covers the period 1528-1874.

A large part of the typescript history of the Onslow family written by the 5th Earl (G173/1/1-9) relates to the 4th and 5th Earls. The 5th Earl also published an account of his own life Sixty Three Years (1939).

• West Clandon, Surrey

The Onslow family, originally from Shropshire, became established in Surrey with the marriage of Richard Onslow (d.1571) MP, later Speaker of the House of Commons, to Catherine Harding of Cranleigh, heiress to the manors of Knowle, Bramley and Rowley, in 1559. Further acquisitions of land followed and another prudent marriage, that of Thomas 2nd Baron Onslow (1679-1740) to a Jamaican heiress, Elizabeth Knight in 1708 facilitated the purchase of Guildford Park, the manors of Somersbury, Baynards, Pollingfold, Burpham and Shalford Clifford and the building of Clandon Park in West Clandon, completed c.1730. George, 4th Baron Onslow (1731-1814), who was created Earl of Onslow and Viscount Cranley in 1801, found it necessary to sell the manors of Bramley, Rowley, Esher and Thames Ditton, acquiring for his estates only the manor of Papercourt, Send, from Peter Lord King in exchange for the manor of Wisley in 1785. Thomas 2nd Earl of Onslow (1754-1827) sold the remaining Onslow lands in Cranleigh and a nadir in the history of the estates was reached during the long lifetime of Arthur, 3rd Earl (1777-1870), who abandoned Clandon Park and became a recluse after the death of his wife and son.

There was an improvement in the management of the still extensive estates after the succession to the title in 1870 of William Hillier Onslow (1853-1911), but during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, land near Guildford was gradually sold for building development. On part of the old Guildford Park, Onslow village was begun in 1920, and in 1928 Richard, 5th Earl of Onslow (1876-1945) gave 6 acres on Stag Hill as a site for Guildford Cathedral.

In 1967, Guildford Corporation purchased the manor of Merrow alias Temple Court, and in 1968 the manors of Worplesdon, Chobham, Bisley, Pyrford and Ripley and Send were sold to Surrey County Council.

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