Catalogue description Archive of the Webster Family of Battle Abbey

The Battle Abbey estate records deposited at the East Sussex Record Office cover a period extending from Henry I to the 1920s. They include seven charters, of which five are royal, dating from 1101 to 1253, but the bulk of the records are title deeds, estate records and personal papers of the Webster family dating from the 18th to the early 20th centuries

Pre-Dissolution records

1-15. Charters; c1101-1254

16-17. Accounts; 1378-1521

Manorial records

18-152. Manor of Battle; 1433-1918

153-204. Manor of Barnhorne; 1433-1920

205-241. Manor of Agmerhurst; 1704-1919

242-266. Manor of Stone; 1663-1796

267. Manor of Robertsbridge; 1894

268. Manor of Iken with Framlingham, Suffolk; 1739-1766

Title deeds: Battle estate

269-286. Battle Abbey; 1538-1867

287-320. 38-42 Lower Lake; 1657-1889

321-333. Cottage in Sanglake; 1702-1774

334-354. The King's Head Windmill; 1706-1814

355-371. Fullers Farm; 1741-1866

372-381. Messuage called the Blackboy, Lower Lake; 1748-1859

382-387. Virgin's Croft; 1751-1871

388-399. Three tenements, Lower Lake; 1760-1901

400-454. Worge family properties; 1761-1858

455-466. Site of police station; 1762-1861

467-508. The King's Head; 1763-1861

509-522 Whitefield Wood in Battle and Westfield; 1770-1868

523-534 Cottage at Bathurst Wood; 1776-1819

535-541 Messuage called Sancocks; 1778-1867

542-547 Beansford Farm; 1780-1815

548-562 Tenements called Wigbeams and Branshill; 1780-1858

563-577 Tenements called St Mary's Cross, Sikles, Abraham, Lidcox and Lower Lidcox, Broomfield, Tanners Wish, Colleys Brook and James Butts; 1781-1846

578-590 23 Upper Lake; 1790-1869

591-600 Messuage in the Middleborough; 1792-1819

601-609 Cottage next to Battle Park; 1797-1812

610-619 Cottage in Warbleton; 1798-1840

620-634 Blackfriars Farm; 1805-1870

635-657 Tenement in Sanglake Borough; 1805-1879

658-666 Sandpits Farm; 1809-1860

667-686 Ringletts Farm; 1810-1873

687-692 Telham Hill Farm; 1810-1874

693-701 Messuage in Sanglake Borough; 1815-1889

702-705 Site of the barracks; 1816-1858

706-719 Whitelands Farm and land called Aumers Wenners; 1818-1858

720-726 Cottage and land near near Milestone in Middle Borough; 1842-1858

727-731 Part of Little Park Farm and Down Barn Farm; 1852-1862

732-747 Four cottages in Marley Lane; 1865-1878

748-750 Land called Palmers; 1887

751-771 Various properties in Battle; 13th century-1906

Title deeds: Bexhill estate

772-788 Barnhorne Manor and Farm; 1814-1858

789-825 Barnhorne Hill estate; 1722-1866

826-831 Premises in Ninfield, Hooe and Ashburnham; 1798-1800

Title deeds: Robertsbridge estate

832-963 Manor and site of the Abbey of Robertsbridge; 1697-1823

964-971 Cottage at Staple Cross in Ewhurst; 1710-1762

972-978 Properties in Fairlight; 1748-1812

Title deeds: Ewhurst estate

979-1012 Manor of Ewhurst, Court Lodge Farm and other properties in Ewhurst and Bodiam; 1723-1829

Title deeds: other Sussex properties

1013-1034 Manor of Perching and other properties in Edburton; c1180-1567

1035-1042 Marshland in Pett; 1875-1901

1043-1045 Manor of Burling in East Dean; 1702

1046-1047 Brightling Place; 1753

1048 Land called Midlands, Almond Lands and Screes in Chalvington; 1825

Title deeds: properties in London and Middlesex

1049-1057 Six messuages in Katherine Street, St Martin in the Field; 1720-1738

1058-1066 Various properties consisting of six messuages in St James Garlick Hythe, ground in Thames Street, 45 and 48 Davies Street in St George Hanover Squre, messuages in King Street and Military Mews in St Ann Soho; 1714-1871

Title deeds: properties in other counties

1067-1073 Estates of the Thomas family in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Breckock; 1777-1829

1074-1086 Various properties in Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Kent, Essex and Surrey; 1370-1838

Title deeds: properties in Ireland

1087-1093 Lands in Londonderry; 1717-1730

1094-1105 Ground near the Corn Market in Belfast; 1767-1811

Settlements and allied papers

1106-1108 Settlements of Mary Blettsoe and Thomas Blettsoe; 1715-1717

1109-1111 Settlement of Charles and James Joye of the estate of Henry Whistler; 1719

1112-1113 Settlement of William Northey; 1731

1114 Settlement of Sir Edward Northey; 1721

1115-1120 Settlement of Sir Thomas Webster; 1733-1734

1121 Settlement of the Manor of Haslebury and lands in Wiltshire and Dorset; 1738

1122 Assignment of lease of the Manor of Sal and lands in Londonderry; 1744

1123-1124 Settlement of Sir Thomas Webster; 1747

1125 Assignment of lease of the Manor of Sal and lands in Londonderry; 1748

1126-1127 Settlement of Jane Webster and the Rev Robert Bluett; 1748

1128 Assignment of dower on the marriage of Elizabeth Webster and Captain Edward Webster; 1750

1129-1130 Common recovery of lands by Sir Whistler Webster; 1761

1131 Settlement of Sir Whistler Webster; 1766

1132 Release under the terms of the will of Robert Bluett; 1773

1133-1138 Settlement of Sir Godfrey Webster; 1786

1139-1140 Mortgage of lands comprised in the 1733 settlement; 1808

1141-1144 Deeds relating to the 1786 settlement; 1811

1145 Settlement of Sir Godfrey Webster; 1786-1812

1146-1148 Release by trustee under the terms of the 1786 settlement; 1812-1822

1149-1150 Conveyance of Park Farm and Almory Farm in Battle and Bexhill; 1812

1151-1159 Settlement of Sir Godfrey Webster; 1814

1160-1215 Settlements and mortgages concerning payment of annuities under the 1766 settlement; 1838-1917

1216-1328 Settlements, assignments of mortgage debts concerning the annuities due to the children of Sir Godfrey Webster under the 1814 settlement; 1838-1917

Wills and allied papers

1329-1349 Webster and allied families; 1778-1864

1350-1361 Other wills; 1582-1853

Ecclesiastical records

1362-1363 Advowson of Battle; 1720-1859

1364-1373 Advowson of All Saints, St Clements and St Mary-in-the-Castle Hastings; [1547]-1824

1374-1387 Advowson of Ewhurst; 1821-1827

1388-1401 Advowson of Hooe; [1685]-1853

1402-1405 Advowsons of Wartling, Hooe and Bodiam; 1820-1852

1406-1431 Papers concerning tithes at Battle, Hastings St Mary-in-the-Castle, Ewhurst and Robertsbridge; 1276-1914

1432-1438 Other records; 1761-1903

Estate administration

1439-1843 Leases of parts of the Battle estate; 1741-1923

1844-1896 Leases of parts of the Bexhill estate; 1778-1919

1897-1908 Leases of parts of the Robertsbridge estate; 1787-1812

1909-1934 Leases of parts of the Ewhurst estate; 1796-1887

1935-1958 Leases of properties in East Guldeford and Pett, and Midley and Lydd in Kent; 1818-1902

1959-1991 Grants of annuities; 1813-1857

1992-2000 Tenancy agreements; 1811-1923

2001-2050 Battle Abbey estate underwood agreements; 1875-1923

2051-2056 Ewhurst estate underwood agreements; 1876-1901

2057-2062 Allotment agreements; 1887-1917

2063 Fishing and game rights agreements; 1853-1921

2064-2065 Agreements concerning repairs to Battle Abbey; 1902-1903

2066 Agreement concerning the boring of shale oil and natural gas coal on the Battle Abbey estate; 1907

2067-2102 Abstracts of title; c1816-1926

2103-2121 Schedules of deeds; c1790-1912

2122-2201 Sale Particulars; 1814-1926

2202-2295 Rentals; 1751-1923

2296-2339 Inventories and valuations; 1795-1922

2340-2354 Fire insurance policies; 1778-1915

2355-2608 Correspondence and allied papers; 1787-1932

2609-2650 Correspondence concerning sales of properties; 1811-1923

2651-2657 Correspondence concerning alterations and repairs; 1812-1909

2658-2677 Papers concerning sales of timber; 1810-1917

2678-2710 Other estate papers; 1787-1918

2711-2750 Legal papers; 15th century-1913

2751-4411 Estate accounts; 1757-1930

4412-4418 Bonds; 1747-1824

4419-4475 Estate maps; c1650-c1860

4476-4502 Draft maps and tracings; 1771-1925

4503-4511 Sale particular plans; c1850-1901

4512-4557 Ordnance Survey maps; 1873-1937

4558-4571 Other maps; 1813-1911

4572-4635 Architectural plans; 1814-c1920

Family papers

4636-4651 Genealogical papers; 1817-c1912

4652-4654 Papers concerning conferrment of honours; 1720-1919

4655-4716 Papers concerning public and semi-public offices held by members of the family; 1660-1923

4717-4900 Personal papers; 1708-1928

4901-4944 Personal accounts; 1751-1933

4945-4971 Household accounts; 1810-1920

In 1936 a further small collection of the obedientiary accounts, court rolls and accounts for Battle Abbey and Barnhorne was offered for sale at Sotherby's and was bought by Mr. Hugh Whistler (the majority of these are now deposited at ESRO, see AMS 4900-4938, the remainder are in Hastings Museum. Other pre-dissolution records are in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, University of London, Lincolns Inn Library, the Bodleian Library and with the Sussex Archaeological Society. Additional related estate and family archives for the 18th and 19th centuries have also been received by the Record Office from depositors other than the Battle Abbey Trustees.

Webster family of Battle, Sussex

The records deposited here represent only a part of the surviving Battle Abbey muniments. After the dissolution the monastic records passed to successive owners of the property, the Brownes (Viscounts Montague) and the Websters whose own estate and personal records were added to the collection. In 1835 Sir Godfrey Webster (5th baronet) offered the monastic records, the post dissolution manorial records, the estate records of the Montagues and his own predecessors as well as the personal papers of the Websters and allied families to Thomas Thorpe, the bookseller. The collection was subsequently acquired by Sir Thomas Phillips, the famous antiquary and bibliophile, and the bulk of the collection was in turn sold by the Court of Chancery as administrator of the Phillipps estate to the Henry Huntington Library, California in 1923

• Battle, Sussex
• Battle, East Sussex

The Early History of Battle Abbey

Erected by William the Conqueror as a memorial to his victory, the Abbey was endowed with all land within the radius of a league, together with the outlying manors of Alciston in Sussex, Wye and Dengemarsh in Kent, Limpsfield in Surrey, Hoo in Essex, Brightwalton in Berkshire, Crowmarsh in Oxfordshire and churches in Reading, Collumpton and Exeter (Victoria County History Sussex 2 52-55). His successors added the manors of Barnhorn, Marley, Mexfield, Funtington and Appledram in Sussex and other manors and churches in Essex, Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk and Suffolk (ibid). In 1535 the gross income of the abbey was £987, the clear value being £880 (Valor Ecclesiasticus Record Commission (1810) 1 346-349).

At the Dissolution most of the Sussex and Kent property (notable exceptions were Alciston Manor, granted to Sir John Gage, Sir Anthony's father-in-law (see SAS G16/8), Lullington Manor granted to the Sidneys' (see T W Horsfield History of Sussex 329) and Appledram Manor granted eventually to Lord Howrd of Effingham (see VCH Sussex 4 139)) was granted to Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse, who in 1542 inherited the vast Cowdray estate from his half brother, the Earl of Southampton (see A A Dibben The Cowdray Archives (1960)). Sir Anthony's son, who was created Viscount Montague in 1554, consolidated the Cowdray estate and sold off some outlying properties. It was not till 1721, however, that the Battle property was sold by Anthony, 6th Viscount to free his estate from debt.

The Webster Family

By tradition the family which settled at Battle Abbey came from Yorkshire where in the reign of Richard II they kept 28 horse soldiers for the king (ex information of Mrs E Webster). Burke (Peerage (1898)), however, traces their descent from John Webster of Bolsover, Derbyshire who was living in the 1430s. Certainly they are connected with that county (Pym Yeatman Feudal History of Derbyshire contains a number of pedigrees of the Websters but is very unreliable), but the line cannot be proved beyond Godfrey (d 1720), the father of Thomas who purchased Battle Abbey. In his declaration in the Clothworkers Guild he states that his father was Godfrey Webster of Chesterfield and in his will (PCC Shaller 1479) that he was born in that town. Citizen and cloth worker of London, he was created freeman in 1670 and knighted in 1708. He purchased an estate at Nelmes in Hornchurch (the date of the purchase is unknown) and in 1672 married Abigail, daughter and co-heir of the merchant adventurer, Thomas Jorden, of London and the Mere in Staffordshire. At his death in 1720 he left, besides Nelmes, property at Nokehill in Romford, Gallions in Woolwich, and three houses in Bishopsgate Street, London, including the Great James Tavern. He had obviously amassed considerable wealth: he left £8,000 in Bank of England stock and £15,000 in South Sea stock and his charitable bequests included £500 to St Thomas' Hospital, Southwark, £500 to Bishopsgate workhouse, £700 for 20 poor clothworkers of London, £500 for dissenting teachers and £1,000 for the poor of Chesterfield (PCC Shaller 147).

Sir Godfrey's son Thomas (1677-1751) added to the estates, both by purchase and marriage. His activities are reflected in the quantity and complexity of the records dating from his time. Already in 1698 at the age of 21 he was leasing out Newberrys Farm in Barking (Thorp Catalogue of Battle Abbey Monuments 188) and he purchased two other Essex properties, Copt Hall in Waltham from Charles Sackville in 1700 (VCH Essex 5 122 and Thorp 188) and Ongar Park in 1705 (VCH Essex 4 177). He held considerable London Property, in East Cheap, Stepney and St Giles-in-the-Fields and lands called Westholme at Croxall in Derbyshire (Thorp).

In 1719 his wife Jane, daughter of a merchant Edward Cheke of London and Sandford Orcas, Somerset, inherited her father's property as well as the vast estates of her maternal grandfather Henry Whistler also a London merchant and MP for Oxford between 1623-1640. These included property at Epsom and Nonsuch Park in Surrey, at Ware in Hertfordshire and Combe in Hampshire, in the City of London and Middlesex, in Londonderry and the water works at York (Thorp). A year later Thomas inherited his own father's estate and set about purchasing further properties, some in London (for example a house in Jermyn Street (Thorp 188) and another in St James' Street (see Duchess of Cleveland's History of Battle Abbey 205 and BAT 868) but most in Sussex where he showed a partiality for historic buildings. In 1721 he acquired from Viscount Montague the Battle Abbey estate including the Manors of Battle, Barnhorne, Agmerhurst and Swineham, the advowsons of Battle, Hastings, Hooe, Wartling and Bayham and some 8,000 acres in Battle, Bexhill, Ashburnham, Hastings, Hooe and Ninfield. Sir Thomas paid £56,000 (see BAT 273, also SAS/BA182 and SRS 19 28) for the estate which was particularly rich in timber. In 1723 he added to this the Ewhurst estate of Sir Christopher Powell which included the Manor and advowson of Ewhurst, the Manor and castle of Bodiam and over 800 acres of land (BAT 979). For this he paid £8,500. In 1726 Lord De Lisle and Dudley sold him the Robertsbridge Abbey estate with its ironworks and timber resources and some 1,100 acres extending into Salehurst, Ewhurst, Mountfield, Whatlington and Fairlight at a cost of some £30,000 (BAT 862-870, see also Thorp 176). Finally in 1733 he bought at a cost of £2,150 the Fairlight property of William Acton, including Franks Farm and some 486 acres (see Hastings Museum Milward Mss D13/2) adjoining his Robertsbridge estate in that parish.

The 1720s represent the highwater mark of Thomas' career; the estate was at its most extensive and in 1721 he married his daughter Abigail to Edward son and heir of Sir Edward Northey of Compton Bassett near Calne bestowing a dowry of £20,000 on her (BAT 1112). Gradually however, financial difficulties forced him to mortgage and sell properties. He turned his attention away from Essex where he had been sheriff 1703-1704, verdurer of Waltham Forest in 1718 and MP for Colchester 1705-1711, 1713-1714, 1722-1727, and adopted Sussex as his sole residence (see Duchess of Cleveland 206 and BAT 4656).

The Robertsbridge estate and some London property was mortgaged in 1728 (BAT 869) and Copt Hall, the Manor of Ongar and lands in Waltham and Epping in 1732 (see Thorp 195). However, by 1733 his debts amounted to £54,000. In addition, he owed his children (BAT 1115-1116) large sums since he had borrowed from the £15,000 South Sea Stock left to his son Whistler and four of his children (excluding Abigail the eldest daughter) in their grandfather's will (BAT 1123). A settlement was therefore drawn up (BAT 1115-1116) which provided for estates to be sold to pay these and other debts. His son Whistler was persuaded to exchange the Whistler properties for lands in Bodiam, Ewhurst, Battle and Bexhill to the same value. In 1738 he sold the Manor of Ongar to Aaron Franks (VCH Essex 4 177). In the following year he exchanged the Manor of Copthall for the Manor of Pickstones and lands in East Grinstead, Worth and Lingfield (AMS 2925) and sold the Manor of Sandford Orcas (see Thorp 208). By 1744 many debts had been paid, the account relating to South Sea stock and annuities had been liquidated and the balance due to Whistler and the children stood at £39,899 (BAT 1122).

They agreed to accept a moiety of Londonderry lands (worth £7,380) in part payment and at the same time Thomas drew up a scheme (RAF ACC 317) to deal with his financial problems and the difficulties of managing so scattered an estate: 'Taking into my view the fatigue of managing so extended an Estate requires, which my Age makes uneasy to me, and the necessary attendance upon it impossible, of course the estate must suffer from want of the necessary attendance and application to it and that must with years be a growing disadvantage as indolences etc, with every year go on increasing'. He suggested that Whistler should be put into possession of the estate at East Grinstead, the income of which together with timber would fully cover Thomas' debts to him, that he should also have the Ewhurst estate and Gallions (Woolwich) to pay the debts due to his two sisters and that his son Godfrey should have Nelmes. Finally he suggested that outlying branches of the estate that gave trouble and 'don't add to the figure and weight of a family' should be disposed of. There is no evidence as to whether this was put into practice but in 1748 some money was still owing to his children (BAT 1123).

His activities in the iron industry may or may not have helped his financial problems. In 1724 he and Lord Ashhurnham were leasing Beach Furnace in Battle (SAC 3 246) and in 1731 this lease was renewed to Sir Thomas alone (SAC 3 246 and Thorp 177). In 1733 he took a lease of a forge at Etchingham but he appears not to have worked the furnace which was on his Robertsbridge estate, leasing it in 1734 and again in 1746 (SAC 3 246 and Thorp 179).

Thomas died in 1751 (PCC Busby 248) and was succeeded by his eldest son Whistler, who was able to use some of the property accumulated by his father to promote his parliamentary career. The East Grinstead estate (WHL 106-107) included six burgages, one of them the Crown Inn and Whistler was returned as MP for the borough with the consent of the Sackvilles who owned a majority of the burgages (Namier and Brooke History of Parliament 1754-1790). First returned in 1741, he opposed the Pelhams in Sussex affairs at first and was classed as an opposition Whig in 1754. However, he appears to have gone over to the Administration and in 1755 asked Newcastle for employment for his brother-in-law. He represented East Grinstead till 1761 and was invited by Lord Pelham and the Duke of Richmond to represent Sussex in 1768 but refused on the grounds of ill-health.

Whistler seems not to have shared his father's liking for historic buildings and there is evidence that he neglected and even pulled down a part of the Abbey (Duchess of Cleveland 207). Horace Walpole writing in 1752 states that 'the grounds and what has been the park lie in a vile condition'.

Whistler did, however, continue his father's interest in ironworks though not working them himself (SAC 3 246 and Thorp 180-181). He leased Robertsbridge Furnace to a Staffordshire ironmaster John Churchill in 1754 and iron quarries in this area to Edward Sackford in 1756. The Sussex ironmasters, William Polhill of Hastings, David Guy of Rye and James Bourne of Salehurst were leasing Robertsbridge Furnace in 1768.

He seems to have retained most of the property he inherited from his father which now consisted of four blocks centring on Battle, Salehurst and Mountfield, Ewhurst and Bodiam, and Bexhill and Hastings in the east of the County with a concentration around East Grinstead. This latter estate, being distant from the main Webster properties and therefore more difficult to administer, was to be gradually disposed of, a process started by Whistler when he sold Mill Place Farm and some 100 acres in 1761 (AMS 2929-2930).

Whistler married in 1766, at the age of 58, Martha the daughter of Dr Nairn, Dean of Battle, who was some 21 years younger than him (BAT 1131). There were no children of the marriage, so the baronetcy passed to Whistler's brother Godfrey on his death in 1779 (BAT 1330, WHL 108). Godfrey had married Elizabeth, daughter of John Gilbert Cooper of Lockington in Derbyshire and Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire, and had six children. Godfrey, however, died in 1780 (BAT 1331) only 6 months after succeeding to the baronetcy and the title passed to his eldest son, another Godfrey.

Sir Godfrey, 4th baronet who was born about 1749, inherited an estate, large but encumbered with various rent charges and payments provided for either by marriage settlement or under the wills of Sir Whistler 2nd baronet or Sir Godfrey 3rd baronet. Presumably to help pay off some of these debts Sir Godfrey sold the East Grinstead estate: eight houses six burgages and some 450 acres in East Grinstead in 1781 (AMS 350), cottages and 22 acres at Worth in 1782 (AMS 233), and the Manor of Pickstones in East Grinstead and Worth in 1786 (WHL 117). He seems to have sold the last part of his East Grinstead property about 1800 (land tax assessmants for East Grinstead). He did, however, extend his Fairlight property by his purchase of Fairlight Downs (128 acres) (BAT 2610) and his financial situation was greatly improved by his marriage in 1786 to Elizabeth sole heiress of Richard Vassall of Jamaica, heir of Florentius Vassall whose estates included the Friendship, Greenwich and Sweet River Plantations in Jamaica as well as New England property (BAT 1133). The marriage was not a happy one: Elizabeth was only 15, Godfrey being 25 years older than her. Battle Abbey was subject to an estate for the life of Dame Martha, Whistler's widow and she in fact remained in possession forcing the young couple to live in a small house, on the opposite hill, called Rose Green (Duchess of Cleveland 210; Lord Torrington states in 1788 that Sir Godfrey was longing to succeed the old lady so that he could pull down the already ruinous abbey (C Bruyn Andrews (ed) The Torrington Diaries 121)). It seems that relations with the Dowager were never good: in 1797 she took Sir Godfrey to court for taking down the roof of the Courthall in Battle and using the materials for his own purpose (SNQ 13 198).

Sir Godfrey and his wife spent several years on the Continent (letters from Thomas Pelham to Lord Sheffield, 1791-1793, include references to the couple's activities on the Continent (AMS 5440); see also Lady Webster's correspondence amongst the Holland House MSS in the British Library) and it was there that Lady Webster met and later eloped with Henry Fox, 3rd Lord Holland (Duchess of Cleveland 210-211). Sir Godfrey obtained a divorce by Act of Parliament in 1796, (BAT 1145) under which he received £6,000 damages from Lord Holland and secured for himself the whole of her fortune, about £10,000 a year, during their joint lives, leaving her only £800 (L B Behrens Battle under 39 Kings; a newspaper cutting states that it was £7,000 rather than £10,000 (BAT 4880)). He was also made sole guardian of his children. In 1797 he discontinued the surname Vassall which he had assumed in 1795 as a condition of Richard Vassall's will.

In political affairs Sir Godfrey carried on the Webster tradition of Whig opposition. He was very active in the reform movement in Sussex and introduced a petition for parliamentary reform in 1783. Two years later, however, he opposed Pitt's Parliamentary reform proposals as inadequate (Namier and Brook). In 1784 he unsuccessfully contested Hastings (T W Horsfield History of Sussex 2 61) and in 1785 stood at Seaford (T W Horsfield History of Sussex 2 69-70) in the interest of Lord Pelham. He was defeated but the election was declared void. In 1786 when he was again defeated he was seated on petition. He remained Member for Seaford until 1790 and for Wareham in Dorset from 1796 until 1800, when after a period in which his mind was troubled, he took his own life (BAT 4880).

Godfrey, the eldest son, was only ten when his father died and his grandmother the Dowager Elizabeth Webster and his aunt Elizabeth Chaplin (wife of Thomas Chaplin a member of the Lincolnshire family (BAT 1163)) acted as guardians. The estate he succeeded to in 1810 was still burdened with incumbrances. The abbey too he found in a ruinous condition for Sir Whistler's widow who died shortly after his coming of age, had during her tenancy of 31 years, apparently spent little or nothing on repairs (Duchess of Cleveland 218-219; according to Lord Torrington who visited it in 1788 the outside showed a sad want of taste and the inside was in ruins (C Bruyn Andrews (ed) The Torrington Diaries 121-122)). Sir Godfrey at once set to work to restore and improve, (Duchess of Cleveland 219-220) putting a new timber roof on the hall, new windows, carved oak wainscoting and doors, a music gallery and a great chimney piece. The dormitory was converted into stables but new stables were built in 1819. Work was also carried out in the park, a large pond being made. The accounts show that these works were very costly (BAT 3502).

Sir Godfrey's political activities were a further drain on his resources. He spent large sums of money on contested elections and when elected upset his supporters by voting with the opposition. In 1812 he was elected for the County as a Tory, then like his predecessors supported liberal measures and voted with the opposition. At the next election in 1818 Godfrey withdrew and another Tory candidate was chosen. However, Henry Blackman a supporter of liberal opinions and friend of Sir Godfrey persuaded him to stand and the other candidate withdrew. Sir Godfrey was elected and again opposed the government. In 1820 he offered himself for re-election but was forced to withdraw in the face of a coalition of leading interests of East and West Sussex which would have involved him in exceptionally heavy expenses. 'I candidly confess that the pecuniary array brought against me, far exceeds that which I can alone oppose to it, the sum of money which the coalition is prepared to expend, for the openly avowed purpose of fulfilling the threat held out at the last election, namely, that Sir Godfrey Webster should never sit again for Sussex, is so enormous, that even a successful issue would prevent my serving you with that independence which the distinguished situation of your Representative demands' (speech of 12 Mar 1820 printed in An account of the Sussex election including the poll book 86). Sir Godfrey's candidate, Charles Compton Cavendish, was not elected and Sir Godfrey himself made a fruitless attempt to regain his seat in 1826.

In 1823, 1826 and 1831 he also unsuccessfully contested the Chichester borough seat. The 1826 election alone is supposed to have cost him nearly £2,000 (Hosfield 25). He was part owner of several racehorses (BAT 4769) and spent large sums on building a luxury yacht Scorpion which he had to sell in 1826 (BAT 4774-4780). In his early years he had associated with the Prince Regent and held a commission in the Prince's regiment, the 10th Hussars (Duchess of Cleveland 221). He was a lavish host and entertained the Duke of Sussex with exceptional magnificence in 1819 (Duchess of Cleveland 221).

His marriage in 1814 to Charlotte daughter of Robert Adamson of Westmeath. Ireland did very little to help his financial situation (BAT 1151). Although she brought with her a portion of £250 per annum and £5,000 after her father's death, the marriage settlement provided her with a £1,000 jointure and £20,000 portions for any children. The marriage was not a particularly happy one and in 1828 and 1832 the couple formally separated making provisions for the maintenance of wife and children (BAT 4974-4975).

The documents give one the impression that Sir Godfrey preferred to leave the running of the estate to his stewards or to trustees though he occasionally took matters into his own hands before their task was complete. In 1819 Messrs Adamson Cullen and Capron were appointed trustees when he retired to the Continent to escape his creditors.

They were empowered to make sales, leases, mortgages, enfranchise copyholds and cut timber to pay off debts, allowing Sir Godfrey £1,500 a year and setting up a sinking fund with the surplus. However, Sir Godfrey returned in 1823 and revoked the trust although they had only realized £23,000 and paid some debts (BAT 1183).

Nevertheless, despite their difficulties a variety of measures were taken to resolve his financial problems, the most important being sale of property and timber. The Fairlight estate was sold to Edward Millward in 1811-1812 (BAT 2610, 2629), the Ewhurst and Robertsbridge estates in 1816, 1819, and 1822, (BAT 959-961, 1004-1008) Bodiam Castle in 1829 (BAT 1010-1011) and one third of the Vassall Jamaica estates in 1835 (BAT 2641). Sales of advowsons brought in further sums: All Saints and St Clements Hastings in 1820, St Mary's Rectory, Hastings, and Ewhurst, both in 1824 and Hooe in 1835 (BAT 1368, 1376-1385, 1393). These sales brought in some £185,000 and timber was estimated to have brought in a further £100,000 (Duchess of Cleveland 221). Certainly in the year 1811 £31,000 came from this source (BAT 2629).

Other methods of raising money included the increasing of rents. In 1811 stewards Dawson and Wratislaw made a survey and valuation of the estate with recommendations as to how rents could be increased (BAT 2297). A survey of 1824 showed what improvements could be made on the Battle, Bexhill and Hooe estates to make them more profitable (BAT 2298). Between 1811-1817 hundreds of properties were leased, including the abbey itself which was let in 1821 to Henry Alexander, in 1825 to George Prescott of Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire, in 1827 to Colonel Fitzgibbon and in 1828 to Thomas Barton (BAT 2636). Large numbers of grants of annuities were made to various debtors between 1813 and 36. (BAT 1959-1988), and in 1816 Sir Godfrey's brother and sister Henry and Harriet relinquished their annuities of £5,000 under their parents' marriage settlement (BAT 1161). Even his wife gave up her annuity of £1,000 in 1835 (BAT 1210). The same year Sir Godfrey resorted to selling the Battle Abbey muniments to Thorpe, a London bookseller, for less than £300 (Duchess of Cleveland 222, also Thorp).

At the time of his death in 1836, Sir Godfrey had disposed of the whole of his personal estate, all parts of his landed estates not under settlement and his life interest in the estates in Sussex, for an annuity for himself. So involved were his circumstances that shortly before his death he sold a certain portion of that annuity to an Insurance Company. When he died, his personal effects and the portion of his annuity then due were insufficient to discharge the bill at the hotel, the charge for medical attention and servants' wages (BAT 4763).

Godfrey's eldest son, Godfrey Vassall, was in the navy and served on board HMS Thunderer at the siege of Acre in 1840 (Duchess of Cleveland 222). Lady Webster, his mother, came back to live at Battle Abbey but when Sir Godfrey married, she moved to Rose Green which she had bought in 1840 (BAT 1225) and remained there till her death in 1867.

From 1840 onwards Godfrey's brothers started pressing for their portions as they came of age and further mortgages had to be made to raise them (BAT 1220, 1230, 1253). Godfrey continued his father's policy of leasing properties and selling timber (BAT 1490-1515, 2684). His marriage with a rich heiress helped his financial situation (BAT 1252, ACC 627/7-8). She was the daughter of William Murray of Latium Plantation, Jamaica and granddaughter of Samuel Virgin who held vast property and plantations in Jamaica and a large personal estate in England. She had married in 1832, Charles, a younger son of the 3rd Earl of Ashburnham and been widowed in 1848, having no children by the marriage. Her mother, Elizabeth Murray living in Brighton bought back for her daughter £827 worth of furniture and fixtures for Battle Abbey from Dame Charlotte Webster.

Sir Godfrey died in 1853, only 2 years after the marriage and a fortnight after his appointment as Deputy Lieutenant (LCC/EW 1). Since he left no issue the title passed to his brother Augustus. His widow took a lease of Court Lodge, Mountfield and lived there for the rest of her life (ACC 627/10). Augustus had spent his early life in the Navy and while a midshipman on board HMS Racehorse he assisted in the defence of Para in the West Indies. He received a medal for his service in the Chinese War of 1842 (BAT 4843; for his log books with sketches while on a voyage to the West Indies, see BAT 4681-4682, and for other papers concerning his naval career, see BAT 4683-4699).

Sir Augustus inherited an estate subject to mortgage interest and insurance premiums amounting to £1,600, and jointures of £1,000 and £500 to his mother and his sister-in-law respectively. He received some £8,000 from the South Eastern Railway Company as compensation and this was used to pay off some of the mortgages and to pay the balance of his brother Guy's fortune (BAT 4818). However, debts built up again. Sir Augustus resorted to selling timber and there was some talk of selling the Rose Green Estate (BAT 4821). By this time his younger brother Frederick was acting as agent and receiver of rents and profits (BAT 1265). Finally it became clear that the remainder of the Battle Abbey estate would have to be sold, and it was put on the market in 1857. It was purchased by Harry Vane, later Duke of Cleveland. The Abbey and the Battle properties selling for £114,110 and the Bexhill properties for £15,138. £25,000 was held over by Lord Vane as security for redemption of payment within six months of Dame Charlotte's death (BAT 276, 783-788). The trustees immediately paid off mortgage debts, invested the remainder and the next year advanced some £15,000 to John Harvey Astell on security by way of mortgage of an estate in Cambridge and Huntingdonshire called Woodbury Hall (BAT 1284).

In 1862 Sir Augustus, then living at the Albany, Piccadilly, married Amelia Sophia Prosser Hastings, second daughter of Charles Prosser Hastings of Taunton (BAT 1299). Three years later the trustees bought the 64-acre Rosehill estate near Stockbridge in Hampshire (BAT 4843-4846) and here Sir Augustus settled and remained till his death in 1886.

Sir Augustus' eldest son, another Augustus, was a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards between 1884-1894 (During this period he showed considerable talent for producing and acting in theatrical entertainments, see BAT 4700-4712). From 1893 he was also active in the Freemasons and in 1901 was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (BAT 4713). In 1895 he married a rich heiress, Mabel, only daughter of the carpet manufacturer, Henry Crossley of Aldborough Hall, Bedale, Yorkshire (BAT 1322). Her grandfather Joseph Crossley of Halifax who started the business, left just under £1,000,000 when he died in 1868.

After his marriage Augustus retired from the Guards to look after the Hampshire estate. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Romsey Agricultural Society's Show and was JP for Romsey Division (BAT 4880). In 1901 when the Duchess of Cleveland died leaving Battle Abbey to her nephew, Sir Augustus was given the chance to repurchase the family estate (BAT 1326). The Duke of Cleveland had added the Barnhorn Hill estate in Bexhill in 1861 (BAT 2150) and land in Pett marches in 1875 (BAT 1040). The Cleveland properties in Ewhurst and Northiam and Romney which had been purchased from the devisees of Mrs Curteis before 1854 were also included in the sale (BAT 2099). The estate consisted of over 6,118 acres with a rent roll of £5,500 plus valuable timber valued at £30,649 on the Battle estate, £11,985 in Ewhurst and Northiam and £492 at Bexhill (BAT 2150). Sir Augustus paid £200,000 for the property (BAT 4852) and in 1902 put the Hampshire estate on the market (BAT 2152). Battle Abbey itself was let to Michael Grace (BAT 1577) and the Webster family eventually settled at Powdermill House. Most of the outlying portions of the estate in Ewhurst, Northiam, Pett and Bexhill were gradually sold between 1902-1912 (BAT 2153-2158, 2171-2183).

Sir Augustus' son Godfrey was killed in the 1914-1918 War while serving with the Grenadier Guards (For his correspondence whilst on active service, see BAT 4873), and on Augustus' death in 1923 the estate passed to his daughter Lucy. Since 1922 the Abbey has been let to a girls' private school. In 1931 a fire gutted the abbot's house but it was carefully restored by Sir Harold Breakspear (Christopher Hussey 'Battle Abbey: the Abbot's House', Country Life Oct 1966).

The Battle Abbey estate is now (1973) in the charge of a trust which acts for the Webster family.

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