Catalogue description Tibbitts collection

This collection contains the records of a long line of Sheffield attorneys, of whom W. F. Tibbitts (died 1927) was the last. The business passed through the hands of several unrelated families during the course of more than two hundred years, and personal and family records of each are included in the collection. The legal records were accumulated during the period c.1710-1790, though many date from earlier times; they include some public business connected with the town, Thomas Wright and Samuel Dawson being successive Clerks to the Town Trust, 1707 to 1777.

The personal and family records are those of the following attorneys, owners of the business: Thomas Wright (d.1741) of Romeley, and his relations the Claytons and Garlands.

Samuel Dawson (d.c1780s), whose family were merchants of Bawtry.

William Hoyle (d.1807), whose father (originally of Ovenden House, Halifax) was schoolmaster of Guiseley and agent of the Rev. H. Wickham, rector of Guiseley.

Tibbitts family, related to the Hoyles.

The heiress of W. F. Tibbitts was his niece, Miss Fisher, whose family were of the firm of Shaw and Fisher, Britannia metal manufacturers, and the collection includes private and business papers of the firm. Records include:

Manorial records:

Bawtry: Presentments, 1722 (1).

Owlerton: Court rolls, 1711, 1724, 1728; draft court rolls (18), rentals, correspondence (60), 1737-1741; chief rental, 1761 and n.d. (book and paper).

Sheffield: List of fees in manor court, 1733 (1 paper).

Shireoaks: Pains (byelaws), 1722-1729 (2); bailiffs' orders, 1715-1723 (8).

Eckington (Derbyshire): Process of holding court and fees, c.1730 (1 paper).

Misson (Nottinghamshire): Agreement relating to stint of common, 18th century.

Parish and other local government records:

Bawtry papers: inhabitants chargeable to the militia, maintenance of Bawtry bridge, Bawtry bells, 1715-1718 (7 papers).

Surgery (Sheffield): Town Collectors' vouchers, 1737-1764 (several bundles); rental of town lands, list of leases, 1550-1707.

Charities: Earl of Shrewsbury's deed of gift, 1587, and list of beneficiaries, 1602-1605.

Constables' Accounts: Sheffield (leaves torn from book), 1685-1711.

Highways and Bridges: Indictments: Sheffield, Ecclesfield, Wortley, Long Houghton; articles for widening Lady's Bridge, Sheffield.

Poor: Parish apprentices: Sheffield, 1725-1781 (14), Otley (1), Guiseley (1); settlement and removal orders, briefs, examinations: Sheffield, Bradfield, Ecclesfield, 1754-1771; bastardy bonds, 1742-1754 (4); Workhouse (Sheffield), draft appointment of surgeon, 1756; Guiseley poor and school: terrier of lands and notes on endowments.

Tithes: Guiseley: summonses for non-payment, 1775-1789 (7). Institutions, Trusts, records:

Cutlers' Company: Letters and papers concerning: legal apprenticeship and freedom, 1786-1787, election of beadle, 1787, proposed Act of Parliament, 1791 (from William Wilberforce).

Freedom of Company: Grants and/or surrenders (6); apprenticeship indentures, 1787-1790 (25); admittance to Mastership, 1791 (3).

Boys' Charity School (Sheffield): Attendance register, 1747 (2 sheets); miscellaneous accounts, 1738-1749 (17 papers); title deeds to land in Upper Hallam, 1707-1722.

Hollis Hospital: Correspondence about estates, 1768-1771 (7 letters).

Sheffield-Buxton Turnpike: Petition for repair, letters and papers concerning Bill, 1757-1760. (several).

Sheffield-Wakefield Turnpike: Minutes, 1758-1776 (loose sheets); accounts, vouchers, 1757-1776; toll bar books (Old Mill, 1760, Carlton, 1762); letters, including draft notices, assignment of tolls, 1741-1776 (84).

Title deeds, wills, etc:

Yorkshire: Bate Green in Ecclesfield (Blackburn), 1703-1745 (9); Dawson family of Bawtry (wills, articles), 1709-1775 (6); Bradford and Bolling, 1633-1748 (13); Guiseley, 1754 (3); Yeadon, 1612-1732 (5); Gildersome in Batley (Scaife), 1603-1685 (13); Silkstonemoor, 1686-1699 (10); Goldthorpe, 1691-1697 (5); miscellaneous Sheffield and Ecclesfield deeds, wills, etc. (a number concern Sheffield trades and cutlers' wheels), 1597-1798 (436); other odd Yorkshire deeds (various).

Derbyshire: Dronfield, 1468 (1); Hackenthorpe and Heeley (Hobson), 1554-1668 (20); Lightwood in Norton (Urton alias Steven), 1543-1716 (34); Spinkhill (Pole), 1651-1699 (3); miscellaneous North Derbyshire deeds, 1542-1776 (60).

Nottinghamshire: Misson, 1723-1731 (5); Shireoaks, 1707 (2).

Staffordshire: Mathfield, 1698-1699 (2); Sheen, 1739 (1).

Estate papers:

Rev. H. Wickham's estates: Heslington enclosure-agreement to enclose, 1760, surveyor's notebook, particulars of allotments, correspondence, accounts, etc., concerning Wickham's interests, 1760-1762. Mexborough-survey, 1756.

Surveys and Maps: Kirkburton, Foulstone Hall estate, 1782, estates at Wincobank [1692], Crowhole, Longley, 1714, Hallam, Dronfield and Woodhouse, c.1700.

Personal and professional papers:

Account, cash and daybooks: Thomas Wright and his clerks (legal business), 1701-1731 (8 books); receipt book of Aquila Dawson, merchant of Bawtry, 1693-1694; John Hoyle's garden rentals (8 books).

Correspondence: Samuel Dawson, sr., merchant of Bawtry (business matters), 1715-1721 (42); Samuel Dawson, attorney (private and family), 1721-1775 (120), (business), 1718-1776 (extensive).

Business correspondence of the following attorneys:- Thomas Wright, 1710-1733 (26), Francis Sitwell, 1721-1722 (26), John Redfearne, 1742-1770, John Hoyland, 1775-1777, William Hoyle, 1759-1788, (all extensive); John Hoyle, 1816-1868 (69); Hoyle and Tibbitts (family), 1832-1866 (50).

Will and bills, letters, etc., of John Wright of Tamworth, 1720-1725. Shaw and Fisher, Britannia metal manufacturers, 1841-1856 (extensive).

Legal Notebooks: Cases in Sheffield court baron, 1734; procedure in courts leet (2 books).

Bills, papers: Nathan Hoyle's personal papers relating to Guiseley school, 1751-1774 (3); personal bills of the Hoyle family, 1810-1881; bills and vouchers (personal and business), Shaw and Fisher, 1832-1856.

Family papers relating to legal affairs:

Francis Jessop of Treeton: letters (21), justices' orders, etc. (24), inventories (4), concerning commission of lunacy, 1720-1722.

Andrew Clayton's (d.1705) estate: inventory, 1706; lead mines (Winster Sough): deeds, 1687-1709 (6), accounts of ore got, 1793-1797 (12 papers), receipts, statements in case before Barmote Court, 1709 (5 papers), correspondence (12), 1684-1710; correspondence about Romeley estate, terms of Andrew Clayton's will, case of Anne Clayton v. Vannam Clayton, 1705-1713 (17), papers in the case, 1713-1716 (25).

Bright and Dalton: correspondence relating to their inheritance (150) and concerning Lady John Murray (nee Dalton), 1748-1765 (5).

Newton and Bagshaw: letters and papers relating to case arising out of the will of Mrs. Mary Bagshaw of Ford (nee Wingfield), 1749-1771.

Other cases:- (20-30 papers each), Mill, Firth, Swinnerton, Heward, Steer, Marshall, Revel Homfray, Walton of Norwood Hall, Champion v. Butcher, John Smith of Wortley, Brownlow, Hatfield and Rich.

Rights of way:- Beighton (Sothill Green), 1769, Handsworth (Mill Lane), 1765, Ughill, 1766, Rotherham.

Boundaries:- manors of Kneeton, Middleton Tyas and Sedbury (N. Riding), 1718.

Slander cases (in Consistory Court):- 3 cases (Sheffield), 1771-1772.

• Tibbitts, W F, d 1927, attorney, of Sheffield
• Wright, Thomas, fl 1701-1731, clerk to Town Trust, of Sheffield
• Dawson, Samuel, fl 1718-1776, attorney, of Sheffield
• Wright, Thomas, d 1741, attorney, of Romeley