Acquisitions

Saved for Essex – New Document Purchases Supported by Friends of Historic Essex

Records formerly in the collections of the Foyle  family of Beeleigh Abbey, reference D/DU 3538/1-6

Over the past year, several sales have been managed by an auctioneer in Gloucestershire of property formerly owned by the late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon.

ERO bid unsuccessfully on two items in the sale of 27th September last year, and were determined to achieve some success in the follow-up sale held on 31st January. The Friends of Historic Essex’s help was instrumental in ERO being triumphantly successful in securing all five of the lots on which bids were placed!

For one lot comprising late medieval title deeds, the Record Office is most grateful to two local donors in the Dengie area who – through approaches made on behalf of the Friends – very kindly committed funds that entirely covered the costs.

For the remaining four lots, the Friends have invaluably contributed a very sizeable proportion of the costs, including all of the costs for D/DU 3538/6, for which staff and readers alike will be very grateful as their usage and interest becomes apparent:

  • Lot 1 – seven medieval deeds of Essex dated circa 1280 – 1437, contribution £596 (30% overall cost); catalogue reference D/DU 3538/2/1-7
  • Lot 2 – ten medieval deeds of Essex dated 1456 – 1546, contribution £484 (30% overall cost); catalogue reference D/DU 3538/3/1-10
  • Lot 16 – rental of Earl of Warwick’s estates dated circa 1610, contribution £1392 (20% cost); catalogue reference D/DU 3538/1
  • Lot 46 – manor of East Bergholt records, including rent roll of 1753, dated 18th and 19th centuries, contribution £868 (100% cost); catalogue reference D/DU 3538/6

We are additionally fortunate that the auctioneers had commissioned Christopher Whittick, archivist at Arundel Castle and formerly of East Sussex Record Office, to provide detailed descriptions of the medieval deeds. These are being incorporated into a catalogue ready for  Friends and readers in the summer once conservation work to mount deeds with seals has been completed.

The most important item among these is the rental of Essex estates of Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich and 1st Earl of Warwick (third creation), comprising ‘Lot 16’ in the sale.

The Essex Record Office is also grateful to the Friends of the National Libraries, without which the very considerable outlay required in the current market to be able to make successful competitive purchases.

However, match funding is required for the National Libraries, and there is no question that without the Friends of Historic Essex’s financial and practical help, these bids, which are the most important purchases made by Essex Record Office for a long time, would not have been successful. 

Postcards purchased at auction in Berkshire, catalogue reference D/DU 3531/1-126

This is an interesting collection of predominantly pre-first World War material comprising 126 postcards varying through street scenes, views and villages across Essex. The areas represented are very widespread but all within the original boundaries of the county and include Brentwood, Colchester, Dovercourt, Frinton-on-Sea, Goodmayes, Harwich, Hornchurch, Ingatestone, Leigh-on-Sea, Rayleigh, Rochford, Shenfield, Shoeburyness, Southend-on-Sea, St-Osyth, Walton-on-Naze, Wanstead and Woodford. The original auction description highlighted the presence of an image of the New Zealand convalescent camp in Hornchurch, a fascinating First World War camp from 1916 to 1919, now listed as D/DU 3531/50. All 126 postcards have been catalogued by project archivist Lara Kirkland and descriptions appear on Essex Archives Online, although thumbnail images are unavailable.

Whilst the Essex Record Office does not often seek to acquire by purchase single or small numbers of postcards, an extensive collection such as this contains many rare images, and indeed, the Record Office received the recommendation of their historic interest via a former service manager. We were successful at Loddon Auctions on 29th November last year with £250 hammer plus £71 premium and postage, for which we are most grateful to the Friends of Historic Essex for supporting the total costs.

Court book of the Manor of Orsett, catalogue reference D/DU 3503/1 

On 30th September 2023 ERO was successful at an auction held at Bateman’s in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in acquiring an important manorial court book for £600 hammer plus £174 premium and postage.

Almost all of the surviving records of the manor of Orsett were received at ERO from the Whitmore family many decades ago, but this particular book was an exception, having passed out of the family’s control some time between 1897 and 1977. However, the existence of this late 1640s court book was known from a microfilm as well as from the Manorial Documents Register, which cryptically referred to it as at an ‘Unknown Location‘, so this was an unmissable opportunity for it to come up for sale.