The Chaworth-Musters Collection (ChM) contains the papers of the Chaworth-Musters family of Annesley Park and Colwick Hall, Nottinghamshire. The initial collection was acquired in 1992, and an accrual of correspondence was received in 1994.
Principal subject areas within the collection
The collection lacks some of the essential elements of a full estate archive (there is for instance no series of deeds), and includes very little material from before the joining of the Chaworth and Musters estates by the marriage of John Musters with Mary Ann Chaworth in 1805. However, it provides general coverage for the 19th-century history of the estates, and includes many personal papers and letters.
The vast majority of the documents in the main collection are estate papers from the 19th century, referring to the Chaworth-Musters properties at Annesley, Felley, Colwick, Sneinton, Carlton, Wiverton, Tithby, Cropwell Butler, Edwalton and West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. These comprise a relatively small part of what would have been the full archive for the estate. A number of 19th and early-20th century plans of the estates are present, together with surveys, valuations, inventories, sale catalogues, rentals, accounts and disbursements, of similar date. One of the account books details John Chaworth Musters' expenditure on hounds at kennels at Wiverton. There are small series of testamentary papers, grants of arms and pedigrees, and one draft family settlement of the late 17th century.
The personal papers include three mid-19th century travel diaries, recording journeys in Italy, Spain and the Middle East. There is also a journal containing notes of a clergyman's charitable visits in Annesley and Kirkby-in-Ashfield in the 1850s. Among the few printed papers and ephemera present are a copy of an account of the sacking of Colwick Hall in 1831, and a Bill for raising money in compensation. There is also a copy of a verbatim report of the trial of Lord Byron for the murder of William Chaworth in 1765. An account book of the Overseer of the Poor for the parish of Tithby, Nottinghamshire, 1756-1806, is a stray which must once have formed part of the parish collection.
There is a substantial series of family correspondence dating back to 1831. However, the majority of the correspondence consists of letters home from Patrick, Jack, Anthony, Phil, Bob and Douglas Chaworth-Musters, on active service in the First World War.