Manuscripts and Special Collections

Galway of Serlby Hall


Engraving of Serlby Hall, c.1813, from Hodgson and Laird's 'The Beauties of England and Wales'
 

The Galway collection is described on the Manuscripts Online Catalogue.

The initial collection of Galway manuscripts (Ga) was acquired in 1953. Several accruals were subsequently acquired between 1958 and 1974 (Ga C and Ga 2). The papers of General Robert Monckton (Ga M) were acquired in 1984. There are further uncatalogued accruals. The collection is divided into separate groups, with their own catalogues, although many contents overlap:

  • (Ga 9201-13257) Papers of the Monckton-Arundell family, Viscounts Galway of Serlby Hall, Nottinghamshire, including title deeds, estate records, family papers, legal and manorial records; early 13th century-1943; the English Civil War memoirs and correspondence of Philip Monckton (c.1620-1679); and papers of Richard Arundell (1696-1758), Surveyor General and Master of the Mint. This is the first collection acquired in 1953, which retains an earlier arrangement and numbering system, made when the papers were still in private hands
  • (Ga C) Further papers of the Monckton-Arundell Family; 1590-1930. The collection consists primarily of correspondence and personal papers of the 5th, 6th and 7th Viscounts Galway, and the 6th Viscountess. The papers were received by the University library from the family in 1958
  • (Ga 2) Further papers of the Monckton-Arundell Family; 1680-1958. The collection consists primarily of correspondence relating to the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Viscounts and Viscountesses, and to the 3rd Baron Annaly and his wife, the parents of the 8th Viscountess. The collection came to the University library, from the family, in three stages between 1971 and 1974
  • (Ga M) Correspondence of General Robert Monckton (1726-1782), soldier; 1751-1913. This collection was acquired by Nottingham University Library in 1984

Item level catalogues to each of the sections are available on the Manuscripts Online Catalogue.

The typescript catalogues were also made available during the Access to Archives (A2A) project and can now be seen on The National Archives' Discovery catalogue.

 

 

Principal Subject areas within the collections

The Galway papers comprise a substantial family and estate archive, being for the most part records about their Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire estates during the period of the family's ownership. In addition there are a number of significant medieval records inherited through property acquisition, and much 19th and early 20th century personal correspondence.

The vast bulk of this collection consists of deeds and settlements covering the 13th to the 19th century. The material relates particularly to lands in Yorkshire, including Howden and South Newbald in the East Riding, and Hemsworth, Felkirk, Allerton Mauleverer, Boroughbridge, Wakefield, Kinsley, Knaresborough, Leeds, Purston Jaglin, Pontefract, Hodroyd and South Hiendley in the West Riding. There are also a considerable number of deeds relating to North Nottinghamshire including Serlby, Blyth, Torworth, Harworth and Scrooby. Deeds relating to other counties such as Cheshire, Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Middlesex are also present, as are some items relating to Ireland. There are also a number of manorial records relating to Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire including court rolls for the manor of South Newbald, Yorkshire. In 1883 the Galway estates included 4,081 acres in Nottinghamshire, 2,765 acres in Yorkshire, and 162 acres in Cornwall. The Hodroyd Hall estate in Yorkshire was sold in 1911, South Newbald in Yorkshire in 1913, the manor of Allet in Cornwall in 1920, and parts of the Serlby estate in Nottinghamshire in 1930 and 1946.

General estate records consist of conveyances, surveys, rentals, accounts and correspondence and again relate to Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, in particular Scrooby in Nottinghamshire and Cavil and Pontefract in Yorkshire. Also amongst the estate papers are several items relating to elections in Pontefract and elsewhere in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. A small group of papers reflects the family's coal mining interests and activities in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in the 19th and 20th centuries, centred upon the Hodroyd and Monckton Main Collieries near Barnsley.

The collection also includes a number of estate, personal and household accounts and the accounts of William Monckton, 2nd Viscount Galway (d 1772), as Receiver General of the Crown Lands. Legal papers, ecclesiastical papers including registers, wills and items concerning tithes, household inventories and genealogical papers are also present in the collection.

Of particular significance are the personal, political and diplomatic papers which include the English Civil War memoirs and correspondence of Philip Monckton (c.1620-1679), and papers of Richard Arundell (1696-1758), Surveyor General and Master of the Mint. There are items concerning a number of notable political and diplomatic figures including Henry Pelham and his brother the Duke of Newcastle, the Wentworth family, Earls Strafford, Sir John Goodricke and the Duke of Cumberland. The original correspondence of General Robert Monckton (1726-1782) principally concerns the Seven Years War, 1756-1763, in North America and Canada. Many of the letters are from the most influential men including General James Abercromby, William Pitt and Major General James Wolfe. There is also a section containing photocopies of personal letters from Robert Monckton to his brother Jack, dated 1762-1763. The originals of these are in the National Archives of Canada.

There are further groups of correspondence and personal papers relating to William George Monckton (Arundell), 5th Viscount Galway (1782-1834), George Edward Monckton-Arundell, 6th Viscount Galway (1805-1876), George Edmund Milnes Monckton-Arundell, 7th Viscount Galway (1844-1931), and George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, Governor-General of New Zealand (1882-1943), and their Duchesses. In addition to the many family correspondents and letters about family and social matters, there are letters from a number of political figures such as Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield and Archibald Primrose, Lord Rosebery. The collections also include a vast amount of correspondence relating to estate matters in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. Some 20th century material is restricted; prospective readers should contact the department for advice.

 

Family history

Principal family members

Other notable family members

 

Collections held elsewhere

Other repositories holding archives of the Monckton-Arundell family:

  • Cornwall Record Office holds deeds and estate papers relating to Allet, Cornwall (Reference: DD/WH and DD/BY)
  • Doncaster Archives Department holds an inventory dated 1828

 

Useful published works on the Monckton-Arundell family

  • E.I. Musgrave, Serlby Hall: an illustrated survey of the Nottinghamshire residence of the viscounts Galway : the historic home of the Monckton family (Derby, English Life, ?1954] [King’s Meadow Campus (MSS) East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 187.D64 SER]
  • G. Oldfield, 'Life at Serlby Hall', Nottinghamshire Countryside, incorporated in Nottingham Topic (June 1991), 71-72; (July 1991), [63]-65
  • A. Oswald, 'Serlby Hall, Nottinghamshire', Country Life 125 (1959), 654-657, 708-711, 766-769

 

 

Next page:  The Monckton-Arundell Family of Serlby Hall: A Brief History

 

Manuscripts and Special Collections

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