Hutchinson family and estate papers

The Hutchinsons were a well-established and wealthy family of Bury. In the eighteenth century they had been wool merchants, the papers in this collection belonged to the branch of the family who built Daisyfield Mill a cotton spinning mill at Elton, Bury. The legal documents comprise 18th and 19th century deeds relating to land, property and business interests in Bury, Douglas (Isle of Man), Newton Heath, Pendleton and probate documents from the 19th century. Personal papers include collections that have been passed through generations of the Hutchinson family including documents relating to Broom Hall the house on Silver Street, Bury occupied by members of the family in the 18th and 19th centuries, genealogical research and the family pedigree, correspondence and photographs. Documents arranged by named family member include: the journal and letters kept by John Hutchinson during his voyage to the USA in 1848 and a presentation address book from 1887; the albums and collections of paintings, sketches, autographs and family seals of Mary Joanna Hutchinson; the recipe books of Elizabeth Hutchinson nee Hodgson; the letter book of correspondence sent by William Hutchinson during his 'grand tour' of 1832; correspondence sent by Elizabeth Hutchinson nee Clegg, regarding her son John Summerscales Hutchinson, missing in action in the First World War; a cuttings book of press notices and obituaries regarding Henry Ernest Hutchinson, playwright.

Five series of legal documents are arranged by location and chronologically. The nineteenth century wills and probate had accumulated chronologically. Estate papers from the twentieth century, although originally kept in the care of the solicitor, have been assigned to named family members in 12 series since they include a quantity of personal documentation. Personal and recreational documents have also been assigned to their original creator or keeper by named family member, except one series of inter-generational items, where successive generations had continued to add to them, for example, loose photograph collections or the family pedigree.

The Hutchinson family papers were given by Geoffrey Clegg Hutchinson, Lord Ilford and do not include any of his own papers. They appear to have accumulated at Elderslie in Prestwich, the last Bury home of the Hutchinsons, or in the case of the legal deeds and documents have been collected from a solicitor's office in Manchester namely Taylor, Kirkman and Mainprice. Elderslie was the home of Elizabeth Hutchinson nee Clegg until 1943 and Francis Ormerod Hutchinson until his death in 1953. Geoffrey Clegg Hutchinson had sorted and labelled the majority of the personal papers. Some he identified as having come from Bedford the home of Dorothy Smith his cousin.