Wilson family of Radford

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS.

DD/WR/1 Stocks and shares with Morley 1839-1857

DD/WR/2 Price lists 1858-1866

DD/WR/3-5 Wilson's Holdings 1858-1867

DD/WR/6 Banking. Radford mill etc 1850-1866

DD/WR/7 Insurance. Wilson & mortgagors Towlson & Godley 1855-1867

DD/WR/8 General accounts.

Read accounts 1837-1866

DD/WR/9 Cash Accounts

DD/WR/9/1-4 Sheffield & London cash accounts 1848-1865

DD/WR/9/5-21 Nottingham & Radford cash accounts. Sam. Miller. Also Lambley & Leicester 1838-1864

DD/WR/9/22-27 J.P. Sanders' cash accounts 1850-1861

DD/WR/10 Taxes, rates and tithes.

Mansfield and Mansfield Woodhouse 1854-1866

(i) Taxes. (ii) rates. (iii) tithes.

DD/WR/11 Taxes and rates

Radford 1842-1866

(i) Taxes. (ii) rates.

DD/WR/12 Taxes, rates, gas and water

Nottingham 1832-1866

(i) Taxes. (ii) rates. (iii) gas & water.

DD/WR/13 Taxes, rates and repairs

DD/WR/13/1-16 Lambley. taxes 1848-1859

DD/WR/13/17-63 Leicester 1850-1857

(i) Taxes. (ii) rates. (iii) repairs.

DD/WR/14 Taxes and rates

South Wingfield Derbs. 1856-1863

(i) Taxes. (ii) rates.

DD/WR/15 Estate management accounts and cognate papers.

Mansfield & Mansfield Woodhouse. Sherwood Hall & Newlands. Farming 1853-1867

DD/WR/15/1-166 (i) Miscellaneous: plans; time sheets; sale of provisions & beasts; travelling expenses; harvest teas.

DD/WR/15/167-787 (ii) General accounts on all aspects of farming.

DD/WR/16 Rents and maintenance accounts

Radford & Nottingham; also Leicester 1842-1866

DD/WR/16/1-6 (i) Rents.

DD/WR/16/7-99 (ii) Landlord's maintenance accounts.

DD/WR/17 Rents, maintenance, & mill 1839-1863

South Wingfield Derbs.

DD/WR/18 Correspondence and papers. Mansfield, Sherwood Hall 1854-1867

DD/WR/18/1-10 Farm & real estate.

DD/WR/18/11-59 Personal estate; letters to tradesmen etc.

DD/WR/19 Valuations, plans, sale catalogues & correspondence 1832-1866

DD/WR/20 Correspondence and papers - Radford

DD/WR/20/1-70 Purchases & sales of other real estate 1835-1864

DD/WR/20/71-163 Nottingham Gas Co., negotiations re. sale c.1833-1865

DD/WR/21 Tenancies:- leases, estimates for repairs, S. Miller's correspondence & cognate papers. (including "Radford House") - also Nottingham, & mentions of the cotton mill c.1850-1865

DD/WR/22 Correspondence and papers - Nottingham

DD/WR/22/1-10 Mount Street Correspondence 1853-1861

DD/WR/22/11-85 Smithy Row. Lease, plans & correspondence etc 1860-1864

DD/WR/22/86-99 Warser Gate. Correspondence 1860-1866

DD/WR/23 Correspondence and papers - South Wingfield Derbs.

DD/WR/23/1-55 Purchases & sales of real estate, including railway 1828-1864

DD/WR/23/56-71 Cotton mill. Valuations, accounts & correspondence, chiefly re. sale to Towlson 1855-1861

DD/WR/24 Correspondence and papers - Thomas Bramley

Tenancies:- Thos. Bramley's correspondence etc.; also re. mill 1857-1866

DD/WR/25 Correspondence re. Wm. Topham's documents. Tithes 1838-1849

DD/WR/26 Correspondence and papers - John Towlson, cotton doubler 1853-1867

Correspondence & papers chiefly re. Wingfield mill & bankruptcy; also re. Radford mill, Hyson Green, Radford & Nottm. property.

(See also DD/WR/23 & 24).

DD/WR/27 Papers - Geo. Godley of Mansfield, miller & baker; & W.S. Withers of Mansfield, miller 1848-1863

W.S.W.'s bankruptcy & G.'s finances.

DD/WR/27/1-80 Accounts & deeds; & papers re. tenancies when Wilson takes over Godley's property.

DD/WR/27/81-177 Correspondence re. same.

DD/WR/28 Miscellaneous legal correspondence - Arthur Wells 1838-1864

DD/WR/29 Correspondence and papers - Wilson as banker.

DD/WR/29/1-2 Thos. Travers 1835-1836

DD/WR/29/3-11 Sarah Shirtcliffe 1849-1862

DD/WR/29/12-42 John & Rebecca Eaton 1856-1867

DD/WR/30 Correspondence and papers - Wilson as creditor, friend, trustee & advisor 1832-1867

Miscellaneous correspondence, including re. cotton at Cape Town.

DD/WR/31 Family papers.

Will & papers re. Eliz. Hoby (née Wilson) settlement 1860-1867

DD/WR/32 Wilson's transfer or Sheffield Smelting Co. & farm to sons; legal correspondence 1862-1863

DD/WR/33 Correspondence re. winding-up of estate 1866-1867

DD/WR/34 Religion and education - accounts, papers and correspondence

Carlton. Straw estate in chapel & school mortgaged to Wilson 1810-1841

DD/WR/35 Religion and education - Plan & papers for building Primitive Methodist chapel - Radford 1830

DD/WR/36 Accounts & correspondence for building & re-building Independent (Congregational) chapel 1829-1866

DD/WR/37 Religion and education - Miscellaneous 1834-1866

Chapels at Mansfield, Retford, Riddings Derbs., Hinton Glos., Charley Leics. Various ministers. Radford:- Benevolent Soc., Temperance Soc., Elliott's dole, & Missions Soc. Mansfield Guardians. Nottm. Cottage Improvement Co. Wirksworth Derbs. school. Midland Counties Proprietary School Co. Turkish Missions. Bibles.

DD/WR/38 Miscellanea.

DD/WR/38/1 Price list, ovens etc c.1850

DD/WR/38/2 Advert. for boots & shoes c.1850

DD/WR/38/3 Act re. will of John Wilkinson, Lambeth Surr. estate 1843

DD/WR/38/4 Manchester Transvaal Committee. Speech by J. Morley 1899

DD/WR/39/1-14 PAPERS: William Wilson, sen. (1769-1833) 1802-1835

DD/WR/40/1-23 PAPERS: Rebekah Wilson née Morley, second wife of W.W. (1770-1858) 1803-1858

DD/WR/41/1-40 PAPERS: William Wilson, jun. (1800-1866)

Boarding school and youth 1813-1816

DD/WR/42/1-74 Adulthood - family man and public figure 1821-1939

DD/WR/43/1-21 Boothby bankruptcy 1837-1841

DD/WR/44/1-3 PAPERS: Eliza Wilson née Read, second wife of W.W. jun. (1803-1851) 1831-1839

DD/WR/45/1-74 Letters, etc., chiefly between the children of William and Eliza Wilson, jun 1837-1907

DD/WR/46/1-23 MISCELLANEA 1829-1969

DD/WR/47/1-7 Illustrations 19th-20th c

Records are open for consultation, unless otherwise stated

Items deposited in the Notts. County Records Office by R.E. Wilson, esq., of Sidmouth, Devon on 12 Aug 1964 (Acc. 570), and 30 June 1967 (Acc. 987).

Further items were deposited by H J S Wilson of Ulverston, Cumbria on 29 October 1986 (Acc.3411)

This interesting collection, the 19th century papers, (chiefly 1840-1866), of William Wilson of Radford, later of Sherwood Hall, Mansfield, was deposited in the Notts. County Records Office by R.E. Wilson of Salcombe Hill, Devon.

William Wilson was born in 1800 and died on the 1st November 1866. In 1833, upon the death of his father, alderman and, in 1816, mayor of Nottingham, he became a principal in the firm of W. & S. Wilson of Radford, spinners of cotton, merino and angela yarns for the lace and hosiery trade. The firm also had a small mill in Wingfield Park Derbs. After the death of his eldest son, who was to have followed this business, Wilson began to sever his connections with spinning. He was able to sell the Wingfield mill in 1856, retaining only an interest as mortgagee, but the Radford one hung on until 1866, apparently because of trade conditions. He had earlier turned his attention in two other directions.

His first marriage to Elizabeth Read gave him connections with the firm which he purchased in 1846 and named the Sheffield Smelting Company. (The reader is referred to "Two Hundred Precious Metal Years, a history of the Sheffield Smelting Co. Ltd., 1760-1960" (a list of Sheffield Smelting Co. papers) by R.E. Wilson, 1960, for details of this and of many other of Wilson's activities, as also for his portrait). Then in 1853, when after bereavements it was no longer imperative for him to live at Torquay as he had been doing for the health of his wife and family, he took Sherwood Hall and a 1000 acre farm on the boundary of Mansfield and Mansfield Woodhouse. As landlord or mortgagee he was also concerned with property in Radford, Nottingham, Lambley, Leicester, & South Wingfield Derbs.

He was a non-conformist and tee-totaller, taking an interest in various chapels and in a Radford temperance society and supporting missionary societies. He apparently organized a school for the mill hands or their children at Radford, and was concerned in other educational and social movements. Moreover, he was always willing to help individuals who approached him, - if they were deserving of aid.

In the words of R.E. Wilson "Stern and punctilious, he set a high example of personal endeavour and expected it of others". He checked every item of cash and every business detail personally, and almost every incoming letter has his brief memo. of the reply on it, in addition to the pressed copies of the replies which were kept. He was fortunate in his agent James P. Sanders who came into his service about 1850, and on whom he was able to rely greatly, especially from about 1862 when Wilson began to retire from active participation. It was in this year that he married for the second time, and also handed over to his sons in partnership the Sheffield Smelting Co., to be managed by John Wycliffe Wilson, and the farm, to be managed by Henry Joseph Wilson. With the sale of the Radford mill in 1866 and, after Wilson's death, the giving-up of the farm which had lately being running at a loss, the series of papers comes to an end, and the family severed its connection with Nottinghamshire.

The papers are in fair physical condition, though the pressed copies of Wilson's outgoing letters are frail and sometimes faint. Many of the documents were found pinned in groups or were in bundles, these have been retained in listing, and there are some traces of a numbering and filing system. All accounts and vouchers have audit memos. referring to the general account book in which they were entered.

In listing correspondence, Wilson's and Sanders' address has been omitted; before 1853 it is Radford or Nottingham, with some letters from Torquay or Sheffield, after it is Sherwood Hall, with some from Sheffield.

The large number of farm accounts which survive makes them of great interest, as an all-round picture can be built up; one might note particularly the number of "new" or "improved" machines, and also some illustrated bill heads. The Wilson attention to detail is also evident from them: supplies for the Hall or farm were ordered on specially printed forms which were to be returned with the goods, and of which a counterfoil was kept. The correspondence covers an even wider range of interests; to mention only one subject, there is much detail about the cotton mills and trade. The letters bring Wilson and his correspondents more vividly before us as characters; such as Thomas Bramley with his somewhat unusual manner of addressing Wilson after leaving his service as "dear late respected master".

Further Wilson papers relating to the Sheffield Smelting Co., and property or interests in Torquay, Malvern and Newcastle are with the owner or held at Sheffield City Library

A further smaller addition to the papers previously deposited in the Nottinghamshire Record Office is almost entirely composed of family correspondence embracing three generations of the Wilson and Morley families. Many of the letters are delightful - especially those of William Wilson, junior, written from boarding school; the correspondence as a whole reveals many aspects of a family imbued by non-conformist principles affecting their reaction to contemporary social and political issues. Unlike the earlier deposit there are no accounts relating to the Wilson firm and the lace and hosiery trade, although there are occasional references to the state and organisation of the trade.

(See introduction and item DD/WR/46/23 for an historical and biographical account of the Wilson and Morley families)