Morant of Brockenhurst

There are a few manorial records here (ref. M1-9) including a printed particular of the manor of Ringwood dated 1789. But most of the documents are title deeds to the Morant estates at Boldre, Brockenhurst, Burley, Ellingham, Fordingbridge, Minstead and Ringwood from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Most of the documents relate to the New Forest area but three documents concern the New Inn at Farnborough (E/T21-23) and some relate to estates in London and other counties (E/T214-258). There is also a group of documents relating to the Morant sugar plantations in Jamaica 1792-1894 (E/T259-261). One of these has a schedule of slaves on the estates with details of name, colour, age and race (E/T260)

A group of documents concerns the administration of both the English estates (E/B1-12) and those in Jamaica (E/B13-22) and a large group relates to a chancery lawsuit following the probate of the will of John Morant 1793-1795 (E/L1-26).

The archive has a number of family papers, including settlements, copy wills and a group of household vouchers 1856-1862 (F/A1-18). The miscellaneous section at the end includes a number of documents relating to the salmon fishery on the River Avon.

An additional deposit consists of Ringwood manor leases and Brockenhurst manor leases, with additional material mainly relating to these leases, such as copy court rolls, title deeds and correspondence

<p>It is probable that the Ringwood manorial records (ref. 51M74) previously deposited in the Hampshire Record Office via the B.R.A., were originally a part of this archive.</p>

In 1759, an Edward Morant moved to England from Jamaica, where the family had extensive estates. He brought Brockenhurst House and estate in 1770, and his son John Morant, purchased the Manor of Ringwood, from Henry 8th Lord Arundell, in 1794. Death duties, on the death of his great grandson Edward Morant in 1910, forced the family to sell the Ringwood properties in 1916. Many of the Brockenhurst estates were sold in 1951 and 1959