Wolseley Papers

The Wolseley family is one of the oldest established Staffordshire families and is reputed to have been settled at Wolseley in the parish of Colwich before the Norman Conquest. Deeds of properties in Wolseley survive from the twelfth century, the time of William, son of Siward of Wolseley and grandson of Edric who lived in William II's reign, and of Richard of Hints, another grandson of Edric. Leter, there are deeds relating to the chantry in Wolseley founded in the fourteenth century by Geoffrey of Wolseley including a post-Dissolution grant to Anthony Wolseley. Edward IV's licences to Ralph Wolseley to impark, fortify and crenellate Wolseley in 1469 also survive. Family settlements include the marriage settlement of Thomas Wolseley and Grace Gresley, 1584 and the conveyance of Wolseley from Thomas to Robert Wolseley, later 1st Bart. There are a few documents relating to Cannock Chase including the arbitrator's award between the Bishop of Chester and Ralph Wolseley, Baron of the Exchequer concerning hunting rights, late 15th century, and a memorandum of the 1st Baronet concerning trespasses and destruction of his rabbit warren by Lord Paget, 1646.

Court Rolls for the Manor of Wolseley, mid 14th century to late 16th century, and some rentals of the Wolseley family estates, mid 15th to late 17th century, comprise the majority of manorial papers in this archive. Legal papers include 17th century documents concerning suit owed to Wolseley Mill by the inhabitants of Bishton, together with a series of papers relating to the wardship of the 9th Baronet, who succeeded his father while a minor. There is one lease register of the Wolseley estates, 1759-1806, with a series of leases from the late 16th century to the early 20th century. Amongst the estate maps is a very large plan of the Wolseley estate in 1826 including part of Cannock Chase, together with a printed plan of the Chase c.1873. There are also a few drawings of alterations to Wolseley Hall in the 19th century.

In general the survival of estate surveys, correspondence, rentals and accounts is very erratic. There is a note of the Wolseley estate at the time of the sale by Thomas Wolseley to Robert Wolseley and there are two detailed estate surveys of the mid 19th century. Apart from two bundles of correspondence of the 1st and 2nd Baronets respectively, there is no significant series of estate letters until the mid 19th century. From this period, correspondence survives with various railway companies who proposed routes across the Wolseley estate. In addition, there is a group of papers relating to borings for coal on the Wolseley estate from c.1878 to c.1945. Few rentals and estate accounts survive and there is a notable absence of material from the mid eighteenth to mid nineteenth centuries. Household records include inventories of furniture etc. at Wolseley Hall, 1854 and 1916 and an inventory of Park House fittings, 1867. One housekeeper's account book survives for the period 1893-1914.

The Wolseley personal papers include Robert Wolseley's patent of baronetage, 1628, and some documents relating to his clerkship of the Letters Patent, mid 17th century. There are few personal papers of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Reminiscences of Sir Charles Wolseley, 9th Baronet, do not include any local Staffordshire references and similarly the diaries of the 10th Baronet do not shed very much light on local affairs. The family pedigrees include a fine 17th century illuminated roll and a pedigree of the Irish branch of the family, the Wolseleys of Mount Wolseley, from whom Sir Garnet Wolseley was descended. There are also two volumes of transcripts of family deeds and some notes towards a Wolseley family history.

Deposited by Sir Charles Wolseley Bt