Papers of the Sutton family of Nottingham

Records are open for consultation, unless otherwise stated

Items given to the Nottingham City Archives Office by and copied from originals in possession of Miss M.F. Briggs of Nottingham in May 1972 and transferred to the Nottinghamshire Record Office with the amalgamation of the two offices in 1976.

Acc 1951

These papers relate in particular to Charles Sutton (1765-1829) and his son Richard (1789-1856), both printers and proprietors of the liberal Nottingham Review. Charles Sutton was imprisoned for a year in Northampton County Gaol for political libel in criticising in the Review the conduct of British troops during the war with the U.S.A. (see DD/764/3 and 4). Both father and son were Methodist lay preachers and members of Parliament Street Methodist Church, Nottingham. Their business premises were at the corner of Bridlesmith Gate and Bottle Lane, Nottingham, where they lived for a number of years. Charles Sutton later built Forest House, Radford, as his own dwelling house and in addition acquired Radford Grove (built by William Elliott Elliott and also known as Radford Folly) where Richard Sutton lived. The eighteenth-century Suttons were Presbyterians and the diary of Elizabeth Sutton (extracts from which appear in DD/764/1) contains material relevant to both High Pavement Unitarian and Castle Gate Congregational Churches, Nottingham.

Miss Briggs gave other material relating to Charles and Richard Sutton to the City Archives Office in March 1968, which is at M/24,287-24,291. Miss Briggs' mother, Mrs. Florence Henrietta Briggs, born in Nottingham in 1861, was the daughter of Richard Charles Sutton and his wife Sarah (née Eckett) and the grand-daughter of Richard Sutton (see DD/764/2/19).

The Bottle Lane/Bridlesmith Gate property was purchased by Nottingham Corporation in 1861 as part of a street-widening scheme and the title deeds (including copies of the wills of Charles and Richard Sutton) are at M/14,831-14,850