| Description | These deeds were kept separate from the main series of Bagot Deeds (D(W)1721/3/1-113) and were not deposited until 1968.
They consisted mainly of documents which were used in compiling the family pedigree, or else in the book "Memorials of the Bagot Family" compiled in 1824, ? by William Hamper; or in The History of the Bagot Family (S.H.C., XI NS) by Wrottesley. Many of the documents are either published in or quoted in both these volumes. But the number sequence of the documents in this list, although utilizing an existing arrangement, has no reference to any sequence used to number documents quoted or transcribed in either of these volumes.
William Hamper was a Staffordshire Antiquary who was responsible for, inter alia, saving much of Stebbing Shaw's collection of manuscripts, and who presented the 12 volumes of records of the medieval of Earls of Stafford, Dukes of Buckingham to Lord Bagot. This was in recognition of his descent from the same family as Hervey Bagot, husband of Millicent Stafford and ancestor of the Lords Stafford.
It would appear that some of the manuscripts (e.g. D986/1-12) may also have been acquired by Hamper himself and presented to Lord Bagot.
Apart from a number of fine seals (used in the volumes cited above), the collection contains a Royal Charter of Henry II and later 12th/early 13th century deeds relating to Blithfield and its hamlets, some with topographical information about those which are now decayed (lost) villages.
One feature is the bewildering size of the perch (to calculate acreage) in terms of linear feet; but the real prize is a declaration that the foot itself, in one case, consisted of 13" (and how long were the inches). Number of the size of the perch is not unusual in medieval deeds, but the proportion so doing is normally much lower than in this group.
1-12
13-89 Unidentified
Pieces that were used in the compilation of the Bagot Memorial (published 1824), including deeds from the 12th cent., and pedigree items. |