IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 BROUGHAM E, F
Held at: University College London
Title: Brougham Papers: family and estate papers
Date(s): 15th century-1932
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 55 boxes (including one large), 2 volumes
Name of creator(s): Brougham | family | of Brougham, Westmorland
Brougham | Lady | Marianne | d 1865 | née Spalding | formerly Eden | also known as Mary Anne
Brougham | Eleanor | d 1839 | née Syme
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
From medieval origins the first Broughams of Brougham (Westmorland) became extinct in 1608, although the Brougham Hall estate was reunited under one owner, James Bird, c1676. John Brougham of Scales (Cumberland) in 1726 purchased the estate from Bird's heirs, and was succeeded by his nephew, Henry Brougham of Brougham (d 1782), himself succeeded by his son, Henry Brougham of Brougham (1742-1810), who married Eleanor (d 1839), only daughter of James Syme, and had issue Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868); James (1780-1833); Peter (1781-1800); John Waugh (1785-1829); Mary (1787-1856); and William, 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux (1795-1886). Henry Brougham, created Baron Brougham and Vaux in 1830, married Marianne Eden (née Spalding) in 1819 and had issue Sarah Eleanor (b 1820; d an infant) and Eleanor Louise, 'Tullia' (1822-1839). He was prominent in public life as a lawyer and politician, serving as Lord Chancellor, 1830-1834, and from the 1830s held property at Cannes, France, in addition to family estates in Westmorland and Cumberland. William Brougham, who succeeded to his brother Henry's title as 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux in 1868, married in 1834 Emily Frances Taylor and had issue Henry Charles, Wilfred, Reginald Thomas Dudley, Alice Eleanora, Emily Evelyn and Adela Mary Grenville. He was responsible for management of the family estates from 1833, long before his brother Henry's death in 1868. He also served as an MP, but was by no means as prominent in political life as his brother. The family seat of Brougham Hall is situated two miles south east of Penrith, Cumberland. High Head Castle, also owned by the family, stood near by. Henry Brougham (d 1810) spent limited time at Brougham, but the Brougham family returned to Westmorland from Edinburgh in 1810 and thereafter one or more of its members was there for at least part of the year. Substantial rebuilding of the Hall took place in 1829-1847 and again in the 1860s. The estate was subject to legal disputes. In 1843 Lord Brougham's ownership of the Hall was challenged when Thomas Bird of Ashton-under-Lyme claimed that John Brougham of Scales' purchase in 1726 had been illegal, but Bird's case was defeated at Appleby Assizes. In the Edmunds case one Leonard Edmunds, an associate of the Brougham family, was in 1864 accused of embezzling money from the Patents Office and claimed he was owed money by the Broughams, who were caught up in the ensuing scandal but denied Edmunds' claims; the case was heard in 1866, but was not finally resolved until 1872. Following the collapse of the family finances in the early 1930s Brougham Hall passed out of the family in 1934.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Family and estate papers of the Broughams of Brougham Hall, Westmorland, dating from the 15th century to 1932 but largely from the 19th century, comprising varied material relating to the family and their properties, and including material of local interest to Westmorland and Cumberland. Estate and household papers, the bulk dating from the 19th century but with some earlier material, include deeds and abstracts of title to properties in Westmorland and Cumberland; papers relating to the Brougham, High Head and Cannes properties, and to houses in Berkeley Square and Grosvenor Square (London); financial papers, including account books and bills; correspondence; plans; legal papers, including the Bird and Edmunds cases; genealogical papers and pedigrees, including Brougham; catalogue for the sale of the contents of Brougham Hall, 1932. Papers of family members include diaries of Eleanor Brougham (née Syme), Jan-Mar 1813, Jan-May 1825, containing short entries on the weather and family affairs (2 volumes); papers of Marianne, Lady Brougham, comprising diaries, 1798, 1806, 1807, 1809, 1815-1863, containing sparse entries mainly about the weather, her health, and family comings and goings (26 volumes), account books, 1815-1819, 1831-1834 (3 volumes), memoranda books, 1816, 1818-1834 (3 volumes), and an undated exercise book on Greek and Latin (1 volume); poll and canvas books relating to Westmorland elections, 1820, 1826; a ticket to Queen Victoria's coronation [1838]; miscellaneous newspapers.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: Mainly English
System of arrangement:
The papers are only roughly sorted.
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Some summary lists, including diaries of Eleanor Brougham and Lady Brougham, but the papers are not fully catalogued.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Part of the Brougham Papers.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Received by University College London with the other Brougham Papers in 1953.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Correspondence and papers of Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, James Brougham, John Waugh Brougham, and William Brougham, 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux, form separate sub-fonds within the Brougham Papers and contain some family correspondence. Material of local interest concerning Westmorland and Cumberland is to be found the correspondence of James Brougham (Ref: BROUGHAM J), William Brougham, 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux (Ref: BROUGHAM WB) and James Atkinson (Ref: BROUGHAM A).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Sources: P B Wyly, A Gathering of Broughams But Not a Clean Sweep and A Gathering of Broughams - In Their Family Trees (P B Wyly, 1998); Mark Thomas, A History of Brougham Hall and High Head Castle (Phillimore and Co Ltd, Chichester, Sussex, 1992). Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: May 2001