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GOULBURN FAMILY OF BETCHWORTH: TITLE DEEDS, ESTATE AND PERSONAL PAPERS, 1218-1958, INCLUDING THE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE OF HENRY GOULBURN, MP (1784-1856)

Reference Number: 304

  • Descriptive Information about the Record (click to expand)
    Provenance
    The family's records were deposited by Major General E H Goulburn, DSO, of Betchworth House (grandson of Edward and Maria Louisa Goulburn) in 1954, 1957 and 1972, having previously been stored partly at Betchworth House, and partly (mainly deeds and papers relating to the Betchworth estate) with the family's solicitors, Messrs Freshfield.
    Introduction
    Goulburn family fortunes were founded on the estate at Amity Hall, parish of Vere, Jamaica, inherited by Munbee Goulburn from his father and uncle, and settled to the trusts of his marriage settlement in 1782. After Munbee's death, intestate, in 1794, the estate, apparently heavily encumbered, was put in Chancery, and was so administered until his son, Henry, attained his majority in 1805. Henry Goulburn, requiring a seat near London, purchased the Betchworth House estate in 1816, which included the manor of East Betchworth. Although he kept a close eye on the administration and profitability of his Jamaican estates, which were mananged through local agents, he never visited the island, and eventually decided in 1852 to attempt to sell the estates. He was not successful and it was not until 1861, that his eldest surviving son sold Amity Hall. By the date of his removal to Betchworth, Henry Goulburn was already prominent in national political circles, and was an intimate friend of (Sir) Robert Peel. He had entered Parliament in 1808 and served in Spencer Percival's government as under-secretary for the home department. He was later (1812) appointed under-secretary for war and the colonies, and in 1814 was made a commissioner for negotiating peace with America. He became a member of the Privy Council in 1821, and was appointed Chief Secretary to the Marquis of Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post he held until 1827. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Wellington's administration (1828-30), and then as Home Secretary in Peel's first cabinet (1834-35), returning to the Exchequer when his friend again came to power (1841-46). Henry Goulburn married, in 1811, Jane Montagu, third daughter of Matthew 4th Lord Rokeby, by whom he had four children, Henry, Edward, Frederick and Jane. Henry his eldest son (b.1813) had a brilliant career at Cambridge but died in 1843, only three years after being called to the bar. The estate thus passed, on the death in 1856 of Henry Goulburn senior, to his second son Edward, who in the same year married Maria Louisa, daughter of the Rev William Tower, Vicar of Braughing, Herts, and his wife, Maria, herself a daughter and coheir of Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey of Rolls Park, Essex. Through her, the family inherited estates at Braughing, and in Essex.
    Arrangement
    This is a provisional box list, although the overall scheme has been finalised. Final numbers have not been assigned to any items, other than the correspondence between Munbee and Henry Goulburn and their agents in Jamaica (304/J/1/-). Numbers in brackets at the end of descriptions are temporary item, file or bundle numbers. Papers and correspondence relating to Henry Goulburn's political career (304/A1/-) are followed by papers accumulated by him in his capacity as executor or trustee (304/A2/-), papers relating to his financial affairs (304/A3/-) and personal correspondence and papers, including memoirs and journal (304/A4/-). Thereafter follow letters and papers of his mother Susannah, brother Edward, wife Jane (nÉe Montagu) and children Henry, Edward, Frederick and Jane and of Edward Goulburn's wife Louisa (nÉe Tower) (304/B-H/-). Records relating to title to and management of the Goulburn estates follow in the order: Amity Hall, Vere, Jamaica (304/J/-); Betchworth House estate (304/K/-); London houses belonging to members of the family (304/L/-) and the estates in Braughing, Herts, and North Weald, West Ham and Chigwell, Essex, which were inherited by Louisa Goulburn from her mother Mrs Maria Tower (304/M/-). The final sections of the list group together other letters and papers of three families related to the Goulburns: the Tower family (304/N/-), the Ellison family (304/O/-) and the Montagu family (304/P/-). The final section (304/Q/-) includes printed items and miscellaneous papers found among the family archives. Correspondence has generally been placed according to recipient rather than sender.
    Access Conditions
    There are no access restrictions.
  • Series information for this collection[total matches: ]
    • series: 304/A1/ - HENRY GOULBURN (1784-1856): POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS [ matches]
      Date:c.1803-1856
    • series: 304/A2/ - HENRY GOULBURN: EXECUTORSHIP AND TRUSTEESHIP PAPERS [ matches]
      Date:1747-1870
    • series: 304/A3/ - HENRY GOULBURN: FINANCIAL AFFAIRS [ matches]
      Date:1801-1856
    • series: 304/A4/ - HENRY GOULBURN: PERSONAL [ matches]
      Date:1801-1854
    • series: 304/B/ - MRS SUSANNAH GOULBURN (d.1818) [ matches]
      Date:1809-1814
    • series: 304/C/ - EDWARD GOULBURN [ matches]
      Date:1803-1869
    • series: 304/D/ - MRS JANE GOULBURN (d.1857) [ matches]
      Date:1809-1846
    • series: 304/E/ - HENRY ('HARRY') GOULBURN JUNIOR (1813-1843) [ matches]
      Date:c.1816-1843
    • series: 304/F1/ - COLONEL EDWARD GOULBURN (d.1887): EXECUTORSHIP AND TRUSTEESHIP PAPERS [ matches]
      Date:1856-1889
    • series: 304/F2/ - COL EDWARD GOULBURN (d.1887): PERSONAL PAPERS [ matches]
      Date:1820-1892
    • series: 304/G/ - FREDERICK GOULBURN (1818-1878) [ matches]
      Date:1818-1878
    • series: 304/H/ - MISS JANE GOULBURN (d.1888) [ matches]
      Date:1822-1887
    • series: 304/I/ - MRS LOUISA GOULBURN (d.1891) [ matches]
      Date:1870s-1890s
    • series: 304/J/ - ESTATES: AMITY HALL, VERE, AND THE BOGUE PEN, JAMAICA [ matches]
      Date:(1686)-1861
    • series: 304/K/ - ESTATES: BETCHWORTH HOUSE ESTATE [ matches]
      Date:1625-1958
    • series: 304/L/ - ESTATES: LONDON HOUSES [ matches]
      Date:1811-1888
    • series: 304/M/ - ESTATES: BRAUGHING, HERTS, AND NORTH WEALD, WEST HAM AND CHIGWELL, ESSEX [ matches]
      Date:1218-1902
    • series: 304/N/ - TOWER FAMILY [ matches]
      Date:1813-1880s
    • series: 304/O/ - ELLISON FAMILY [ matches]
      Date:1826-1875
    • series: 304/P/ - THE MONTAGU FAMILY [ matches]
      Date:1803-1873
    • series: 304/Q/ - PRINTED ITEMS AND MISCELLANEOUS [ matches]
      Date:18TH CENT-1890

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Your comments about GOULBURN FAMILY OF BETCHWORTH: TITLE DEEDS, ES...

Eddie Baker From about 1955 until 1980 my Mother was the under housekeeper at Betchworth House. Major General Edward Henery Gouldburn DSO AND BAR lived there on his own but had many visitors including distant members of the royal stay. His Brother Cuthbert liver in Shropshire.
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