Mansfields of Derby. Can anyone help?

[Almond Tree]

The documents are held in Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock, Derbyshire.  They refer to the sale of Greenhill Cottage and land, Alvaston, Derby.  D5549/3/9 - 13 (5 documents).

[Almond Tree]

Don't know if these documents are relevant.
DG 9/382  28 & 29 August 1789.
These documents are held at Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office
Lease and release.
(i) William Mansfield, gent, Derby.
(ii) George Storer Mansfield, currier, Derby, one of his sons.
(i) To (ii) 2/3 of a farmhouse, fold yard, barn, stables, garden and homestead in Mountsorrel and 2/3 of 63 acres of land in Mountsorrel, Barrow, Quorndon and Rothley.
Consideration: (£)10. & natural love and affection.

DG 9/383  5 June 1799
These documents are held at Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office
Certificate of George Storer Mansfield, gent, Derby for the redemption of the land tax on premises in Quorndon, Rothley and Mountsorrel
DG 9/386  3 & 4 July 1814
These documents are held at Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office
Lease and release.
(i) Peter Still and Alexander Hale Strong, gent, Lincolns Inn.
(ii) William Henry Fremantle, esq, Stanhope St, Middx and Selina his wife.
(iii) Rev. John Eddy, Toddington, Gloucs. and Ann his wife.
(iv) Thomas Thistlethwayte, esq, Southwick Place, Hants.
(v) Dame Elizabeth Morshead, widow, Richmond, Surrey Joshua Smith Simmons Smith, esq, Hampton Court and Selina his wife.
(vi) Selina Hony, widow, Taunton, Somerset.
Mark Batt, esq, Lawell House, Devon and Elizabeth Caroline his wife.
(vii) The Hon. Frances Bowater, widow, Dalby on the Wolds.
(viii) George Storer Mansfield, gent, Derby.
(ix) William Jeffrey Lockett, gent, Derby.
(i - vii) are co-heirs of Henry Bathurst, esq, (decd) Clarendon Park, Wilts
(i) to (viii) with the consent of (ii) to (vii) 1/3 of a farmhouse and lands in Mountsorrel, Rothley and Quorn.
Consideration: £1,645 - 16 - 8 to (i) and £329 - 3 - 4 to (vii)

[Keitht]

Thank you very much. These are at least part of precisely the documents and records I am looking for.

Your posting is extremely helpful and I am most grateful.

Keith

[Almond Tree]

In the 1829 Glover's History of Derby, under those listed as making a donation to the building of Derbyshire General Infirmary is:  G. Storer Mansfield Birmingham £21 and in a description of St Peter's Church, Derby is:  Against the wall in the north aisle 'In a vault near this place lie the remains of William Mansfield who died November 27th 1809 aged 56 years.'

[Keitht]

Again my sincere thanks.

I will now have to make a trip to Derby in the hope of being able to photograph William Mansfield's tomb.

I jave spent eight years researching his children and the effect they have had right down to the modern day. It is only fitting that he be included in their story.

athanks agin,

Keith

[spendlove]

Hello Keith,

I do not think the William Mansfield whos memorial is in St. Peters Derby can be the
William Mansfield father of George Storer and siblings.  When this William died in 1809
he was aged 56 years so born abt 1753 a year prior to your William Mansfields marriage
to Sarah Storer.

In any case there is no actual tomb, it would appear there is a plaque stating that
"In a Vault near this place lie the remains of William Mansfield"

Spendlove

[Keitht]

Helen,

I now realise I came into this part of the thread somewhat late, after your reference to the documents. For this reason I hadn't seen your reference to the houses in Alvaston. I enjoy playing long shots - I don't suppose there is any chance that they or any of them still exist?

All of this new information is mounting evidence for the wealth of the Mansfield family but what really intrigues me is where this wealth originated. I have copies of deeds pf various lands which George Storer Mansfield bestowed upon Spring Hill College and even for the early 1800s the amounts involved are staggering.

The story I have uneathed is that George was a hopeless money manager who allowed his financial affairs to get into a parlous state. I have first  hand testimony that he considered his wealth an encumbrance. He owned farms on which no rents had been paid in years, others which he had completely forgotten, having mislaid the deeds and yet more where his tenants are reported to have been deliberately underpaying him over  prolonged period. In the end he asked for help from the pastor of the Birmingham church which he frequented, one Rev. Timothy East. According to documents in my possession East spent some seven years putting Mansfield's financial affairs into order, The esult was a life-long friendship.

One day while the pair were walking in the garfen of Mansfield's home, originally the home of hi sister's late husband, Charles Glover, Mansfield is reputed to have asked East how he and his siters should dispose of their wealth after their respective deaths, none of them having issue. Doctor  Robert Dale, a contemporary, tells us that East suggested the endowment of a college in Birmingham for the training of Congregationalist ministers, who were at the time disbarred from entry to the major universities because they would not swear an oath of allegiance to the Church of England. Mansfield is said to have conferred with his two sisters, after which all three left the large house in which they had been living and moved into very modest accomodation so that the college could be established in their former home. It all ended in tears in 1842. George Mansfield had died by then and his sisters accused East of having embezzled the family wealth. I am currently studying the Chancery Court documents but have not yet discovered the court's judgement, which is apparently maintained separately.

This is a very involved story and it is clear that East had amassed very considerable wealth by this time. He paid £5,000 in cash for a house at a bankrutcy auction and no less than £14,000 for the purchase of a coaching inn - not bad for a preacher on a weekly stipend of £7 -, which he later sold to the tenant manager, arranging a mortgage with Mansfield money, seemingly without the family's knowledge. In 1845 he was removed from his stipend, the official church history declaring that he was "more concerned with commerce than with God." At the same time he was dismissed as treasurer to Spring Hill College.

This story has fascinated and engaged me ever since 2003 and I haven't reached the end yet.

Keith

[Keitht]

Ok, thanks for that. I hadn't checked the dates yet. At least I won't have a wasted journey to Derby. There is of course the possibility that this memorial concerns George Storer's grandfather, also William.

Keith

[spendlove]

Hi Keith,

William Mansfield Jnr., was Bpt 1763 if you assume he was born about this year
he would have been abt 46 in 1809.

In The Times Newspaper 1848 there is a report of a court case Glover v East, if you do not
have access on line to this please send me a PM.

Regards
Spendlove