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Abstract
Theophilus Shelton appears in several works on architectural history, but the biographical information available about him at present is slight, and what there is, hedged with speculation. This short article sets out what is now known about his life and career, which was closely connected from about 1690 up to his death with the affairs of the family of Savile of Thornhill and Rufford. Its patronage provided his principal employment, his public office as clerk of the peace for the West Riding of Yorkshire, the earliest of his architectural commissions, and perhaps influenced the choice of his final abode. There he planned to establish his family in the squirearchy, although the aspiration failed through want of heirs. Shelton is representative of the newly-emerging class of professional men in this period, in his case in the spheres of both private employment and public administration.
Notes
1 H. M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840, 4th ed. (London, 2008), pp. 918–9; D. Linstrum, West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture (London, 1978), p. 384.
2 Linstrum, West Yorkshire Architects, pp. 27–8, 58–61, 189 and 313–5.
3 Samuel Buck’s Yorkshire Sketchbook (Wakefield, 1979), which reprints BL, Lansdowne MS 914, pp. 142–3.
4 Yorkshire Sketchbook, ‘The South Prospect of Lupsett Hall The Seat of Richard Witton Esq’., pp. 148–9.
5 A photograph of the registry as it appeared in 1932 is to be found in B. J. Barber, Guide to the Quarter Sessions of the West Riding of Yorkshire (1st ed., Wakefield, 1984), opposite p. 41.
6 Views in Wakefield by the Revd. Thomas Kilby (1853).
7 K. A. MacMahon, ‘The building of the Beverley Market Cross’, Trans. Georgian Society for East Yorkshire, III (3) (1952–3), 80–98, quoting from the Beverley Corporation Minute Book 1, ff. 32 and 34. See also N. Pevsner and D. Neave, The Buildings of England, Yorkshire, York and the East Riding, (London, 1995), p. 305.
8 Nottinghamshire Archives (hereafter NA), DDSR6/27/2/38, Letter to Sir George Savile dated 29 Mar. 1710.
9 According to K. A. MacMahon, Beverley (Beverley, 2004), the school closed in 1890.
10 Borthwick Institute for Archives (hereafter BI), parish register of Kirby Underdale. The eldest, John, was born on 27 January and baptised on 3 February 1641, followed by Benjamin, born 21 September and baptised on 25 September 1643. After Theophilus, the fourth and final child, a daughter, Mary, was baptised on 3 November 1646. Theophilus Shelton’s will also names another sister, Ann, but no baptism appears in the register between 1639 and 1650, and she may have been a sister-in-law.
11 W. R. Shepherd, The History of Kirby Underdale (Batley, 1928), p. 77.
12 H. Lawrance, ‘Pocklington School Admission Register, 1626–1717’, YAJ, 25 (1920), 56 and fn 40.
13 Lincolnshire Archives (hereafter LA), Aisthorpe PAR 1/1, Register 1593–1815, which records the date of her baptism as 28 March 1612 and the marriage as 2 October 1640.
14 LA, INV 178/147.
15 Lincolnshire Pedigrees, 1, ed. A. R. Middleton, Publications of the Harleian Society, 50 (1902), pp. 272–83. It is, however, incorrect in its statement (p. 279) that Mary Shelton proved her father’s will, which was in fact undertaken by her mother Anne and others: LA, LCC ADMONS/1677/ no. 9.
16 LA, Bishop’s Transcripts, Cold Hanworth. The children were Mary (5 Feb. 1671/2), Robert (1 June 1673), Theophilus (20 Feb. 1677/8, buried on 10 Aug. of that year), John (13 Oct. 1679), and a second Theophilus (20 Mar. 1681/2). In addition to poor legibility, the BTs are missing between 1628 and 1662, and from then up to 1670, so it has not been possible to trace the date of the Shelton marriage. It did not take place at Hackthorn (LA, Hackthorn PAR 1/1).
17 LA, Dean and Chapter Wills, vol. 14, p. 325; Lincolnshire Pedigrees (1902), p. 279.
18 R. H. S. Skaife, ‘The register of marriages in York Minster, illustrated with biographical notices, 1681 to 1762‘, YAJ, II (1871), 110.
19 Pedigree of Witton of York, Dugdale’s Visitation of Yorkshire with additions, ed. J. W. Clay (Exeter, 1899), p. 107. Further information about the family is to be found in J. Hunter, Antiquarian Notices of Lupset, the Heath and Sharlston (1848), ch. 1.
20 J. M. Crook, Brasenose: The Biography of an Oxford College (Oxford, 2008), p. 86, fn 337. Witton, who died in 1674, is buried in All Saints, York.
21 Sheffield Archives (hereafter SA), Spencer Stanhope archive, SpSt/219/14–15, lease and release of 22–23 Dec 1690.
22 West Yorkshire Archive Service (hereafter WYAS), Wakefield, Smyth of Heath, C 409/Box 27, lease and release of 12–13 Mar 1692; C 547/1/1/32, lease and release of 9–10 Jul 1707.
23 His letters to his employer, Sir George Savile, are addressed from here from this date (NA, DDSR 27/6/2), whereas the earlier letters were addressed from Heath (NA, DDSR 27/6/1).
24 Wakefield Manor Book, 1709, ed. J. Charlesworth, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 101 (1939), p. 42; J. W. Walker, Wakefield, p. 498.
25 NA, DDSR/1D/12/1, copy will and codicils of George, first marquess of Halifax, 1691–95.
26 SA, MD 151/n-o, Annual Accounts of William Turner for the Yorkshire Estate.
27 D. R. Hainsworth, Stewards, Lords and People: The Estate Steward and his World in Later Stuart England (Cambridge, 1992), p. 13. The following paragraph is mainly based on ch. 1 and 2.
28 British Library (hereafter BL), Harley Mss, vol. 1172, f. 53v, (listed in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. 1 (London, 1808), as ms. 1172, item 63b) .
29 NA, DDSR 27/6/2/1/1–64 and 27/6/2/2/1–57, Letters of Theophilus Shelton to Sir George Savile, 1700–10. Professor Hainsworth thoroughly researched the Savile estate archive (see p. 268 of his book), but regrettably did not notice the letters of Shelton to be found there, which is not perhaps surprising given the complexities of the catalogue at Nottinghamshire Archives. See also A. A. Hanham, ‘Sir George Savile, seventh baronet (1678–1743)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line only.
30 NA, DDSR/1/D/11, File of manorial court papers, 1665.
31 NA, DDSR 26/264/1, Particulars of rentals.
32 NA, DDSR 27/6/1/40 and 60, relating to the Act 3&4 Anne, c. 8, 1704.
33 NA, DDSR/27/6/1/4, 25 Jan 1700/1.
34 Sources as previous footnote. Further comment on the arrangements can be found in in letter no. 7, dated 8 Feb. 1700/1. The burial of ‘Mr John Savile… who was Rector of this Church 29 years 8 months and ten days’ is recorded in the Thornhill parish register on 25 Jan. 1700/1 (Yorkshire Parish Register Society, 40 (1911), p. 325).
35 NA, DDSR 27/6/2/9, dated 2 June 1707.
36 NA, DDSR, 27/6/1/33, 36–39.
37 NA, DDSR, 27/6/1/50 and 6/2/27.
38 e.g. NA, DDSR 27/6/1/42.
39 NA, DDSR 27/6/26, 28, 31 and 38.
40 NA, DDSR, especially 27/6/2/27, dated 31 Dec. 1709.
41 NA, DDSR 27/6/1/10–12 and 14; A. Raistrick and E. Allen, ‘The South Yorkshire Ironmasters (1690–1750)’, Economic History Review 9 (May 1939), esp. pp. 170–1, where he appears as ‘Dickin’.
42 e.g. NA, DDSR 27/6/2/30, dated 13 Feb. 1709/10; DDSR 27/6/2/32, dated 11 Mar. 1709/10, for colliery agreements; DDSR 27/6/2/10 and /13, dated 21 Jun. and 21 Jul. 1707, for lead trials at Heptonstall; DDSR 27/6/1/11, dated 31 May 1701; DDSR 27/6/2/30, dated 13 Feb. 1709; DDSR 27/6/32, dated 24 Feb. 1709; DDSR 27/6/2/47, dated 7 Aug. 1710; DDSR 27/6/2/39–42, dated 10 Apr. to 20 May 1710.
43 NA, DDSR 27/6/1/31, dated 20 Jul. 1702.
44 NA, DDSR 27/6/1/16 dated 30 Aug. 1701, and /55 dated 29 Sept. 1703; DDSR 27/6/2/7, dated 9 Nov. 1706. Savile did not finally marry until 1722, and was cheated of a large part of his wife’s dowry by his father-in law’s mismanagement; see DNB, cited above.
45 NA, DDSR/1/D/1, copy Chancery decree of 5 July 1710; M. N. Brown, ‘William Savile, 2nd marquess of Halifax (1664/5–1700)’, DNB, vol. 49, p. 106.
46 NA, DDSR 27/6/7/36, dated 10 Feb. 1710/11.
47 NA, DDSR 27/6/37, dated 3 Mar. 1710/11.
48 NA. DDSR 27/6/2/37 dated 3 Mar. 1710; DDSR 27/6/2/57, dated 26 Apr. 1714.
49 NA, DDSR/30/66, Yorkshire Memoranda, 27 Dec. 1711.
50 WYAS, Wakefield, QS 10/2, Order Book, 1647–9, f. 71r.
51 F. Pogson, ‘Wentworth, the Saviles and the Office of Custos Rotulorum of the West Riding’, Northern History, 34 (1998), 205–10.
52 M. N. Brown, ‘George Savile, first marquess of Halifax’, DNB, 49 (2004), pp. 99–107.
53 ‘Custodes Rotulorum, 1660–1828, a provisional list compiled by J. C. Sainty, November 2002’, www.history.ac/publications/office/custodes1660; The Clerks of the Counties, complied by Sir E. Stephens (1961), p. 194; WYAS, Wakefield, QS 1/29/5.
54 WYAS, Wakefield, QS1/30/2, Sessions roll, Wakefield, Jan. 1690/1, letter dated 26 Jan. 1690/1.
55 WYAS, Calderdale, MAC 81/3. The document was part of a miscellaneous collection transferred to the WYAS from Bankfield Museum, Northowram, and no earlier provenance can be ascertained. I am grateful to Daniel Sudron of WYAS Kirklees for this information. It seems likely that the document would originally have been in the possession of Shelton himself.
56 Dugdale’s Visitation, ed. Clay, I, p. 107. Tempest Thornton was the grandson of Beatrice, daughter of Henry Tempest of Tong, who married his grandfather in 1563.
57 See J. Hunter, Antiquarian Notices of Lupset, the Heath and Sharlston in the County of York, (1848), although this contains no reference to Shelton.
58 Wakefield Manor Book, ed. Charlesworth, p. 35.
59 The Clerks of the Counties, p. 194.
60 WYAS, Wakefield, QS 1/45/10, Sessions roll, Sheffield, Oct. 1706, copy parliamentary petition of the justices and letter of T. Shelton to Mr Hodgson of Heath, 6 Jan. 1706/7. There are also six routine letters on quarter sessions business, 1706–9, in BL, Stowe Mss 748.
61 Later in the century, West Riding Quarter Sessions were instrumental in stimulating significant changes in general legislation: see B. Barber, ‘Petitioning Parliament to ’remedy there great mischiefs’: The West Riding Quarter Sessions and Law Reform, 1729–1731’, Archives, 36, no. 123–4 (Oct. 2011), 16–25.
62 The registries are the subject of W. E. Tate, ‘The Five English Statutory Registers of Deeds’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 20 (1943–5), 97–105; F. Sheppard and V. Belcher, ‘The Deeds Registries of Yorkshire and Middlesex‘, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 6 (5), April 1980, 274–86; B. Barber, ‘A County Election in Miniature? Electing the Yorkshire Registrars of Deeds, 1704–1884’, YAJ, 84 (2012), 160–87.
63 WYAS, Wakefield, QS 10/11, QS Order Book, 1698–1704, 2 Dec. 1702, 6 Apr. 1703, 25 Apr. 1704; QS 10/12, Order Book, 1704–12, 17 Apr. 1705. The circular letter, addressed from Heath and dated 24 Apr. 1704, is to be found in BL, Stowe Mss. 748, vol. VI, f. 25.
64 An Act for Inrollments of Bargains and Sales within the West Riding (5 Anne c.18). Petition in WYAS, Wakefield, QS 10/12, 1704–12, 15 Oct. 1706. The progress of the bill may be followed though the Journal of the House of Commons, 15 (1705–8); and Journal of the House of Lords, 18 (1705–9).
65 For the petition and report, see Journal of the House of Commons, 15 (1705–8), pp. 203 and 293–5.
66 WYAS, Wakefield, QS 10/12, Order Book 1704–12, 18 Apr. 1710.
67 See J. A. Hargreaves, Halifax (Edinburgh, 1999), p. 48, for the extent of local Nonconformity; and the Survey of Church Livings in the West Riding, May-June 1650 (WYAS, Wakefield, C413, fols. 22v–24r), for the remuneration of clergy in the chapels of ease in the parish.
68 WYAS, Wakefield, Session Roll, Leeds, Oct. 1712, QS 1/51/9, draft petition; QS 10/13, Order book 1712–20, ff. 16v–17v, f. 18r, ff. 22v–23r, f. 25r, f. 44r–v; Journal of the House of Commons, 17, 1711–14, pp. 299, 306, 308, 314, 377; An Act for making inclosures of some part of the common ground in the West Riding of the County of York for the endowing poor vicarages and chapelries, for the better support of their ministers, 12 Anne, Stat. 1, cap. IV (1712). See also L. Colley, In Defiance of Oligarchy, The Tory Party 1714–60 (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 108–9. The only instance at present known to the author of the use of the Act is in the parish of Campsall (see Doncaster Archives, Cooke-Yarborough of Campsmount, DZMZ 62/O/10, bargain and sale of 1723.)
69 The documentary contents of the registry at the time when Shelton’s successor came into office, when his executors transferred them to the new registrar, are itemised in WYAS, Bradford, Spencer-Stanhope archive, SpSt 9/21, A catalogue… of the books and memorials of deeds, 8 Mar 1717.
70 WYAS, Bradford, Tempest of Tong Hall archive, Tong/3/452, Bond, 26 Apr. 1704.
71 WYAS, Wakefield, QS 1/13 Quarter Sessions Order Book, 1712–17, 14 Jan. 1717/18.
72 NA, DDSR/6/2/57, 26 Apr. 1714.
73 East Riding of Yorkshire Archive and Local Studies (hereafter ERALS), Southeron Estcourt Archive, DDSE (2)/16/119, 20 Dec. 1711. The Darrington estate, including all the deeds relating to Shelton’s property, are included in section 16 of the catalogue, items 1–226.
74 Yorkshire Sketchbook, p. 59.
75 WYAS, Wakefield, WRD1/7/7/Box 1, item B586, ‘History and Description of the West Riding Registry of Deeds‘, manuscript, no date, c. 1885. The building was demolished after the registry moved to Newstead Road in 1932. There is a plan of the registry estate in WYAS, Wakefield, Registry of Deeds, 1933/107/316/109. A photograph of the exterior and six views of the interior in 1932 is to be found at WYAS, Wakefield, WRD 16/6/21.
76 ERALS, DDSE (2)/16/148 and 151; the progress of the bill through its parliamentary stages can be followed in Journal of the House of Lords, 20 (1714–18), and Journal of the House of Commons, 18 (1714–18); Act for the sale of the reversion of the manor of Darrington to Theophilus Shelton, 1 Geo. I, St. 2, c. 13, 1714 is held at the Parliamentary Archives, (HL/PB/1/1714/1G1s2n24).
77 ERALS, DDSE (2)/16/7, 56–58, 122, 179 and 215, and mortgages 16/149, 150 and 154.
78 E. Halley, ‘Observations of the Late Total Eclipse of the Sun on 22 April last past’, Philosophical Transactions [of the Royal Society], 29 (1714–16), 257; A. Cook, ‘Edmund Halley (1656–1742)’, DNB, 24, p. 692.
79 WYAS, Wakefield, WDP 3/4/1, Wakefield All Saints, burial register, 1678–1728, in which no date is given for the burial of ‘Madam Margaret Shelton’, nor for adjacent entries.
80 BI, Probate register, vol. 73, f. 239.
81 Nonconformist Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths compiled by the Revs. Oliver Heywood and T. Dickenson, 1644–1702, 1702–1752, generally known as the Northowram or Coley Register, ed. J. Horsfall Turner, (Brighouse, 1881), p. 273. The registers of both Darrington and Wakefield parishes have been searched without success for his burial.
82 ERALS, DDSR (2)/16/67, Conveyance of 2 Apr. 1718.