Personal and professional papers of the Munby family, including those relating to their relatives in the Forth, Pearson, Woodhouse, and Williamson families. The papers and correspondence principally date between 1780s-1820s, and relate to the family of Joseph Munby (1804-1875), a solicitor in York. The papers include, amongst others, those relating to: his parents, Joseph Munby (c1773-1816) and Jane Munby, formerly Jane Pearson (c1774-1819); his wife, Caroline Eleanor Munby, formerly Caroline Eleanor Forth (1806-1879); and his parents-in-law, the Reverend John Forth (c1764-1816) and Elizabeth Forth, formerly Elizabeth Woodhouse (c1770-1820s or 1830s).
The collection provides an insight into middle class life in and around York in the late 18th and early to mid 19th century. The items in the collection include references to national and international affairs, international travel, the work and training of a solicitor, and the management of a large country estate, however they are also important for the information they give about everyday life during that time period.
Many of the letters contain descriptions of personal relationships, health and wellbeing concerns, social life and leisure activities, and reflections on life and the world in general. The papers of the Forth family, including housekeeping account books, travel dairies, household inventories, and expenses and bills, are especially interesting for reading about the workings of a household during this time period.
Summaries, transcriptions, and extracts of individual items have been provided by a volunteer.
THE FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION AND SOME SUBJECT THEMES CONTAINED WITHIN IT, COMPILED BY THE CITY ARCHIVIST IN 1969. THIS DESCRIPTION INLCUDES REFERENCES TO LETTERS AND PAPERS WITHIN THE COLLECTION (REFERENCES HAVE BEEN UPDATED):
This collection of family papers consists of an interesting variety of household accounts and diaries, professional papers and personal correspondence of the Munby Family and their ancestors on the female side. The papers had been partially sorted and some annotated, mostly by Frederick William Munby. He and his elder brother, Arthur Joseph Munby, also made quite extensive genealogical researches about 1880 and their notes and draft pedigrees are included.
Most of the material dates from the late 18th and early 19th centuries and reveals much about the life and general attitudes of a prosperous middle-class family of that period. Many of the letters are of a purely personal nature, written without any thought for the interests of posterity. One or two, obviously written in haste, expressly charge the recipient with their destruction.
Members of the Munby family were closely connected with the city of York throughout the period, although they lived for a time at Fulford, before building “Clifton Holme”. The town house in Blake Street, which they inherited through the female branches of the family, the Forths and Woodhouses, was occupied for many years by the firm of Munby and Scott, solicitors. The interest of the papers is by no means confined to York. John Forth was for many years agent and chaplain to the Earl of Carlisle at Castle Howard and one group of letters related to the management of the estate. All the family seem to have travelled quite extensively and there are letters and accounts of visits to Scarborough, London, Bath and Paris. In 1792, Mark Forth emigrated to Canouan, a small island which is part of St Vincent and Grenadines in the Caribbean.
The Personality of the Munby Family
The personal letters are sufficiently plentiful and natural to reveal much about the personalities and lives of the family, particularly the six orphaned children of Joseph Munby, senior and his wife Jane Pearson. The eldest, Joseph, was about 12 when his father died and the youngest, Lucy 1 year old. Their mother died only 3 years later. Joseph’s letters reveal his affection for his younger brothers and sisters, his generosity towards them, and a great deal of common sense about their up-bringing. On his 21st birthday he sent them all small presents, wishing he could afford to be more generous, and advising Jane and Margaret not to command Lucy so much or she would grow up unable to make decisions for herself. He also expressed concern about Giles’s studies and what professions he and John should enter. Jane’s letters, too, show concern for the younger ones, frankness and a lively sense of humour. Her comment on learning of Joseph’s engagement was that she had already told him her only objection, with an admission that she might have been mistaken in that.
Though their father’s trustees were apparently responsible for the children’s schooling and financial affairs, their maternal grandmother, Mrs Jane Pontey, attempted to supply motherly advice and to have them to stay with her at Kirkheaton during their school holidays. In 1822, she expressed her concern to Joseph about Lucy’s cough and suggested her teeth needed attention, at the same time advising him (he was, then 18) about his love affairs: not to become involved too young, and “concerning the young lady mentioned, to await the will of Providence and pay no particular attention to any other.” [Letter MFP/5/8/5, dated 5 October 1822]. Mrs Pontey was extremely religious, as is best shown in an earlier letter to her daughter referring to the sudden deaths of three friends.
Legal Training
Joseph Munby subsequently entered the legal profession and was articled in his late father’s office. His father had intended that he should become a partner in the firm, but the arrangement was not honoured. Joseph was very dissatisfied with the monotony of the work at first and the way of teaching law at York [Letter MFP/5/9/1, dated 26 January 1821] and subsequently moved to London to widen his experience. He paid a Mr Atherley 100 guineas to remain with him a year or longer, and soon determined to establish his own practice in York. [Letter MFP/5/9/5, early 1820s]
London
While in London, Joseph Munby did a certain amount of sight-seeing and described his impressions of the capital in letters to his grandmother, Mrs Pontey, and his sister, Jane Munby. His first comment was that he was not particularly astonished with anything in London, except Regent Street which was very fine, and he was in no doubt that the quality of the service at York Minster was superior to that as St Paul’s “where they attempted to chant and perform diverse other ridiculous imitations of the Minster service.” [Letter MFP/5/10/4, dated 6 December 1824] He visited the theatre to see Kean playing Shylock in 1825 and said that the rows about him were now over. The theatre was full and the audience very respectable. [Letter MFP/5/10/6, dated 15 February 1825] Vauxhall he considered very imposing but thought the amusements “all nonsense”.
Travel
The papers span the period when water transport was the usual means of conveying bulky goods and coach travel was at its height, only to suffer a rapid decline with the spread of the railway network. Both phases are well illustrated in these papers. There is a small account book of James Woodhouse’s expenses incurred on business journeys to London, Portsmouth, Bristol, Hull, Scarborough, Liverpool and Scotland between 1778 and 1780 [reference MFP/1/3/1] and very detailed accounts of Miss Elizabeth Woodhouse’s three visits to Bath with her aunt between 1787 and 1791. These include lists of all the inns visited on route, the mileage travelled each day and a list of all their luggage in 1791. [reference MFP/1/3/5] In 1818, Mrs Forth spent £11 19s 9½d on a three day journey to fetch her daughter from her school at Doncaster and bring her home to Ganthorpe. Engraved bills of three of the inns visited are preserved with the accounts. [reference MFP/1/3/11]
Within 20 years the railways were beginning to make their impact on travelling habits. Between 1838 and 1840, three of Mrs Caroline Munby’s friends commented on rail travel in their letters. One, writing from Slough, said that the 20 mile journey to London took only three quarters of an hour by the Great Western Railway which had an almost hourly service. The Telegraph was working between Drayton and Paddington and her husband was instructing deaf and dumb boys how to work it. The penny post was introduced the following year. On the evening of 5th December [1839] it was said that there were 60,000 letters posted compared with an average of 25,000 and the decrease in revenue was £1,000 per day. The writer thought that the railroads would bring the best of everything to the provinces but that they were very disagreeable modes of travelling : “The stations are little better that watchboxes for a guard.” In another letter, she hoped she might see her distant friends more often “now the railroads are becoming general". Her mother and Ellen had arrived in London at 9pm which she considered “most extraordinary when I think they only left York that morning.” Pleasant company had meant that they had “no time to be afraid”. In the same year wrote that she was thankful they “got home safe by the Railway as there are so many accidents almost daily”. [Letters MFP/5/12/5, MFP/5/12/6, MFP/5/12/8 and MFP/5/12/9]. In 1857, Mrs Munby’s daughter, “Carrie” wrote to her brother that two trips had been run to Scarborough, each taking a 1000 people. No doubt such excursions had encouraged the decision to build at the Spa. She had written on notepaper engraved with a view of the Saloon as she thought he would like a view of the Spa before the building began. [Letter MFP/5/13/1, dated 21 September 1857]
National Affairs
The majority of comments on these matters occur in the letters to the Revenerd John Forth, the Earl of Carlisle’s agent and chaplain at Castle Howard. Francis Gregg, writing from London on 24 December 1788, on behalf of Lord Carlisle, added that he could not foresee the appointment of regent [to the crown] before the following week. Even then it would remain to be seen whether the prince would accept it, despite the restriction, and whether he would venture to appoint a new administration. Mr Pitt had so far been victorious against him in every question. [Letter MFP/4/1/3, dated 24 December 1788] In the following February [1789] he reported that the King was much improved, but that the minister was in an unenviable dilemma because if they declared him well enough to pass the Supply Bills they would set him at liberty to do all other acts, however absurd. [Letter MFP/4/1/5, dated 23 February 1789]
Many of Greggs' later letters include comments on the progress of the Napoleonic Wars and their general effects. He comments that despite the loss of a port, enough damage had been done, to the [French] navy to hold them back for 20 years. [MFP/4/1/9, 20 January 1794] Lord Carlisle himself wrote to John Forth in March 1794 about the raising of a volunteer corps in case the country should be invaded. He wished to have a list of those who would support the scheme in the Castle Howard district. Both the amount of service and the expense involved would be slight. [Letter MFP/4/1/10, dated 13 March 1794] No letters have survived for the next 4 years, but in 1798, Lord Carlisle wrote twice about the formation of a corps of riflemen. In these letters, he again wished to have a list of those willing to serve and hoped they could be entrusted not to use their uniforms except in their military capacity. He states that he had been promised some arms and a drill sergeant and would probably come to Castle Howard when they arrived. He instructs the Reverend John Forth to find some convenient and safe place there for keeping the arms and powder. He states that the corps should consist of no more than 60 men at first, as there would not be sufficient arms for any more. Lord Carlisle intended to cut his stable expenses as much as possible “for these are not times to spend much money on time upon mere amusements”. [Letter MFP/4/1/14, dated 12 May 1798 and letter MFP/4/1/15, dated 26 May 1798]
Some years later in 1806, Giles Earle of Beninbrough Hall took a very serious view of the political situation. In a letter to Joseph Munby he wrote that he considered England to be on the eve of annihilation and that “nothing can redeem us from insignificance among the nations of Europe, but an immediate peace on Bonaparte’s [Napoleon Bonaparte] terms, which however humiliating we cannot reject.” [Letter MFP/4/2/10, dated 3 January 1806]
Estate Management
Despite the comments on matters of more general interest, the letters of Lord Carlisle are devoted mainly to the management of the Castle Howard estate. The Reverend John Forth succeeded as agent on the death of his father in 1788 and received detailed advice from Francis Greggs on the investigation of poaching, the management of the servants, and sending game to Lord Carlisle in London. [Letter MFP/4/1/4, dated 29 December 1788]
Social Life
The family appears to have had a very wide circle of friends and acquaintances in York and social visits are a recurrent theme, together with news of births, deaths, marriages, and sickness. Special events, balls, and concerts are referred to, particularly by Joseph Munby, junior. In 1823, he wrote to Jane Munby, making arrangements for her visit to the Musical Festival in York and telling her that the balloon was to ascend from Toft Green the following Monday. [Letter MFP/5/10/2, dated 16 September 1823]
In April of the following year, he wrote that York was very gay during the Assizes and described some costumes worn at the fancy dress ball [Letter MFP/5/10/3, dated 8 April 1824], and in the December, Jane Munby and Margaret Munby were excited to be going to the Mansion House Ball. Jane’s comment that she had been unable to go to “Der Freischutz” and that she hadn’t been to the theatre once, suggest that this was most unusual. [Letter MFP/5/11/5, dated 19 April 1825] In 1863, Joseph Munby and his wife gave a most successful party at “Clifton Holme”. Their daughter, Carrie [Caroline Munby], described it to her brother Frederick. It was attended by 120 guests including the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. There had been dancing in the dining room, chess and cards in the breakfast room, tea and refreshments in the library, and a splendid supper in the corridor [Letter MFP/5/13/3, dated 30 Janury 1863
Education
As most of the children of the family went away to school, many of the letters refer to their education. In 1779, John Forth then aged 15, wrote to his father, William Forth telling him of his progress in reading Ovid and that he had been given a Greek grammar. Five years later he sent him a most detailed account of the examination system at Cambridge: the preliminary disputations in ungrammatical Latin, subjects of the final examination and the hours they were required to attend. [Letter MFP/5/1/2, dated 15 February 1779, and letter MFP/5/1/3, dated 23 October 1784]
Joseph Munby, junior, went to the Reverend T Irvin’s school at Scarborough and there are several letters to and from his mother while he was there. Some refer to the progress he was making in his studies, as well as his leisure activities and interests in which he took part. [Letters MFP/5/7/7 - MFP/5/7/14, dated 1816-1818].
Some years later in a letter to his sister Jane Munby, Joseph wrote that he wished his brothers John Munby and Giles Munby to go to the same school because he had benefited so much from being there [Letter MFP/5/10/8, dated 13 August 1825]. The three girls, Jane Munby, Margaret Munby and Lucy Munby went to the Manor School in York, although the terms were 23/- per week besides expenses which, according to Mr Pearson, one of their trustees, was more than their incomes allowed. [Letter MFP/5/8/9] Their grandmother, Mrs Pontey obviously thought the arrangement was not altogether satisfactory. She twice suggested that Lucy should not spend so much time at school and should stay with her for a quarter sometime, otherwise her health would suffer by such long confinement.
The most decided opinions on education were expressed by John Pearson to his half-sister, Mrs Jane Munby, when asked his advice on a suitable school for Joseph. He replied that schools were more expensive than in the north, but as his boys all went to the same school he could give little advice. The terms were comparatively low at £60 pa. One son, aged 16 moved to an academy where he paid £200 pa. Two years later he wrote that to send Joseph to Cambridge would defeat all her plans for his future introduction to business. He would learn little unless accompanied by a private tutor and it would be miraculous if he were not corrupted by the “profligate company”. He strongly recommended that he should go to an academy and then have a private tutor to widen his knowledge. [Letter MFP/5/5/4, dated 18 September 1816]
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