Doyne Ditmas Archive

Collection ref.D

The Doyne-Ditmas Archive relates to their ancestors' estates in Wootton, Bedfordshire, (derived from their Monoux ancestors) and in St Kitts, West Indies, (derived from their Payne ancestors). On 5 December 1906, Harold Edward Churton Ditmas married Sybil Harriet Monoux, second daughter of Sir Philip Monoux-Payne. On 1 May 1918 Harold Ditmas was granted permission to add Doyne to his name. (see C.R.T.190/485 Notes by Tessa Harefield). In 1923 Sybil purchased the Wootton Estate from her father, Sir Philip, to help clear his debts. Much of the estate was sold in 1927 including Wootton House. However members of the family still held property in the parish until c.1974 when Sybil and Harold's eldest daughter Eyvor Pelham-Reid sold Vine Cottage.

Relationship of Doyne-Ditmas Archive to the Archives of the Monoux, Payne and Monoux-Payne families.

In 1792 Mrs Doyne-Ditmas's great-great grand parents Sir John Payne (c.1754-1803) married Mary Monoux ( 1766-1850 ). The Doyne-Ditmas Archive is part of a much larger body of documents relating to the Monoux, Payne and Monoux-Payne families. Some of the documents (F291-684 and AD2004-2703) were separated from the main archive after the sale of Wootton House and were purchased either by the County Record Office (Ref: AD), by Dr G.H. Fowler (Ref: F) or by R.Skinner of Bromham Hall (Ref: X53). The Payne family solicitors Farrar and Co (Ref: BS 1270-1542) and the Monoux-Payne family's land agents Stafford and Rogers, now Brown Merry (Ref: BMB 17) have also deposited their archives, which contain documents that shed light on the history of the estate. They include documents more often found in estate archives.
Two other archives are useful in helping unravel the complex history of the Monoux-Paynes and their lands. Up to 1826 the Payne family owned the Tempsford Hall Estate. On its sale the documents went to the new owners of the estate and are now found in the Wynne Archive (Ref: WY). Mary Payne's sister, Judith Monoux, married Richard Francklin. The Francklin Archive (Ref: FN) contains information on the Monoux's Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire Estates, centred on Gonalston. Both WY and FN are deposited in the Bedfordshire Record Office.
The introductions to these catalogues provide useful information, especially that to the AD 2004-2073 documents, which includes a fairly accurate pedigree of the Monoux family. At least one error has been noticed. Further pedigrees of the Monoux and Payne families can be found in G.E.C.'S Complete Peerage (Searchroom Classification 90),including claimants to the Payne Baronetcy after 1801. The early history of the Monoux family is covered by various publications of the Walthamstow Antiquarian Society (Searchroom Book Classification 180). The full references are given below.

The Monoux Family

The Doyne-Ditmas lands in Bedfordshire were primarily an inheritance from the Monoux family rather than from the Paynes. George Monoux, Alderman and Citizen of London purchased the Manor of Wootton called Bosoms in 1514. (Victoria County History Volume 111 page 329). Bosoms Manor was called after William Bosun, who held the Manor at his death in 1424. It represents the share of the three eldest daughters of John de Beauchamp, who was killed at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

On 4 August 1524, George bought the Manors of South Anston, North Anston and Herthill in South Yorkshire from William Pierrepont for œ600. (Original Documents relating to the Monoux Family, published by the Walthamstow Antiquarian Society, Official No 19, 1928). By 29 April 1526 Pierrepont had sold to Monoux the Manor of Gonalston, Nottinghamshire and the Advowson of the parish church (Quit Claim quoted in Original Documents......and in George Bosworth's George Monoux: The Man and his Work, published by the Walthamstow Antiquarian Society, Official Publication No 17, 1927). He has traced Monoux owning land in at least ten counties at one time or another during his life.

George Monoux died on 9 February 1543 and as he had no issue his estates, including Wootton, passed to his eldest brother Humphrey Monoux. It is suggested in the Introduction to the Catalogue to AD 2004 that Lewis Monoux ( died 1628 ) was the first member of the family to live at Wootton. His mother Ann was buried there in 1608, but she may well have come to live with her son when her husband died in 1585. Lewis's sister married at Wootton in 1618.

The Monoux estate in Wootton at the death of Lewis consisted of the Manor of Bosoms, 4 messuages, 6 tofts of land, 20 Acres of meadow, 60 Acres of woodland, 10 Acres of furze according to an Inquisition Post Mortem, held on 7 August 1629 (F622). The capital messuage or chief house of the Manor was probably Wootton Bourne End Farm (AD 2636). A deed dated 12 June 1666, indicates that the demesne lands of the Manor of Bosoms included two Ashbrooke Closes. While the field names did not survive until the 1838 Enclosure Award and Map for Wootton Award Book P and MA 67), Ashbrook is marked as a house in Marston Moretaine on the 1901 Ordnance Survey Map. Nearby is the spring for a stream which runs through Wootton parish, past Wootton Bourne End Farm to Kempston, coming out at the Eugster Avenue / Cemetery Road junction. Bourne End Farm is also close to Ashbrook but does not ever appear to have been owned by the Monoux family.

On Lewis's death in 1628, the Wootton estate passed to his son, Humphrey (died 1675). Humphrey was created a Baronet on 4 December 1660. Sir Humphrey greatly extended his Bedfordshire estates, especially in Wootton. Sometime between 1639 and 1666 he purchased the extensive Manor of Wootton, formerly owned by Lord Carlisle, which included the site of the present Wootton House. Sir Humphrey was buying land in the nearby Berry Field in the 1650's and the house was probably built shortly afterwards as a seat worthy of the new Baronet

Humphrey's son was also called Humphrey (1640-1685). On 10 July 1666 he married Alice Cotton of Cunnington, Huntingdonshire. Part of the stipulations of the Marriage Settlement was that two separate sums of œ5000 and œ4000 should be paid out to buy property to enhance the value of the estate.(Marriage Settlement of 12 June 1666-reference AD2636). In 1669 several lands belonging to the Manor of Cardington were purchased for œ3000. (X53/108 and AD2496-2497). More important was the purchase of the Manor of Sandy in 1670 (Victoria County History for Bedfordshire Volume 11 page 243). This also included the Advowson of the lucrative Sandy Rectory.

Humphrey (1640-1685) succeeded to the family estates on the death of his father in 1675. The 2nd Baronet added the valuable Broom estate in Southill parish. He probably bought the Stanford estate around that time. Humphrey was elected M.P. for Bedfordshire in the Whig interest 1679-1685. The enhanced value of their estates was clearly making the Monouxes a force to be reckoned with.

Yet this potential was not fulfilled. In the 38 years after the death of Humphrey, the 2nd Baronet, in 1685, for only eight was the owner not a minor. Humphrey's son Philip came of age c. 1699 and only lived till 1707. Not surprisingly there was little alteration to the estate until Philip's son Humphrey came of age in 1723. An Act of Parliament allowed the Executors of Sir Philip to sell the Broom estate in 1709.

Sir Humphrey 4th Baronet lived at Wootton House (see Gordon's map of 1736) but only bought two closes in Hall End to add to the Wootton Estate. His main purchases were in Sandy, particularly in the 1720's and 1730's. These included some exchanges with the junior branch of the family. Sir Humphrey's Jacobite sympathies ensured that he took no prominent part in local politics.

Junior Branch of the Monoux Family.

On Sir Humphrey's death without issue in 1757 the estate passed to the junior branch of the family in the person of Sir Philip Monoux (died 1805). Philip was the grandson of Lewis Monoux (1650- 1720), younger son of the first Baronet. Sir Philip thus united his own considerable estates in Wootton and Sandy with the senior branch's holdings in exactly the same parishes.

Lewis (1650-1720) was left the Manor of Cranfield on his father's death in 1675. A lawyer of Gray's Inn, he did not start buying extensively till the 1690's. He purchased the Parsonage of Wootton and probably at least three farms in Sandy. His son Humphrey (1702-1752) bought a couple of closes of pasture in Bott End in Wootton . It was in Sandy that his main efforts were concentrated. He added at least four farms, several cottages, and numerous pieces of arable land in the extensive common fields in the parish. A number of Humphrey's lands were gained by exchange with the senior branch of the Monouxes. Most unfortunately the deeds of the land received by the junior branch from these exchanges do not appear to have survived. Humphrey's seat , Sandy Place was probably built on one of these pieces of exchanged land. In 1736 Humphrey was living at the Early Eighteenth Century Sandy Rectory (see Gordon's map of 1736). Sandy Place is dated on architectural grounds from the 1740's . His brother, Lewis (1704-1771), continued to live at the Rectory. He had been presented to the living on 5 December 1729.

Sir Philip (died 1805) only purchased Little Studleys Close in Wootton after he inherited both estates. In Sandy the estate was extended with the exchange of a cottage here; the purchase of a piece of common field there. Sir Philip had four daughters (see below). His only surviving son, Philip, died only four years after his father. The death of Sir Philip (died 1805)'s elderly first cousin, also inevitably called Philip, brought the Baronetcy to an end in 1812.

In 1810 Sir Philip (Died 1805)'s four daughters divided the Monoux estates between themselves expectant on the death of Sir Philip (died 1812). The eldest was Mary widow of Sir John Payne and later wife, of J.F.Butterworth. She inherited the major part of the Wootton estate, including Wootton House itself. The rest went to her sister Lucy Monoux. She also received the farm at Kempston Hardwicke, land at Cardington and Turvey. The Manor of Sandy went to Frances Ongley (F643). The fourth sister Judith, wife of Richard Francklin of Great Barford, inherited the Gonalston estate in Nottinghamshire (see FN Catalogue).

The Paynes of St Kitts and Tempsford.

In 1792 Mary Monoux married Sir John Payne of Tempsford. From the Paynes comes the second major component of the Doyne-Ditmas Archives: the papers relating to St Kitts in the West Indies. A.O.Shaughnessy's thesis The Payne Estate of St Kitts and the Payne Family of Bedfordshire, January 1982, presents an excellent, detailed picture of this sugar planter family from its rise in the early eighteenth century to a peak during the ownership of Sir Gillies Payne (1720-1801). The thesis also chronicles the long decline throughout the nineteenth century, leading to its eventual sale in 1892.

Sir Gillies settled at Roxton in 1750, where he fathered numerous children by Maria Keeling. Whether they actually got married is the key issue that their descendants fought over in the Payne Baronetcy Case 1826-c.1870. Sir Gillies purchased the Tempsford estate in 1768. He paid œ1400 for the estate, which consisted of over a thousand acres. He had Tempsford Hall built within five years.

Sir Gillies's death in 1801 meant that the estates, both in Bedfordshire and St Kitts were inherited by his eldest son John, the husband of Mary Monoux. His enjoyment of the estate was short lived as he died in 1803, leaving a widow and two sons Charles and Coventry.

The Doyne-Ditmas Archive itself sheds considerable light on the Nineteenth Century ownership of Wootton and St Kitts by the (Monoux) Paynes. The estate was owned theoretically by Sir Charles. However he was a minor with an unscrupulous uncle, Sir Peter Payne as his trustee. Sugar prices fell dramatically and continued to do so after Emancipation of the Slaves (1833) and Peel's 1846 Budget. Graphic accounts are given of the poor condition of the estate in 1803,(D197). The Wootton estate was still in the hands of Sir Charles's mother, Mary Buckworth. His position as a lowly officer did not contribute much to his income (D241-243). In 1824 his finances were so bad that he was forced to sell the Tempsford Hall estate, probably at a low price in the Depression that followed the Napoleonic War.(WY). Sir Charles then went to live in France. The pathetic story of his wife's death in 1835 is given in letters, written by him to his sister-in-law, Henrietta Payne (D120-122).

To add to his unscrupulous dealings with his nephew, Sir Peter Payne stated that he considered that, he rather than Sir Charles, was the rightful Baronet as Sir John was illegitimate. The legal case hinged on whether John and Peter's father, Sir Gillies married Maria Keeling and if so when. The issue was never resolved and rumbled on until 1870 ( see The Payne Baronetcy. Statement showing Sir Coventry Payne's title to the same and why Charles Gillies Payne, Esq. (calling himself Sir C.G. Payne) has no just claim to it,published at Witham 1868; see also D211-240 and WY223-231).

On Sir Charles's death in 1841 the estates passed to his brother Coventry, the Vicar of Hatfield Peverel in Essex. He had married in 1820 Henrietta Wright, the daughter of the local squire. As Wootton House was still in the hands of his mother Mary Buckworth, he continued to live in Essex.

On Sir Coventry's death in 1849, the estate passed to his son, also called Coventry. He too had married a member of the Wright family: Harriet, who no doubt was a cousin. His grandmother's death in 1850 meant that he was free to move to Wootton House and despite continuing problems with the yield from the West Indies estates (see especially D200 dated 1863), the estate was still reasonably prosperous (D167-174). As the Great Agricultural Depression approached, the estate began increasingly to show deficits in the 1870's. The purchase of one or two properties in the 1860's and Berry Farm in 1870, added to the estate's mortgage indebtedness (see D101). Sir Coventry made various draft wills (D91-93) to ensure the support of his two children, Philip Monoux Payne (1858-1935) and Henrietta (died 1913). Unfortunately none of these wills dealt with the root problem of Sir Coventry's chronic lack of cash. In consequence the provisions of his will could not be met thus causing endless problems to his son Philip.

Sir Philip was only 15 when he inherited the estate. On his coming of age in 1879 he faced a heavily mortgaged estate in the middle of a long period of low rents. His West Indies estates were in terminal decline. Finally under his father's will he was bound to pay his sister, Henrietta, œ500 pa. At no point in his ownership of the estate was he ever able to pay that money. In the end she had to put up with a more realistic œ60 pa.

All this was in the future in 1874 as Philip continued his education. Bills survive from 1876-1877 (D144, 147, I51) when he was a pupil of the Reverend Augustus Orlebar of Willington, as his private pupil. He then went on to Magdalen College, Cambridge. Bills survive for 1878 (D157a and 158). Meanwhile Henrietta had a governess called Miss Schroder (D170). They spent their holidays near Witham, Essex. Dog, Carriage, and Armorial Licences, as well as other bills, for both of them date
from this period (D143-156f).

In a letter written in the year before he was 21, the family solicitor, Mr Blood reviewed the state of Philip's finances and the indebtedness of his estates (D95). He concluded:" so you will see how important it is that you should keep to your resolution to live as quietly as possible for some years longer, or at any rate until we get control of the Reversionary property when of course your income will be proportionally increased." In 1880, however, Philip married Winifred Doyne, a member of a wealthy Dublin family. As part of the Marriage Settlement two separate sums of œ1200 each were invested in Trustees, not for the benefit of the couple but for their future children (D286). In 1885 the Reversionary estate of that part of the Wootton and Kempston Hardwicke estate that had been awarded to Lucy Monoux (died 1843) in the division of the Monoux estates in 1810 (F643), joined the main estate.

Unfortunately the value of the main estate had declined further. It had been worth œ1800 in 1874. By 1886 it was valued at œ1300 (D96). It was decided to make one last effort to see if the West Indian Estates could show a profit. They were leased to the Honourable J.H.H.Berkeley in 1886 for three years (D9).This lease is accompanied by a very full Inventory of the estates of Sir Gillies Payne. Berkeley failed to keep the estate in good repair,thus losing Sir Philip several hundred pounds in depreciation (D194). In 1892 Joaquim Farara of St Kitts agreed to buy the West Indies estates for œ7500 (D14). The Payne family's links with St Kitts were finally broken after nearly two hundred years.

Philip's difficulties continued in 1890's. His problems with paying his sister's annuity led him to write to Mr Blood that she must decide if "she will take the balance of uncertain rents or have the property sold, which of course could not be now, as there would be no buyer. " The Orlebar family had similar financial problems and they tried to sell their Hinwick estate in 1895 without success. In 1902 it was decided to sell the Payne house in Hastings and invest the money on Henrietta's behalf (D26). Henrietta's death in 1913 bought up the issue again and Sir Philip was forced to give a Mortgage in œ1500 with 4% interest to her son Richard Johnson Townsend (D256).

The decline in the value of land following the First World War put unbearable strains on Sir Philip's finances and he sold the entire estate to his daughter Sybil Harriet Monoux, who had married Harold Edward Churton Ditmas in 1906, in 1923 (D264). The purchase money of œ7776 5s 8d included the furniture etc from Wootton House and surplus stock from Bourne End Farm. Sir Philip was to use the money to pay off his debts and mortgages, including R.J. Townsend's. All Sir Philip got out of it was an annuity for œ150 to enable him to pay the rent for Bourne End Farmhouse. Wootton House had been leased out since 1880 to people outside the family until Mrs Doyne-Ditmas became her father's tenant in 1920.

How Mrs Doyne-Ditmas financed her purchase is not entirely clear. Part of the money came from money due to her from her parents' Marriage Settlement. Appointments of six sixteenths by her father enabled her to raise mortgages on their security (D286-287). Part probably came from her mother's family, the Doynes.

Some leases have survived from the early 1920s: Wootton House, including an Inventory (D267-268), Wootton Bourne End Farm House, (D269 -270), other parts of Wootton Bourne End, (D271) and an allotment in Wood End (D272). A copy of a conveyance of the roadway to the new Cemetery dates from 1922 (D273).

In the poor financial climate of the 1920's Mrs Doyne-Ditmas was no more successful at making the Wootton estate profitable than her father had been. In 1927 the whole estate was put up for sale. (P 3/28/5). Not all sold however as subsequent sales of the following properties shows: Wood Farm (sold 1944 ref D300) and closes, formerly part of Wootton Bourne End Farm etc (sold 1948 ref D284) (both to her daughter Eyvor Pelham-Reid); part of Wood End Farm (sold 1946 ref D283) and Berry Farm (sold 1949 ref D285).

After leaving Wootton House the Doyne-Ditmas family moved to Kempston Manor, which they purchased on 30 May 1928 and sold it on 29 May 1935 (CCE882/9). A lease of their fishing rights on the neighbouring River Ouse dates from this period. After leaving Kempston Manor they moved to the Clock House, Kempston. An insurance policy for the house survives (D297). On her husbands's death Mrs Doyne-Ditmas returned to live in Wootton at Cause End Cottage.

Miscellaneous items of interest in the Doyne-Ditmas Archive.

Apart from the documents referred to above and the various wills and Family Settlements, there are a number of miscellaneous items in the Archive. Frances Ongley (nee Monoux) wrote a particularly interesting letter to her nephew Coventry on 10 June 1830. She discusses the North Road Bill, proposed by Lord Morpeth, which she saw as likely to be "the ruin of my Inn and Biggleswade in general."She also mentions improvements to the Sandy Place estate and the Pyms organising the purchase of a new organ for Sandy Church, "to get rid of our bad singing." She mentions that Chicksands had been let to Mr Line Stephens, who was doing a great deal of building work on the house and stables. His daughter was given a œ200,000 dowry on her marriage. (D119)