I is for Inventory
I is for Inventory
This month we look at how we can uncover minute details of everyday life from unexpected sources. In 1884 George Palmer and his son Edwin John Palmer of Luton came before the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions. They were charged with attempting to defraud creditors by selling a house and contents when they had been declared bankrupt and their possessions were in the hands of the official receiver. The indictment (QSR1884/6/13,14) gives a full list of the contents of the house in Liverpool Road, Luton, and amongst the tables, chairs and whatnots we find such items as a Singer sewing machine and ‘a case of birds, 1 glass wax flowers, parrot in glass’. From this we get a picture of a Victorian middle class home of the period.
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While such a detailed list is uncommon in the Quarter Sessions Rolls, the small details included in other cases also give us clues as to domestic interiors. Sarah Wilmot of Keysoe for example tells us how she left a loaf to cool on a chair in the parlour and that the window was fastened by a piece of wood. (QSR1840/4/5/12-14/c).
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Of course other types of document in other collections are also useful for this type of detail. Wills are an obvious source detailing what furniture is to go to wife, family and friends. In his will of 1678 Nathanaell Hogan of Whipsnade leaves his biggest brass pot to his son John and ‘the fetherbedd on which her mother dyed’ to his daughter Anne (ABP/W1678/113). Sadly very few Bedfordshire inventories survive in the archdeaconry probate collection (ABP4, see BHRS volume XX and XXXII and CRT150/18).
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However, late 19th and 20th century estate agent and valuers’ collections such as Brown & Merry of Bedford and Swaffield of Ampthill contain many valuations for probate which list house contents room by room. These collections also include sale catalogues, which often give the entire contents of a house or business. Here is an example of a page from the inventory of Kempston Vicarage – the effects of the late Rev Williams taken March 4 1880. (BMB4/1)
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Many of these contents are easily recognised and familiar, perhaps from our grandparents' homes, other things may be less so or may appear to have a far greater status within the home than such items would today; who amongst us would consider inheriting the second best bed to be a sign of great love and affection?