Papers of the Constable Maxwell Family of Everingham, Caerlaverock and Terregles (including the Haggerston and Sherburne Families)

Scope and Content

The collection catalogued as DDEV numbers over 20,000 documents and falls into two basic sections: U DDEV/1-70, comprising papers relating to the Constable Maxwell (incorporating Haggerston) family and their estates centred on Everingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire and the Sherburne family who were closely connected with the Constables in the seventeenth century, and U DDEV/71-81 comprising the Maxwell and Nithsdale family papers relating to their Scottish estates centred on Caerlaverock Castle and Terregles.

Of the English papers in U DDEV, sections 1-35 relate to lands and estates in Yorkshire. Papers on the following may be found: Acklam and Woodhouse Grange (1533-1781); Acklam manorial court records (1758-1800); Arras (1323-1842), including an early seventeenth century plan and the wills of William Stephenson (1461) and Robert Stephenson (1561); Atwick (1546-1652); Beverley (17th century-1811), including copies of seventeenth century inscriptions in Beverley Minster and rules for the Beverley hunt in 1808; Bielby (c.1200-1903), including the will of Thomas Gill (1764); Bubwith manor, a court charge (temp. Anne); Etton, a lease (1568); Everingham (mid-13th century-1919), including medieval charters of the de Everingham family, papers relating to property of the Constable/Constable Maxwell family as well as local schools and the Roman Catholic chapel at Everingham, 27 letters including some with the Maister family and account books of the parish constables 1830-1901 and mortuary guild 1840-74; court rolls of Everingham with Thorpe manor (1569-1914); two miscellaneous items about the history of Flamburgh (c.1582, 19th century); Gardham and Newton (1235-1700), including the gift of the convent of Meaux and some early fifteenth century seals; Hayton (1390-1729); Hotham (1622); a mid-nineteenth-century copy of the seventeenth-century rules for the Kiplingcotes race; an early eighteenth-century copy of a thirteenth century gift of title in Lissett; Market Weighton (1596-1817), including copies of the glebe terrier of the vicarage (1716-1817) and the 1807 Market Weighton and Shipton enclosure award; North Duffield (1553); the glebe terrier of the Nunburnholme rectory (1770) and the 1845 plan for the East Riding branch of the York and North Midland Railway; Rowlston (1653-1656), including the 1653 removal of the sequestration order of Sir Philip Constable's lands in Rowlston; Seaton Ross (1589-1920), including the 1674 marriage settlement of Edward Osborn, heir of the earl of Danby, and Elizabeth Bennett, the 1712 testatory settlement of the duke of Leeds for his children and the 1740 arrangements for intermarriage with the Godolphins, the wills of Richard Hebron (1721), Richard Bolton (1744), Ann Best (1766), James Silburn (1825), William Snell (1825), Hannah Frankland (1826), Robert Rook (1841), extracts from the parish registers (1673-1771) including information on the Atkinson and Ibbotson families and tenancy agreements 1798, 1801, 1804 and 1807; court records for the manor of Seaton Ross (1753-1802); Shipton (1674); Sutton on Hull and Southcoates (1628-1659); Thorpe le Street (c.1200-c.1850), including the gift of William Salvein around 1200 to the poor of St Peters in York; Wholsea (1549-1727), including the 1549 letters patent to John Ellerker for the manor of Wholsea and the rectory and advowson of North cave, sometime Priory of Kingston upon Hull, and other material relating to the Ellerker family as well as the 1604 sale documents to Philip Constable; the 1379 document granting the advowson of Wressle to Drax priory; Mortham and Rokeby (1508); Barlow (1381); Camblesforth (1458-1800); Drax (1164-late 19th century), including gifts to Drax priory, a fragment of the Great Seal 1234, letters patent to Marmaduke Constable in 1538 and some later material of the Rickard family as well as a letter of Thomas Fairfax to Marmaduke Constable about tithes on 1 December 1677; manorial records of the manor of Drax (1447-1782) including a 1657 survey and the rentals of hens and eggs from 1659-1667; Hambleton (1665); Spofforth (1534); York (1555-1700), including sixteenth-century feoffments of tenements along the drainage channel near the walls of the city. Sections 35-50 of the English papers relate to land holdings in other parts of the country as follows: medieval charters of the Poucher and Sothill families in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (late 13th century-1427); estates in Lincolnshire as follows - Glentham (mid-13th century); Kingerby (1661); charters of the Poucher and Constable families in Middle Rasen (early 13th century-1719); the transfer of land in Osgodby from the Flamburgh to the Everingham branch of the Constable family (1510); Roxby (1287); Toft next Newton (early13th century-1850); the medieval deeds of the de Everingham family and the 16th century account books of Marmaduke Constable's bailiff in Westborough (1390, 1533-1534); West Rasen leases (1804-1857); Whisby (1603); London and Middlesex (1574-1702); Nottinghamshire (1343-1572); Oxfordshire (1650); various townships (c.1125-1971), including medieval and early modern urban property information, the 1125 gift of Alexander Paganellus to Holy Trinity Priory and the 1541 letters patent gifting to Thomas, earl of Rutland the sites of Warter Priory and St Giles Hospital in Beverley.

U DDEV/51-59 of the English papers are bonds (1555-1841); inquisitions (1398-c.1664) including various in manors originally belonging to Cardinal Wolsey and several to do with Philip Constable's recusancy; settlements (1507-1894) including several marriage settlements; wills (1456-1878) including those of the two Philip Constables of the seventeenth century and Richard Sherburne; various deeds (1272-1897) including deeds of the Paynell and Poucher families and a general pardon to John and Joan Sothill with a good impression of the great seal of Henry VI; accounts (c.1517-1959); vouchers and acquittances (1535-1882); rentals and rent accounts (1389-1929) including very complete estate accounts for the seventeenth century covering servants, wages, horses, clothes, house and mill repairs, wine and general provisioning and funeral expenses for two women members of the family; surveys and valuations (1565-1905) including one of the 1649 estates of Philip Constable and an 1834-58 fieldbook of Everingham, Thorpe le Street and Seaton Ross showing the rotation of crops.

U DDEV/60 comprises the correspondence of the Constable family of Everingham and the Maxwell family of Dumfries Shire in Scotland and the Constable Maxwell family after their union by marriage in the eighteenth century. Seventeenth-century letters include those of Philip Constable (c.1595-1664), some referring to proceedings against him for recusancy, as well as letters of his son, Marmaduke Constable (1619-1680), and the Sherburne family who were closely connected to them through marriage. One loose letter contains Lord Traquair's dying advice to his children dated 28 March 1666 (U DDEV/60/84). Letters of the next generation are interesting on the affairs of William and Mary. Family letters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are most valuable for information on English and Scottish estate affairs as well as Roman Catholic affairs in England. There is correspondence with Pope Gregory XVI and some letters contain information on the building of the Roman Catholic chapel at Everingham. Letters to Theresa Constable Maxwell include material on financial and household affairs and family settlements as well as details relating to the death of her husband who was Marmaduke William Constable Maxwell (1760-1819), who inherited Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries from his mother. The correspondence of their son includes material on the inheritance and claim by the Constable Maxwell's of the Herries peerage of Scotland. The next generation, represented by Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell (1837-1908), is particularly interesting for letters about Roman Catholic affairs (including a book of letters and papers of Bishop Bonaventure 1694-1715) and there are letters from Europe, North America, Canada and South Africa. The correspondence in U DDEV/60 is also rich in estate correspondence especially that of the Everingham estates 1720-1814 and 1904-1944.

U DDEV/61 contains several series of family diaries. The diaries of Marmaduke William Constable Maxwell (1760-1819) were written during continental and Scottish tours as were some of his son, William Constable Maxwell (1804-1876). These diaries are very extensive (1826-1842 and 1860-1876) and encompass family affairs and the weather as well as the laying of the foundation stone of the Catholic chapel at Everingham. Amongst the diaries also are those of Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell (1837-1908) and his wife Angela Mary Charlotte Fitzalan-Howard, his covering the years 1863-1877 with journals of his European and Middle Eastern travels as well as estate affairs and hers covering the period 1870-1883 and largely concerned with social and family affairs.

U DDEV/62-64 comprises legal papers, including about 300 papers relating to the Herries peerage case (1837-1854), acts of parliament including enclosure acts and the 1791 act for relief of papists, and papers relating to drainage and navigation as well as railway building. U DDEV/65 contains genealogical material and pedigrees of the Constable and Maxwell family, as well as the Sherburne, Paynell, Strickland, Hatfield and Langdale families and a seventeenth-century pedigree of the royal family to James I. Inventories at U DDEV/66 include one of the goods and chattels of Sir Marmaduke Constable on his death in 1545, one of the Constable household in 1637, one of the furniture in 1652, one of the goods of Philip Constable in 1686, the furniture and household goods of Marmaduke Constable in 1728, the household furniture at Everingham in 1746 and various nineteenth-century inventories of plate, glassware, furniture and jewelry and a 1908 wine list for the cellar. Some of the most interesting are those of the goods pawned by the family in the 1690s and 1710s as a direct result of the financial burden of fines placed upon the family as Roman Catholic recusants.

U DDEV/67 is specifically a collection relating to Roman Catholic affairs including the 5 volumes of the Reverend J Knaresborough's 'Sufferings of the Catholics' (compiled around 1720) with lists of martyrs, banished priests, prisoners in York castle and various seventeenth-century papers including Thomas Thweng's dying speech of 1680 in his own hand. There is a 1740 transcript of the 1580 'Life and death of Mistress Margaret Clitheroe' as well as printed material on the pilgrimage of grace, Mary Queen of Scots and the popish plot (the Constable and the Maxwell families were involved with the politics of all three in some way). U DDEV/67/70 are the apostolic letters of Pope Pius XI about English martyrs and amongst the family materials are registrations of Catholic baptisms and burials as well as the illuminated certificate of the visit of Gwendolen Howard, duchess of Norfolk to 'holy places' in 1933.

U DDEV/68 is a miscellaneous section of papers which includes estate material like cellar books and catalogues of books, lists of servants and plate, lists of the children living at Everingham (and their weights!) and a journal of estate affairs of Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell such as those at U DDEV/61. This miscellaneous section also includes more printed material on the popish plot, an account of the examination of Titus Oates and two letters from King James II to the pope. There are 33 recipe and medicinal scripts dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and a seventeenth-century copy of the 1466 provisions made for the feast of George Neville, archbishop of York, at his installation. There is a 1608 copy of George Constable's 'Book touching the order and government of a nobleman's house' and a memorandum of coins minted in England between 1695 and 1698. Eighteenth-century material includes the duchess of Norfolk's 'The lady's answer to a divorce' of 1700, Roman Catholic material and some printed military news. There are a number of family honours and a large amount of material on the persecution of Sir Philip Constable as a recusant in the seventeenth century. A letter of 19 March 1846 is from the Reverend John Newman and there is an invitation to the wedding of Gwendolen Mary Constable Maxwell to the duke of Norfolk. Other family papers relate to the settling of estates and funerals.

U DDEV/69 is a small collection of family papers within the papers of the Constable Maxwell family relating to the Sherburnes of Stonyhurst. They include a pedigree, the wills of the two Richard Sherburnes of the seventeenth century and various financial settlements of the 1640s, 1650s and 1660s when the fortunes of the Sherburne family were closely connected to those of the Constable family. U DDEV/70 contains maps and plans including a 1657 plan of the manor of Drax Abbey; a seventeenth-century plan of Thorpe-le-Street; a 1753 map of the town fields of Everingham; J Tuke's 1786 map of Holderness and various plans and elevations of Everingham Hall and the new chapel of 1826.

The English papers in the collection continue in U DDEV2. There are estate papers for the East Riding as follows - Arras (1911-1912), demonstrating the title of the duchess of Norfolk; Bielby (1841-1903); Everingham (1930), notes about tithes; Holme upon Spalding Moor (1897-1936), an original bundle relating to the duchess of Norfolk's purchase of the hall and estate; Seaton Ross (1834-1936), including an abstract of the title, various farm sales and tenancy agreements and the wills of three members of the Langdale family; miscellaneous papers relating to the East Riding in U DDEV2/8 (1912-1936). Other parts of the country represented in U DDEV2 are Billinghurst in Sussex (1923-1924) and some deeds of entail and disentail for Scotland dated 1712, 1814 and 1904.

Papers relating to the settlement of the estates of Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell, 11th baron Herries, his wife, Angela Mary Charlotte Constable (nee Fitzalan Howard) and his brother William Constable Maxwell, are at U DDEV2/9, U DDEV2/10 and U DDEV2/11. The remainder of U DDEV2 comprises accounts (1880-1926), including taxation at Everingham and some accounts for the Scottish estates; one letter of 1931; an 1860 plan of Everingham; settlements (1877-1932), including family marriage settlements such as that of Gwendolen Mary Constable Maxwell to the 15th duke of Norfolk (1904) and the arrangement of childrens' portions. A section containing interesting printed material includes nineteenth-century Roman Catholic pamphlets and books, amongst them some of the lectures of John Henry Newman, the 10th Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1885) and the 1901 publication The Constables of Flamburgh by Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell.

The very valuable Scottish papers in U DDEV/71-81 number some 2400 items. U DDEV/71 comprises accounts and vouchers (1623-1892) and includes eighteenth-century journals of the affairs of the countess of Nithsdale and accounts for Terregles and Caerlaverock in the nineteenth century. U DDEV/74 is a collection of legal documents relating to the family estates including the disentailing and sale of some Traquair lands by William Constable Maxwell, 10th Lord Herries, in 1874-6 and attempts to disentail further estates in 1904. U DDEV/75 comprises a collection of maps and plans including plans and surveys of the barony of Caerlaverock dated 1776 and 1816. U DDEV/77 is a collection of rentals, surveys and valuations for the Terregles, Caerlaverock and Nithsdale estates covering the period 1735 to 1908 and U DDEV/78, catalogued as 'various documents', is a collection of assorted bonds, settlements and miscellaneous items relating especially to land title of the Maxwell family. Miscellaneous material in the Scottish papers contains much of value for research into the history of Scotland. For example, U DDEV/72 is forty bound volumes of the manuscript notes and correspondence of the Scottish antiquarian and biographer, George Chalmers (1742-1825). It represents the largest collection of his research material outside Edinburgh University Library and the Advocates' Library of Scotland. It includes manuscript notes for Caledonia (3 vols, 1807, 1810, 1834), including John Mackinlay's handwritten 'A description of the antiquities of the island of Bute' (1813) and related correspondence; material on many different regions of Scotland including Dumfries and Kirkcudbrightshire (and, therefore, notes on the Maxwell family) and letters from fellow antiquarians like James Mitchell (1786?-1844), William Robinson (1777-1848) and John Skinner (1772-1839). There is also some correspondence of Thomas Constable (1812-1881), the printer and publisher to the queen and Edinburgh University and copyright holder to Chalmers's work after his death (National Library of Scotland, Summary catalogue of the Advocates' manuscripts, 1971; Edinburgh University Library, Index to manuscripts, 1964). U DDEV/76 is also filled with historical miscellany. It contains bound manuscripts with fragments of Scottish history, genealogies and papers on the history of the Maxwell family and Herries barony and Lady Winifred Herbert Maxwell's account of helping her husband escape from the tower of London in1716. Miscellaneous estate papers include material on sequestered property as well as inventories and an original bundle of papers relating to the 1873 movement of the family muniments from Terregles to Everingham (inventories done for the Historical Manuscripts Commission were completed some eight years before - U DDEV/79A, William Fraser, Inventories of the muniments of the families of Maxwell, Herries, and Nithsdale in the charter room at Terregles, 1865). Printed material in this miscellaneous section spans the dates 1748 to 1883 and includes William Maxwell's (d.1776) 'Depositions of the witnesses' (1848) when attempting to regain the lands and titles of his father. U DDEV/76/2 is an intriguing label inscribed 'belt and leading strings of infant king James VI supposed to have been left at Terregles by Queen Mary after the battle of Langside' (1567). Sadly, this early example of a set of baby reigns has become detached from its label and lost. U DDEV/73 is correspondence covering the period 1650 to 1872. A small number of letters for the 2nd and 3rd earls of Nithsdale are here (though most are in U DDEV/79, 80). However, the bulk of the surviving family letters in this section are from the first half of the eighteenth century and relate to the affairs of William Maxwell, 5th earl of Nithsdale, after his escape from England to Rome. Family financial arrangements (including marriages) form much of the substance (there are more in U DDEV/60/17, 23, 85).

U DDEV/79-81 represents a very complex deposit. U DDEV/79 is a series of bound volumes, some of them published volumes and some bound collections of manuscripts. U DDEV/79A is a copy of William Fraser's, Inventories of the muniments of the families of Maxwell, Herries, and Nithsdale in the charter room at Terregles (1865) and the Maxwell and Nithsdale inventories found in here calendar the papers in U DDEV/80 and U DDEV/81. The Herries manuscripts are at Traquair House, Peebleshire. DDEV/79B-D contain copies of the inventories at U DDEV/79A and transcripts of the Maxwell muniments at U DDEV/80. U DDEV/79E is a volume of transcripts of Herries charters and letters 1468-1563 (originals at Traquair House) and extracts from Scottish state papers 1560-1579 and the Ayscough and Harleian manuscripts 1567-1578. Similarly, DDEV/79F is a collection of transcribed letters and memoranda of the Maxwell family 1640-1701, some of which finds repetition elsewhere in the volumes at U DDEV/79. U DDEV/79G contains 215 original manuscripts bound into a volume and spanning the dates 1589(?) to 1779 and U DDEV/79H-J (no volume I) are also bound volumes, containing 199 and 121 manuscripts respectively spanning the dates 1607 to 1848. These are all Nithsdale and Herries papers and taken together with the manuscripts at U DDEV/80 and U DDEV/81 represent a collection of close to 2000 papers, the bulk of which relate to state affairs in early modern Scotland. Some of these papers have been printed. After completing inventories for the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1865 Sir William Fraser collected together those most pertinent to state affairs and privately published them at the behest of William, Lord Herries (younger brother of Marmaduke Constable Maxwell, 11th baron Herries). They appeared as The book of Carlaverock in 2 volumes in 1873 and a copy is at U DDEV/K-L. As only 150 copies were printed this is a rare survival in itself. The contents of U DDEV/79G-J are largely seventeenth century. It includes the correspondence and papers of Robert Maxwell of Caerlaverock (1613-1646) who was created 1st earl of Nithsdale in 1620. Robert Maxwell's correspondence includes letters from Marshal Tillieres and Cardinal Richelieu of France as well as Louis XIII written from the late 1620s to 1641. In Scotland his correspondents included various lairds and members of the Scottish privy council including James Huntly, William Ker, and George and Frederick Hamilton. There are also letters from John Spottiswood, archbishop of St Andrews. There are two letters of James VI written in 1623 and several letters of Charles I written in the crucial years 1639-1640 and one from Queen Henrietta Maria. There is a 1627 commission of Christian IV of Denmark for raising troops and one letter of the same year from Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia (sister of Charles I). Correspondents from Ireland are Thomas Wentworth, the lord deputy, and Richard Boyle, the earl of Cork. Robert Maxwell (1620-1667), 2nd earl of Nithsdale was succeeded to the title by his cousin John Maxwell, 7th Lord Herries (of Terregles), and their correspondence in the 1650s, whilst both serving time in prison, is to be found in U DDEV/79G-J. There are also letters of other family members of this generation. Robert Maxwell's correspondence with General Monck is in U DDEV/79J as is some of the correspondence of both sides of the family (Nithsdale and Herries) with the court of Charles II after the Restoration. U DDEV/79G includes the commission of Robert Maxwell, 3rd earl of Nithsdale and 8th Lord Herries, from James VII of Scotland to serve against William of Orange and U DDEV/79J contains the warrant of arrest for his son, William Maxwell, 4th earl of Nithsdale and 8th Lord Herries, for his part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Eighteenth-century papers in U DDEV/79-G-J are largely to do with family affairs, particularly attempts to regain financial security, and include letters to and from several female members of the family. The Maxwell muniments at U DDEV/80 span the dates 1276-1669 and the Nithsdale muniments at U DDEV/81 span the dates 1666-1720. These are largely charters, contracts and title deeds and include the 1525 grant by Herbert, abbot of Sweetheart, of the bailiary of the abbey to Robert Maxwell and the certificate of supplication of the same year from James V to Pope Clement VII recommending John Maxwell to the abbacy of Sweetheart. There are various commissions and confirmations of James V to the Maxwell family including the charters of confirmation to the stewartry of Kirkcudbright and the keep of the castle of Treif. There is a remission of Mary Queen of Scots in 1545 for Robert Maxwell's deliverance of Caerlaverock Castle to the English and there are several more letters and commissions of Charles I.

Administrative / Biographical History

This collection involves two large landed families - the Constables of Everingham in Yorkshire and colateral lines of the Maxwell family in Scotland - and one small landed family - the Sherburnes of Stonyhurst, Lancashire. In addition, complicated succession in the 20th century saw the dukes of Norfolk inherit the titles, lands and papers of the Constable Maxwells.

The Constables of Flamburgh and Everingham descended from Baron Nigell, son of Ivon, who had been given the palatinate and constableship of Chester by William the Conqueror; he was also lord of Flamburgh. His descendants assumed the name de Lacy until Robert de Lacy (d.1216) took the name of his office, Constable, and this became the family name. One of his descendants, Sir Marmaduke Constable (1443-1518), and his four sons were with the duke of Norfolk at Flodden in 1513. Three sons were knighted. The eldest son, Sir Robert Constable (1478?-1537) was later executed for his part in the Lincolnshire uprisings and his lands, 51 manors in total, were forfeited. The Flamburgh estate was restored by Queen Elizabeth I to his grandson, but two generations later it was sold and the baronetcy became extinct.

However, a collateral line survived in the second son, another Sir Marmaduke Constable (1480?-1545), whose active military and political career was rewarded by Henry VIII in the 1530s with five East Riding estates that had come to the crown through the attainder of Cardinal Wolsey (see U DDEV/50/11 for manors of Southcoates, Stoneferry, Sutton and Drypool with a portrait of Henry VIII and great seal). He also acquired Drax Priory (letters patent dated 1538 at U DDEV/31/65 and an inventory of the goods left behind at U DDEV/31/227) and land in Drax that had been in the Paynell family. His position was also considerably enhanced by marrying Barbara, heiress of John Sothill, through whom he came into the estates of Everingham in Yorkshire and West Rasen in Lincolnshire. The descent of these lands into Constable hands through the de Everingham, Poucher and Sothill family can be traced through the title deeds at U DDEV/9, 12, 31-2, 39, 43-5 (including a charter of John de Bokingham, bishop of Lincoln [1362-98] at U DDEV/44/64; some of them have been reprinted in Carus Vale Collier, 'Documents at Everingham', Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society, xii [1919]) (Dictionary of National Biography; Lord Hawkesbury, Some East Riding families, pp.8, 15; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.18).

Sir Marmaduke Constable's son, Robert, died not long after him in 1558 and his son, Marmaduke, died in 1574. He was succeeded by Philip Constable, under whom the estates were further consolidated. In 1586 Philip Constable bought land in Thorpe-le-Street (U DDEV/25/28) and in 1602 he increased his holdings in Middle Rasen in Lincolnshire (U DDEV/39/40). In 1596 he bought further land in Everingham (U DDEV/9/37) so that by the late sixteenth century the Constables had become one of the leading landowning families of the East Riding, despite clinging determinedly to their old religious faith and suffering the legal penalties of the time (Foster, Pedigrees, iii; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.18).

Philip Constable died circa 1619 (will at U DDEV/54/2) and his son Marmaduke Constable (1574?-1632) succeeded to the estates. There is little in the collection relating to this generation, but much relating to his son, Philip Constable (1597?-1664). Philip Constable married Anne Roper of Kent whose marriage portion was £4000. They lived on a 3000 acre estate at Middle Rasen, they had another 3000 acre estate at Everingham, 1000 acres at Drax in the West Riding and a house in York. After being granted a general pardon by Charles I in 1626 (U DDEV/55/24) in the 1630s Philip Constable was indicted for recusancy and had to compound for an annual rent of £250. He had to apply to Charles I for permission to travel more than five miles from home (U DDEV/68/248). Despite this, he became a committed royalist (without actually raising arms) and parliament declared him a delinquent and sequestered his estates. Charles I rewarded him in 1642 with a baronetcy.

During the civil war the Constable houses at Lincolnshire and Everingham were damaged and for the next several years Philip Constable and his son Marmaduke (1619-1680) had great trouble protecting their property. They were considerably aided in their efforts by Marmaduke Constable's father in law, Richard Sherburne, whose own estates in Lancashire had been sequestered because of recusancy. Sherburne moved to Yorkshire to live with his daughter, Anne Constable, and her cousin, Robert Sherburne, managed the Constable estates. The collection contains the marriage settlement of Marmaduke Constable and Anne Sherburne as well all the legal and financial arrangements made to protect Marmaduke Constable's inheritance (see Roebuck, 'The Constables of Everingham'; Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire; U DDEV/9/57; U DDEV/24/4; U DDEV/31/97; U DDEV/50/30, 34, 43-48, 51, 62, 168-169, 203-239; U DDEV/55/45; U DDEV/59/8-10, 69-79). A large volume of documents at U DDEV/68/248 contains civil war material including valuations of sequestered estates, lists of debts, certificates of delinquency, a pass signed by Charles I in 1642 for Sir Philip, his son and servants to go abroad, letters of protection from Thomas Fairfax and Robert Lilburne in 1649 and 1659 and the 1645 articles of surrender of Scarborough Castle signed by Matthew Boynton and Hugh Cholmley.

The Sherburne family papers are at U DDEV/69, but because of their interconnection with the Constables during the 1640s, 1650s and 1660s, papers relating to them are scattered throughout the collection. The family history and description of these papers is separately noticed.

After the Restoration the Constables celebrated the return of the monarchy and their estates, holding a feast at Christmas 1662 for all their Catholic friends and relatives (Wilton, 'A list of guests at Everingham Park') .The ownership of a vast amount of property had enabled them to stay afloat despite debts. However, the celebration was short-lived as Marmaduke Constable was convicted of recusancy and the family continued to have problems with solvency in the late seventeenth century.

In 1664 Philip Constable died and in 1667 Richard Sherburne died too (wills at U DDEV/54/9 and U DDEV/68/248) . In 1671 Anne and Marmaduke Constable's only son, Philip (b.1651) married Margaret Ratcliffe (whose father became the earl of Derwentwater) bringing £4000 into the family. Three years later Marmaduke Constable transferred his estates to his son and went into semi-retirement. Profitable marriage settlements and much help from the Sherburnes, who left them not only money but all their goods as well, still did not prove sufficient to keep the Constables out of a state of 'disciplined poverty' and after the Popish Plot the Constables came under suspicion for their Catholicism again (printed material about the popish plot and two letters from king James to the pope are at U DDEV/68/79, 90). Philip Constable was imprisoned in York Castle in 1678 and he and his father escaped overseas in early 1679, the year that Anne Constable died rather prematurely. Marmaduke Constable died overseas in 1680. Philip returned in this year and was promptly thrown in prison again where he stayed until 1683 (Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets, p.169; Roebuck, 'The Constables of Everingham', p.83).

Although pressure was taken off the family for a while during the reign of James II, Philip Constable had to flee to France again with the arrival of William of Orange. He was forced to lease estates to survive financially and the marriage settlement of his daughter Anne to William Haggerston proved crippling (see U DDEV/31/174). The final years of his life were marred by increasing debts and 'bewildered and dispirited, Sir Philip decided to live at a certain level, whatever the consequences'. The consequences were that when he died in 1706 his son, Marmaduke (b.1682) was left with a reduced estate and a debt of over £5000 (Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets, pp.168-78; Roebuck [ed.], Constable of Everingham estate correspondence, p.2).

Marmaduke Constable lived at Everingham when he first succeeded to the lands and baronetcy of his father and concentrated on getting the estate out of debt (U DDEV/50/79-81). In this he was largely successful. He was briefly imprisoned for his tacit support of the Jacobite rebellion in 1715, but thereafter led a quiet life away from public affairs and unable to take public office. In 1730 he left England for health reasons and his short sojourn on the continent turned into a restless thirteen years of travel. He left one of his Catholic retainers, Dom John Bede Potts (b.1664), in charge of the estates, and only returned when the estates fell into serious decay with Potts' death in 1743. The correspondence between them during this period has been published (Roebuck [ed.], Constable of Everingham estate correspondence; see also Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets, pp.183-94).

Marmaduke Constable never married but he was close to his sister Anne Haggerston and her family. As early as 1730 he settled his estates on his great nephew, William Haggerston, who was the second son of his sister's son, Carnaby Haggerston (correspondence at U DDEV/60/16, 18). When he returned to England in 1743 he went to live with the Haggerstons and when he died in 1746 the baronetcy became extinct and the Constable estates were inherited by William Haggerston while still a minor. He came of age in 1752 and assumed the name of Constable (Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets, pp.193-4).

For the first time since before the civil wars the estates were consolidated under this generation. Marmaduke Constable left a large personal estate and £12,000 was used to buy lands near Everingham at Seaton Ross. In 1756 John Carr of York was commissioned to build Everingham Park on the site of the Elizabethan house of the Constables (some of Carr's plans are at U DDEV/70/21; a sketch of the old house was done by Samuel Buck in 1725). The house was built in varying shades of Dutch brick in simple mid-Georgian design (Roebuck [ed.], Constable of Everingham estate correspondence, p.20; Pevsner & Neave, The buildings of England: York and the East Riding, p.412); Samuel Buck's Yorkshire sketchbook, p.26; Wheater, Some historic mansions, pp.131-8).

William Haggerston Constable also united the families of Constable and Maxwell by marrying in 1758 Lady Winifred Maxwell and their heirs became the Constable Maxwell family of Everingham and estates in Scotland belonging to the earls of Nithsdale and barons Herries.

Lady Winifred Maxwell's marriage with William Haggerston Constable has led directly to Maxwell family and important Scottish state papers being embedded within a larger collection of papers relating to the Constable estates in Yorkshire. Winifred Maxwell's genealogy is fairly complex (full details in Fraser, The book of Carlaverock, U DDEV/79K&L). She could trace her history back to Undwin and his son Maccus in the eleventh century; Maccus gave his name to the barony of Maccuswell, or Maxwell. His grandson, John de Maccuswell (d.1241), was sheriff of Teviotdale and chamberlain of Scotland and first lord Maxwell of Caerlaverock. The baronies of Maxwell and Caerlaverock then passed down through the male line, sometimes colaterally. Robert de Maxwell of Maxwell, Caerlaverock and Mearns (d.1409) rebuilt Caerlaverock castle and was succeeded by Herbert Maxwell of Caerlaverock (d.1420) who was appointed steward of Annandale and married Katherine, the daughter of John Stewart, lord of Dalswinton. Their son, also Herbert Maxwell (d. circa 1454) built the castle of Mearns and married a daughter of Herbert Herries of Terregles. He was created Lord Maxwell and this title passed down through the male line. The charters of these early lords Maxwell are in U DDEV/80 (U DDEV/79/A, K).

John, 4th Lord Maxwell, was killed at Flodden in 1513 and his son, Robert, 5th Lord Maxwell (d.1546) was warden of the western marches and his commission by James V as master of the royal household is at U DDEV/80/135; he retained his family's stewardship of Annandale and was also made steward of Kirkcudbright and keeper of the castle of Treif (U DDEV/80/134, 171). He surrendered Caerlaverock castle after being briefly imprisoned by the English and his remission from Queen Mary after this is at U DDEV/80/228. His eldest son, Robert (d.1552), became 6th Lord Maxwell and his second son, John Maxwell (d.1582), married Agnes Herries, sole heiress and eldest daughter of William, 3rd Lord Herries. The Herries family could trace their ancestry to William de Heriz of the twelfth century; they had a long tradition of royal service, and Sir John Herries had received Terregles as a barony from King David Bruce in 1364. Herbert Herries, the 6th of Terregles was created Lord Herries of Terregles by James IV around 1489 and this title passed through Robert, 2nd Lord Herries of Terregles (killed at Flodden 1513) to William, 3rd Lord Herries of Terregles and thence to John Maxwell, Agnes's husband and 4th Lord Herries of the Terregles barony from 1547 (U DDEV/79K).

The collateral lines of the Maxwell family that began with the brothers Robert, 6th Lord Maxwell and John Maxwell, 4th Lord Herries came together again 120 years later, when John Maxwell, 7th Lord Herries succeeded to the Maxwell and Caerlaverock estates upon failure of the other male line. Both sides of the family were Catholic. John Maxwell, 4th Lord Herries was a strong supporter of Mary Queen of Scots and sheltered her in his territories. However, he also gave his support to John Knox and the reformed party and it was a feature of both sides of the family that they retained their Catholicism while never allowing their support of the monarchy to flag after it became protestant. William Maxwell, 5th Lord Herries (d.1603), replaced his father on the privy council of James VI. His son, John Maxwell, 6th Lord Herries (d.1631), married back into the other side of the family by marrying Elizabeth, daughter of John, 8th Lord Maxwell, who was warden of the west marches and was killed by the Johnston clan near Lockerbie in 1593. His son, John, 9th Lord Maxwell killed Sir James Johnstone near Lockerbie in revenge and was beheaded in 1613. He was succeeded by his brother, Robert Maxwell, who became 10th Lord Maxwell and was created earl of Nithsdale in 1620 for his service to James VI of Scotland and I of England (U DDEV/K).

Hull University Archives holds the papers of only one side of the family, that of the lords Maxwell, until the joining of the colateral lines in the generation succeeding Robert, 10th Lord Maxwell (the earlier Herries papers are at Traquair House). A large number of the state papers held are for Robert, 10th Lord Maxwell as he continued the family tradition of supporting royalty. He raised troops for Charles I through the 1620s and spent the 1630s making overtures to Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII on behalf of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. He was on the Scottish privy council and was one of Charles's key advisors during the bishops' wars and he put up his castle and troops for defence against the covenanters (Russell, The fall of the British monarchies, pp.58, 78, 262). He died in 1646, leaving behind one son, Robert, 11th Lord Maxwell and 2nd earl of Nithsdale, who negotiated with General Monck and Charles II. He died without ever marrying in 1667 to be succeeded by John Maxwell, 7th Lord Herries. Hull University Archives holds both Maxwell and Herries papers from this date. Correspondence from this generation is to be found in several places, in original and transcript form, as well as in The book of carlaverock in U DDEV/79K&L.

John Maxwell, who was 12th Lord Maxwell, 7th Lord Herries and 3rd earl of Nithsdale inherited large debts mostly owed to the earl of Buccleuch, and his widow was still trying to pay these off after his death in 1677 by appealing to Charles II. His son Robert Maxwell (d.1696) also spent time trying to recover from debts and old sequestrations (see, for example, U DDEV/76/12; U DDEV/78/187). His son, William Maxwell, 14th Lord Maxwell, 9th Lord Herries and 5th earl of Nithsdale (1676-1744) was a Jacobite and imprisoned in the tower. The family continued to cling to its Catholicism and his house at Terregles was attacked by presbyterian ministers. His wife threw herself at the king's feet to plead for mercy and was allowed to see him the night before he was due to be executed. She then effected his escape by dressing him in women's clothes and they fled to the continent where he spent the rest of his life an exile (Dictionary of National Biography; see letters and papers at U DDEV/73/13). Lady Winifred Maxwell's account of her husband's escape is at U DDEV/76/17 (printed in the Transactions of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, i). Their son, William Maxwell, appealed in 1720 against the forfeiture of his father's lands which his father had entailed to him in 1712 (U DDEV/74/5). By this means he got back the estates but not his title; nevertheless he was called 'Lord Maxwell' through his life. His wife, Catherine Stewart, predeceased him leaving one daughter- Winifred Maxwell of Nithsdale (letters of this generation are at U DDEV/60/23 and in U DDEV/73).

With the failure of the male Maxwell line, the Scottish estates devolved upon Winifred Maxwell in 1776; she would also have inherited the barony of Herries were it not for the attainder of her grandfather. In 1758 she had married William Haggerston of Everingham (bringing £6000 to the marriage; U DDEV/53/42-4, 46) and he assumed the name of Maxwell to add to his assumed name of Constable. In addition to the house built at Everingham they built one in Terregles, in which they largely resided. Enclosure of land and rent increases ensured that this generation of Scottish Maxwells and English Constables was the most secure financially since before the civil wars of the previous century (Fraser, The book of carlaverock, i, p.493; Roebuck, Yorkshire baronets, p.199). William (Haggerston) Constable Maxwell and Winifred had seven children and died within four years of one another in 1797 and 1801 respectively (letters of this generation at U DDEV/60/20, 26).

Their son and heir, Marmaduke Constable Maxwell, was born in 1760 and married Theresa Apolonia Wakeman (letters at U DDEV/60/32) in 1800 by whom he had eight children (his letters are at U DDEV/60/29, 64; lists of the children and their weights can be found at U DDEV/68/46, 48). His eldest son, William Constable Maxwell (b.1804), succeeded him to the English estates on his death in 1819, but he divided the Scottish estates between his sons, his eldest receiving the Nithsdale lands (Fraser, The book of Carlaverock, p.495). William Constable Maxwell succeeded in having the Scottish barony of Herries restored to him by act of parliament in 1848, claiming it from his grandmother (see correspondence at U DDEV/60/30, 34, 35).

William Constable Maxwell became 10th Lord Herries and was responsible for building the Italianate Catholic chapel next to the house at Everingham (DDEV/9/145). This is a very imposing building, a monument to the emancipation of Catholics in 1829, designed by Agostino Giorgioli (Pevsner & Neave, The buildings of England: York and the East Riding, p.412). Less impressively, he was responsible for semi-hexagonal Victorian additions to the side and front of the Georgian house, built at the same time as the chapel (picture in Wheater, Some historic mansions). He enmeshed himself in Catholic affairs and his correspondence includes some with Pope Gregory XVI, a letter of John Newman's dated 1846 and material relating to building Catholic schools (U DDEV/9/216-19; U DDEV/68/236-9). His brother Marmaduke Constable Maxwell was a Tory patron and builder of a Catholic chapel at Dumfries (correspondence and related papers at U DDEV/60/31).

William Constable Maxwell married Marcia Vavasour who brought £5000 to the marriage (settlement at DDEV/53/54-6, 104) and they had 16 children (nearly all of the girls became nuns and some of their letters and papers relating to them are in the collection). William Constable Maxwell died in 1876 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell, who had been born in 1837.

Marmaduke Constable Maxwell, 11th Lord Herries (correspondence and journals of estate affairs at U DDEV/60/ 36; U DDEV/68/53) became lord lieutenant of the East Riding in 1880 and high sheriff of Yorkshire in 1883 (Ward, East Yorkshire landed estates, p.25). He married Angela Mary Charlotte Fitzalan Howard who was the daughter of Edward George Fitzalan Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop and 2nd son of the 13th duke of Norfolk (1818-1883). Like the Constable Maxwells, the Howard family were heavily involved in Catholic affairs especially education; Lord Howard of Glossop had set up the Catholic Education Crisis Fund with £5000 of his own money and £10,000 pledged from his nephew who was Henry Howard, 15th duke of Norfolk (Dictionary of National Biography). This was the Maxwell Constables' first connection with the Howard family, but the connection became total in the subsequent generation.

Marmaduke Francis Constable Maxwell died in 1908 and papers relating to his estate are at U DDEV2/9. Angela Mary Charlotte Constable Maxwell died in 1919 and papers relating to her estate are at U DDEV2/10. Marmaduke's brother, William Constable Maxwell (1841-1903) was responsible for having 'The book of Carlaverock' privately printed and papers relating to his estate are at U DDEV2/11. Marmaduke and Angela Constable Maxwell had two daughters, Gwendolen Mary (born 11 Jan 1877) and Angela Mary (born 10 Dec 1877). Gwendolen inherited from her father the Herries title and nearly 20,000 acres of land evenly split between her English estates in the East Riding and Lincolnshire and her Dumfries Shire estates in Scotland which included Caerlaverock castle (Ward, East Riding landed estates, p. 25).

Gwendolen Mary became the second wife of Henry Howard, 15th duke of Norfolk in 1904; in other words, he married the daughter of his cousin, so uniting colateral lines of the Howard family. Henry Howard died in 1917 leaving their son, Bernard Marmaduke Howard (1908-1975) to become 16th duke of Norfolk. Gwendolen Howard continued to live at Everingham until her death in 1947 at which time the 16th duke of Norfolk also became Lord Herries. In 1962 his eldest daughter, Anne Fitzalan Howard asked to live at Everingham and he restored the house to its original Carr design through demolition of the Victorian additions (Oswald, 'Everingham Park, Yorkshire - I', p.340). Bernard Marmaduke Howard was minister of agriculture between 1941 and 1945 and married Lavinia Mary Strutt. They only had daughters and the duchy passed to Miles Frances Stapleton Fitzalan Howard, son of Bernard Edward 3rd Lord Howard of Glossop and Mona Joseph Tempest Stapleton of Broughton Hall and Carlton Towers (see separate entry for Beaumont Stapleton family).

Access Information

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Other Finding Aids

Entry in Landed family and estate subject guide

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright is held by Lady Herries of Terregles

Custodial History

U DDEV deposited by the Duke of Norfolk on 18 January and 13 July 1960 and 14 June 1965 in the East Riding Record Office and transferred to Hull University Archives in 1974. U DDEV2 deposited by Lady Herries on 25 August 1989.

Related Material

From the Papers of the Stapleton Family [U DDCA/33/28; U DDCA(2)/4/40; U DDCA(2)/15/13]

From the Papers of Crust Todd and Mills Solicitors [U DDCV/4/2, 4; U DDCV/165/1; U DDHA/3/1]

From the Papers of the Langdale Family [U DDHA/4; U DDHA/12/2; U DDHA/15/6-7; U DDHA/16/5; U DDHA/18/12, 33-34, 52-59; U DDHA/19/1]

From the Papers of the Langdale Family [U DDLA/12/4, 24; U DDLA/18/1; U DDLA/22/131-136, 141, 144-146, 148; U DDLA/26/19; U DDLA/33/38; U DDLA/36/23-24]

From the Papers of the St Quintin Family [U DDSQ/15/1]

From the Papers of the Sykes Family of Sledmere [U DDSY/62/169-174]

Miscellaneous Title Deeds [U DX100]

Other repositories:

Papers of the Barons Herries of Terregles, Traquair House, Peebleshire

Papers of the Fitzalan-Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk, Arundel Castle

Arundel Castle manuscripts [ACM], Sheffield Archives

Bibliography

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