Document1

Reference Code: DDWB, DDWB(2), DWB

Papers of the Wickham-boynton Family

(incorporating Griffith) of Burton Agnes

Creation dates: 1172-1944

Creator(s): Wickham-Boynton family of Burton Agnes, Yorkshire

Boynton, Wickham-, family of Burton Agnes, Yorkshire

Extent and Form: circa 1600 items

Held at: Hull University, Brynmor Jones Library

Access Conditions Open

Scope and Content

The papers of the Wickham-Boynton family of Burton Agnes arrived in the Brynmor Jones Library in three deposits, two from the family themselves in 1974 via their solicitors, Crust Todd and Mills of Beverley (DDWB and DDWB[2]), and one as a

purchase (DWB) from Sotheby's 28 July 1947. The material comprises legal and estate

papers rather than personal papers. In DDWB/12 and DDWB/15 there are medieval

deeds for Little Kelk and Rudston originally belonging to Bridlington Priory and some are printed in an edition of W T Lancaster The chartulary of Bridlington Priory (1912).

Some of the earliest material in the collections are to be found here, though DDWB

generally is very rich in medieval charters.

The collections also include enclosure awards for Burton Agnes (1718, 1759), Haisthorpe (1723) and Barmston (1758). There are manorial records for Burton Agnes

(1791-1875) as well as a court roll for the manor of Haisthorpe for 1414. DWB contains

four quietuses of Sir Henry Griffith (1603-1607) as well as later shrievalty records of

Sir Griffith Boynton (1750-1771). A few papers specifically relating to the early

nineteenth-century financial management of Sir Francis Boynton are at DDWB(2)/13.

The collections are arranged as follows: DDWB has estate records for Bainton (1349);

Barmston (1317-1819), including the 1528 admiralty ratification of the rights and

privileges of Margaret Boynton and an abstract of the title of Francis Boynton through to 1734; Bempton (late 12th century); Boynton (late 12th century to 1613); Burton

Agnes (c.1172-1766), including gifts and deeds of the Merlay, Sommerville and Griffith

families and 'the cutting of the intale' of the Boynton family in 1700; Burton Agnes and Thornholme (1315-1597); Caythorpe in the parish of Rudston (mid-12th century-mid-

13th century); Gransmoor in the parish of Burton Agnes (1483, 1591); Grindale

(1331); Haisthorpe (1414-1803); Hull (1592-1636); Little Kelk (c.1185-1592);

Nafferton (1 item 1231-49); Ottringham (1614-1730); Rudston (late 12th century-1730); Sutton upon Derwent (1309); Swaythorpe (1545); Thornholme (early 13th

century-1722); Wansford (1398); various townships (early 13th century-1833),

including an early 13th century exchange between Bridlington Priory and Walter Boynton, records relating to the Sommerville and Greystoke families, letters patent of

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1498 to Walter Griffith to give him custody of the infant John Thornholme and his

possessions, a document dated 24 October 1656 and entitled 'A particular of Agnes Burton, Haistrop, Thurnam, Harpham and Kelk Parva, the remaingeinge lands of Sir

Henry Griffith deceased and discendinge upon Sir Francis Boynton' and 1811 mortgages

of Francis Boynton provided by John Lockwood solicitor; Nottinghamshire (1481); Yorkshire, North and West Riding (late 12th century-1792), including a 500 year lease

from Griffith Boynton to Constance Boynton as her marriage portion of £4000 in 1702.

Various deeds in DDWB include a copy of Walter Griffith's pedigree; a 1435 defeasance

related to the marriage settlement of Walter Griffith and Joan Nevill; the grant of

Edward VI in 1550 of the wardship and marriage of Gabriel St Quinton; a 1662 indulgence of the archbishop of York allowing Francis Boynton, his wife and four others

to eat meat during fasting, the marriage licence of Griffith Boynton and Anne White

dated 1742 and a series of pardons granted to Robert Place (1415), Francis Boynton (1604), Henry Boynton (1604), Matthew Boynton (1626), Henry Griffith (1626) and

Francis Boynton (1661).

DDWB contains the marriage settlements of Gervase Clifton and Agnes Griffith (1482);

Matthew Boynton and Frances Griffith (1613); Henry Griffith and Mary Willoughby (1620); Henry Griffith and Margaret Wortley (1636); William Boynton and Elizabeth

Barnard (1661); Francis Cobb and Barbara Hebblethwaite (1690); Francis Boynton and

Frances Hebblethwaite (1703); Griffith Boynton and Rebecca White (1728); Griffith

Boynton and Anne White (1742); James Kemplin and Isabel Ganton (1748); William St

Quinton and Charlotte Fane (1758).

DDWB contains the wills of John de Thornholme (1383); Thomas Smith (1467); Martin

Boynton (1518); Thomas Boynton (1520); Margaret Boynton (1533); Matthew Boynton

(1540); Cecily Boynton (1550); Thomas Boynton (c.1581); John Thornholme (1597); Katherine Calverley (1603); Francis Boynton (1640); Martha Barnard (1667); William

Boynton (1689); William Cobb (1696); Elizabeth (Boynton) Royston (1706); Griffith

Boynton (1708); Richard Simpson (1727); Griffith Boynton (1757); Griffith Boynton

(1771); Griffith Boynton (1794).

DDWB(2) contains estate and legal papers of the Boynton family (especially Francis Boynton) in the nineteenth century in the following sections: Barmston (1767-1932),

including leases and tenancy agreements, largely of the 1810s and 1820s and an

original bundle relating to enclosure; Burton Agnes (1716-1920), including leases and tenancy agreements, inventories of the personal effects and furniture of Lady Boynton

deceased 1889, papers to do with drainage, 19 letters of a dispute between Henry

Boynton and Robert Hall 1848-9 and a 1920s insurance policy for Burton Agnes Hall;

Haisthorpe (1817); Rudston (1774-1894) including leases, an 1814 plan of the estate and enclosure material; various townships (1706-1944) including an abstract of the

title of Francis Boynton, details of his income 1806-10, mortgages arranged with the

solicitor John Lockwood and papers related to his financial arrangements with Henry John Shepherd, leases, agreements, a copy of the will of Griffith Boynton (1771) and

John Harrison (1774) and a copy of the marriage settlement of Griffith Boynton and

Charlotte Topham (1765); a lease for Wood Hall in the parish of Ellerby (1853); accounts (1788-1899) especially household and estate accounts of the first three

decades of the nineteenth century and Francis Boynton's accounts with his creditor,

John Lockwood; correspondence (1794-1877) including 40 letters of John Lockwood to

Henry John Shepherd about the finances of Francis Boynton, as well as two family letters dated 1869 and 1877; rentals (1808-1854) largely for the estates of Francis

Boynton in 1808; settlements (1784-1886) including the marriage settlements of


George Parkhurst and Mary Boynton (1784), Francis Boynton and Sally Bucktrout

(1815), Henry Boynton and Louisa Strickland (1833), Henry Boynton and Harriet Lightfoot (1843) William Mussenden and Katherine Maude Boynton (1866); papers of

Francis Boynton (1795-1833) amounting to more on his financial arrangements with

John Lockwood; various documents (1788-1875) including bonds of John Lockwood; wills (1771-1898) of Griffith Boynton (1771), Griffith Boynton (1794), Mary Parkhurst

(probate 1815), Henry Boynton (1854), Henry Boynton (1861), Harriet Boynton

(1869), Henry Sommerville Boynton (1898) and a miscellaneous section (1784-1869) including a memorial for Henry Boynton (1869) and certificates of baptism, marriage

and burial for the Boyntons, Griffiths, St Quintons and others dated 1707-1815.

DWB is a rather varied collection of papers sold by the Wickham-Boynton family in

1947. It contains the following: very miscellaneous papers for Yorkshire, East Riding

(1560-1858) including a 1560 deed of covenant for John Thornholme, a rough court roll from 1590 for Barmston, some eighteenth-century leases, a grant of tithes to Griffith

Boynton in 1722 and a mortgage for £950 between Francis Boynton and his creditors,

John Lockwood and Henry John Shepherd; medieval and early modern papers for Yorkshire, North Riding, especially Lebberston (1363-1739) including papers of the de

Burton, Place and Lamplugh families, the marriage settlements of William Lamplugh

and Hester Shipton (1666), William Lamplugh and Elizabeth Jackson (1729) and

Richard Kirshaw and Constance Boynton (1702), as well as a 1736 quitclaim for their son, William Kirshaw Boynton; Yorkshire, West Riding. The papers are especially for

Bingley, Bradford, Morton, Cottingley Bridge and Mexborough (1521-1858) and include

miscellaneous items to do with land sales, mortgages and settlements, especially for the Rhodes, Hird, Lister, Lamplugh and Maud families, a bundle of papers in Richard

Ransome -v- William Calverley (c.1803), the marriage settlements of Jeremiah Bargh

and Grace Ward (early eighteenth century), John Rhodes and Anne Dinsdall (1718) and Jeremiah Dixon and Mary Wickham, whose father, the Reverend Henry Wickham was

involved with her father in a Leeds banking venture, the papers of which are also in the

collection; a settlement, York (1793); Derbyshire (1603); a mortgage, county Durham

(1747); Lancashire (1664-1798) including more papers for Henry Wickham and a lease from the bishop of Chester to Dorothy Benson of Wrenthorpe (1677); a mortgage for

Lincolnshire (1620); the 1621 description of the king's third claimed during the minority

of Henry Griffith; appointments and commissions of various members of the Boynton family in the local judiciary and militia (1669-1852); miscellaneous papers (c.1558-

1845) including an Elizabethan jury list, an acquittance of £1100 paid by Matthew

Boynton towards the Ulster plantation for his baronetcy in 1618, a letter of John

Barnard to his wife dated 24 October 1634 and William Boynton's certificate of 1673 for taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and making a declaration against the

doctrine of transubstantiation; papers relating largely to the shrievalty of Griffith

Boynton from 1750 and the wills of Isaac Hawmond (1650), John Rawson (1662), Jonathan Thompson (1689), Cuthbert Braderig (1698), Margaret Boynton (1720), John

Rhodes (1751), Mary Clarkson (1761), William Greenwood (1762), William Lamplugh

(1770), Francis Boynton (1779), John Williamson (1804), Andrew Hodgson (1803),

Christiana Radford (1821).

Administrative History

The home of the Wickham-Boynton family, Burton Agnes Hall near Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, has descended through two families, the Griffiths and the

Boyntons, without sale, for several hundred years. After the Norman conquest the

estate passed from the king to Robert de Brus. The medieval hall, built circa 1170, may have been built by his successor, Roger de Stuteville and when the male line of the de


Stuteville family failed the hall and manor passed into the de Merlay family through the

marriage of Alice de Stuteville to Roger de Merlay. In 1274 it passed again through an heiress, this time to Robert de Sommerville, and it stayed in that family just two

generations until failure of the male line again saw its transfer, this time to the Griffith

family through the marriage of Joan de Sommerville to Rees ap Griffith in 1355. The papers in DDWB, DDWB(2) and DWB relate to the Griffith family and the Boyntons who

succeeded to Burton Agnes also through marriage in 1654 (Wood, Burton Agnes old

manor house, pp.1-2; Allison, Victoria county history of Yorkshire East Riding, pp.106-

8).

The Griffiths were a Welsh family who had settled in Staffordshire in the thirteenth century. Walter Griffith, who died in 1481, was responsible for restoring the Norman

manor house and adding the fifteenth-century roof. The Griffith family chapel in the

church at Burton Agnes was built circa 1500 and the family played an important part in the affairs of the north during the sixteenth century. The second Sir Walter Griffith

became high sherriff of Yorkshire in 1501 and was governor of Scarborough castle until

his death in 1531. His son, George, was knighted a year later and was in turn succeeded by his son, another Walter Griffith, in 1559. The latter's son, Sir Henry

Griffith, was knighted by James I in 1603 and was responsible for building the

Elizabethan/Jacobean new Burton Agnes hall around the same time when appointed

high sheriff of Yorkshire. The new hall stands next to the original Norman manor house. The latter became service quarters and a laundry and has had several alterations since

those made in the fifteenth century (Wood, Burton Agnes old manor house, p.2;

Pevsner & Neave, York and the East Riding, pp. 365, 367).

Henry Griffith was succeeded in 1620 by his son, also Henry Griffith, who was knighted by Charles I in 1627 and was a royalist during the civil wars of the 1640s before

surrendering to parliament and taking the national covenant. When he died in 1654 the

estate passed to the son of his sister, Frances, who was married to Matthew Boynton

(Wood, Burton Agnes old manor house, p.2; Musgrave, Burton Agnes Hall, p.8).

The Boyntons claim their descent from an eleventh-century lord of the manor of Bovington or Boynton. They became lords of the manor of Acklam in Cleveland, but this

manor, along with other family land, was forfeited to the king after Sir Henry Boynton

was beheaded in 1405 for supporting the rebellion of Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland. Sir Henry's eldest son, Thomas, died without issue and his second

son, William, petitioned for return of land at Boynton. In this he was successful and his

grandson, Henry, greatly expanded the family estates again by marrying Margaret, daughter of Martin de la See, lord of the manor of Barmston who died in 1494 (there is

a picture of his tomb at DDMM/8/1) (Hawkesbury, Some East Riding families, p.6;

Collier, The Boynton family, pp.1-10; Foster, Pedigrees).

Henry Boynton died only a year after Martin de la See and his wife took a religious vow

not to remarry and was admitted of Corpus Christi York in 1513. She was a votary and patroness to the priory of Nun Cotham. She appointed Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of

Durham, one of the executors of her will, written in 1533 (DDWB/25/6). Margaret

Boynton died in 1536, by which time her two eldest sons had predeceased her and she was succeeded to Barmston by her grandson, Matthew Boynton (c.1504-1541), who

was married to Anne Bulmer of Wilton. He was appointed chief steward of the king's

possessions in the counties of York and Lincolnshire and one of their daughters, Cicely,

became maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. The Boyntons became financially very healthy in the sixteenth century. They held compact estates around Bridlington and

lived in a moated manor house at Barmston, the remains of which can still be seen.


Matthew's eldest son Thomas (b. circa 1523) was MP for Boroughbridge and high

sheriff of Yorkshire and when he died in 1582 he left a personal estate of £2454 (Collier, The Boynton family, pp.13-15; English, The great landowners of East

Yorkshire, p.16; Morris, A series of picturesque views, i, p.90; Ward, East Yorkshire

landed estates, p.26; Foster, Pedigrees).

Thomas Boynton was succeeded by his son, Francis, who also served as high sheriff of Yorkshire and sat on the council of the North. By the time of his death in 1617 the

family had accumulated the manors of Barmston, Roxby, Acklam, Rudston, as well as

lands in Boynton and the rectories of Barmston and Bridlington with their tithes. He

married Dorothy, who was the heiress of Christopher Place and they had four children two of whom died in infancy. His only son to survive to adulthood was Matthew, born

circa 1591. He paid £1100 for his baronetcy in 1618 and married Frances Griffith, who

became sole heiress of her brother, Sir Henry Griffith of Burton Agnes (Collier, The Boynton family, pp.18-19; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.16;

Foster, Pedigrees).

Matthew Boynton sat for Hedon in the parliament of 1628, but he came under scrutiny

in the 1630s for his religious tendencies and eventually fled to Holland. He had returned by 1640 when he sat in parliament for Scarborough though his allegiance

before the outbreak of hostilities in 1642 was ambiguous. Some sources say he was a

royalist, but it is clear he also had orders from parliament to observe the activities of

John Hotham and his son whose own loyalties wavered the other way, from parliamentarianism to royalism. He and his younger son, Matthew, were responsible for

the capture of the Hothams, who were both executed for their change of allegiance.

They then received the surrender of Scarborough castle from Hugh Cholmley who had also switched allegiance from parliamentarianism to royalism, but he was allowed to

flee abroad. Matthew Boynton was then made governor of Scarborough castle until his

death in 1647 when the younger Matthew Boynton succeeded him before, very

ironically, changing sides and becoming a royalist (Allison, Victoria county history of Yorkshire East Riding, p.71 citing R A Marchant, Puritans and the church courts in the

diocese of York, 1560-1642, pp.122, 241-2; Collier, The Boynton family, pp.20-1;

Ross, Celebrities of the Yorkshire wolds, pp.31-3).

Matthew Boynton's wife predeceased him by 13 years after bearing him 12 children. Their eldest son Frances (b.1618), thus became heir to Barmston and Burton Agnes

and he succeeded to the latter on the death of his uncle in 1654, seven years after the

death of his father. He made a profitable marriage to Constance, daughter of Viscount Saye and Sele (chamberlain to the household of Charles II) and the couple lived quietly

at Barmston until their deaths in the 1690s. Francis Boynton's eldest son, William

(b.1643), who was the first member of the family to move from Barmston to Burton

Agnes, was MP for Hedon 1680-5, but predeceased his father in 1689. His son, Griffith Boynton (b.1664), thus succeeded his grandfather to the baronetcy and estate (he was

responsible for the major alterations at Burton Agnes), but his two marriages failed to

produce children and on his death in 1731 the inheritance shifted to his cousin, Francis (b.1677) whose father was Henry Boynton, the younger surviving son of Francis and

Constance and rector for 47 years at Barmston (Foster, Pedigrees; Collier, The Boynton

family, pp.24-9; Allison, Victoria county history of Yorkshire East Riding, p.109).

Through the eighteenth century the Boyntons continued to be involved in both local and

national politics. However they also amassed increasing debts, so they demolished the house at Barmston and in 1771 sought statutory permission to sell property and this

was a process that continued well into the nineteenth century, by which time the


estates were considerably reduced. Francis Boynton, 4th baronet, was educated at St

John's college, Cambridge and studied law. He became recorder of Beverley and was MP for Hedon 1734-9, but his attendance was very poor. His wife, Frances

Hebblethwaite, had six children, though the first born son died in infancy. When Francis

Boynton died in 1739 he was thus succeeded to the baronetcy and the lands by his second son, Griffith Boynton (b.1712). Griffith Boynton was also a lawyer and was

admitted to Gray's Inn in 1730. He married Anne White, but she died giving birth to

their only child, a son born in 1743. He did not remarry and himself died in 1761 to be suceeded by Griffith Boynton, 6th baronet (Foster, Pedigrees; Collier, The Boynton

family, pp.29-33; Allison, Victoria county history of East Riding of Yorkshire, p. 109;

English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.28; Sedgwick, The house of

commons, p.481).

Griffith Boynton, 6th baronet, was returned MP for Beverley, but there is no record of him ever speaking in parliament and there is only one registered vote recorded. He

married first Charlotte Topham, and their respective arms are quartered in the

pediment above the Burton Agnes chimneypiece brought from Barmston in the 1760s (the arms of Thomas Griffith [d.1582] and his three wives are elaborately carved into

the Elizabethan wood below). Charlotte Boynton died at the age of 26 only two hours

after giving birth to a stillborn daughter in 1767 and Griffith Boynton married Mary

Hebblethwaite less than a year later. By her he had three sons who were destined to inherit the baronetcy and estates in turn. He was succeeded on his death in 1778 by

Griffith Boynton (b.1769) who was educated at Trinity College Cambridge and married

Ann Parkhurst. The marriage was childless and he was succeeded by his brother Francis Boynton (b.1777) who married Sarah Bucktrout. They also had no children and when

he died in 1832 he was succeeded by the youngest brother, Henry Boynton, who had

been born after his father's death, in 1778 (Namier & Brooke, The house of commons, p. 109; Foster, Pedigrees; Pevsner & Neave, York and the East Riding, p.369; Collier,

The Boynton family, pp.34-5).

Henry Boynton, 9th baronet, married Mary Gray and had 10 children. His eldest son,

Henry (b.1811), succeeded on his death in 1854 and made a career for himself in the

local militia. His first wife, Louisa Strickland, died without leaving children in 1841 and he remarried in 1843. His second wife, Harriet Lightfoot, had two children, Henry

Sommerville Boynton (b.1844) and Katherine Maude Boynton who married William

Mussenden, general of the 8th Hussars. Henry Sommerville Boynton, 11th baronet succeeded his father in 1869 and was the 31st and last descendant in direct line from

Walter de Bovington or Boynton. He was a traveller and naturalist whose large

collection of stuffed birds was later destroyed by a bomb in 1940. When he died in

1899 he left behind a daughter, Cicely Mabel Boynton, who was born in 1877 and who married Thomas Lamplugh Wickham (Musgrave, Burton Agnes Hall, p.9; Collier, The

Boynton family, pp.35-9).

In the late nineteenth century the estate of the Boynton family went through further

contraction; in 1879 the 11th baronet's 9300 acres had a gross annual value of £10,000, but by 1910 the estate was only 5500 acres in size. Having no son, Sir Henry

Boynton's title was inherited by his cousin, Sir Griffith Boynton and it has passed down

through his heirs. His daughter, Cicely, owned the estate until she died in 1947 to be succeeded by her younger son (the elder having died on active service in 1942),

Marcus Wickham Boynton, who in 1948 put the old Norman hall in the hands of the

ministry of works and who opened up the 'new' Elizabethan/Jacobean hall (and its fine

collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings) to the public to solve the


family's financial difficulties. The estate is now in the hands of his nephew (Musgrave,

Burton Agnes Hall, p.10; Wood, Burton Agnes old manor house, Intro. and p.2).

Publication Note

Allison, K J, Victoria county history of Yorkshire: East Riding (1971)

Collier, C V, An account of the Boynton family (1914)

English, Barbara, The great landowners of East Yorkshire 1530-1910 (1990)

Foster, J, Pedigrees of the county families of Yorkshire (1874-5)

Hall, Ivan, Samuel Buck's Yorkshire sketchbook (1979)

Morris, F O, A series of picturesque views of seats of the noblemen and gentlemen of

Great Britain and Ireland (1880)

Musgrave, E I, Burton Agnes Hall near Bridlington, East Yorkshire: a souvenir handbook

(1950)

Namier, L & Brooke, J, The house of commons 1754-1790 2 vols. (1964)

Neave, D & Pevsner, N, The buildings of England: York and the East Riding (1995)

Ross, F, Celebrities of the Yorkshire wolds (1878)

Sedgwick, R, The house of commons 1715-1754 2 vols. (1970)

Ward, J T, East Yorkshire landed estates in the nineteenth century (1967)

Wood, Margaret, Burton Agnes old manor house (1956)

Finding Aids Listed to item level

Related Material DDX/16/200, 207, 217, 222, 228, 239, 248-9, 342, 346, 368-9; DDCV/26/36;

DDCV/31; DDCV/40; DDCV/204/30; DDDU/11/96-97; DDEV/68/248; DDHO/4/19-20;

DDJL/4/18; DDMC/4/1; DDMM/28/13; DDPR/7/157; DDSQ; DDSQ(2)/1/1; DDSQ(2)/18/1; DDSQ(3)/17/5

Related material in other repositories: Wilberforce House, Hull; Morrice MSS, Dr

Williams Library, London


Index Terms

• Sommerville family

• Boynton family of Burton Agnes, Yorkshire

• Greystoke family

• Griffith, Sir Henry, fl 1603-1607

• Boynton, Sir Griffith, fl 1750-1770, high Sheriff of Yorkshire

• Griffith, Sir Walter, d 1531, high Sheriff of Yorkshire

• Little Kelk, East Riding of Yorkshire

• Rudston, East Riding of Yorkshire

• Burton Agnes, East Riding of Yorkshire

• Haisthorpe, Burton Agnes, East Riding of Yorkshire

• Barmston, East Riding of Yorkshire • Caythorpe, Rudston, East Riding of Yorkshire


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