Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    X800
  • Title
    Antonie Archive
  • Production date
    From: 1706 To: 1719
  • Admin/biog history
    Introduction: The Archive Itself The Antonie Archive comprises a) the working documents of Marc/Mark Antonie (1664-1720) as Steward of the Dukes of Montagu, b) an account book relating to his estate at Colworth House, Sharnbrook, c) an account book of his wife Anne's family, the Bekes, d) Account books of their son John Antonie, Chief Clerk of King's Bench (1712-1760), e) account books and a funeral bill of their younger son Richard Antonie (1713-1771) of Mount Cheerful, Jamaica and Colworth House, d) two bank books of Richard's cousin William Lee Antonie of Colworth and MP for Bedford, g) two printed Eighteenth Century maps. Marc Antonie was the younger son of John and Margaret Antonie of Stamford, Lincolnshire. He was baptised at St Mary's Church there on 16 October 1664. By 1687 he was travelling with members of the Montagu family to Malta and Jerusalem. Quite which members of the family he was with, is unclear from the confused footnote to HMC Report on The Montagu Correspondence of The Duke of Buccleuch page 350 (published 1899). The Montagu family, as ardent Whigs, felt it prudent to stay abroad during the reign of James II 1685-1688. In 1699 Antonie went aboard again to Spain and Italy with Winwood Montagu, son of Ralph Duke of Montagu (1638-1709). He was briefly at Montagu House in 1701 when it appears he was acting as an under steward. In 1702 he was with Winwood on his politic visit to Hanover to see the future George I. Winwood died as a result of overdrinking there on 1 May 1702. [UN63 and GEC Complete Peerage Vol IX pages 106-109] Antonie was not blamed for it and by 1706 was Steward to the Dukes of Montagu until his death in 1720. The account books were kept meticulously. Against each figure is a further red number, which is the voucher number. The original vouchers are likely to be in the Boughton House archive held at the house. The accounts refer to all aspects of administration, as well as the personal expenditure of the Duke himself. Particularly important are the references to Hugenot craftsmen and artists, working presumably on Boughton House. Duke Ralph's patronage of Hugenot artists is well known and a number of the artists mentioned in the account books are mentioned in "The Quiet Conquest : The Hugenots 1685-1985", Museum of London 1985. The details of tenants and woodlands management on the various estates of the Duke are also of importance. In 1715 Marc Antonie bought the Colworth estate and began to build Colworth House. X800/24 is an account book Antonie kept when at Colworth it includes useful lists of purchases of furniture, brewing utensils and paintings amplify inventories held in other collections at the Record Office. The Poor rates for Sharnbrook and Souldrop are the earliest known for both villages. On his death in 1720, his wife had a life interest in the estate. Her account book is especially useful for costume details. Her family's rent book covers Dinton and Bishopstone areas of Buckinghamshire. On her death in 1753, Anne and Marc's elder son John inherited Colworth. His account books contain information about his time as Chief Clerk to King's Bench including an inventory of his chambers in 1733. His notebook on leases amplifies the account of the Colworth Estate given by Jane C Sale in her "Farming on the Colworth Estate 1685-1860". (unpublished) May 1985 [Searchroom Book 130 SHA]. At the back of X800/32 his brother Richard wrote out a recipe for a cure for a bite from a mad dog. On his succeeding his brother in 1760 Richard Antonie (1713-1771) took a more active role in running the Colworth Estate. His account books in this collection, part of a wider archive (see UN and BS486 etc) are useful for the totals of money spent on his household and his dealings with his chief tenant Israel Church senior, who acted as farm bailiff. X800/34 contains payment for a negro being returned to Jamaica. X800/38 are the detailed expenses for his funeral in 1771. W L Antonie's Bank books are a minor addition to his main archive which is catalogued UN. The two County maps are both mentioned in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Volume 62. 'Printed Maps of Bedfordshire." Why is the archive here? X800 forms part of a much larger archive that has been split at various times. We now have four separate deposits of documents relating to this archive. 1) UN Archive Despite containing personal papers other than deeds, this archive passed with the house to the present owners Unilever. The bulk of the archive was deposited here in 1962. 2) GA 2862 - 2961 These deeds and Map remained with the main UN archive till the 1930's when the then owner of Colworth, Edgar Clayson deposited them with his solicitors Garrard & Allen. Through the good offices of Michael Jones they were deposited here in 1981. 3) BS448-463, 1176-1188, 2072-2143/4, as well as John Lee's own archive BS576-608. John Lee (formerly Fiott) inherited both the Colworth Estate and the Hartwell Estate, Buckinghamshire in 1827. He decided to make his main residence at Hartwell and some of the archive was transferred to Hartwell. These stayed in the house till 1937 when it was sold to A C Benedict Eyre. Through the British Records Association these documents were deposited at the Record Office in 1942 and 1951. d) X800 X800/1-15, the account books of Marc Antonie as steward of the Duke of Montagu were kept by his executors on his death and were not returned to Montagu House, somewhat in the way that Ministers of the Crown kept official correspondence after leaving office. The archive remained at Colworth till 1816 when John Lee began to take an interest in it. On the inside cover of X800/15 for example John Lee records "Accounts of Mark Antonie found at Colworth 1816". John Lee started destroying some of the original sheets, keeping odd sheets that interested him and recopying others [BS2140, 2143/1-4,UN119]. In 1827 when John Lee finally left Colworth and let the house to Hollingsworth Magniac (UN61), he took the account books to Hartwell where they were in 1860 (X800/24-25). In 1834 one of the documents (X800/27) was repaired. On the sale of the contents of Hartwell House in 1939, these documents and some others deposited at Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire Record Offices were sold to N E S Norris of 20 Withdean Road, Brighton, Sussex, who paid _16 for Lot 663. These documents were left by Mr Norris to the National Trust, who passed them onto the British Records Association, who passed them onto the appropriate Record Offices. e) AD1734-1750/2 A small group of the documents of John Lee were purchased from Messrs Hockcliffe Booksellers of Bedford in November 1948. Their line of provenance is unknown. For further information on John Lee see "Dr John Lee of Hartwell 1783-1866" by H A Hanley, Buckinghamshire Record Office, c1983
  • Level of description
    fonds
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