Papers of the Lloyd-Greame Family of Sewerby

Dates:  
12th cent.-1950

Description

Admin History:

The estate papers in this collection relate to the manor of Sewerby, Bridlington, which was in the hands of the de Sewerdby family from at least the twelfth century until descendants in a female line sold it in 1545. For two decades the estate passed through several hands before being bought by the Carliell family of Bootham, York. The Carliells moved to Sewerby and the four daughters of the first owner, John Carliell, intermarried with local gentry. His son, Tristram Carliell succeeded to the estates in 1579 and upon his death in 1618 he was succeeded by his son, Randolph or Randle Carliell. He died in 1659 and was succeeded by his son, Robert Carliell, who was married to Anne Vickerman, daughter and heiress of Henry Vickerman of Fraisthorpe. Robert Carliell died in in 1685 and his son Henry Carliell was the last male member of the family to live at Sewerby, dying in 1701 (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.4-9).

Around 1714 Henry Carliell's heir sold the Sewerby estate to tenants, John and Mary Greame. The Greame family had originated in Scotland before moving south and establishing themselves in and around Bridlington. One line of the family were yeoman farmers in Sewerby, but John Greame's direct family were mariners and merchants in Bridlington. John Greame (b.1664) made two good marriages; first, to Grace Kitchingham, the daughter of a Leeds merchant of some wealth and, second to Mary Taylor of Towthorpe, a co-heiress. John and Mary Greame were responsible for building the central block of the present Sewerby House, a seven-bay, three-story, red-brick, box-like house with a central pediment and lavish internal fittings (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.10-14; Pevsner & Neave, York and the East Riding, p.678; U DDLG/48/38).

John Greame died at the age of 83 in 1746. He and his wife had had fourteen children though several of them died in childhood including his two eldest sons. He was, therefore, succeeded to the Sewerby estates by his third son, John Greame (b.1709), who married late in life, in 1756, to Alicia Mary Spencer ('Almary') (b.circa 1724) of Cannon Hall, Cawthorne, near Barnsley. The marriage was childless and John and Almary Greame threw their energies into house maintenance and garden planting. Some of the earliest correspondence in the collection indicates that Almary had a monthly order on exotic plants. John Greame died in 1798. His wife continued to live at Sewerby after her husband's death and was joined there by the heir apparent to the estates, John Greame (b.1759), the son of John Greame senior's younger brother, Thomas Greame (1716-1784) of Heslington (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.14-18; U DDLG/48/38).

John Greame junior had married an heiress, Sarah Yarburgh of Heslington, who was descended from a family who had held lands in Lincolnshire from the time of the Norman conquest and whose pedigree traced their ancestry to Edward III. Her aunt had been the wife of John Vanburgh. Sarah had died prematurely in 1785 leaving John Greame with two children, Yarburgh Greame (b.circa 1782) and Alicia Mary Greame (b.1783). In 1787 John Greame remarried, to Anne Elizabeth Broadley, daughter of Isaac Broadley of the merchant family of Hull and Brantingham. John Greame moved with his family into Sewerby House before his elderly aunt died and together they planned and built two-storey, bow-windowed extensions. The family followed the regency fashion of painting the exterior brickwork and the work was finished about 1808. After the elderly Alicia Mary Greame died in 1812 John and Anne Greame continued to live at Sewerby House until their own deaths, within a few days of one another in February 1841 (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.18-20; U DDLG/48/38-9).

The estate now passed to the eldest son of John Greame, Yarburgh Greame, who inherited Heslington and estates in Lincolnshire from his mother's family as well, and so added the surname Yarburgh, becoming Yarburgh Yarburgh. Yarburgh Yarburgh threw himself into estate and church building; he brought the bayed wings up to the three-storey level of the centre of the house, continued the planting programme in the garden and built Sewerby Church in a neo-Norman style with a Victorian spire between 1846-8. Yarburgh Yarburgh became High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1848 (see shrievalty papers) and he died in 1856; there is a monument to him in the church he built (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.21-3; U DDLG/48/38-9; Ingram, The church of St John, pp.7, 17).

The estate now passed to Yarburgh Yarburgh's sister, Alicia Mary Greame, who had married George Lloyd (b.1787) of Stockton Hall, York. The Lloyds had originally come from Mattersey in Nottinghamshire in the seventeenth century. The descendants of Gamaliel Lloyd (d.1661) established themselves as merchants and manufacturers in and around Manchester and the third son of George Lloyd (d.1783), another George Lloyd, was a barrister who had married Elizabeth Naylor, daughter of a Wakefield merchant. Their eldest son was George Lloyd of Stockton Hall and he and Alicia Mary Greame married in 1810. They died in 1863 and 1867 respectively and Alicia Mary Lloyd split her inheritance between her sons. Her eldest son, George John Lloyd, assumed the name and arms of Yarburgh and succeeded to the Heslington estates and her younger son, Yarburgh Gamaliel Lloyd (b.1813), who was vicar of Dunston in Lincolnshire, succeeded to Sewerby House and estates of around 7000 acres in the East and North Riding and added the surname Greame, becoming Yarburgh Gamaliel Lloyd-Greame (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, pp.23-4; U DDLG/48/39; Burke, Landed gentry; Ward, East Yorkshire landed estates, p.47).

Yarburgh Gamaliel Lloyd-Greame married Editha Christiana le Hunte and they had five children. One daughter, named Editha, died the day she was born and a second daughter, also named Editha, died at the age of 13 years, leaving them with two daughters and one son. The son, Yarburgh George Lloyd-Greame (b. 1840), became a colonel in the Yorkshire Artillery and succeeded to the estates at Sewerby on the death of his father in 1890. He married Dora Letitia O'Brien, second daughter of James Thomas O'Brien, bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin, the noted evangelical theologian of the Church of Ireland. Some of Dora's siblings lived with them at Sewerby (see separate entry for family history and further details). Yarburgh George Lloyd-Greame died in 1928 and their son, Yarburgh Lloyd-Greame lived at Sewerby House until 1934 when he sold it to Bridlington Corporation and it is now open to the public. Their younger son, Philip Lloyd-Greame, took the name Cunliffe-Lister and became a Conservative MP. In 1944 he was created 1st Earl Swinton (Johnson, Sewerby Hall and Park, p.24; U DDLG/48/39; Burke, Landed gentry; Ward, East Yorkshire landed estates, p.48).

Description:

This is a collection rich in title deeds for Yorkshire including many medieval deeds (some of these were transcribed by C V Collier and appeared in print in the 'Yorkshire deeds' series published by the Yorkshire Archeological Society). There are a number of items of particular interest for church history including a 1684 justice's warrant to levy fines on 25 named people at a conventicle held in Bridlington; records relevant to the building and early years of Sewerby church 1845-1848 and parsonage 1864-1909; 18th century and 19th century Sewerby parish records; plans of the new church at Grindale in 1873 and the papers of the Reverend Dr J T O'Brien, bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin (see below for further detail). This is a collection that is also rich in maps and plans including an illuminated plan of Little Hatfield by John Carr (1717). There are also manorial records for Grindale 1670-1865 and items of interest for W L Allardyce from the Falkland Islands in 1906 (see correspondence for further details) and several items of Sir George T M O'Brien who was Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong 1892-5 and Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific 1897-1902 (see below for further details). In addition there are two 17th century farming and personal account books which include some medicinal recipes and servants' wages (see accounts).

Estate papers are arranged alphabetically for the East Riding followed by papers for other locations. Details for East Riding estate papers begin with: Argam (1722-1860) including tenancy agreements, tithe awards, the marriage settlement of Jane Close and Thomas Grimston (1722), certificates of marriage, baptism and burial for the Bell and Jordan families, the wills of Francis Jordan (1789) and William Jordan (1822) and related estate papers of the Jordan family; Bempton (1675-1865) including the enclosure act of 1765, 19th century tenancy agreements, an abstract of title of the Maister family 1724-1813, the will of Henry Maister (1811), the marriage settlement of Arthur Maister and Anne Pease (1812) and some mortgages held by Henry Maister; Bessingby (1594-1768) including a 1594 assignment of Bessingby chapel from John Carliell (Carlell, Carlile and other spellings) to his son with all its tithes (all formerly the property of Bridlington Priory) and later papers related to this property; Birdsall (late 18th century-1892) including plans and tenancy agreements. Estate papers for Bridlington and Buckton are as follows: Bridlington (1595-1879) including early modern papers of the Carliell and Jackson families, the marriage settlements of Mark Westerdall and Mary Tubelay (1649), William Ruston and Anne Adleston (1654), a justice's warrant to levy a fine on 25 named people present at a conventicle in a meeting house on 30 November 1684, some papers in the 1690 legal proceedings of the Greame family against the Belt family over a mortgage and the 1721 bill for repairs to the Belt family house, the Bridlington enclosure act (1768), a bundle of papers relating to Bridlington Harbour including 19th century manuscript notes by Yarburgh Greame on the history of the harbour and piers 1695-1791, an 1844 list of pews in Bridlington church belonging to Yarburgh Greame, an 1847 list of the donations towards the building of Bridlington parsonage; Buckton (1538-1698) including copies of 17th century ministers' accounts for the chapelry of Buckton, estate papers of the Carliell family, a 1650 valuation of the manor and rectory and a bundle of 1650s papers about assessment. Estate papers continue as follows: Burdale (1685); Burton Fleming (1355) being a letter of attorney of Sir Thomas de Sywardby; Cottingham (1642) being sale papers of the Creyke family; Drewton (1604); Etherdwick (1598-1887) including 19th century tenancy agreements, the wills of John Pearson (1666), John Greame (1740), Thomas Greame (1784), John Stephenson (1815), Matthew Stephenson (1825) and Thomas Stephenson (1831), the marriage settlement of Elizabeth Delachamp and John Craven (1709); Flamborough (1833) being the rules and orders of the Fisherman's Fund; Flinton (1843-post 1856) being papers related to tithes; Fraisthorpe (1590-1691); Great Kelk, Gembling and Foston (1599-1886) including 18th century tenancy agreements, 19th century surveys of tithes and tithe rents, a survey of the Greame estate at Great Kelk in 1848, the enclosure plan and award (1849), estate papers of the Parkin and Henniker families and an extract of the will of John Minet Henniker (1829), the will of Thomas Jarratt (1806), extracts of the Foston parish registers for the Dalton family and the will of Thomas Dalton (1831), a bundle of papers of Lord James Cavendish, son of the Duke of Devonshire including a copy of the appointment to him of the rectory of Foston with glebe lands and tithes (1730), the marriage settlement of Lord Milsintown (son of the Earl of Portmore) and Lady Mary Leslie (1770) and the 1783 sale for £10,000 of the rectory of Foston and glebe lands by Lord Milsontown. Records for Grindale (1631-1892) are quite extensive and are as follows: records of the manor of the prebend of Grindale including 168 verdicts 1670-1719 and 1757-1861, calls rolls for 1694, 1698 and 1739-1862, surrenders and admissions 1673-1865 and some 19th century rentals; an original bundle of papers about the history of and land use in the prebend of Grindale including an extract from the 1650 parliamentary survey of benefices; a 19th century original bundle relating to tithes with estimates of their value; 18th and 19th century leases; the will of Sir Anthony Brown (1641); some 17th century papers of the Hirst family including the will of John Hirst (1657); papers related to the sale of Grindale property to John Greame in 1829 including the will of John Hustler (1763) and baptism and burial details of the Hustler family; the enclosure award and plan (1844) and related papers of valuations; an 1892 list of subscribers to the stained glass window in Grindale church to the memory of Reverend Yarburgh Lloyd Greame; several 19th century plans of Grindale and 6 plans of the new church dated 1873; a survey and enclosure of Little Hatfield by John Carr (1717) and bundles of 18th century papers relating to a farm and lessees at Little Hatfield (see also below for Little Hatfield and U DDLG/30/801). Estate papers for East Yorkshire continue as follows: Haisthorpe (1673); Heslington (1691); Hilderthorpe (1801) being a case about the right of Sir Christopher Sykes to take seaweed from the beach; Kilham (1691); Kirk Ella (1207); Little Hatfield (1600-1895) including early modern estate papers of the Stephenson family; Little Ruston (1660-1883) including an 1861 plan of the estate of George Lloyd, a copy of the will of John Bell (1776) and an extract from the enclosure award (1805); Muston (1651-1879) including estate papers of the Kitching family and an 1860 plan of the estates of George Lloyd; Newsham parish of Bempton (1665-1841) including papers relating to enclosure and a meeting about enclosure (1840); North Grimston (1654-1851) including the enclosure act (1792) and a 19th century plan and tenancies; Ottringham (1408); Reighton (1685); Rillington and Scagglethorpe (1411-1879) including the marriage settlement of Batholomew Simpson and Catherine Jackson (1630) and related estate papers of the Simpson and Jackson family, the marriage settlements of Arthur Beverley and Mary Trott (1660), John Greame and Mary Taylor (1699), 19th century leases and the will of Thomas Sore (1866).

About fifty percent of the estate papers in the Lloyd-Greame collection are for Sewerby and Marton. They total over 1300 items and span the 12th century to 1919. There are 80 medieval charters, largely of the de Sewardby family, though there are a number for Sir Robert Constable of Flamborough. U DDLG/30/57 is an early marriage settlement, that of John de Sewardby and Margaret Playce dated 1355. Many of these deeds are in print in the Yorkshire Archeological Series of 'Yorkshire deeds'. The remainder of the Sewerby papers include the marriage settlements of Randull Rode and Tristram Carliell (1583), Arthur Grayme (Greame) and Marie Greene (1630), Thomas Johnson and Alice Ringrose (1650), William Johnson and Isabel Potter (1660), Theophilus Browne and Anne Greene (1702), John Howden and Elizabeth Johnson (1715), Thomas Johnson and Elizabeth Howden (1718), Arthur Greame and Mary Somerfield (1652) William Greame and Margaret Greame (1674), William Booth and Prudence Gray (1820), William Vickerman and Sarah Shepherd (1722), Robert Pratt and Anne Halliday (1722), Robert Gray and Eleanor Preston (1751), Christopher Paul and Frances Gray (1766), Edward Dixon and Susanna Vickerman (1741), Thomas Darley and Elizabeth Dawson (1704); 16th century estate papers of the Wade family; papers of the Carliell family from the 16th to the 18th century; the wills of Guy Raine (1718), William Raine (1746), Percival Frost (1782), Ann Croft (1678), Thomas Clarke (1686), John Lowson (1829), William Darley (1747), George Darley (1799), Thomas Pratt (1727), Robert Pratt (1740), John Broadley (1795), Charles Broadley (1816), Margaret Darley (1769), John Clarke (1798), Elizabeth Hood (1717), John Clarke (1805), Jane Peirson (1753), Matthew Preston (1734), Timothy Darley (1791), Thomas Howden (1777), Thomas Howden (1786), William Sawden (1836), William Langbone (1782), Christopher Paul (1801), George Dukes (1802), John Darley (1727), George Darley (1774); 1645 assessments and a 1650 survey; a memorandum on the manor and families of Greame, Carliell, Creyke and Wolfe 1452-1746; the enclosure plan (1811); an 1853 inventory of the contents of a house owned by Robert Dawson; an 1856 inventory of pictures in Sewerby House and an 1857 catalogue of books; the 1867 illuminated address to Yarburgh Lloyd Greame from his tenants on his marriage and an address on the death of his brother; an 1875 survey of plantations; the 1880 specification and estimate for the stables at Sewerby House; the 1895 correspondence, specification and plans for a church organ; a 1910 summary of the items insured at Sewerby House; a list of cottages and tenants at Sewerby and Grindale (n.d.); a list of men in Sewerby who served in the First World War; an abstract of the title of the Sewerby estate sold to John Greame of William Clarkson 1674-1832; certificates of burials and baptisms of the Darley family 1723-1831; a bundle of papers about the Sewerby estate showing land use, farm valuations, improvements, farming of seaweed and alterations in rents; leases 1755-1901 with leases of miscellaneous estates in Grindale, Little Hatfield and Bridlington; manorial records in the form of call rolls 1572, 1832-1859 and a 1730 list of pains; an original bundle of 19th century papers relating to Sewerby church, parsonage and school including letters to Yarburgh Greame about the building of the church from the church commissioners, the Archibishop of York and the Bishop of Ripon, among others, and related papers from the mid-1840s about parishes, fonts, church design and consecration, as well as 11 plans for the parsonage 1864-1894, correspondence and specifications 1894-1909; an original bundle of papers including plans relating to Sewerby house and conservatory; many 19th century plans and elevations and parish records which include a churchwarden's account book 1849-1919, an overseers of the poor account book 1756-1804, constables' account books 1718-1836, surveyors of highways account books 1836-1867 as well as their financial statements and highway rate books 1838-1895.

The remainder of the East Yorkshire estate papers in U DDLG are as follows: Sigglesthorne (1685-1749) being glebe terriers; Sutton in Holderness (1620); Towthorpe (1560-1891) including the wills of Thomas Mawe (1572), James Maw (1657), Peter Mawe (1692), William Taylor (1667), Mary Greame (1762), a 1621 inventory of Thomas Morwin, the marriage settlements of Thomas Maw and Elizabeth Taylor (1656), Thomas Jackson and Bridget Goodfellow (1702), Thomas Taylor and Dorothy Coates (1714), and 19th century leases; Wold Newton (1355, 1704-1714). Remaining estate papers for places other than East Yorkshire are as follows: Derbyshire (1734-1850) being a schedule of title deeds for the Wigtwisle estate; Lancashire (1690); Lincolnshire (1828) being a map (damaged); London (1905-1906) being a lease and correspondence for 5 Sydney Place in Onslow Square; Suffolk (early 15th century); Yorkshire, North Riding (1663-1910) being papers for Cayton, Cropton, Great Habton, Lockton, Middleton, Aislaby, Wrelton, Osmotherly, Swinton, Heworth and Osbaldwick and including the marriage settlements of John Carliell and Jane Hardy (1663), John Coates and Dorothy Wildon (1699) and Robert Lakeland and Charlotte Hayes (1804), the Lockton enclosure act (1784), a bundle of papers relating to tithes at Middleton and another bundle relating to a farm called Wythe Syke or Millfield Farm as well as sale papers 1899-1910 with plans and bank books, the wills of Thomas Hayes (1809), Francis Smallwood (1797), John Watson (1822), genealogical papers about the Robinson family of Pickering and the Kilvington family of Aislaby; Yorkshire, West Riding (1340, 1599-1844) being papers for Camblesforth and Carlton, Copmanthorpe, Idle and South Holme and including the marriage settlement of Timothy Wolfitt and Everill Vickerman (1660); various townships (1313-1852) including four medieval deeds of the de Sewardby family, a survey of the estates of John Greame circa late 18th century, papers about enclosure at Grindale, the wills of William Hustler (1729) and Richard Peirse (1757).

The papers of the Lloyd Greame family contain a large number of accounts (1587-1933) including the farming and personal account books of Tristram Carliell and his son, Randall Carliell spanning the dates 1587-1667. There are also 19th estate account books (including for Sewerby House itself) and annual statements of account for the estate 1897-1925. One original bundle relates to the financial matters of the shrievalty 1848-9. The collection also contains a section on appointments and commissions (1648-1880) for members of the Carliell and Greame families. An original bundle relates to the appointment and duties of William Taylor of Towthorpe as collector of assessment from 1648. The collection also contains bonds (1310-1804) including one medieval one of the de Sewardby family and several early modern ones of the Carliell and Taylor families. There are a few legal papers (1633-1910).

Correspondence (1704-1926) includes a letter to Alicia Mary Greame about her monthly order of plants for the grounds of her estates dated 1768, an original bundle of letters to Yarburgh Greame about the will of Harriet Torre 1835-6, letters to Yarburgh Greame (later Yarburgh Yarburgh) 1841-1854, letters to Yarburgh Gamaliel Lloyd Greame 1854-1890 about estate affairs and 20 letters to him and his family 1864-1867 from Yarburgh George Lloyd on board the RMSS Pacific in the Americas, letters from the ecclesiastical commissioners in the 1870s and 1880s about Grindale prebend estates, letters about the publication of The flaw in the marble written by Alice O'Brien in 1896, letters about the genealogy of the Lloyd family dated 1895, letters to Yarburgh Lloyd Greame about local affairs such as poor relief and the cost of building a primary school and from W L Allardyce at Government House in the Falkland Islands 1906 containing news of South Georgia and a memorial to Sir G T M O'Brien, and letters of Carus Vale Collier about the loan of the medieval title deeds for printing by the Yorkshire Archeological Society.

A miscellaneous section (1549-1920) in the Lloyd Greame collection includes two 17th century inventories and an anti-Catholic poem, an 18th century Italian method double entry book-keeping copy book, a 1785 memorial sermon for Sarah Greame, a book of 18th century popular songs and riddles, horse riding and hunting miscellanea, the 1848 sermon preached by the Reverend Yarburgh Lloyd Greame at the consecration of his new church, the journals of Yarbrugh Lloyd Greame during his travels in America in 1864 and South America in 1866, papers relating to the York Diocesan Trust 1896 and pedigrees and genealogical material. The collection also contains volumes of rentals (1731-1933) especially for Sewerby, Grindale, Bridlington, Kelk, Little Hatfield, Little Ruston, Muston, Marten and Bempton. There are some for estates in the North Riding. Settlements (1637-1822) include the marriage settlements of Henry Vickerman and Christian Creyke (1637); John Hill and Milcah Hodgson (1640); Thomas Buck and Alathea Carliell (1697); John Greame and Mary Taylor (1699); Edward Preston and Catherine Taylor (1712); John Major and Jane Howden (1712); William Carliell and Catherine Greame (1731); John Greame and Alicia Mary Spencer (1756); Thomas Greame and Christiana Clarke (1756); John Nicholson and Mary Tate (1763); John Greame and Sarah Yarburgh (1782); Robert Johnson and Dinah Leppington (1785); John Greame and Anne Elizabeth Broadley (1787); Edmund Gray and Elizabeth Harvey (1822).

U DDLG also contains: various deeds (1284-1897) including medieval deeds of the de Sewardby family and early modern deeds of the Carliell family, the inventory of Henry Vickerman (1646), the 1895 agreement of Alice O'Brien with Hutchinson & Co for the publication of her manuscript La Joconde, an original bundle relating to the personal estate of Thomas Greame in the 1780s, an original bundle of papers relating to the Reverend Yarburgh Gamaliel Lloyd including his admissions to the diaconate and priesthood in 1836 and 1837, his licence and oath as curate of Rawcliffe 1837 and then Whitgift in 1837, his collation as vicar of Dunston 1847 and letters about the value of his glebe in tenure.

Wills in the collection are those of Richard Shippabotham (1565); Giles Stephenson (1611); Robert Taylor (1625); John Carliell (1632); John Hodgson (1635); Edward Stephenson (1656); Randall Carliell (1659); Henry Toutville (1663), Elizabeth Carliell (1664); Ruth Carliell (1665); John Greame (1665); Robert Carliell (1671); William Jarratt (1683); Edward Milner (1699); William Huddlestone (1700); Henry Carliell (1701); Robert Greame (1707); John Pratt (1709); Thomas Pratt (1727); Ann Whithead (1729); William Hustler (1729); Benjamin Hudson (1736); Robert Pratt (1740); Alice Pratt (1751); Thomas Crow (1752); Henry Swaile (1756); Jane Simpson (1758); George Simpson (1760); John Howden (1772); Catherine Swaile (1778); William Paul (1779); John Major (1779); John Greame (1781); Thomas Greame (1784); William Gale (1784); William Mason (1784); Robert Johnson (1785); John Greame (1786); John Greame (1787); Edward White (1790); Thomas Plummer (1792); Francis Bilton (1794); Randolph Carliell (1797); Christiana Greame (1799); Alicia Maria Greame (1806); Robert Greame (1812); William Carliell (1818; with inventory, correspondence, bank accounts and legal papers); copies of the wills of John Christopher Burton, Lord Viscount Downe and Baron Dawnay (1819); Henry Wade (1819); Marmaduke Prickett (1833); Jane Walker (1836); John Greame (1838); Edward Jeremiah Lloyd (1845); Nicholas Edmund Yarburgh (1850); Elizabeth Howard (1852); Elizabeth Lloyd (1858); Charles Grimston (1858); James Thomas O'Brien (1871); Alicia Maria Lloyd (1886); Ellen O'Brien (1887); George Thomas Michael O'Brien (1905); John Taylor (1689; with inventory) and Thomas Taylor (1724).

Embedded within the Lloyd Greame family papers at U DDLG/53 are the papers James Thomas O'Brien, Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin (will at U DDLG/52/72). They comprise 12 boxes of sermons in manuscript 1826-1872; visitation papers 1842-1866; lectures and speeches including speeches in the Convention of the Church of Ireland in 1870; press cuttings and obituaries. There are also the papers of other O'Brien family members, particularly the correspondence of his wife (c.100 letters; will at U DDLG/52/75) including letters from her son, Henry Arthur O'Brien in Singapore and a bundle of papers of her older son, George Thomas Michael O'Brien (will at U DDLG/52/76; obituary letter at U DDLG/46/23); these relate to his service as Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong and as Governor of Fiji. Two items relating to the publications of her daughter, Alice O'Brien are at U DDLG/46/19 and U DDLG/51/65. There are 44 family portrait photographs at U DDLG/53/40.

DDLG2 is a small deposit of 20th century estate papers including a 1908 catalogue of books at Sewerby House, account books 1920-1927 and an original bundle relating to the Bridlington borough extension and town planning scheme of the 1920s.