At the heart of Northumberland Archives collections are estate and personal records of landed families. These records tell the stories of the families, their influence on local and national politics, on the industrial development of the north-east of England and the rural management of the county, and the stories of many Northumberland communities.
In June 2013 Northumberland Archives was able to purchase seven lots from the auction of the house contents of the family home of the Morant family: the Hermitage, near Hexham.
Two generations of the family, Lieutenant-General Horatio Harbord Morant and Brigadier-General Hubert Horatio Shirley Morant, held senior military posts and were involved in important military campaigns. The family was also involved in social and sporting activity in Tynedale and married into local gentry families. They took up tenancy of the substantial property in 1922 and continued to live there until the death of their last member in 2013. Working with colleagues at Durham Record Office, we were together able to purchase all of the significant archive material that formed part of the sale.
Lots purchased by Northumberland Archives comprised two photograph albums compiled by Brigadier-General Hubert H.S. Morant relating to his military career and interests in horses and cricket; a collection of portrait photographs, paintings and drawings relating to him; records relating to the sporting interests of the family including hunting diaries and journals with related photographs; a collection of printed catalogues of local point-to-points, horse races and agricultural shows; account books and other records relating to the running of the household; a fine bound printed account of a series of public dinners given to Matthew Bell, to celebrate his return as a Member of Parliament in 1826, and portraits of John Straker of Stagshaw, Northumberland, father in law of Brigadier-General Morant.
The purchase is important for a number of reasons, not least because Northumberland Archives did not previously hold any papers of the Morant family. The Hermitage was the property of the Allgood family of Nunwick, Northumberland. Whilst the Allgood family papers deposited with Northumberland Archives reveal much about the early history of this important property, the Morant papers reveal something of its more recent history. Cataloguing of the papers will be complete by the end of 2014. However, early examination of the papers has revealed what we believe to be two Roger Fenton photographs that were not identified in the catalogue description. Once complete, full catalogue descriptions will be available online.