The Rice Archive is a comprehensive record of one of Kent’s substantial farming families, extending from the 18th to the 20th centuries. It comprises extensive family correspondence, photographs, title deeds, estate papers, including papers relating to the Kent coalfields, marriage settlements and other legal papers. Among much interesting material, a group of papers relating to Jane Austen’s niece, Elizabeth Rice, née Austen, including letters from her father, Edward Austen-Knight, and other letters written to members of the Knight family from Godmersham and Chawton, are particularly worthy of note. The Rice family was involved in naval and diplomatic events of national significance, and the archive includes the journals and correspondence of Lord Kilbracken (1847-1932), Gladstone’s private secretary and under-secretary of State for India; Admiral Sir Ernest Rice (1840-1927), narrating his experiences off the coast of South America while commanding HMS Albatross, 1874-8; Major General Walter Brook Rice, including the period he was stationed at Dover Castle 1885-7; and Cecil Rice, writing home from the Crimean War.
The Rice Family Archive
Item Provenance
Mrs Susan Rice