New additions to the Miller Mundy archive

We were delighted when we were contacted a few weeks ago by a gentleman who had some new items to add to the archive of the Miller Mundy family of Shipley Hall, Heanor. They belonged to his grandmother, Gladys Nicholls (1904-1986), who was cook-housekeeper to the Miller Mundys in the early 1960s. By this time …

Some Interesting Items in Our Unlisted Collections

Recently, I have been working with our unlisted collections by trying to calculate how much space in cubic metres these collections take up. All very technical really but it helps we have a pre-programmed calculator to help us to do this. Whilst undertaking this task, my curiosity about what some of these unlisted items are …

A voyage from London to New York in 1793

You might not associate Derbyshire Record Office with maritime history, but although we're a land-locked county, as our Maritime History research guide shows, we do hold records about the sea. One example is a delightful travel journal written by Benjamin Bakewell on his journey from London to New York on the ship ‘Factor’ in 1793.  …

On This Day 1847…

On the 11th June 1847 Eleanor Franklin wrote in her diary how much she and Lady Jane Franklin were enjoying their visit to the ancient ruins around Salerno, just south of Naples. That morning she writes about hurrying after breakfast to see the Cathedral, with it's impressive Roman sarcophagi, pillars and mosiac work; where a saint's …

Travels with William Porden: French hotels in 1816

My love of snooping through, and blogging from, other people's diaries has been on hold for a while whilst I've had to concentrate on other things. Recently, however, I had an opportunity to look more closely at collection D3311 (from which I blogged William Porden's diaries earlier this year) and was delighted to discover a …

Travels with William Porden: Regency era toilets abroad

It's been a long while since I've blogged from Mr Porden's diary, but we catch up with him now, at the English Hotel in Dieppe where he, his daughter Eleanor, and their fellow passengers on the Eliza arrived after their long channel crossing in 1816.   The town is unpleasantly smelly owing to a lack of sewers, …

Travels with William Porden: London to Lincoln with a dog and a portrait painter, 1795

On Friday 21 August, 1795, William Porden set off from London to Lincoln in the stagecoach.  On this occasion his travelling companions were: My old friend Staveley, a Lieutenant Bromwich of the Navy, a Mr Thick, a miniature painter on a professional expedition to Hull and a young man whose name I did not learn …

Travels with William Porden: Hull to Lincoln and Sleaford, 1795

We continue our travels with William Porden, beginning in Hull on 1 June 1795, where his diary (archive ref. D3311/4/4) records that he is in his town of birth, Hull: I found my mother tho’ very infirm yet chearful and happy.  She now approaches her 80th year. I amused myself at my leisure in ranging over the scenes …

Travels with William Porden: London to Newark… an escaped prisoner!

On Monday 17 November, 1794, William Porden left London in the Newark stage coach on his way to Lincolnshire.  His fellow travellers didn't particularly impress him: My companions were a Quaker from Sheffield and a young man of York, neither of them entertaining in any shape whatever and not possessed of so much civility as …

Travels with William Porden: London to Guildford, 1793

As his diary records (archive ref. D3311/4/4), on 25 May 1793, architect William Porden set off in the stagecoach to Guildford in order to visit Hampton Lodge in Farnham, Surrey.  He doesn't mention why he was going, but possibly the owner of Hampton Lodge was a client. This is a journey that nowadays takes just over an …