| Description | Title deeds relating to Ingleby Arncliffe 1884-1902; Middlesbrough 1906; Osmotherley 1861-1906; East Rounton 1783-1910; West Rounton 1902-1903; Rudby 1818; York 1920.
Wills, settlements and mortgages 1836-1945.
Accounts of IL Bell including general accounts 1864-1867, ledgers 1906-1931, cash books 1906-1937, journal and report books 1906-1930; accounts of Maurice L Bell including cash books 1915-1944, account books 1916-1943, general accounts 1937-1944, bank statements 1937-1943; general accounts of Mrs FH Bell 1939-1945; estate accounts for Rounton and Arncliffe 1891-1956 including Arncliffe Saw Mills balance sheet and estates wages books; household accounts including Lady Bell's account with H Grierson the butcher 1929-1931 and with JT Leng the fish, game and poultry dealer 1930-1931.
Estate records including rentals for Rounton 1944; valuations of Arncliffe, Rounton and Hollins estates 1910; leases of a farm at East Rounton 1883; receipts and vouchers for restoration work undertaken at Arncliffe Hall 1912-1913; records relating to Mount Grace Priory including accounts and an inventory of furniture and linen 1926-1945; correspondence regarding the possible use of Rounton Grange as a POW hostel 1943-1948; correspondence relating to alterations to 95 Sloane Street 1899-1900; extracts from the tithe apportionments for Osmotherley and Swainby n.d.; estate papers and correspondence 1899-1946; vouchers 1946-1948; records of taxes paid by employees on the estates 1944-1949.
Trustee and executorship records of HWF Bolckow 1872-1878; Thomas Bell 1878-1881; John Bell 1878-1896; Charles Ernest Bell 1879-1906; Joshua Henry Bell 1880-1883; John Lowthian Bell 1881-1894; Mrs ME Bell 1895-1897; John Charles Bell 1893; Druller/Kirby Trust 1895-1906; Godman Trust 1900; Isaac Lowthian Bell 1904-1941; BH Brough 1909; Bell Trust 1919-1940; Hubert Dorington and Sir John Dorington 1934-1936; Reverend Hugh Lowthian Bell 1936-1944; Maurice HL Bell 1944.
Family and personal papers of Isaac Lowthian Bell, 1st bart. 1859-1904; Thomas Hugh Bell, 2nd bart. 1861-1931; Maurice H.L. Bell, 3rd bart. 1881 1921; Florence Bell 1879-1929; Reverend Hugh L Bell 1918; Mrs Florence Elsa Richmond 1924; Hugh Francis Bell 1945; Mary Katherine Trevelyan (nee Bell) n.d.; Lowthian family correspondence relating to the Carlton House estate in Newbiggin 1829-1885; Olliffe family correspondence relating to the estate in France, the Isle of Dogs, the Selantik coalfields in Sarawak, the Rio Verde Railway, the Canadian Cable Company and the Orinoco Railway Company 1882-1888.
Industrial and business records relating to Iron and Chemical Works 1838-1884; Walker Alkali Company 1855-1878; Washington Chemical Company 1885; Bell's Goodman and Company/Bell's Lightfoot and Company 1868-1883; Bell, Ridley and Bell 1875; Bell Brothers 1868-1904; Dorman Long and Company 1905; Tredegar Iron and Coal Company 1875; Anglo Italian Chemical and Mineral Company Limited 1902; North Eastern Railway 1875-1905; Cubitt Town Estate Company 1936-1948; correspondence and papers 1841-1896; patents 1853-1880; Bill Point, Walker 1875; stocks and shares 1949; Port Clarence Schools 1872; Walker Schools 1863-1879; plans 1866-1881.
Legal papers of Bell v Bowman 1874; Lightfoot v Bell 1873-1877; Love and Ferrens v Bell and Salvin c.1880; Coe v Olliffe 1886-1888; Allen v Bell 1894.
Parish records including a faculty for the erection in East Rounton church of a memorial tablet 1920; faculty for the erection of a tablet in East Rounton church in memory of Sir Hugh Bell 1938.
Papers and notes regarding family history and birth, death and marriage certificates of members of the Bell family (c.30 docs) 1844-1944.
Miscellaneous records including a volume of accounts of a sea trader 1693-1735; a typescript copy of the resolutions of a meeting held in Stockton relating to the building of an inn on the turnpike road from Thirsk to Yarm 1804; printed books and pamphlets 1836-1917.
Photographs of the family 19th-20th century and photographs showing various stages in the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge c.1920.
Maps and plans of Hollins Farm 1843; plan showing the copyholds in the parish of Osmotherley belonging to Douglas Brown 1859; plan of the Arncliffe estate n.d.; plan of Irby Manor and Stamfrey Farms n.d.; plan showing High Siddle, Breckon Hill and Long Lands farms n.d.; maps of Ingleby Arncliffe 1894-1901; plan showing land given to Chester le Street RDC by Sir Lowthian Bell 1897. |
| Administrative history | The papers of the Bell family of Rounton Grange date from the mid nineteenth century and show the industrial background of the family who purchased estates at Rounton and Ingleby Arncliffe as well as something of the history of those estates. Isaac Lowthian Bell, 1st bart., joined the ironworks of his father's firm of Losh, Wilson and Bell at Walker, Northumberland in 1836. In 1842 he married Margaret, daughter of Hugh Lee Pattinson a metallurgical chemist, and in 1852 in partnership with his father in law established the Washington Chemical Company with premises near Gateshead. At this point he appears to have retired from Losh,Wilson and Bell, writing in a letter of September 1849 to Messrs. Losh and Wilson that his acceptance of a partnership with Hugh Lee Pattinson "would necessitate my relinquishing the office I at present hold in your firm". His brothers continued to maintain an interest in the firm and many deeds relating to Losh, Wilson and Bell and the other iron and chemical works in which Isaac's brothers were involved survive in this collection, together with a few records relating to Bell Brothers the firm established in 1844 by Isaac in partnership with his brothers Thomas and John at Wylam on Tyne, and whose Port Clarence works were opened in 1854. Aside from his industrial interests Isaac held the office of High Sheriff of Durham (1884) and sat as MP for Hartlepool (1875 1880) although there are few papers here illustrating this side of his career. He was created a baronet in 1885. After Sir Isaac's death in 1904 the baronetcy passed to his son Thomas Hugh. It was Hugh's second wife Florene who was the author of 'At the Works' a study of working and familu life on Teesside at the beginning of this century and his daughter by his first marriage, Gertrude, who was the noted Arabian scholar and traveller. Unfortunately this collection contains few references to Florence Bell and references to Gertrude Bell consist only of a bundle of correspondence relating to her trust (1895-1900) and a copy of her death certificate giving the cause of death as dial poisoning.
Sir Hugh himself was the director of the Port Clarence Works and succeeded to the chairmanship of the newly created public company of Bell Brothers on the death of his father. He also devoted much time to public life holding office as High Sheriff of Durham (1895), as Mayor of Middlesbrough (1874, 1883, 1911), as an alderman for the North Riding and as Lord Lieutenant for that county. He twice stood for parliament, standing in 1910 for the City of London, despite, or perhaps because of, the small chance of success. On 16 January 1910 he wrote to Sir John Brenner:
"I have had a delightful time contesting the City, all the more agreeable because I am sure it will not lead to the untoward result of my being returned to Parliament."
And later, when the result of the election was known, he wrote to Horace Marshall:
"I am not a bit disappointed. I look upon it as a week's holiday and I have enjoyed every minute of it."
Sir Hugh was succeeded in the title by his son Maurice Hugh Lowthian who died in 1944 unmarried and without issue and was in turn succeeded by his nephew, Hugh Francis. |
| Copies | Parts of this collection have been microfilmed [MIC 1380, 1381, 1382, 1383, 1384, 1386, 1396, 1397, 1424, 2066, 2095, 2129]. |