inventories
From the 16th to 18th centuries, ecclesiastical courts that proved wills demanded that the executors of the personal estate of the deceased appoint two or three local men, appraisers, to make “a true and perfect inventory”. That way, any dispute over the will could be settled. The inventory was then filed with the will. The appraisers listed every item of furniture and utensils in the house room by room. Basically, any item that was moveable, including animals.
The inventories for 1688, 1698, 1737, 1754 and 1830 transcribed by Belton's Resarch Group are reached by clicking on the buttons below. Janet Roworth has provided a helpful glossary of terms for the 1688 & 1698 inventories.
Banner iamge: page 1 of the inventory taken following Young Sir John Brownlow's suicide (© Lincolnshire County Council)
This is the year that the Brownlows moved in, not all the rooms contain contents. The image is of Hampton Court during the reign of William & Mary emphasising the sparse furnishings in reception areas.
'Young' Sir John shot himself in 1697, this inventory relates to his death. Returned were his horse and accoutrements, His purse and apparell and one Chesnut Gelding with sadle Bridle hulsters, pistols, hulster Capps house in breastplate and Crupper
The 1737 inventory includes orders for Viscount Tyrconnel's senior servants. Those for the Butler and Housekeeper are duplicated as individual documents because of their interest.
There are two inventories. One relates to the death of Viscount Tyrconnel on 27 February 1754. The other is,
An Inventory of the Goods, Plate &c. of the late Lady Brownlowe at Belton taken April 2nd 1754
Lady Brownlowe may refer either to Alice Brownlow who died in 1721. Alternatively, it is her youngest daughter, Eleanor Brownlow, Tyrconnel's first wife, who died in 1730. The Duke of Ancaster, Lord Exeter and Lord Guilford had married Alice's three older daughters. What seems to have happened is that they believed the moiety of Alice's will left to Eleanor should come to them because Eleanor and Tyrconnel had no children to inherit. Anne Cust's son, lawyer, Sir John Cust disputed this. The claim was withdrawn after August 1754. Hence, the Lady Brownlowe inventory was a precaution should Alice's sons-in-law have been successful with their claim.
Tyrconnel died intestate, or at least never signed one purported will. Consequently, in the absence of children, the Belton estate went to his sister, Anne, Lady Cust (née Brownlow, 1694-1779). Tyrconnel's wife, Elizabeth Cartwright, Viscountess Tyrconnel died in 1780 allegedly at Belton. Although elsewhere an Elizabeth Brownlow, Viscountess Dowager Tyrconnell, demandant appears on a legal document dated 1788. She was entitled to half of Tyrconnels personal property at Belton and at his London house in Arlington Street. The other halves went into the Belton estate. Elizabeth received a jointure (lifetime provision) of £1,299 pa from her late husband's estate. She went to live with her brother, William (died 1781), at the family home of Marnham Hall, Higher Marnham. Elizabeth remained on good terms with the Cust family who had inherited Belton as correspondence with Lucy and Francis Cust attests. Marnham came into the possession of the 1st Baron Brownlow by 1793. The details of this acquisition are uncatalogued by Lincolnshire Archives.
Analysis based on letters in Cust 1909, Records of the Cust Family, the Brownlows of Belton.
The reason for this inventory is not clear. One possibility relates to John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford (1812 to 1851), the heir to 1st Earl Brownlow in preparation for his majority.
Chamber utensils/pots are mentioned only in the servants' rooms. Is that because the family used the water-flushed lavatory of 1818? Image, My room at Belton 1835 by Sophia Cust.
