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Portland (Welbeck) Collection
Collection-level description
Access to catalogues: HTML | EAD (FAUN)
Overview of Portland Family Collections
Identity statement
Reference code: GB 0159 Pw
Title: Portland (Welbeck) Collection
Dates of creation of material: 1571-1896
Level of description: Fonds
Extent: 428 boxes
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Context
Administrative/biographical history:
Hans Willem Bentinck (1649-1709) came to England from the Netherlands and was created Earl of Portland in 1689 by his close friend William III. He acquired a number of estates including Bulstrode in Buckinghamshire; Theobalds in Hertfordshire; and properties in Cumberland and Soho, Middlesex. His son, Henry (1682-1726), who was created 1st Duke of Portland in 1716, married Elizabeth Noel, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Gainsborough, and through her acquired the Titchfield estates in Hampshire (formerly owned by the Wriothesley family, Earls of Southampton). It was through the marriage of their son Henry, 2nd Duke (1709-1762) to Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley (1715-1785) in 1734 that the former Cavendish-owned Welbeck estates in Nottinghamshire came into the possession of the Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland.
Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley was the daughter and heir of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (1689-1741), and his wife Henrietta (1694-1755), the daughter of John Holles, 3rd Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne (d 1711) and Margaret Cavendish, who was the daughter and heir of William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne (d 1691). Through her mother and grandmother Lady Margaret inherited not only the Welbeck estates but also many of the family papers of her Harley/Holles and Cavendish forebears. These were inherited on her death by her son William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738-1809) who made Welbeck Abbey his principal seat.
Papers of nineteenth-century members of the family also form part of the collection. These include the extensive official and administrative papers of Lord William Bentinck, brother of the 4th Duke of Portland, covering his career in Sicily and India, and the papers of Viscountess Ossington, sister of the 5th Duke of Portland.
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most of the Bentinck and many of the other inherited estates were sold as were the Balcomie (Scottish) estates, which had been brought into the family through the marriage of William, 4th Duke of Portland (1786-1854) to the heiress, Henrietta Scott.
Although referred to as the Portland Collection, the papers at Nottingham are not those described by J.J. Arkwright, Papers of the Dukes of Portland, 10 vols (Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1891-1931), which are now held in other repositories.
Custodial history:
Nottingham's Portland (Welbeck) Collection was deposited from Welbeck Abbey by the 7th Duke of Portland in 1949; a second additional deposit (Pw2) was received in 1968. By the Duke's express wish the family archives were divided between the University (political and family correspondence); Nottinghamshire Archives Office (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Northumberland estate papers); British Library (Harley family papers); Hampshire Record Office (papers relating to the Duke's Hampshire estate) and the Bodleian Library (civil war papers of Reverend John Nalson). The entire Portland (Welbeck) Collection was accepted by the state in lieu of estate duty in 1986.
There are two useful published articles about the complex custodial history of both the Portland and Harley papers: R.J. Olney 'The Portland Papers' in Archives, XIX, 82 (October 1989) and Clyve Jones 'The Harley Family and the Harley Papers' in The British Journal, xv, 2 (Autumn 1989)
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Content & Structure
Scope:
The collection consists predominantly of the political, family and personal correspondence of leading members of the Bentinck and Cavendish-Bentinck families and their Cavendish (GB 0159 Pw1), Harley (GB 0159 Pw2 Hy) and Holles (GB 0159 Pw2) forebears.
Further information about the family members and details of their papers can be found under the references for the various sub-groups: Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (GB 0159 Pw A); Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland (GB 0159 Pw B); William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland (GB 0159 Pw D); Margaret, Duchess of Portland (GB 0159 Pw E); William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (GB 0159 Pw F); Dorothy, Duchess of Portland (GB 0159 Pw G); Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland (GB 0159 Pw H); Lord William Bentinck (GB 0159 Pw J); and William Cavendish-Bentinck-Scott, 5th Duke of Portland (GB 0159 Pw K).
The collection also includes smaller groups of private papers of Lord George Bentinck (GB 0159 Pw L); G.A.F. Cavendish-Bentinck (GB 0159 Pw M); Charlotte, Viscountess Ossington (GB 0159 Pw N) and of John Achard (GB 0159 Pw C).
A significant part of the collection is the Portland Literary Papers (GB 0159 Pw V).
Content summary: Correspondence, official papers, literary papers.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged in a series of sub-groups formed by the personal papers of individual members of the Harley/Holles/Cavendish/Cavendish-Bentinck families.
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Conditions of Access & Use
Access: Accessible to all registered readers.
Reprographics: Photocopies and photographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only depending on the condition of the documents.
Copyright: Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email: mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the reader.
Language: English, French, Dutch, German and Latin.
Finding Aids: Copyright on all Finding Aids belongs to the University of Nottingham.
In the Reading Room, University of Nottingham Library:
12 Typescript Catalogues
PC-based searchable databases of parts of the collection (UNMASC)
At the National Register of Archives, London:
12 Typescript Catalogues
On the World Wide Web:
The following catalogues are available to browse in HTML:
Harley Family papers
1st Earl of Portland
Papers of 3rd Duke of Portland
Papers of 4th Duke of Portland
Papers of Lord George Bentinck
Search the catalogues and indexes through FAUN (Finding Aids at the University of Nottingham)
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Allied Materials
Related Units of Description within same repository:
Papers of Professor A.S. Turberville, GB 0159 Tp
Newcastle (Clumber) Collection, GB 0159 Ne
Portland (London) Collection, GB 0159 Pl
Bentinck of Terrington St Clements Collection, GB 0159 BK
Publication note:
Professor A.S. Turberville, A History of Welbeck Abbey and its Owners (2 vols. 1938-39)
Related collections elsewhere:
British Library
Nottinghamshire Archives Office
Other repositories through the National Register of Archives
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