A GIBBONS AND J W CLAY MANUSCRIPTS
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: A GIBBONS AND J W CLAY MANUSCRIPTS
Classmark: YAS/MS381
Date(s): 18th century-20th century
Size and medium: 63 volumes, 12 bundles & 2 items
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/461190
Collection group(s): Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society
Description
Comprising... (a) Collection of notes and transcripts re Lincolnshire families (32 books) with a volume of Lincoln Wills and a volume of extracts from Bishops' registers. (b) "Yorkshire Collections" Vols.1 to 31, the principal contents are abstracts and indexes of wills, extracts from parish registers, bishops' transcripts and deeds. (c) Lists of documents preserved at Bishopthorpe. (d) Benson pedigree. (e) Spragge pedigree and letters. (f) Pickard pedigree. (g) Extracts from Pateley Bridge Parish Registers.(h) Peacock pedigree.(i) Copies of wills of Beckwith, Smithson and Sisey.(j) Notes relating to Tolson, Morkill and Smith of York. (k) Mr Clay's index to a number of Gibbons' mss (l) 12 volumes of abstracts of wills used by Clay for his edition of "Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire". (m) Extracts from parish registers used for the same work. (n) Abstracts of wills used by Clay for his "Extinct and Dormant Peerages of the Northern Counties". (o) Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem
for Yorkshire. (p) Descents of Yorkshire families. (q) and (r) Extracts for Yorkshire families including Savile. (s) Abstracts of Yorkshire wills. (t) Parish registers extracts and notes on Tempest family. (u) Notes and letters on genealogy. (v) Notes from the Act Books of York. (w) Pedigrees including, Armitage, Thomlinson and Lee of Pinchingthorpe. (x) Waterhouse pedigree. (y) Notes for "Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire". (z) Loose papers on genealogy.
MS 381 additional, letters, notes and pedigrees on various families, a copy of Joseph Hunter's notes relating to his mss (1858), notes on Yorkshire monasteries
Biography or history
Manuscripts by John William Clay, FSA, or purchased by him, including many manuscripts by Rev Alfred Gibbons, F.S.A. [editor of the Northern Genealogist, 1895-1902]
This collection was previously divided into parts MS 381 (a) and (b). Sections (a) to (k) include many manuscripts by Alfred Gibbons. Sections (l) to (z) are manuscripts by J W Clay.
John William Clay was the son of Joseph Travis Clay of Rastrick. He was a member of the Brighouse Corporation, mayor of the borough 1898-1900 and alderman 1900-1909. Clay also served as a JP for the West Riding amd borough of Brighouse. In the business world he became the director of Messrs J T Clay & Sons Ltd, worsted manufacturers, and also served as a director of the Halifax Commercial Banking Co Ltd.
J W Clay was elected to the Yorkshire Archaelogical Society in 1883, and became Vice-President in 1909. His chief work was as Hon Secretary of the Record Series which he held from 1897 until his death in 1918. He himself edited 9 volumes and also published articles in the Society's journal. His interests were principally in genealogy and heraldry - perhaps his most important work was his edition of Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire. He also transcribed several parish registers. For a long period he had been collecting material for a complete Yorkshire Armory. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1888, and also seved as Vice-President of the Surtees and Halifax Antiquarian Societies, and was a member of the council of the Harleian and Yorkshire Parish Register Societies. One of the original members of the Tyke's Club, he was Archtyke in 1901.
Access and usage
Access
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