The owners of Lackham in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries ...

The Manor of Lackham IV : 19 th & 20 th century owners
to Mary Stapleton Bretherton was signed 184 , so before March 1866. [To return to the
Index click here]
Mary Stapleton-Bretherton at Lackham
In the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre there is a single sheet, dated
1866, probably written by A M Caldwell as it refers to Berney Caldwell as the
writer's father 185 . Unfortunately neither the original handwritten version of
this document or the "clients copy" (typewritten) has the name filled in. This
affidavit was directly related to the fact that in the same year Henry Caldwell
sold the estate to the Hon Mrs Mary Gilbert Stapleton Bretherton in 1866 186
for £46,000 and concerns about Lackham’s rights to the far bank of the Avon.
There had been an earlier advertisement, in the Wiltshire Gazette (dated July
5 th 1864) 187 . The estate did not sell at this time and was offered for sale by
auction in 1866.
The exact date of Mary Stapleton Bretherton's purchase can be established, as
the contract is still preserved in the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre
I Mary Stapleton of Ditton Hall in the county of Lancaster widow do
herby acknowledqe that 1 have this day purchased by [public auction
crossed out] private contract the property mentioned in the annexed
184 W&SHC 44/4 Main deeds Lackham Mansion House
185
W&SHC 44/6
Declaration dated 13th June 1866
I ............... Caldwell of Lackham house in the parish of Lacock in the county of
Wilts, gent do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that since my father Mr Henry
Berney Caldwell purchased the Lackham estate situate in the said parish in December 1858
I have been in the constant habit of pursuing and killing game on such estate and of fishing
in the river Avon which partly bounds such estate
186
Vernon, T (1969) A Short History of the Lords of the Manor of Lackham from
Saxon days (pamphlet) Wiltshire College of Agriculture
187 WANHS library ref 16.268
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