Heritage Open Days: Everyday Histories #2: John Hall, Steward of Middleton Hall
The servants that are most frequently recorded in the historic documents of Middleton Hall are the gentlemen servants, especially those that were the stewards or bailiffs. This post will focus on one of them, John Hall, who, for over a decade, was additionally in sole control of Middleton Hall.
Although the steward was the chief of the servants, in Tudor times they were not generally considered to be a servant. This was because the steward ran the estate in the absence of the lord. His only master was the lord of the manor. As a modern equivalent, the steward was essentially today’s general manager.
A steward was normally well-educated, well-paid, highly trusted and, in many cases, a relative. 16th and 17th century letters within the Middleton documents have confirmed how educated the gentlemen servants of Middleton Hall were. They were often fluent in many languages and knew law, finance and even the latest scientific discoveries and could talk with their masters as, almost, equals. However, the history of John Hall before he was the steward of Henry Willoughby is completely unknown and no definite family association has been found. It is also unknown what subsequently happened to John after Sir Francis I Willoughby gained full possession of his Estates.
In 1546, Sir John Willoughby gave his nephew and heir, Henry Willoughby, complete control over the Middleton Hall Estate. This was to enable Henry to learn how to manage an estate. Henry appears to have taken the role very seriously and there are very detailed accounts from his time. Amongst the Estate papers from his time was a day-by-day account of the receipt and consumption of food by everyone in the household, including the family as well as visitors and workers. There was also a diary of the comings and goings at Middleton Hall for the year 1547-48, which was written by John Hall who was steward of Middleton at that time.
The most common entries in the 1547 diary by John Hall often reported “my master rode towards …” which was then followed sometime later by “my master came home”. It recorded the visitors who stayed at Middleton Hall during that period and who accompanied them as well as the number of servants they brought. The most common visitors were Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (son of the 2nd Marquess and father of Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England), and Lords Thomas and John Grey. These three men were the brothers-in-law of Henry Willoughby as a result of his marriage to their sister Anne. There were also a number of entries for Mrs Alice Draycott, the aunt of Henry Willoughby. Often the diary named the people visiting, although not always with enough information to identify the people, such as on 28th May, “This day came Londoners with other strangers.”
Hall’s diary records events not necessarily pertaining to the Willoughby family, as an entry on the 26th November comments, “This day the widow was married”. However, this sort of entry was actually important for the management of the Estate because it concerned the manorial land tenure. His diary also identified the Christmas festivities over two entries. On the 25th December he wrote, “This being Christmas Day, my master feasted all the tenants”, which was traditional Christmas practice on manorial estates at that time. On 1st January he wrote, “This day, being New Year’s Day, my master had many strangers”. However, the diary also revealed that the long days of merriment that Christmas would normally entail came to an abrupt halt on the 3rd January with John Hall’s simple statement, “This day my Lady died”. This was the death of Anne, Henry’s wife.
The arrival of goods and the movement of labour were also included in the diary, with multiple references to workers being moved between the various Willoughby estates. He wrote that on 9th November came six carriages of boon workers to Middleton. Boon workers were tenants of the lord of the manor who undertook work or a service that was unpaid, thus their work was a “boon”.
An entry on 23rd September is worth commenting on because it stated that for the week “Mr Marmion, Mr Berwick, John Trussell, Mr Draycott, Brownell and others” came to Middleton Hall. These names often appear in the Willoughby papers. Mr Draycott is possibly Richard Draycott, the uncle of Henry Willoughby. Henry Marmion and Gabriel Berwick were gentlemen servants, like John Hall. Marmion, Berwick and Trussell held various roles within the Willoughby household over time, but at least at one point they all held the position of bailiff at one of the Willoughby estates. Therefore, it appears that this may have been a mass gathering of all the upper servants from all of the Willoughby estates held at Middleton Hall that week.
In August 1549, Henry Willoughby died at the Battle of Mousehold Heath during Kett's Rebellion. Indicating the high esteem that the gentlemen servants were held in, John Hall and Gabriel Berwick were two of the three executors of Henry’s will. Henry left three orphaned very young children and the children were placed into wardship. The eldest, Thomas, initially was placed with his uncle the 3rd Marquess of Dorset, until the Marquess was executed. The other children, Francis and Margaret, were initially placed with George Medley, the half-brother of Anne Grey and the third executor of Henry Willoughby’s will, until he was sent to the Tower of London. As a result of this turbulence, the servants were left to run all of the Willoughby estates for about 13 years with very little oversight.
Documents reveal that in 1550, John Hall was one of the servants who accompanied Francis and Margaret Willoughby to their new home at Tilty in Essex, the home of George Medley, with some of their belongings. He returned back to Middleton the following day. Frequent further requests were made asking John to dispatch certain items of the children’s belongings that still remained at Middleton Hall and letters just to inform John on what was happening with the children. There was also an appeal to John from the children’s governess, Mrs Lenton, in despair for money and over what would happen to the children due to the fallout from the execution of Lady Jane Grey.
John Hall’s accounts books from after the death of Henry Willoughby show how he not only structurally maintained Middleton Hall and supported all the tenants but also managed the commercial sale of wood, paid wages, managed communications and military aspects, legal and agricultural costs and also oversaw the production and transportation of food and other products from the Middleton Estate to the extended family around the country. He often travelled to other Willoughby estates on matters and other places such as Bradgate Park and London. He also recorded dealings with Sir Hugh Willoughby, just before Hugh perished on his naval expedition. John also had his own manservant and other servants that he dispatched on errands.
Letters confirm that John kept Middleton Hall in such good condition that any member of the family was able to visit at any time. In fact, George Medley wrote that whilst John Hall had maintained Middleton perfectly, John Trussell, bailiff of Wollaton Hall, had appallingly maintained Wollaton.
The records of John Hall show how powerful a servant could become and how skilled they could be, but it also reveals how the servants, albeit employees, became part of a wider extended family of Middleton Hall sharing in both the joys and the sorrows of the family.
Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.394-99, 406, 414-16, 521-24
Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.
Comments