A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



1712)7'* In 1736 Lord Masham impoverished himself 

 when he settled the greater part of his estates, including 

 the manor of Otes, on his son Samuel at the time of the 

 latter's marriage to Henrietta Winnington.'s The 

 young Samuel had already inherited the property of 

 his uncle General Hill and Henrietta brought him a 

 dowry of some ^10,000.'* He was a lord of the Bed- 

 chamber to George II and auditor-general of the house- 

 hold of George, Prince of Wales.^' He was, however, 

 a wastrel'* and before he succeeded his father as Baron 

 Masham in 175 S''' he was already in need of money. 

 In 1 7 5 7 he mortgaged Otes and his two other manors 

 of Matchinghall in Matching and Little Laver to Dr. 

 Robert Taylor of Albemarle St., Hanover Square 

 (Mdx.) for ^{^3,000.80 Part of the manor farm, which 

 was valued at ;^l4o a year, was then let to John 

 Hinson.*' There were 100 acres of woodland, valued 

 at j^35 a year, in hand.*^ The free and copyhold rents 

 belonging to Otes and Matchinghall manors amounted 

 to £1 1 i6s. 1 i^J. a year and the fines and reliefs for 

 the two manors were estimated at ^5 a year.^3 



In 1 76 1 Lord Masham was granted a pension of 

 ;^i,ooo a year by George III.*'' In February 1762 he 

 still owed ;^2,ooo of the ^^3,000 he had borrowed from 

 Taylor in 1757.85 He then married as his second wife 

 Charlotte Dive whose father John Dive of Queen 

 Square, Westminster, gave her a dowry of ^£8,000, 

 paying off the debt to Taylor as part of this sum.** 

 At about the time of the marriage Lord Masham sold 

 to a bookseller part of his family library, including 

 books bequeathed by John Locke, 'to make room', it 

 was commonly believed, 'for books of polite amuse- 

 ment'. *' Charlotte Masham was as irresponsible and 

 as extravagant as her husband,** and, less than three 

 years after the marriage, Lord Masham began to bor- 

 row money on a scale which led rapidly to the loss of 

 his estate. Between January 1765 and June 1766 he 

 borrowed a total of ;/^8,6oo on the security of jhe 

 estate.*' Most of this was lent by Robert Palmer of 

 St. Andrew's parish, Holborn (Lond.) who had been 

 manager of the estate from 1757, if not before. '° In 



1766 the estate was valued at ^^25,369.9' Early in 



1767 Palmer acquired the freehold on terms which 

 allowed Lord Masham to live at Otes for the rest of 

 his life.9^ Masham died there in 1776. '3 Even at the 



'< Complete Peerage, viii, 540 j see above, 

 p. 88. 



75 E.R.O., D/DEw Ti ; P. Laslett, 'The 

 Mashams of Otes*, Hist, To-day^ iii, 541. 



■"> Hist. To-day, iii, 541; D.N.B. xii, 

 1295. 



" D.N.B. xii, 1297. 



'8 Hist. To-day, iii, 541-2. Swift, who 

 hated him from a boy, commented that he 

 was 'ill-natured and proud and very little 

 in him*. 



" Complete Peerage, viii, 541. 



80 E.R.O., D/DEw Ti. Mr. Laslett 

 believes (Hist. To-day, iii, p. 541) that this 

 mortgage was probably owned, in fact, by 

 Robert Palmer whose name appears as a 

 witness only to the deed and who certainly 

 lent Lord Masham a great deal of money 

 between Jan. 1765 and June 1766. There 

 is no evidence, however, to support this 

 view. The fact that Palmer was manager 

 ■ of Masham's estate in 1757 is sufficient to 

 explain his attestation of the deed. 



8" E.R.O., D/DEw Ti. 



82 Ibid. 



83 Ibid. There are no separate figures 

 for Otes at this date. 



84 D.N.B. xii, 1297. 

 '5 E.R.O., D/DEw Ti. 86 ibid. 



8' Hist. To-day, iii, 542. 



88 Ibid. 541-2. 



89 E.R.O., D/DEw Ti ; ibid. D/DEw 

 E3. 



«» E.R.O., D/DEw E3. 



»' Berks. Rec. Off. D/EE F38. 



« Ibid.; ibid. D/EE E18; E.R.O., 

 D/DXs i; ibid. D/DEw Mil. Mr. 

 Laslett's statement (Hist. To-day, iii, 542) 

 that the transfer of ownership took place 

 in 1766 is, on the basis of Palmer's notes, 

 incorrect. The document to which Mr. 

 Laslett refers as the deed of sale contained 

 in fact only the valuation of the estate and 

 the terms submitted for Lord Masham's 

 consideration. 



93 Hist. To-day, iii, 542. 



9* Ibid. 



95 See below. Church. 



96 P. J. Budworth, Memorials of Green- 

 sted—Budivorth, Chipping Ongar and High 

 Laver, 35. 



9' Nor did his son and successor, 

 Richard (see below). Some of the con- 

 tents of the house, including Locke's 

 possessions, were, however, removed to 

 the Palmers' residence ; Hist. To-day, iii, 

 542-3; E.R.O., D/DEw T2. 



98 E.R.O., D/DEw T2. 



end he was 'so burdened with debt that he could not 

 attend the House of Lords'.''* An interesting comment 

 on the characters of Lord Masham and Robert Palmer 

 was written a century later by P. J. Budworth whose 

 family had been connected with High Laver almost 

 from the time when Masham lost his estate.'' In 1 876 

 Budworth wrote that 'Lord Masham seemed to have 

 been improvident and his improvidence had been taken 

 advantage of by one to whom he confided the manage- 

 ment of his estates and who built up his own fortune 

 upon the ruins of that of his master'.'* 



Robert Palmer never lived at Otes." He died in 

 1786 leaving all his real estate to his only son Richard 

 but charging it with the payment of ^10,000 to each 

 of his two unmarried daughters.'* In 1801 Richard 

 Palmer put up his Essex estate for auction." This 

 consisted of 1,258 acres valued at £i,oj^ a year." 

 Otes manor farm contained 279 acres which were 

 valued, with the manor house, at ^£385 a year.^ Of 

 these 279 acres, 160 were in the occupation of three 

 leaseholders, called Browne, the elder and younger, 

 and Crush, and 92 were occupied by the elder Browne 

 as tenant at will.3 The manor house was empty.'* The 

 quit rents on the manor amounted to about ^10 a year 

 and the royalties were valued at j(^20.5 An offer for the 

 leasehold land appears to have been accepted in 1801.* 

 The manor house and 1 1 6 acres in hand or in the 

 occupation of the tenant-at-will were sold in 1 802—3 

 to John Hughes who held his first court in 1808.'' In 

 181 1— 1 2 the manor came into the possession of George 

 Starkins* who had already acquired much of the land 

 in High Laver which was auctioned in 1 80 1—2. In 

 1824 there were 44 manorial tenants whose rents 

 totalled £<) igs. 6 J. a year' and in 1837 34 whose 

 rents totalled £7 5/. St/.'" In 1841 George Starkins 

 owned 613 acres in the parish; of this he then occupied 

 426 acres." 



Between 1841 and 1843 John and Thomas Inkersole 

 came into possession of the manor.'^ In 1848 the manor 

 farm consisted of 68 acres and was occupied by Thomas 

 Inkersole. '3 The Inkersoles also owned an estate of 

 155 acres which had previously been in the possession 

 of George Starkins.''* They were still lords of the 

 manor in 1 860 when the last recorded court was held.'' 

 By 1870 the manor had apparently come to Mrs. 



99 Ibid. ■ Ibid. 



2 Ibid. The figures which Mr. Laslett 

 gives both as to the extent and as to the 

 value of Otes Manor in 1801 are in- 



correct. 



3 E.R.O., D/DEw T2. 



* Ibid. 



5 Ibid. « Ibid. 



' Ibid.; E.R.O., Q/RPl 707-8; ibid. 

 D/DXs I. 



8 E.R.O.,Q/RPl7i6-i7;ibid. D/DXs 

 I . He held his first court in Jan. 1 8 1 5. 



9 E.R.O., D/DXs 2. 

 '0 E.R.O., D/DXs 3. 



>' E.R.O., D/P 111/27/1. According 

 to the Land 'Tax Assessments Starkins 

 owned much of this land before he ac- 

 quired the manor but he did not occupy it 

 for many years. 



" E.R.O., D/P 111/27/1; ibid. 

 D/DXs I. 



■3 E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/27/2. 



■4 Ibid.; ibid. D/P 111/27/1. Most of 

 the rest of George Starkins's land had 

 passed to George Starkins Wallis by 1848. 



'5 E.R.O., D/DXs I. The sudden 

 cessation of entries in the Court Book 

 after i860 suggests that the i860 court 

 was in fact the last one held for the manor. 



92 



