LORD MANSFIELD’S HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 1785 to 1793

The Kenwood House archives contain a ledger book of Lord Mansfield’s household income
and expenditure between 7th August 1785 and 18th March 1793. The accounts relate both
to the Kenwood estate and to Lord Mansfield’s town-house and also to his personal
expenditure, but not to his personal income or investments. The first page is headed “Anne
Murray Dr fm Janry 1785” against the opening balance. The handwriting appears the same
throughout the accounts. Anne Murray was Lord Mansfield’s niece, being the daughter of
his brother David, 6th Viscount of Stormont. It seems that Anne and her sister Margery may
have already come to live at Kenwood in order to look after their uncle and aunt in their old
age. Lady Mansfield had died in 1784 and the accounts end shortly after Lord Mansfield
died on 20 March 1793, aged 88.

The left-hand pages of the book contain the income items and the right-hand pages are for
expenditure. The entries are made in groups, usually every few weeks, rather than
identifying the exact date of receipt or payment. The date appears to be determined by
when the page has been filled. There are occasional totalling errors, suggesting that this is a
single-entry book-keeping system without the balancing check of an asset and liability
account. I have photographed and transcribed the ledgers into a spreadsheet (retaining the
original spelling and capitalisation), so enabling a more detailed analysis of the expenditure
and also the production of annual summaries. I have added entries (marked [ERROR]) to
reconcile the adding errors. Most of the errors are small, but there is one large unexplained
discrepancy on 15 November 1785 of £40.4.2.

This article discusses the overall finance picture shown by the ledgers and also highlights
and comments on some of the more interesting entries.

Some of the expense entries include a capital letter, possibly suggesting some kind of
analysis outside of the book. There is no key for the letters, but from the entries, we might
guess :
F : Farm
H : House
K : Kenwood
B : Brewing
M : Mansfield
S : Servants (specifically, their uniform)
The F and H items are the most frequent, usually weekly, but because the narrative consists
only of dated periods, for example “fm. Aug'st 8 to Aug'st 14”, it is not obvious whether the
amount covers the wages of junior staff and/or of food – or anything else. Wage payments
to some servants refer either to their names (Daniel, Iseard, Mary Cradduck, Mrs Casamajor,
William Rich, Mrs Cooper, etc.) or to their positions (cook, kitchen-maid, first coachman,
second coachman, groom, postillion, porter, dairy-maid, under laundry-maid, etc.). As

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examples, the cook is paid £50 a year, Daniel (Lord Mansfield’s personal servant ?) £40 a
year, the gardener £32 a year and the dairy-maid £8 a year. There is no specific mention of
junior staff such as footmen, scullery maids, under-gardeners or farm-hands. Wages and
the like account for nearly 10% of the total expenditure. The Kenwood estate might be
assumed to be mainly self-sufficient, living off the Kenwood farm produce; drink is
mentioned in the accounts, but not other food items, such as sugar or spices, which would
have needed to have been bought in.

Here is a sample page :

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Here is the spreadsheet summary of the whole ledger book :

1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 Total Percent Avg.
INCOME
From Lord Mansfield 3,240 5,415 5,016 3,851 3,846 4,096 3,096 4,096 2,000 34,655 72.8% 4,202
From Mr Way 559 838 833 833 832 766 1,131 399 0 6,192 13.0% 805
Animal-related income 115 185 212 211 272 224 237 233 24 1,713 3.6% 225
From Mr Douse 25 63 57 17 0 0 0 0 0 161 0.3% 19
Sale of Hay 157 461 567 746 613 490 565 812 281 4,692 9.9% 608
Rental income 21 21 21 21 21 21 0 0 0 123 0.3% 15
Miscellaneous 0 0 14 30 23 0 0 0 0 68 0.1% 10
Total income 4,117 6,982 6,719 5,708 5,607 5,596 5,029 5,540 2,305 47,603 100.0% 5,883

EXPENDITURE
House 395 985 803 900 852 914 874 918 251 6,892 14.9% 892
Farm 83 196 190 211 208 219 211 207 57 1,583 3.4% 206
Wages 200 425 418 547 656 653 632 638 233 4,403 9.5% 567
Taxation 313 805 801 763 327 166 178 202 1 3,557 7.7% 463
Family and friends 728 477 364 263 164 230 182 154 0 2,562 5.5% 262
Holidays 202 393 401 0 0 0 0 17 0 1,013 2.2% 116
Maintenance 281 358 374 300 159 325 342 245 173 2,557 5.5% 300
Medical 73 147 147 203 168 202 131 220 6 1,296 2.8% 174
Travelling and transport 67 286 548 558 342 358 402 240 0 2,801 6.1% 391
Garden 85 322 433 379 394 456 345 447 118 2,978 6.4% 397
Clothing 122 266 243 244 241 210 125 218 0 1,665 3.6% 220
Rent 523 333 350 350 350 350 350 350 0 2,956 6.4% 348
Drinks 128 374 121 91 241 151 240 138 0 1,484 3.2% 194
Animal-related 191 458 491 434 472 481 539 450 111 3,627 7.8% 475
Coal 0 241 252 235 226 279 285 266 324 2,109 4.6% 255
Church-related 5 25 12 20 27 28 25 70 3 216 0.5% 30
Dido 5 20 20 20 25 31 25 31 5 182 0.4% 25
Cash to Lord Mansfield 0 168 147 103 20 0 0 0 0 438 0.9% 63
Books 6 25 21 14 9 16 15 6 5 116 0.3% 15
New River Water 2 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 47 0.1% 6
Charity 22 73 36 30 88 62 76 42 16 445 1.0% 58
Legal-related 132 200 210 102 0 0 0 0 0 644 1.4% 73
Hay 65 171 204 70 240 225 156 253 19 1,402 3.0% 188
Furniture & furnishings 116 100 49 192 74 133 45 178 153 1,040 2.2% 110
Miscellaneous 10 55 26 24 24 12 18 13 1 183 0.4% 25
Adjustments 40 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 48 0.1% 1
Total expenditure 3,795 6,909 6,666 6,057 5,314 5,506 5,206 5,311 1,481 46,244 100.0% 5,853

Note : 1785 and 1793 are partial years only, so the average is the annual average limited to
the full years 1786 to 1792.

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As to my own analysis of the expenditure entries, this has had to be partially guesswork,
where the narrative does not provide sufficient information, and partly arbitrary, where an
item could be allocated to two or more groups. An example of the latter is “Poor’s Rate”,
which was a tax (so could be “taxation”) on property used to provide poor relief (so could be
“charity”). “Animal-related income” and “Rental income” appear to be income from letting
out of fields for pasture etc. and for other agricultural purposes.

First, some general observations, followed by comments on some interesting individual

entries. Inflation over the period 1785-1793 appears to be insignificant. For example, the
cost of coal seems to be approximately the same. Although some wages increase, this may
be attributable to increasing length of service or seniority. The overall annual cost averages
at £5,833 p.a.. The Bank of England inflation calculator equates this to a current (2017) cost
of about £850,000 p.a., whereas the National Archives calculator produces a figure of about
£450,000. p.a.. Readers might care to use a multiplier of 100 as a rough comparison of
payments mentioned in this article against today’s values. The estate generated about 15%
of the income, leaving Lord Mansfield to find about 85% personally and from his investment
income. Dido Belle’s allowance remains fixed over the period of the accounts; between
1789 and 1792, she receives extra birthday and/or Xmas payments “by Ld M’s order”.

5 July 1785 : Brought forward. The ledgers start with brought-forward income and
expenditure, presumably from another set of ledgers. If these can be located and similarly
transcribed and analysed, they might add more to the story of everyday life at Kenwood.

7 August 1785 : Home Circuit - £121.5.10. Lord Mansfield, at 80 years old, was still paying
out expenses for travelling on the judicial circuit. Similar expenses appear up to 1788.

7 August 1785 : Bookseller’s Bill £5.5.2. I assume that these books were for Lord Mansfield,
either read by or read to him. Payments for newspapers, books and other reading matter
(such as “Paley’s Philosophy”, “Catalogue of the Portland Museum”, “Gibbon’s Roman
History” and “Hortus Kewensis”) continue throughout the accounts.

29 August 1785 : Bottle of ink 1s/6d. Clearly, Anne Murray is not keeping a separate petty-
cash account.

20 September 1785 : The first of regular payments to a carpenter, plumber, bricklayer,

smith, mason and painter for work at Kenwood, the farm and the town-house. A glazier and
a brazier are also mentioned in other entries.

5 October 1785 : Expenses at Tunbridge fm Aug 6 to Oct 3 £190. See “Lord Mansfield –
Justice in the Age of Reason” by Norman Poser (2013) for detailed comments about
Tunbridge Wells. There are expenses of £392.17.6 for another visit to Tunbridge in October
1786.

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16 October 1785 : To people whose House was Robbed £2.2.0. Philanthropic and charitable
donations are regular items of expenditure throughout the accounts.

16 October 1785 : Miss Eliz'ths ½ Yrs allowance due Nov 1 £50. This is the only reference in
the accounts to (presumably) Lady Elizabeth Murray, Dido’s cousin. Elizabeth was married
on 10 December 1785 and, according to Lord Mansfield’s will, received a wedding gift of
£10,000 from him. So Elizabeth received an allowance of £100 per year, four times that of
Dido.

2 November 1785 : For Ld M's Picture by Sr J Reynolds £105. Perhaps the painting now at
Scone Palace ?

2 November 1785 : To Miss Lindsay on her marriage. Perhaps Charlotte-Amelia Lindsay

(date of birth unknown), one of the daughters of David Lindsay, 4th Baronet of Evelick and
Lord Mansfield’s nephew. Charlotte-Amelia married Thomas Steele on 3 September 17851.
Charlotte-Amelia had a sister, Elizabeth (date of birth also unknown), who married Augustus
Schultz on 8 February 18032.

11 November 1785 : Board Wages to 2 Serv'ts in Town 25 weeks £16.5.0. Board wages were
wages paid to the skeleton staff at a second house. Entries show that Lord Mansfield
retained a second house “in town” during the entire period of the accounts. Other entries
suggest that it was rented and that its location changed more than once.

12 December 1785 : Coach Maker's Bill one Y'r p'r agreement £52.10.0. The first of many
payments relating to coaches (“state coach”, “chaise” and “chariot”) and riding horses.
Transport accounted for an average of £365 a year.

19 December 1785 : There are a group of entries for payments to the woollen draper, the
peruke (wig) maker, the breeches maker, the hatter, the perfumer and the glover. Some are
marked M and some are marked S, perhaps to differentiate between payments for
Mansfield and his Servants. Similar entries occur throughout the ledger.

26 December 1785 : Expense of Building Hot House £203.0.10½. Not the Orangery, which
was already in existence.

26 December 1785 : Pipe of Madeira bought by Cap'n Frazier £56.13.4. One of many
payments for wine. Other entries show that Madeira, Oporto wine and claret were bought
by the barrel and then decanted into bottles. Champagne was bought by the bottle and tea
by the case. The household’s drink bill was around £200 a year.

1 January 1786 : Play things for Master Murrays £2.12.0. Master Murray is mentioned
several times. He may be John (born 1778) or James, the sons of Alexander Murray, Lord

“A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and
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Scotland” by John Burke

2
www.ancestry.co.uk

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Henderland, the husband of Katherine Murray, who was the sister of Captain John Lindsay
(Dido’s father).

7 March 1786 : Coal Merchant's Bill 43 Chaldron £87.11.10. This was not for Kenwood, but
perhaps for the Mansfield’s town-house and/or the farm, since the next entry is for Ditto for
Kenwood 70 Chaldron £153.2.7. A chaldron is about 1.4 tonnes. Coal was bought annually,
so the house used about 100 tons of coal p.a. (about 75 cubic metres). Perhaps it was
stored in one of the cellars ?

2 April 1768 : Taken out of Bag by an unknown hand £22.1.0, suggesting that money was
stored on site, perhaps in a strong-box ? Other entries relating to losses from underweight
or short coinage imply that transactions were in cash.

11 June 1786 : Keeping Engine one Yr. due June £2.2.0. “Keeping” perhaps means
“maintaining”, but what was this engine ? It had a “large fly[wheel]” (13 January 1788) and
is “at pump” (3 August 1790).

10 July 1786 : To Warm Bath twice Ld. M. £1.6.0. Perhaps a health treatment, rather than a
luxury soak ? Again in November and December 1786. Perhaps leading to - 26 December
1786 : Large Bathing Tub compleat £5.11.0 ?

18 October 1786 : To Man for killing Fox 2s/6d. There are regular payments for “Dog’s
meat”. Assuming that the apostrophe is correct, perhaps the single dog was a house dog,
rather than a guard dog that might have been used to get rid of the fox. Other vermin also
seem to have been a problem, with annual payments to a rat-catcher.

10 November 1786 : Mr Murray's Expences to Nov'r 9 £318.14.0. Is this the same person as
Master Murray as mentioned on 1 January ? If not, who is he and is he also living at
Kenwood ?

11 December 1786 : Miss Lindsay. See the entry for 2 November 1785 above. Maybe this is
a gift to Elizabeth Lindsay, not married until 1803. Charlotte-Amelia would have been
referred to as Mrs Steele.

26 December 1786 : Bells to Windows at KenWood £5.6.0. An 18th century burglar alarm
system ?

1 January 1787 : Hand Bills & Advertisements on acc't of Robbery £1.6.6. At Kenwood ?

2 February 1787 : To Birch Painter, by Ld. M’s order. Perhaps the painter William Birch
(1755 – 1834). If so, could this be what Birch painted3 ?

“Délices de la Grande Bretagne. Engraved and pub. by William Birch (1791)

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12 May 1787 : Expences at Bath from Mar: 8 to May 12th including Journeys to & fro
£400.19.11. A change from the previous visit to Tunbridge Wells.

14 July 1787 : Asses Milk for Miss Hatton fm June 1 to July 6 £5.8.6. Is she Louisa Hatton,
christened on 10 December 1786 ? Was she another family member living at Kenwood ?

29 April 1788 : Painted Oil Cloth for Dining Room £5.5.4. Not the room known today as the
Dining Room, which was built in the 1790s for the 2 nd Lord Mansfield.

6 July 1788 : New Boat £20.1.4. For the Thousand Pound Pond ? “Lackering the boat”
becomes an annual expense.

21 July 1788 : Margaret Allen, chimney sweeper lived in Hampstead. She was the victim of a
burglary on 15 July 1788 (Proceedings of the Old Bailey - 618 Thomas Tucker)

25 November 1788 : half Y'rs Annuity to Douse Due D'r 1 £75. Mr Douse is thought to have
been Kenwood’s former estate manager. Lord Mansfield clearly held him in high regard,
paying him three times as much as the cook, the highest-paid employee.

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23 December 1788 : Machine for making fixed Air £2.2.0. Fixed air was carbon dioxide, so
this appears to be an early soda syphon.

1 April 1789 : Illuminations on King's recovery £4.3.2. A number of public and private
buildings were illuminated as a display of loyalty towards King George III.

13 April 1789 : Mr Mence for the Poor of St Pancras. Rev. Benjamin Mence was the vicar of
St Pancras between 1750 and 1796. There were further payments to “Mr Mence” in 1790,
1791 and 1792.

16 June 1789 : Mrs Cooper’s Wages f[ro]m Mar: 3 to June 17th£4.4.0 and the next entry
Expences [sic] of her Funeral £22.15.1, which was more than her year’s wages of £14 p.a. in
1788. In the next set of entries for 29 June 1789, there is Turffing [sic] Mrs’ Cooper’s Grave
1s.6d. The Highgate parish register records that a Clara Ann Cooper, whose date of death is
shown as “Abt. 1789”, was buried on 23 June 1789 at St Michael, Highgate. The present St
Michaels Church was not built until 1832. The church referred to in the parish record was
the Highgate chapel of ease, now Highgate School chapel.

29 June 1789 : To Dido on her Birthday by Ld M's order £5.5.0. The first payment in the
accounts to Dido above her £5 quarterly allowance. She receives another birthday gift of
the same amount in the following year, followed by an extra £5.5.0 at Xmas 1790.

6 May 1790 : Scorbutick Drops for Hunter £3.0.0. An anti-scurvy remedy. Hunter is not
identified. Purchases continue throughout the remainder of the accounts.

14 June 1790 : Scarman Dentist. Perhaps4 :

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www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_D-2-743

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29 June 1790 : Sixty three Visits from Dr Combe fm Dec'r 24 to June Do. £66.3.0.
Apothecary's Bill for the same time £20.9.10. An early indication of Lord Mansfield’s
declining health ?

14 July 1790 : Oil Skin Umbrella 11s/6d. Umbrellas had become readily available in England
since the beginning of the century. “Oil Skin” indicates that this was an umbrella for the rain
(despite being bought in mid-summer), rather than as a parasol against the sun.

8 May 1792 : Noah’s Ark for Louisa Hatton £1.11.6. Perhaps a rarity – Noah’s Ark toys did
not become popular until about 100 years later.

25 June 1792 : Sixty four Visits fm Dr Combe fm D'r to June £67.4.0 Apothecary's Bill for the
same time £22.9.7. Lord Mansfield continues to receive medical care. Or are others also
receiving medical care ?

12 November 1792 : Mr Murray's Expences for one Y'r £124.6.0 Sword for Do. when acting
Play £6.16.6. Mr Murray continues to receive annual expenses. The sword costs more than
a junior servant’s annual wages.

4 December1792 : Mary Cradduck’s wages £8.0.0. This is the last entry for Mary Cradduck,
the first being in 1785. However, that is not the last mention of her. In her will of 20
September 1804, Lady Anne Murray gives “to the poor of Brighton one hundred pounds to
be divided as Mrs Mary Cradduck thinks proper as she knows all my pensioners I give to my
housekeeper the above mentioned Mrs Marry Cradduck all my wearing apparel except my
sable tipped muffler”. In a codicil to her will of 9 December 1816, Lady Anne adds “I further
give to Mrs Mary Cradduck the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds she has spent the
best part of her life in faithfully attending upon me & is not in a state of health to seek any
other situation I also give to the said Mrs Mary Cradduck besides my wearing apparel gold
repeating watch gold chain as already mentioned in my aforesaid will all my [linen] of every
description whether white or black & also my furs of every kind I further give to Mrs Mary
Cradduck a small gilt [filling ?] case containing a [tea stove] standing in drawing room now
standing in ditto a tea chest made by [ ? ] also to the said Mrs Mary Cradduck my smallest
silver tea pot silver cream pot gilt within also my silver gilt cream [ladel] the two pairs of
plated candlesticks belonging to housekeepers room the [?] & all the ornaments on chimney
piece in ditto all the tea caddies in d[itt]o the toasting fork brass trivet in d[itt]o the two
largest black leather travelling trunks the broach of my dear sisters hair set round with
diamonds Mrs Mary Cradduck having [lent] me the hair I promised she should have the said
broach at my death whenever that event take place”

23 December 1792 : Seventy Nine Visits fm Dr Combe fm June to Dec'r £82.19.0

Apothecary's Bill for the same time £30.0.10. The medical care continues.

15 January 1973 : Repairing Cold Bath £22.4.6 New Trane & Rail round Do. £14.17.4.
Presumably, the cold bath to the east of the house.

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18 March 1793 : To Maids attending dear Ld M. £10. Anne shows her affection for Lord
Mansfield.

18 March 1793 : Mourning to Serv'ts ordered by Ld Stormont £150.19.0. Tolling Bell at

Highgate £0.5.0. Lord Mansfield died on 20 March. This block of entries starts on 18 March
but obviously continues for several days after.

Acknowledgement : I am grateful to Sarah Murden (https://georgianera.wordpress.com/)

for providing links to additional information about some of the people mentioned in this
article.

© Ian Trackman 27 November 2018

Updated 10 May 2021

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