| Administrative History | Catherine Hutton (1756-1846) was the only daughter of William Hutton (1723-1815, historian of Birmingham) and his wife, Sarah Cock of Aston-on-Trent, Derbyshire. She never married and despite delicate health, lived until the age of 91. After her father's death, she continued to live in the family home, Bennett's Hill, Washwood Heath.
During her lifetime, she wrote extensively. She published three novels: The Miser Married (1813), The Welsh Mountaineer (1817) and Oakwood Hall (1819). Other publications included memoirs of her father which appeared shortly after his death in 1815 under the title The Life of William Hutton: including a particular Account of the Riots at Birmingham in 1791. To which is subjoined the History of his family, written by himself and published by his daughter, Catherine Hutton; and The history of Birmingham...continued to the present time by Catherine Hutton. She also contributed many papers and articles to various journals.
She maintained regular and frequent correspondence throughout her life with family, friends and others, including famous contemporaries and she also collected autograph letters. She also travelled widely. A selection of her correspondence and other personal writings was published by her cousin, Catherine Hutton Beale, in 1891, in 'Reminiscences of a Gentlewoman of the Last Century' and this publication includes extracts from the diary and letters in this collection, MS15. |
| Custodial History | There is evidence from some of the items in this collection that they were at one time in the custody of Sumner familyof Birmingham, descendants of the Hutton family but, more recently, in the possession of Percival Hinton, an antiquarian book and manuscript collector from Sutton Coldfield and then Eric S. Quayle, also from Sutton Coldfield. More details of the evidence relating to individual items is given in the relevant catalogue records. |
| Publication Note | Issues of the 'Research Libraries Bulletin', published by the University of Birmingham's Information Services contain articles about Catherine Hutton's letters to James Belcher [LAdd/6003-6007], No 1,1994 and about her diary in this collection, MS15/1, No 6, Autumn 1998 |