Record

LevelFonds
Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure)MS15
TitleDiary and scrapbook of Catherine Hutton
Extent2 vols, 3 items
Date1779-[20th century]
DescriptionDiary, compilation of published extracts of letters and other papers of and relating to Catherine Hutton (1756-1846) of Birmingham, novelist and historian.
Access ConditionsAccess to all registered researchers
LanguageEnglish
Finding AidsA catalogue of this collection is available on the online archive catalogue. Click on the Finding Number to display the summary contents list of the catalogue and to view the full catalogue. A paper copy of this catalogue is also available for consultation at Special Collections.
Access StatusOpen
Administrative HistoryCatherine 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 HistoryThere 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.
AcquisitionPurchased at auction in Jun 1997
Related MaterialThe Special Collections Department also holds other letters of Catherine Hutton which are located in our Letters Additional Collection, an artificial collection of letters from a wide range of correspondents:

Letter from Richard Stamford [circa 1840] [LAdd/3615];
Letter from Joshua Scofield, Birmingham banker, 1838 [LAdd/4030];
Letter to John Bowyer Nichols, 1817 [LAdd/6067];
Letters to James Belcher, 1822-1824 [LAdd/6003-6007]
Associated MaterialsOther material of Catherine Hutton is held in a range of repositories. For example, the Birmingham City Archives holds correspondence, literary manuscripts and other papers; the National Library of Wales, Department of Manuscripts and Records holds letters
Publication NoteIssues 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

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