| Description | The estate records include
- Title deeds 13th-20th cent; rentals and estate accounts for Brookhill, Pinxton (including a valuation 1852-1883) and South Normanton, Holbrook and Derby; Dore (now in Yorkshire); Kirkby, Nottinghamshire, chiefly 18th-19th cent, Wernith & Romeley co Cheshire, 18th cent;
Brookhill estate surveys, early 19th cent; valuations 19th-20th cent, draft terrier, 1921.
- Household accounts for Brookhill 1771-1786 include references to planting and landscaping by D’Ewes Coke.
- Manorial records comprise: minutes of Totley manor, 1834-1845 (D1881/111), draft minutes of Duffield Fee, 1815-1818 (D1881/Box B); survey of the manor of Wernith, Cheshire, 1751 (D1881/137)
- Tithe accounts survive for South Normanton, 1771-1810 (D1881/111, D1881/Box D).
The nineteenth century personal and family papers are noteworthy. Personal papers include
- Daniel Parker Coke (1745-1825): legal casebooks, 1784-1813, (D1881/Boxes A & C) household accounts, 1825 (D1881/Box F); correspondence chiefly on estate matters, 1794-1813 (D1881/106-07), correspondence 1800-12 (D1881/Box L 1), early 19th cent (D1881/Box L 3), receipts (D1881/Box B)
- Revd D’Ewes Coke (1747-1811): general estate accounts, Pinxton & S Normanton 1768-83 (D1881/Box D).
- D’Ewes Coke (1774-1856): diaries (1817, 1817-20 1833: D1881/Box K;1839: D1881/Box B), travel , 1798 (D1881/Box L 4), legal notes 1797-1800 (D1881/Box D) and correspondence 1808-c1840 including legal and political activities (D1881/111), contacts with the Outrams, Arkwrights and Strutts (D1881/Box L 1, 2), correspondence with Lord Denman, 1820-54 (D1881/Box L1) and family matters (D1881/Box L 3), sketchbooks (D1881/Box A, Box B, Box D), estate and household cash books 1775-84, 1797-99 (D1881/ Box B), Box D; family chronicle (D1881/Box B), scrpbook (D1881/Box D); farm and household accounts, including landcaping, 1771-1786 (D1881/Box D); memo of ale and beer used 1804-08 (D1881/Box K). The correspondence also includes his personal attitude to members of his family.
- Sir William Coke (1776-1818) Chief Justice of Ceylon, c1809-1821: personal correspondence 1809-c1821 (D1881/109,114,116), Ceylon correspondence (D1881/Box L 2), additional Ceylon papers 1810-11 (D1881/Box J)
- Edward Thomas Coke: list of equipment for India, 1825 (D1881/Box L 3)
- John Coke of Debdale (d1841): correspondence 1819-32 (D1881/Box L1)
- Francis Lillyman Coke (1804-1873): correspondence while travelling in Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic 1830-31 (D1881/Box L 3)
- William Sacheverell Coke (1805-1896): correspondence while on army service from barracks and convict ships, 1830-1831 (D1881/Box L 4); Australian diary including descriptions of places, flora, fauna and inhabitants (D1881/Box L 4); Log of HMS 'Wanstead’s voyage from Van Diemen’s Land [now Tasmania] to England, 1828 (D1881/Box L 4; South Africa journal, 1831-1834, log of voyage on HMS Eliza, farm accounts and sketches (D1881/Box L 4), other correspondence (D1881/105/1-16, D1881/101-04, D1881/BoxJ), misc correspondence, 1890s (D1881/Box L1)
- Col. William Langton Coke (1843-1913): correspondence 1904-1909 including letters while serving in the Sudan and Egypt, 1905-1907 (D1881/Box L 1), letter books 1901-09 (D1881/Box G), misc correspondence 1920s (D1881/Box J)
- Langton Sacheverell Coke (1878-1914): memorial scroll, Irish Guards, c1918 (D1881/
- Coke family scrapbooks and miscellanea, 20th cent (D1881/Box J), album of family letters 1780-1892 (D1881/Box K)
- ET Coke’s list of equipment for India 1825
Miscellaneous papers
- Share of Sir George Curzon of Croxall in Canton Carrack and other Spanish [treasure] ships, 1610 (D1881/62/19)
- Tradesmen’s accounts with HMS Berwick Gun Room Mess, 1903-04 (D1881/109)
- ‘Friends of Goodwill’: log of voyage to South Africa 1835 (D1881/Box L 4)
- Revd Thos Calton, vicar of Duffield: letter book attributed to him 1717-25 (D1881/…)
- Unnamed writer [?D’Ewes Coke}: travel diaries, North Wales to London, 1796-98, London to Nottingham,1798 (D1881/ Box L 4)
- College lands in Derby, abstract of title 1633-1740 (D1881/12/18)
- Coalmining rights in Pinxton, 1711-12 (D1881/5/2,4,13) 1777 (D1881/6/1), 1854 (D1881/7/1), Swaddale, Tapton, to Geo Stephenson, 1854 (D1881/53/12), Brookhill estate (D1881/113); Pinxton coal, 1847,1903, 1904 1927(D1881/Box I); colliery corresp, Pinxton c1869-1912 (D1881/Box I); schedule of deeds re S Normanton minerals, 20th cent (D1881/Box L), mineral rent accounts 1900-1911 (D1881/Box L)
- Brookhill Cricket Club accounts, 20th cent (D1881/Box H)
The legal case books of Daniel Parker Coke (1784-1831) contain much that may interest the social as well as legal historian. The following examples may all be found in D1881/Box A:
Case Book III, 1787-1790:
Contains many cases re. settlement of paupers
On the penalties of excommunication, pages 327-328
On a case of assault [can a man hit a woman in retaliation if she hits him first?], pages 264-266
Case Book VII 1797-1800:
Contains several cases re. settlement of paupers and rights to an apprentice.
On a case of seduction [father suing the purported father of his daughter's illegitimate child for loss of his daughter's service as she acted as a servant], pages 41-44
Case Book X 1807-1813:
On the power of Magistrate over servants [can a servant be sent to the house of correction for neglecting his duties?], pages 221-223
On a dispute between husband and wife [wife locked out of house by intoxicated husband] pages 239-241
Cases relating to not returning a hired stocking frame and altering a stocking frame, pages 250-254
On a promise of marriage [a young man wishing to bring an action for breach of promise on a woman], pages 259-261
On the remedy against the Master of a Stage Coach [payment of doctor's bills for a woman who received a broken leg and injuries when the stage coach overturned due to the driver's negligence], pages 262-264
On the families of militia men [describing what allowance is due to the wives and children in various scenarios], pages 357-360 |
| Administrative History | The Coke family of Brookhill Hall near Pinxton was a cadet branch of the Coke of Trusley family (whose records remain in private hands).
The Coke family may have been established in Derbyshire by the 13th century and is known to have acquired the Trusley estate by marriage in the early 15th century. The Cokes increased their estates in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire by purchase and by marriage. Sir Francis Coke acquired Pinxton manor in the late 16th century.
The senior male line became extinct in 1718 with the death of William Coke, whose estate passed to his two daughters. Through one of them, Katherine, who was the wife of Edward Wilmot, half the estate descended in 1818 to her granddaughter Susanna Wilmot. The second co-heiress, Frances, married her relative D’Ewes Coke of Suckley, Worcestershire and her half of the original estate passed to her grandson Revd D’Ewes Coke (1747-1811) of Brookhill, rector of Pinxton and South Normanton. The Revd D’Ewes Coke had three sons, D’Ewes (1774-1856), William (1776-1818), and John (d1841) of Debdale, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. John reunited the Trusley estate through his marriage to Susanna Wilmot. On John’s death in 1841, the Debdale and Trusley estates were left to his nephew Edward Thomas Coke, 3rd son of John’s eldest brother D’Ewes Coke.
The Brookhill estate at Pinxton and South Normanton was inherited by D’Ewes Coke (1774-1856) from his father, the Revd D’Ewes Coke (1747-1811). His own sons Francis Lillyman Coke (1804-1873) and William Sacheverell Coke (1805-1896) inherited successively and the estate subsequently passed in the male line to Colonel William Langton Coke (1843-1913), Lieutenant Langton Sacheverell Coke (1878-1914) and the composer and pianist Roger Sacheverell Coke (1912-1972). His death ended the male line.
Brookhill Hall was enlarged in the 18th century when it was used by younger members of the Coke family. From the 19th century it became the main residence of the descendants of D’Ewes Coke and was sold in 1974 after RS Coke’s death.
Prominent family members include:
- Daniel Parker Coke (1745-1825), son of the barrister Thomas Coke (1700-1776) and his wife Matilda (1706-1777), nee Goodwin, of Derby. He was a barrister and politician, MP for Derby 1776-80, MP for Nottingham 1780-1812, chairman of Derbyshire Quarter Sessions until 1818. He died unmarried at The College, Derby, and is buried in All Saints, Derby
- Sir William Coke (1776-1818), Chief Justice of Ceylon, second son of Revd D’Ewes Coke |
| Custodial History | The majority of the records were deposited by a member of the family in Derby Local Studies Library and transferred to the Record Office in 1973 with additional deposits to 1982. |