| Administrative History | Thomas Stanhope bought the Bretby estate from Stephen de Segrave and built Bretby Hall on it in 1630. In 1628, Thomas' grandson Philip was made Earl of Chesterfield by Charles I, and hence Bretby Hall became the family seat of the Earls of Chesterfield. The 2nd Earl restyled the gardens similar to Versailles. The 5th Earl demolished the mansion and built a new Hall in 1812 with architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville. The 6th Earl added a cricket pitch and raised game birds for shooting. After the death of the 7th Earl in 1871, the estate passed to his widowed mother Anne Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Chesterfield (1802-1885), who was close friends with Benjamin Disraeli, who often came to visit her. Upon Anne Elizabeth's death, the estate passed to her eldest daughter's son, George Herbert Lord Porchester, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923). The Carnarvon's never lived at Bretby, preferring instead their home at Highclere Castle, Berkshire. During WWI George Herbert started to break up the Bretby estate and sold most of it to J.D. Wragg, an industrialist from Swadlincote. The money raised from the Bretby sale helped George Herbert to become a financial backer and part of the excavation team of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. In 1926 Bretby Hall was sold to Derbyshire County Council and ran as an orthopaedic hospital until 1997, when it was sold to a private developer and turned into apartments. |
| Custodial History | Acquired by Derbyshire Record Office in 1970, via the British Records Associatio |