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Bryan Donkin Company Ltd of Chesterfield, engineering firm

Bryan Donkin Company Ltd of Chesterfield, engineering firm

Bryan Donkin (1768-1855), engineer and inventor, established his engineering works in London in 1803, and the firm relocated to Chesterfield in 1902. The firm and its founder are celebrated for their paper-making machinery, security improvements for printing bank notes and refining the production of tin cans for food preservation.

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Strutt family of Belper

Strutt family of Belper

The Strutt family's fame and fortune originated with Jedediah Strutt (1726-1797), inventor of the Derby rib machine, partner of Sir Richard Arkwright and founder of a silk-stocking firm in Derby and cotton-spinning mills at Belper and Milford. By the 1820s, they owned an extensive estate across Derby, Belper, Milford, Makeney and Crich as represented in these estate plans

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Local Studies Periodicals

Local Studies Periodicals

A wide variety of journals including historical, technical, place and parish magazines. Over 140 are indexed in the catalogue from 2014 onwards. We are working on the rest.

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George M. Woodward (1767-1809), cartoonist

George M. Woodward (1767-1809), cartoonist

A collection of prints, drawings and sketches primarily by the Georgian caricaturist George M. Woodward who grew up in Stanton by Dale.

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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

Florence was born in Italy but spent most of her childhood at Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, where her great-uncle Peter was a significant landowner and businessman.

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National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board (NCB) was created in 1947 and operated 958 collieries across the country. This collection includes over 600 boxes for pre-1947 colliery companies, NCB departments and post-1947 collieries, including title deeds, plans and nearly 800 engineering drawings.

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Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer

Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer

John Franklin was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in 1786. He joined the Royal Navy in 1800, was appointed Governor of Van Diemen’s Land [now Tasmania] in 1836, and undertook two Arctic explorations, the second of which proved fatal for him and his crew. His daughter Eleanor Isabella married Revd John Philip Gell of Wirksworth in 1849, and many of his letters and personal papers are held here.

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Harpur Crewe family of Calke

Harpur Crewe family of Calke

A leading Derbyshire family from the 16th century, the Harpur’s purchased the Calke estate in 1622. The estate passed to Sir George Crewe in 1819 and, in 1844, to his son changed his name to Harpur Crewe. The estate was were concentrated in South Derbyshire and Staffordshire, but extended over other several counties as shown by the surviving title deeds, estate and manorial records, family and household records.

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Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier

Horace John Rylands (1886-1961) of Bakewell, First World War soldier

Horace John Rylands was born in Torquay in 1886. He was married at Hathersage in 1917, by which time he was already serving as a Lieutenant in 16 Machine Gun Company with the British Expeditionary Force in France where he produced . He died in Bakewell on 5 February 1961. This collection includes an album of excellent sketches of military life drawn by Horace while serving in France, Belgium and Germany 1916-1918.

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Strutt family of Belper

Strutt family of Belper

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