| Administrative History | Both Leonard Wheatcroft and his son Titus were successively parish clerks of Ashover. Both had serious literary interests.
Titus Wheatcroft (1679-1762) was the son of Leonard Wheatcroft (1627-1706). The two men were successively parish clerks of Ashover, and Titus, like his father, had serious literary interests.
Although D5775/1 has a title distinguishing it from the other two volumes, all three have similar content: poems, prayers, commentary on biblical texts, didactic prose, proverbs and anecdotes. Given the tentative dating of the volumes, it is possible that they represent a continuous series of Titus Wheatcroft's commonplace books.
The dating of the volumes is tentative because covering dates are not explicitly stated. D5775/1 has the date February 28, 1736 on the inside cover, but the contents may have been transcribed over a number of years. D5775/2 is undated, but contains a sample document dated June 1728. D5775/3 has the words "begun June 6 1744" on the inside cover. The latter is much the largest of the volumes, and the only one to contain an index. |
| Custodial History | Two items were transferred from Derby Library in September 2002 [formerly DL MS 3366, 3367]. The third volume was donated to Derbyshire Record Office in September 2006. |