Devolving Donation: The Third donor lists for the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry - August 1794
Devolving Donation: The Third donor lists for the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry - August 1794
The Swan Inn, Stafford. 2026
On 8th August 1794 the Committee of the Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry, met to finalise arrangements for the raising and equipping of the future Yeomanry troops. The proceedings were published [1] and among the details were the third list of donors to the cause.
The first, and most striking thing, about the list is that the compilers had gone away from the previous format of listing personal donors in order of the value of donations. Now ‘parishes and places’ were to be listed - mostly.
Derby Mercury, 28th August 1794
Three names do appear on the third donation list, and as with John Gough’s name, that was hastily added to some versions of the first list, but not all, you can’t help feeling that in the case of Robert Pigot and Jonathan Grundy [2] they were late arrivals to the second list but sufficiently near the deadline as to be needed to recorded. Given the Marchioness of Donegall [3] had pledged £100 a year she was unlikely to be appeased by the administrative tidiness of just being included in the Parish lists.
The choice to switch to place and not individual names may reflect the slow spreading of the donation process from the county elite downwards. However hungry the Derby Mercury was for copy, the lists of names may have been too much to carry. It is possible it might have been an attempt to show this was a county wide effort, or not, as the evidence does not exist either way. Choosing to list in alphabetical order rather than, as previously, in order of donation may be the choice of ‘fairness’ or one in which small parishes don’t feel alienated from the process by larger ones more able to give.
The switch to place and parish highlights one process. While mostly a process of donation by parish, many did not. The matter is confused by places like the Parish of Clifton Campville & Haunton giving separately. What the people of Grindon Town had against Grindon Parish and how they managed to find enough of them to feel a parish donation was unthinkable, History does not record.
Map 1 Donations by Place to the Staffordshire Yeomanry in August 1794 [4]
Map 1 shows the distribution of donations. It indicates a willingness to become involved with the project. Of the 142 settlements listed 28 are not parishes. The largest donations come, not unnaturally, from the more urban areas of the county. West Bromwich donated over 10% of the total, which, when combined to Leek, Newcastle, Hanley & Shelton and Stone accounted for a quarter of the total. [5]
Map 2 Donations by Place to the Staffordshire Yeomanry in August 1794
The maps are slightly misleading, in that they down play the contribution of places like Stafford, Wolverhampton and Rugeley, which had already given generously in the first two months, however a pattern emerges of involvement spreading out along the Trent valley and from key centres like Stafford and Leek - the later which appears to be punching above its weight.
Map 3 Parishes not donating to the Staffordshire Yeomanry in August 1794 [6]
While donations had come in, some places are absent. Wolverhampton had already given and settlements within Penkridge and Stretton had also donated. What is needed now is a map showing all the donations across all three donations to judge the relative commitment. A tentative conclusion is that places on the margin of the County Community, border parishes and the regions of the South West and around Burton on Trent, were not yet locked into the process.
Part of the frustration of this list is that it does not give a breakdown of donors, so it is not possible to divide the higher elite, giving fifty pounds or more compared to those giving 5 shillings. That the worthies of Kibblestone gave over 55 pounds suggests that some of the donors were making up the baulk of this but that is all that can be said.
I think the next step is to put all the donations in their parish setting, rather than individual villages or named donors so more in-depth conclusions and new questions can be formulated. Please enjoy the maps. They took a bit of time to construct for relatively little gain.
Footnotes
[1] Derby Mercury, 28th August 1794. P.3
[2] Sir Robert Pigot Bart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Pigot,_2nd_Baronet was an important local figure on the sout-western edge of the county and a Warden of the Mint. Birmingham merchant Jonathan Grundy, of Smethwick, had donated to the Association for the tracking down of wrong doers, in 1793, and recently built Lightwood House.
[3] Barbara Godfrey, daughter of the Revd. Dr. Luke Godfrey and Mrs Mary Godfrey, nee Cope, was the third wife of Arthur Chichester, 1st Marquess of Donegal. Arthur had previously married Lady Anne Hamilton in 1761, when he was 22. They had seven children. After Anne’s death she married Charlotte Moore, who died less than a year later. He married Barbara in 1790, He was 50, she was 26. The Donegals held game licenses for Fisherwick, near Lichfield and Barabra was buried in the city.
[4] The list of places contains two which are highlighted in red. Staffordshire has two Darlastons. One is near Stone and the other is not near Burton, but it is near Bilston. Given the amount of the donation and the size of Darlaston near Bilston, on the balance of probability, this is the one being referred to. Staffordshire has many settlements with Drayton in them. On the balance of probabilities the one near Uttoxeter is the one donating, but this is less certain than Darlaston.
[5] Donations in August 1794 in amount order.
[6] Key to non donating parishes.
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