F. H. L. Meynell — Hoar Cross Estate Private Ledger

Hoar Cross Estate, None, 1920. First edition. Leather. A truly fascinating handwritten private financial ledger detailing the financial state of Hoar Cross Hall and its surrounding estate in Staffordshire in the 1920s, when it still belonged to the Meynell family, who built it in 1793. A very scarce work, in a reverse calf binding.A private handwritten ledger or account book for the Hoar Cross Estate in Staffordshire, for the years 1920 to 1928.Francis Hugo Lyttelton, or F. H. L. Meynell, was responsible for this volume. He was a member of the Meynell a prominent Staffordshire family, best known for their connection with the Meynell Hunt, one of the historic Midland fox hunts.By the 1920s, Hoar Cross was still a substantial estate with agricultural tenancies, game interests, staff wages, and household accounts to manage. This account book is from the interwar period, when many landed families were financially strained after the First World War.This volume features handwritten entries to 103 of the 202 pages.Handwritten information includes cash in and out, accounts for gold, forest, golf, the hall, and the gardens, information on the cost of repairs, and income from rentals, and general income and expenditure relating to farming. In a reverse calf binding. Bump and small loss of calf to tail of fore edge of front board, otherwise externally excellent. Former owner's label loosely inserted into open space to centre of front board. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright. Handwritten entries to 103 of the 202 pages. Very Good . Ill.: None. Very Good .