Emmotts and Green-Emmotts

The Emmotts were certainly new money. They first appeared at Emmott Hall, near Colne, Lancashire early in the 16th century. The line of succession is complicated and reference can be made to Appendix D. It is not made easier by changes of name on various occasions.

Burke’s Landed Gentry (1965) says that Christopher Emmott (1694-1745) “acquired a large fortune in London”. What it does not say is that he made it in the dreaded trade’! Moreover the acquisition of the shares in the Layton estate by Christopher was complicated. However, before this took place there was an interesting altercation concerning Layton Hall and its contents, which no doubt still included the two portraits and the embroidered jacket previously referred to.

Thomas had died intestate and the devolution of the estate was governed by Henry’s will of 1702. Under this it passed to the nephews, Thomas Kirke, Thomas Robinson, William Smith and Francis Foxcroft and in 1718 Kirke’s son, Layton Kirke, sold his share to Sir Walter Calverley of Esholt Hall (1671-1749, 1st Bart.).¹

This problem family so disgusted Smith’s nephew that he was obliged to quit the part which he occupied and managed to get the contents away with him. Sir Walter commenced proceedings at the West Riding Quarter Sessions. Smith arrived without notice with his henchmen, assaulted and beat the wife of Barber, the caretaker (the “indigent man”) and locked her in a room. Sir Walter then sent his servant, Exley, to investigate. He too was beaten.

Sir Walter proceeded with the case at the Quarter Sessions. He alleged that Smith had failed to keep the house in repair, “that the furniture was more spoiled in two years than in many years before and that he had allowed his dogs and horses to go into the gardens and walks which destroyed the fine greens and wall trees and flowers growing there”. Smith and his associates were convicted.

In 1743 a complicated exchange transaction took place. Sir Walter transferred his two shares to Emmott and paid him £4,000 (say £70,000 today). Emmott then acquired Robinson’s and Smith’s shares and the Rawdon estate was reunited. The net effect was that Sir Walter’s Esholt estate was greatly increased and Emmott’s estate in Rawdon was consolidated into a block stretching from the River Aire and Red Beck, to Well Lane and Cliffe Lane, over Larkfield Road and Canada Road to what is now the Yeadon Fountain crossroads and back down Bayton Lane. It also included some land to the North East of Bayton Lane. Such a compact area would be advantageous from a management point of view.

However Christopher Emmott did not live long to enjoy it, dying in 1745. The estate passed to his nephew Richard (né Wainhouse) of Halifax. He assumed the name of Emmott and died in 1760, being succeeded by his son, another Richard. From then onwards there appears to have been more development of the estate: Carr Lane, New York Lane, Layton Lane, earlier called Hall Lane and Knott Lane were laid out towards the end of the 18th century and they bounded the park area around Layton Hall.

The second Richard died unmarried in 1819. His niece Ellen or Eleanor married a man with the surname Oswald and is often referred to as Mrs Oswald Emmott. Her sister Susannah married George Green of Harley Street ³ London and assumed the name of Green-Emmott. Under the will of the younger Richard only the Yorkshire estates devolved on Eleanor, and on her death, on Susannah’s son, Alfred Edward Green-Emmott (born 1819 and henceforth referred to as the Major General).⁴

A valuation made in 1814 by William Hepworth and Nicholas Brown for Poor Law Rate by order of the West Riding Quarter Sessions gives the estate as about 520 acres, comprising 32 farms or small holdings, the largest about 72 acres and only 12 of them over 20 acres. There were some 26 cottages let separately but only two at a rent of more than £1.0.0. p.a. plus two mills, Low Mill at £101.0.0. p.a. and Park Mill at £90.0.0. p.a. All told a rent roll of about £700.0.0 p.a. (say £35,000 today). In the 1838 Tithe Valuation there is a total of 115 tenants as against 60 in 1814, indicating the degree of development in the previous 25 years. There was also land in Horsforth to the East of Scotland Lane and North of Brownberrie Lane and at Haworth. ⁵

The Major General served in the Bombay Staff Corps of the Indian Army. His brother had died in the disastrous Afghan War of 1838-42. His army career does not seem to have been particularly memorable but it is likely that he was involved in the Indian Mutiny campaign of 1857/8. He succeeded to the estate in 1870, which may have coincided with his retirement from the army. He had married Charlotte Augusta Nayland in 1848 and they had one son and three daughters.

About 1870 the Major General assumed the name of Green-Emmott-Rawdon. This was after the death of the 4th Marquis of Hastings in 1868 when there was no Rawdon left to object. Certainly he was in no way a descendant of the original Rawdon family but no doubt wished to be Rawdon of that Ilk!

He seems to have been on bad terms with his son Edward Montague Ross Green-Emmott Rawdon, who also was or had been in the army. The son lived at Brackley, Northants and was not in good health. He was entitled to some rent out of the estate, no doubt under a family settlement. The rent was not paid promptly and this led to acrimonious correspondence. About 1887 the Major General had plans drawn up for developments to the estate. The son objected and threatened, or may even have issued, legal proceedings and the plans were therefore dropped.

The Major General died in January 1890 at his house in Prince’s Square, Hyde Park, London. The body was brought back to Rawdon for burial. Neither ‘The Times’ nor ‘The Yorkshire Post’ noticed his death but the ‘Airedale & Wharfedale Observer’ of 31st January 1890 said that “he was known to have been in a pitiable state of health for some time”, and that apart from being President of Rawdon Conservative Club he had taken little part in political matters but “hundreds of villagers turned out for the funeral to honour one who had endeared himself to all by many acts of kindness and large hearted liberality”.

The son died without issue in Australia in 1895 and the estate passed to Walter Edgerton Green-Emmott⁶ of Emmott Hall, a grandson of Richard Emmott who died in 1819. Thus the Yorkshire and Lancashire estates were reunited. The Major General’s widow died in 1899.The Major General died in January 1890 at his house in Prince’s Square, Hyde Park, London. The body was brought back to Rawdon for burial. Neither ‘The Times’ nor ‘The Yorkshire Post’ noticed his death but the ‘Airedale & Wharfedale Observer’ of 31st January 1890 said that “he was known to have been in a pitiable state of health for some time”, and that apart from being President of Rawdon Conservative Club he had taken little part in political matters but “hundreds of villagers turned out for the funeral to honour one who had endeared himself to all by many acts of kindness and large hearted liberality”.

The son died without issue in Australia in 1895 and the estate passed to Walter Edgerton Green-Emmott6 of Emmott Hall, a grandson of Richard Emmott who died in 1819. Thus the Yorkshire and Lancashire estates were reunited. The Major General’s widow died in 1899.

As for the agents for the estate, it seems that in the 18th century they were the Houlden family who may well have lived in part of the Hall. By the 1860s it was Jeremiah Stansfield Rawson followed by Col. Charles Payne Barras, who seems to have been an energetic agent and made efforts to develop the estate. He started a brick and tile works to utilise the abundant local clay. Where? Thomas Walker (1836-1903) the father of Hargill Walker, a prominent local builder, followed. In this century the agents were Claude Barton and later J.H. Pardoe and H.B. Pardoe.