University Archives
Napier Christie Burton, of Cottingham
The Burton family held land in Cottingham in the seventeenth century and in the 1740s Richard Burton owned Hull Bank House (later Haworth Hall). In 1767 Ralph Burton (d.1768) bought the manors of Powis, Richmond and Westmorland. He was succeeded to the estates by his son Richard Burton (d.1784) who left them to his sister, Mary, who was married to Napier Christie, an American by birth who served during the Napoleonic wars and became MP for Beverley. He assumed the name of Burton. He was a man unable to stay within his means and in 1793 he sold nearly £12,000 of his wife's inheritance to service his debts. After his wife died in 1801 he spent long periods in Canada and Ireland and all the correspondence in the collection relates to the gradual sale of the remainder of his inheritance. The 30 items span the dates 1809-1832 and include several letters from the Hull businessman, Thomas Thompson (father of Thomas Perronet Thompson). [DDCV(2)/57]