University Archives
Ferguson-Fawsitt family, of Walkington
The earliest title deed for a member of the Fawsitt family in the collection indicates that a Richard Fawsitt owned land at Paull and Thorngumbauld in 1673. By the early eighteenth century John Fawsitt 'of Hull' was able to spend £2310 on the manor of Thorngumbald. The Fawsitt family established itself in the village of Hunsley (now depopulated) and family members are buried in the parish church (Rowley). John Fawsitt's nephew, Hugh, inherited from him just over 500 acres in Hunsley and when his son, also Hugh, died in 1752, the land was held by his widow, Mary and daughters, Anne, Elizabeth and Mary. They extend holdings into Walkington, and land at Little Weighton and North Dalton came via the Hudson family. The three sisters seem to have been childless and after the death of Mary Burton the estates were inherited by John Hornby (d.1812), described by Mary in her will as a 'relation'. He assumed the name Fawsitt. He had three sons, John, James and Robert Fawsitt, all of whom held the Hunsley and Walkington inheritance for a while. The two younger brothers left no heirs, but John Fawsitt left two daughters, Annie Elizabeth (1823-1882) and Mary Annette (b.1825) who lived in Beverley, but owned the estates by 1851. Annie Elizabeth Fawsitt married John Daniel Ferguson (1816-1908) in 1866 and they moved to Walkington Hall. They had holdings of 1440 acres. They had no children and when John Daniel Ferguson-Fawsitt died he left no direct heir. The estates, therefore, devolved upon Annie Elizabeth Fawsitt's niece, Annie Gertrude Holt (1853-1936), who married Henry Gibbon Chater. The Chater-Fawsitts moved into Walkington Hall in 1908, but in 1933 they sold the property. The family papers largely comprise title deeds, marriage settlements and wills relating to the Walkington area to the west of Beverley in East Yorkshire. The collection also contains a tax assessment on houses and servants of the Little Weighton constabulary between 1780 and 1783 and plans of the Fawsitt estates in 1868. [DDFF; DDFF(2)]