University Archives
Pennington family, of Warter
The Pennington family originally came from Pennington in Furness, Lancashire, but resided by the River Esk in Cumberland from the middle of the thirteenth century. They were connected by marriage to the Percy family. William Pennington (1655-1730), 1st baronet, married Isabel Stapleton, daughter and heiress of John Stapleton and in 1678 the manor and rectory of Warter (the site of a demolished Augustinian priory) were given to the married couple. The estates were inherited by his son Joseph Pennington (1678-1735), who was comptroller of excise from 1723 and MP for Cumberland. His son succeeded him as comptroller of the excise and was colonel of the Cumberland militia during the Jacobite rebellion in 1745. Joseph Pennington (1718-1793), was succeeded by John Pennington (1737-1813), who was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 37th regiment of infantry and MP for Milbourne Port 1781-96, Colchester 1796-1802 and Westmorland 1806-8 and 1813. He became 1st Lord Muncaster in 1783. He was an early supporter of Pitt and a friend of William Wilberforce. The castle in Cumberland overlooking the Esk estuary from which John Pennington took his title was built by him in the 1780s around a medieval shell. His title passed to his younger brother, Sir Lowther Pennington (1745-1818), who had a long army career until the 1790s. The third Lord Muncaster (1802-1838) was succeeded by Gamel Augustus Pennington (1831-1862), who partly rebuilt the castle in the 1860s and who was succeeded in his turn by his younger brother, Josslyn Francis Pennington (1834-1917). The 5th Baron Muncaster was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding. He sat as MP for West Cumberland 1872-80. In 1878 he sold the Warter estate to the shipping magnate, Charles Wilson, and the title became extinct on his death.
The collection is almost entirely related to the family lands at Nunburnholme and Warter. The are over 2000 items comprising largely 18th- and 19th-century estate, manorial and parish records (including the constable's account book 1684-1754). There is an original bundle of papers about an attempt to bore for coal at Warter in 1712 and a bundle of papers related to the collection of customs and excise 1748-80. Accounts date from 1694 and comprise fifty percent of the collection. They include the account books of successive stewards, 18th century wage accounts and the personal account book of Sir Joseph Pennington 1741-1745. Correspondence largely relates to the management of the estates and local affairs. [DDWA; DDWA(2)]