University Archives
Sykes family, of Sledmere
The Sykes family settled in Sykes Dyke near Carlisle in Cumberland during the middle ages. William Sykes (1500-1577), migrated to the West Riding of Yorkshire, settling near Leeds, and he and his son became wealthy cloth traders. Daniel Sykes (b.1632), was the first member of the family to begin trading in Hull and amassed a fortune from shipping and finance. Richard Sykes (1678-1726) diversified further, concentrating on the flourishing Baltic trade in pig iron and the wealth of the family was built on this in the first half of the eighteenth century. Richard Sykes married Mary Kirkby, co-heiress to the Sledmere estates of Mark Kirkby, and, secondly, Martha Donkin. Two of his sons, Joseph Sykes (1723-1805) and Richard Sykes (1706-1761), managed the family business jointly and Joseph Sykes bought estates around West Ella and Kirk Ella. Richard Sykes demolished the old Sledmere house and built a new one in 1751, planting 20,000 trees on the Wolds. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1752. He married twice but died without leaving an heir and the estates passed to another brother - Mark Sykes (1711-1783), rector of Roos, and 1st baronet. He was succeeded at Sledmere by his one surviving child, Christopher Sykes (1749-1801), who was MP for Beverley 1784-90. In 1770 he made a fortuitous marriage with Elizabeth Egerton of Tatton whose inheritance of £17,000 from her father was hugely augmented by her inheriting her brother's Cheshire estates and another £60,000 from her aunt in 1780. Christopher Sykes sold off shipping interests and government stock and he and his wife expanded the Sledmere estate. They bought and enclosed huge areas of land for cultivation and built two new wings to the house. The grounds were landscaped and 1000 acres of trees planted. The entire village of Sledmere was relocated. Christopher Sykes left a vast estate of nearly 30,000 acres and a large mansion set in its own 200 acre parkland which survives in the family to the present day. His son, Mark Masterman Sykes (1771-1823), was a knowledgeable collector of books and fine arts, but these were sold when he died childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tatton Sykes (1772-1863). Tatton Sykes, 4th baronet, had an interest in agricultural techniques and horse racing. He was a man of puritanical habits whose only son, Tatton Sykes (1826-1913), developed into a rather withdrawn man who sold his father's stud for £30,000 and restored seventeen churches. He married Jessica Cavendish-Bentinck (d.1912) and they had one son, Mark Sykes (1879-1919). Mark Sykes travelled in the Middle East and wrote
Through five Turkish provinces
and
The Caliph's last heritage
. He married Edith Gorst, and their honeymoon took them to Paris, Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem. They had six children. Mark Sykes was elected MP for Central Hull in 1911 and occupied himself for the early part of the First World War establishing the Waggoner's Special Reserve. From May 1915 he was called to the War Office by Lord Kitchener and is largely remembered for the part he played in forging an Inter-Allied agreement about the Middle East in 1916 called the Sykes-Picot agreement. While in Paris during the peace conference Mark Sykes contracted influenza and died at the age of only 39. He was a crucial figure in Middle East policy decision-making during the first world war and his papers are a very rich source of material on policy. He was succeeded to the title and Sledmere estates by Richard Sykes (1905-1978) and then Tatton Sykes.
The archive of the Sykes family is one of the largest in the Brynmor Jones Library and has arrived in several deposits amounting to circa 35,000 items. The first deposit comprises estate papers, genealogical material for the Sykes family and other local families, and personal family papers including correspondence and diaries, largely for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The earliest correspondence is that of Richard Sykes (1678-1726), from his factors in Danzig and local gentry. The correspondence of Mark Sykes (1711-1783) includes six letters from the London merchant Henry de Ponthieu about the French in Canada 1761-3 and circa 100 letters from his London banker, Joseph Denison. The correspondence of Christopher Sykes, (1749-1801) includes two letters from the archbishop of York and about 270 letters from a wide range of people including William Carr of York and Henry Maister of Hull. The correspondence of Tatton Sykes, 4th baronet (1772-1863), includes letters from other family members and there is one letter book for Mark Sykes (1879-1919) covering the years 1902-1919. Diaries and journals kept by the Sykes family reflect their influence and interests: the diaries of Tatton Sykes, which are intermittent from 1793 to 1832, contain much on hunting, horses and social affairs. There are estate account books from 1786, labourers' journals from 1870-1900 and an account for the special train which brought the body of Jessica Sykes from London to Sledmere following her death. Miscellaneous material includes anonymous notes of proceedings in the parliaments of Queens Mary, between 6 July 1553 and 2 April 1554, and Elizabeth, between 5 May and 30 June 1572. There are also manuscript accounts of Wyatt's Rebellion and the marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain. The second deposit comprises the personal and political papers of Mark Sykes (1879-1919) including his literary manuscripts, material relating to the Waggoners' Special Reserve and correspondence relating to the Sykes-Picot agreement. There are 400 letters to his wife and his other correspondents include Winston Churchill, Austin Chamberlain, Chaim Weizmann, Arthur Balfour, F G Picot, Nahum Sokolow, C P Scott, W Ormesby-Gore, Ronald Storrs, Alfred Dowling, E G Browne, Francis Maunsell, Grant Dalton and Oswald Fitzgerald. Mark Sykes' appointment diaries survive from 1903, including those for his trips to Paris and the Middle East. A large section of material catalogued as 'Foreign affairs and travel' is divided into material relating to his travel prior to the First World War and material relating to his wartime activity. In addition there are papers relating to work on his family's history, and this includes family letters and papers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his parliamentary constituency and campaigning correspondence. The third deposit comprises largely personal family papers and amongst these are 77 letters to Richard Sykes, in his role as Captain of the Hull Volunteers, about the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and eighteenth-century letters between Christopher and Joseph Sykes. There are also manor court rolls for Roos 1538-1774 and papers of the Kirkby family. The fourth deposit is small and contains miscellaneous estate papers, some family correspondence and twentieth-century office diaries. Correspondence includes a few letters of Sir Tatton and Lady Sykes of the 1870s and copies of letters of Mark Sykes and miscellaneous diaries include one for Mark Kirkby 1673-92 and one of Tatton Sykes, 4th baronet. Further records were deposited in 2004, including rentals, accounts, papers relating to Sledmere Stud, papers relating to estate properties, maps and plans; mainly 19th -20th centuries. This material has not yet been catalogued. [DDSY; DDSY(2); DDSY(3); DDSY(4); DSY]
A project is currently underway to catalogue the correspondence of Sir Mark Sykes - please contact staff for further details.
Related papers are held at the East Riding of Yorkshire Archives Service [Accessions to repositories 1990]