Hampshire Interest.- Bigg-Whiter Archive
A very large collection of documents and papers related to the Bigg-Whiter family of Manydown

comprising: several indentures on vellum regarding legal transactions for plots of lands and dwellings in the Counties of Hampshire, Southampton and others (including: a lease from Mary Wither and her son William to Charles White for a house and land in Worthing, 8 April 1700; a lease from L. B Wither to Mr Joseph Lewis for the White Hart Inn, farm and lands at Worthing documents issued by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral to the Wither family for the lease of Manydown (including one appointing William Wither "gamekeeper within our manor of Manydown, 25 November 1765; a release from John Hall to William Wither of a property in Worthing, 25 June 1765; a recovery deed for the estates of Harris Bigg Wither (the only person known to have proposed marriage to Jane Austen) and Lovelace Bigg Wither in the counties of Suthampton and Berkshire); a copy of the marriage settlement between Harris Bigg Wither and Miss A.H. Frith, 20 September 1804; various manor account books and rolls; a document issued by the Bishop of Rochester admitting William Henry Walter Bigg-Wither in to the holy Order of Deacons, 23 December 1832; a grant issued by the Bishop of Oxford admitting William Henry Walter Bigg-Wither to the Rectory of the parish church of Hardwick, 7 October 1870; administrative correspondence; a group of manuscripts drafts related to a translation of the Iliad by Reverend Lovelance Bigg-Wither, and various others, 16th -20th century (large quantity)

*** In 1449, William Wither — whose family had lived at Manydown as tenants since at least 1402, purchased the manor. In 1789, the last Mr Wither died without an heir, and the Reverend Lovelace Bigg, a cousin, inherited the Estate. Bigg and his two sons changed their surnames to “Bigg-Wither”. Harris Bigg-Wither - who famously proposed to the author Jane Austen who initially accepted, then rejected the offer - inherited Manydown in 1813, but chose to live in nearby Tangier Park, which was later bought by his son. The long association of the manor with the Wither and Bigg-Wither family ended when the Estate was purchased in 1871 by Sir Edward Bates.

(Quantity:large qty)

Dimensions: v.s.