Papers of the Wood family of Littleton. This is a very interesting collection, consisting mainly of family letters, diaries and papers, and also some early account books. These latter items are a primary source in the study of the business ventures of a seventeenth century merchant, and can be augmented by the correspondence between Edward and Thomas Wood and John Pack (ACC/0262). The farm account books provide information about the state of agriculture in a particular area of Middlesex in the eighteenth century. The letters are full of rich detail of everyday family life, as well as touching on wider local and national issues. Of special note are those letters describing student life at Oxford at the end of the seventeenth century (ACC/1302/51-55, 57-67), and the early stages of the Crimean War as witnessed by an officer (ACC/1302/213-41). Distinguished nineteenth century correspondents include Queen Adelaide, Emperor Napoleon III, Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington.
The collection includes:
Accounts, 1654-1821;
Notebooks and diaries, 1721-c 1832;
Pedigree, 1694-1726;
Correspondence and family papers, 1639/40-1924;
Papers formerly mounted in album, 1639/40-1924;
Correspondence mainly of Colonel Thomas Wood, 1812-55;
Letters from Thomas Wood to his wife Fanny, 1852-69;
Correspondence of Sir David Wood, 1857-69;
Letters from Thomas Wood to his son Tom, 1862-72;
Letters from Tom Wood to his mother Fanny, 1882-87;
Family letters, 1854-93;
Parish of Littleton-Rates, 1743-92; and
Miscellaneous items, 1631-1876.