| Description | Northumberland Archives holds a large collection of papers of the Delaval family of Ford and Seaton Delaval. The earliest papers date from the 15th century and the most recent from the 19th century. This selection of papers date from the 18th century - many of them were generated by Lord John Hussey Delaval who was a prolific letter writer, maintaining copies of his draft letters and many of the letters sent to him. He ran the Delaval estates with a tight rein and his correspondence and papers allow us to gain an impression of what life was like for the Delaval family, their employees, servants and retainers.
The Delaval family have been associated with Seaton, later Seaton Delaval, a township 3 miles SW of Blyth, Northumberland, since the 12th century. The first member of the Delaval family to come to England is believed to have been Hamo de la Val who came across from France with William the Conqueror. However, by the begining of the 18th century the family had fallen on hard times and it was Admiral George Delaval (1660-1723), a distant cousin who lived at Dissington, a township 10 miles NW of Newcastle upon Tyne, who bought Seaton Delaval from his poorer relatives. He was a wealthy man and asked Sir John Vanburgh to consider rebuilding the exisiting hall at Seaton Delaval. Vanburgh declined but agreed to build a new extravagant mansion. However, the Admiral did not live to see Vanburgh's work complete - he fell from his horse in 1723 and died from his injuries.
George Delaval's heir was his nephew, Captain Francis Blake Delaval, also of Dissington. In 1724 Captain Delaval married an heiress, Rhoda, daughter of Robert Apreece and the mansion was completed in 1729 at a cost of £10,000. Rhoda Apreece brought to the marriage a dowry which included the Elizabethan manor of Doddington in Lincolnshire whilst Captain Delaval inherited Dissington from his father and the Ford estate in north Northumberland from his mother, Mary Blake. With the Ford inhertance came a curse which stated that whilst the Ford estate was tied to that of Seaton no male member of the Delaval family would die in their bed. Laurence Whistler wrote of the Delavals that they were 'the most charming, mischevious, spendthrift family in the North of England, utterly without morals, loved by the people of the countryside and damned from birth'.
Captain Delaval and his wife had eleven children, eight of whom were boys but by 1814 there was no legitimate Delaval male heir to continue the line. Captain Delaval himself died in 1752 as the result of a fall down the stairs at the front of Seaton Delaval Hall. The estate was inherited by his eldest son, also Francis Blake Delaval, who showed no real interest in running the estate. At the time of his father's death he was living in London and was married to the widowed Lady Isabella Nassau Paulet but keeping a mistress, Betty Roache. The marriage was childless and was dissolved in 1755. 1n 1758 Betty Roache left Francis Blake Delaval having borne him two children. In 1760 Francis became a Knight Companion of the Order of Bath and in the same year his brother, John Hussey Delaval, became a baronet. Francis Blake Delaval did not remarry but went on to have several other illegitimate children. He was always in debt and this led to a private Act of Parliament being drawn up which gave Francis an income for life and passed the running of the Seaton estate to his younger brother John Hussey Delaval. Another brother, Thomas, was an engineer and had been educated in Germany from where he returned to help John run the Seaton estates for a period of time.
John Hussey Delaval's family fortune came form coal. In 1771 he was working seventeen pits in the Seaton area. To faciliate the coal trade John and his brother Thomas had a new entrance to Seaton Delaval harbour which was blasted out of solid rock. 'The New Cut' was completed in 1764. It was one of the most important engineeering feats of its day and can still be seen at Seaton Sluice. The coal trade was not the Delalval's sole business interest - in 1763 they opened the Hartley Bottleworks which by 1777 was exporting approximately 145,000 bottles per year. Copperas, a by-product of coalming, was used to colour the glass. Salt was also produced on the estate and a granary provided flour for bread. Seaton Sluice prospered and the Delavals were perceived as fair and honest employers and landlords in a paternalistic environment.
After Francis Blake Delaval's death in 1771 John Hussey Delaval supported the army career of his illegitimate nephew, Francis (Frank) Delaval, recommending him to General Howe who was commanding the English troops in New York. When Lieutenant Delaval returned to England he was taken into the family fold and persuaded to marry a widow who had a small daughter and whose late husband had been a relative of Lord Tyrconnel, a son in law of John Hussey Delaval. Francis Delaval eventually rose to the rank of General and gained the approval of his uncle.
In 1750 John Hussey Delaval had married Susanna, the widow of John Potter. The couple went on to have seven children. Susanna died in 1783 and in 1786 John Hussey Delaval was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Delaval. In 1795 he took a mistress, Elizabeth Hicks. There are many references to Elizabeth Hicks in his letters and in the bills and receipts he kept. Elizabeth died in 1796 aged 23 and in 1803 he married Susannah Knight. Lord Delaval died at his breakfast table in 1808 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
By his will the estates of Ford and Seaton were seperated - Ford passed to his grand-daughter, Susannah, Duchess of Waterford, and Seaton Delaval to his brother Edward Delaval. Edward died in 1814 leaving the family extinct in the male line.
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