Richard Holford ca.1633-1718

Sir Richard Holford ca.1633-ca.1718

Bookplate of Richard Holford (British Museum Franks Collection *463)

Biographical Note

Sir Richard Holford, lawyer and landowner, of Lincoln's Inn and Weston Birt (also Westonbirt, Westonbyrt), Gloucestershire, was called to the bench in 1689, made a master in Chancery 1694, and knighted in 1695. He married three times: (1) in 1665 to Sarah, daughter and heiress of John Crew(e) (d. 1654), Esq., of Westonbirt; (2) Elizabeth, daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Stayner; and (3) in 1689 to Susanna (b. 1655), daughter of Samuel Trotman, Esq., of the Inner Temple, of Bucknell, Oxfordshire, and of Syston Court, Gloucestershire.

His will values his estate at £47,805. It is lengthy and has not yet been read carefully, but it is unlikely that his books would be described separately within an estate of such high value, especially if they were few in number.

Among his descendants were the collector of art and illuminated manuscripts Robert Stayner Holford (1808–1892).

Books

Initial research has failed to locate any of Holford's books. His bookplate is dated 1705, relatively late in his life, which suggests he may not have seen himself as a 'collector' until then. The bookplate is described as "scarce" by Hamilton, 1895, perhaps suggesting that his library was not large.

Characteristic Markings

Early Armorial bookplate with arms (Holford with Stayner on an escutcheon), crest, mantling, and cartouche inscribed "Sr. Richard Holford of / Lincolns Inn Knight 1705" (Franks *463).

Sources

• Records of the Holford family, lawyers, London Metropolitan Archives
• Will of Sir Richard Holford, late Master in Chancery of Lincolns Inn, Middlesex, The National Archives PROB 11/564/146
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• "Westonbirt with Lasborough: Manors and other estates", in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11, Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (VCH, London, 1976), p. 285
• Walter Hamilton, Dated book-plates (Ex libris) with a treatise on their origin and development (London, 1895), p. 34

With thanks to Peter Kidd.