| Description | The Popham family owned the Littlecote estate from 1589 to 1929, although records for it that are part of the Merriman collection are generally restricted to the 19th and early 20th century, as that was when Merriman was the agent for the estate. The current Littlecote House was built by John Popham in 1592.
General Edward William Leyborne-Popham (1764-1843), married Elizabeth Andrew in 1806. Their children were all baptised in Chilton Foliat Church, and the Chilton estate was later to become part of his Littlecote estate. The eldest child, also Edward William (1807-1880), was a lunatic and did not inherit his father's estates; they passed instead to his younger brother Francis (1809-1880) who officially became his father's heir in 1837. He married Elizabeth Block in 1857 and their son Francis William (1862-1907) was the last Popham family member to employ Merriman as his agent. Upon Francis William's sister Elinor's marriage in 1892 to Tremayne Buller, he transferred the agency to his new brother-in-law, ending three generations of close work between the Popham and Merriman families.
As well as the Littlecote estate, the Pophams owned Puckaster in the Isle of Wight (sold around 1886), Hunstrete in Somerset, Mortlake in Surrey, and Churchdown in Gloucestershire (sold around 1890). The majority of the collection refers to Littlecote but all the estates are represented in the records. |