Reference code: GB-0033-SER
Title: Sergeant Papers
Dates of creation: [later 20th century]
Extent: 3 boxes
Held by: Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections
Origination: Christopher John Sergeant (b.1935), genealogist
Language:
English
Christopher John Sergeant was born in 1935. His father had risen through the army ranks in the Royal Engineers and then the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to the rank of major and, after leaving school at 15 to become an agricultural
worker, Christopher also joined the Royal Engineers in 1952. After various foreign postings as an NCO, he became a smallholder in Easington Co Durham in 1956 and also had spell as a primary school teacher in the later 1960s, whilst developing his
genealogical interests in his family's antecedents and battling authority over the education system, road closures and the provision of mains electricity to his Holmelea home in Durham Road, Easington. He had moved to Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, by
1993 and then Leominster by 2013.
The papers constitute: extracts of genealogical and other documentary sources for the Sergeant and related (Barault, Charlton, Coombers, Hair, Martin, Park, Ridley, Shepherd, Stephenson and Young) families in Co Durham and Northumberland, with
some material for North Yorkshire and India; photocopies of documents concerning the careers of Christopher John Sergeant, his father Archibald John Sergeant (1903-c.1983)and his grandfather Archibald Joseph Sergeant (1874-1944), and especially a
lengthy dispute with NEEB over the cost of providing mains electricity to their home of Holmlea in Easington, Co Durham; transcripts of Easington sources and oral history interviews with Easington residents. The material is meticulously arranged,
listed and numbered.
Deposited by C.J. Sergeant with the Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic (1 July 1987, 22 February and 28 March1988) and also with Durham University Library Special Collections (15 October 2013)
Open for consultation. (Some material deposited in 1987/8 had been closed but this was made acessible by the owner in 2013.)
Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist
where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material
Arranged in four groups, reflecting the owner's original numbering
Catalogued by Michael Stansfield into XML, January 2014
No further accruals now expected, though some might be possible.
Detailed indexes and/or lists provided by the owner which are retained with the items.
Material has also been deposited at Oxfordshire Archives, Durham County Record Office and Northumberland Archives.
Sergeant papers Genealogical Notes on the Sergeant, Ridley and other familiesReference: SER ADates of creation: 1976 - 1985
10 volumes of transcripts numbered 1-10 made by C.J. Sergeant from a range of 16th to 20th century Co Durham and Northumberland genealogical sources during the course of his researches into the history of principally the Ridley and Sergeant, and
also the Charlton, Hair, Park, Stephenson, James and other families. Each volume is dedicated to his parents Archibald John and Augusta Veronica Marie with the motto “Constans Fidei”, and has an index at the back.
Written in “Black N' Red” notebooks with red spines and hard black covers from Edward Thompson of Fawcett Street, Sunderland.
SER A1 December 1976
Transcripts of marriage register entries and marriage bonds for Northumberland 1573-1882, with an index at f.98.
Paper book, 98f
SER A2 September 1976
Transcripts of marriage bonds for Co Durham and baptisms for Co Durham parishes, with an index at f.96-98.
Paper book, 98f
SER A3 December 1976
Transcripts of entries in Hodgson's
History of Northumberland, the County History Committee History of Northumberland, and other published Northumberland sources, with an index at f.98.
Paper book, 98f
SER A4 February 1977
Transcripts of entries in parish registers especially for Bedlington, Earsdon, Rothbury, Stamfordham and Tynemouth, also the census and other sources for Northumberland, with an index at f.95-96.
Paper book, 96f
SER A5 December 1977
Transcripts of entries in mostly Northumberland parish registers, and some Co Durham parishes, and General Sessions and
The Courant newspaper, with an index at f.97.
Paper book, 98f
SER A6 1978
Transcripts of entries in
The Courant, pedigrees, directories, the Broomhaugh enclosure award, the Battie Wrightson collection at Leeds, and Stamfordham, Ovingham and Ponteland baptism registers, with an index at f.98.
Paper book, 98f
SER A7 1979
Notes on the Sergeant family in India and Scotland, with an index at f.97.
Paper book, 98f
SER A8 November 1981
Transcripts of entries and notes from various sources, primary and secondary, in Northumberland, Co Durham and Yorkshire, with an index at f.96-98.
Paper book, 98f
SER A9 31 August 1985
Transcripts of entries and notes from various sources, primary and secondary, in Northumberland and Co Durham, with an index at f.92-94.
Paper book, 94f
SER A10 [c.1985]
Notes on his father Archibald John Sergeant and grandfather Archibald Joseph Sergeant, and transcripts of entries from Northumberland and Co Durham records, many folios blank, with an index at f.93.
Paper book, 94f
SER A11 [c.1985]
Combined index by C.J. Sergeant of places in Co Durham and then Northumberland in A1-10.
Paper, 3f
Transcripts of Easington records and oral historyReference: SER BDates of creation: [1969]
Transcripts of Easington records and secondary sources, and of oral history interviews with Easington residents, made in Neville's Cross College Durham grey soft-backed notebooks, numbered 1-5, from Thomas Wyatt & Son, Manchester, each with
C.J. Sergeant's name and the motto “And some to work, and some to play” on the front.
SER B1 [?1969]
Transcript of Easington Parochial School log book 1865-1877.
Paper book, 32f
SER B2 [?1969]
Transcript of Easington Parochial School log book 1877-1906.
Paper book, 32f
SER B3 [1969]
Transcript of Easington Parochial School log book 1907-1939; transcripts of oral history interviews with [Easington residents]; transcript of Easington CE Infant School log book 1907-1921.
Paper book, 32f
SER B4 [1969]
Notes on Assignment Mathematics cards; notes on Easington history from Fordyce's
History of Durham and C.W. Clarke's Farewell Squalor; transcripts of oral history interviews with [Easington residents]; notes from James Duncan's The Story of
Easington Church.
Paper book, 32f
SER B5 [?1969]
“Processional Tutelage” , poem by C.J. Sergeant about Easington; transcripts of oral history interviews with [Easington residents]; notes from the Easington Board of Guardians books 1837-1864; notes re Archdeacon
Prosser; quotation from Abraham Lincoln; treatise on education. Half the book is unused.
Paper book, 32f
Photocopies of Sergeant Family DocumentsReference: SER C
Copies of documents detailing the careers and activities of his father, grandfather and other relatives, and himself,
SER C1 [c.1986]
Newspaper cuttings (mostly photocopies with a few originals) and some photocopies of other sources re the Sergeant family of Tynemouth and Easington, 1824-1986, but mostly 20th century. With a list of contents and an index by C.J. Sergeant. Items
numbered Pr 1-94.
Paper file, 94 items mounted on 44p +3f
SER C2 [c.1986]
Photocopies of certificates, letters, bills, receipts, passports and other papers and memorabilia about the Sergeant and Young families, especially C.J. Sergeant's grandfather Archibald Joseph Sergeant and mother Augusta Veronica Maria Young,
1871-1986. With a list of contents by C.J. Sergeant. Items numbered Sgt 95-151.
Paper file
SER C3 [c.1986]
Photocopies of certificates, letters, bills, receipts, passports and other papers and memorabilia about the Sergeant and Young families, especially C.J. Sergeant's father Archibald John Sergeant and the dispute over the supply of electricity to
their home Holmlea in Easington, 1903-1983. With a list of contents by C.J. Sergeant. Items numbered Sgt 152-211.
Paper file
SER C4 [c.1986]
Photocopies of certificates, letters, bills, receipts, passports, photographs and other papers and memorabilia about the Sergeant family, especially Christopher John Sergeant 1935-1986, and his teaching career, with pedigrees of the Hair
1680-1900, Park 1695-1935 and Thompson of Mickley 1710-1812 families. With a list of contents by C.J. Sergeant. Items numbered Sgt 212-266 & 277-282.
Paper file
SER C5 [c.1986]
Photocopies of documents concerning water and especially electricity supplies, REME matters, correspondence of the family re Holmlea and the dispute particularly with NEEB over the cost of supplying electricity 1956-1986 and some family memoirs;
including also the originals of: Archibald John Sergeant's mathematics notebook (DPD16) and the back cover and flyleaf of a Gurr family of South Shields SPCK [bible] with details of family births and deaths 1813-1919 (DPD 64). With a list of
contents by C.J. Sergeant. Items numbered DPD 1-64, AJS 1-115 (with gaps) and others, with the file and list not always in alphanumeric order.
Paper file
SER C6 1968 - 1992
Newspaper cuttings about “people who affected the Sergeant's of Easington”, including national and local politicians, and local figures, some with annotations. With a list of contents by C.J. Sergeant. Items
numbered EV 1-73.
Paper file, 73 items mounted on magazine pages
SER C7 [?c.2010]
Notes on Archibald Joseph, Archibald John and Christopher John Sergeant, with a “Valedictory” expressing strong views about politicians, officials and utilities.
Paper, 2f
SER C8 [?c.2010]
List by C.J. Sergeant of the War Office papers of his father Major Archibald John Sergeant 1942-1948 “which some, how slipped passed being burn when he burned all his confidential secret papers from when he worked in War
Office”, also noted as held in Northumberlad Record Office, numbered WO 1-109.
Paper, 1f
Printed BooksReference: SER DSER D1 [c.1880]
M[aria] V.G. H[avergal],
Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal (London, James Nisbet & Co. Ltd).
Paper book, viii + 392p + frontispiece
SER D2 [c.1880]
The poetical works of Frances Ridley Havergal, with a preface by Maria V.G. Havergal (London, James Nisbet & Co Ltd).
Paper book, xxiv + 854p [p.i-iv missing]
SER D3 1904
Annie E. Ridley,
A backward glance. The story of John Ridley a pioneer (London, James Clarke & Co).
At p.i is a manuscript note by C.J. Sergeant relating to Annie E. Ridley and John Ridley.
Paper book, viii + 446p
SER D4 1986
Xher [Christopher] John Sergeant,
Memsahib to martyr. Mum's memorabilia of the British in India (privately published), with BW photographs and drawings
Paper booklet, 32p
SER D5 1811
A historical and descriptive view of the county of Northumberland, and of the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne, with Berwick upon Tweed, and other celebrated places on the Scottish border. Comprehending the various
subjects of natural, civil, and ecclesiastical geography, agriculture, mines, manufactures, trade, commerce, buildings, antiquities, curiosities, public institutions, population, customs, biography, local history, &c. Carefully collected from
personal research, original communications, and works of undoubted authority, vol. 1, (Newcastle-upon-Tyne : printed and published by Mackenzie & Dent, St. Nicholas' Church-yard. Sold also by Craddock & Joy, London, and by all the
respectable booksellers in the north of England)
On the inside front cover: “Robert Park Howdonpans Near North Shields August 6 1820 The liberties of Europe rested by the united Efforts of England and her august allies the preliminaries of peace signed May 30th
1814” and (in another hand) “John Hair”
On the inside back cover: “John & A. Hair Book”
Paper book, 2+ xxiv + 782p, in brown cloth over boards, damaged with covers deatched and the text block in several parts
