Saffery-Whitaker Papers, acc. 180, Angus Library

Calendar of the Saffery/Whitaker Papers,

Acc. 180, Angus Library, Oxford

A. Letters (in clear plastic sleeves)

1. 6 Letters: MGS to AW (2 undated):

a. MGS to AW, 19 Nov. 1799 [with a note by John Saffery]

b. MGS to AW, 19 Dec. 1799 [initial part of the letter is missing¾attached note by John Saffery]

c. MGS to AW, 22 May 1800

d. MGS to AW, 24 March 1808 [with a note by John Saffery]

e. MGS to AW, Friday noon, 6 June ?

f. MGS to AW, Wednesday noon ?

2. 16 Letters: AW to MGS, 1810-1830 (11 undated, in poor condition):

a. AW to MGS, 20 October 1810

b. AW to MGS, January 15 1825

c. AW to MGS, 12 April 1827

d. AW to MGS, 11 June 1829

e. AW, Holcombe, to MGS, 24 July 1830

f. AW to MGS, 20 April ?

g. AW to MGS, Sunday evening ?

h. AW to MGS, 23 September ?

i. AW to MGS, Saturday morning?

j. AW to MGS, 17 February ?

k. AW to MGS, undated

l. AW to MGS, undated.

m. AW to MGS, Saturday evening ?

n. AW to MGS, Saturday morning

o. AW to MGS, undated

p. AW to MGS, undated

3. 2 Letters: Harriet Frances Ryland to Maria Saffery, (a.) 20 July 1808 and (b.) 18 January 1811.

4. 1 Letter: John Saffery, Portsea, to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, 28 June 1798 (just after her marriage).

5. 1 Letter: John Saffery, Salisbury, to Philip Whitaker, Bratton, 2 January 1797.

6. 1 Letter: Mrs. Thomas Claypole, Hook Norton, to Anna Jane Whitaker (daughter of Thomas and Caroline Whitaker), Bratton, 20 March 1811.

7. 1 Letter: AW to her daughter-in-law, Maria [Philip Whitaker, Jr’s, wife], 15 March 1860

8. 2 Letters: Edward Whitaker, Grays Inn Square, to his mother, Anne Whitaker, Bratton, 23 April 1829; 31 December 1829.

9. 1 Letter: Emma or Anne Whitaker [Brewer] to Anne Whitaker, Bratton, postmark 21 April 1838.

10. 1 Letter: John Saffery, Salisbury, to the Whitakers, Bratton, Monday evening, undated.

B. Other Loose Materials (in clear plastic sleeves):

1. MS. ‘Poems by Maria Saffery, 1829, 1832.’ [One poem includes a stem of leaves!

2. MS. portion of a Harvest Festival Sermon 1775.

3. MS. notebook kept by possibly Joseph Blatch (not in Attwater’s hand) in which the names and texts of the men who preached at Bratton, 1798-1805, are recorded.

4. MS. notebook that records the names of the individuals and their locations (including London) who gave to the fund for the improvement of the church building at Salisbury, c. 1794. Very important list of names!

5. Inscription from the tomb of Jane and Joseph Blatch, at Bratton Baptist Church Burial yard:

‘The long calm evening of their day, the mutual love which blessed the Christian graces which adorned it, and the bright hope in which it closed, are fresh in the memory of the inhabitants of this village.

Their morning had not been unclouded and the loss of their only and most dear child was at the time an almost overwhelming sorrow - But believing in God through Christ they found that ‘tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope’ and were enabled to afford an example not only of humble resignation to the will of God but of cheerful & Christian contentment. ‘Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God believe also in me’ John XIV. 1.’

C. Other Materials:

1. An envelope marked by Marjorie Reeves as printed material on John Rippon, Joseph Priestley, John Saffery, and William Steadman.

2. A package marked ‘Notes for Sunday School Lessons’ by two members of the Whitaker family, c. 1900.

3. A folder of materials containing notes by Reeves for her articles on John and Maria Saffery for the Dictionary of Evangelical Biography.

4. A small package marked, ‘Chapel Relics,’ collected by Reeves¾not important.

5. A large folio bound volume containing Philip Whitaker’s diary of preachers and texts at the Bratton church, 1786-87. Very interesting book. Includes poem to him by Jane Attwater, his aunt.

6. A collection of notes by Reeves on small cards bound with a rubber band that records the dates various preachers preached in Salisbury (probably taken from Jane Attwater’s diary and Philip Whitaker’s account).

7. Marjorie Reeve’s notes on her presentation about Baptist Churches in Wiltshire.

D. Printed Materials:

1. The Christian: A Sermon delivered at the interment of the late Mrs. Marianna Head, in the Baptist Meeting, Bradford, March 1, 1832. By William Jay. Bath: George Wood, 1833.

2. Sheep Bell & Ploughshare, by Marjorie Reeves.

3. Baptismal Regeneration, its Unscriptural Nature, and Destructive Tendency, by Hugh Anderson (London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co, 1851).

4. A Wiltshire Saga: The Story of Seven Generations of a Wiltshire Farming Family, by Shelagh Bell (n.d.).

5. Wiltshire Dissenters’ Meeting House Certificates and Registrations 1689-1852, edited by J. H. Chandler (Devizes: Wiltshire Record Society, 1985)

6. Twenty Golden Candlesticks! A History of Baptist Nonconformity in Western Wiltshire, by W. Doel (Trowbridge: B. Lansdown & Sons, 1890).

7. ‘A Calm and Thankful Heart,’ an article on Anne Steele in the The Christian Herald, 23 September 1978, by John Wright.