January 2012

Gamekeepers' Deputations, 1734 - 1736

Reference: C/QDG/6

Legislation permitting the killing of game dates back to c 1391. Anyone who held land at a certain value (originally 40 shillings a year) could apply for a licence to shoot game on their land. The qualification allowed a person to have any equipment or animal associated with the chase, such as guns and greyhounds, dogs and ferrets. Anyone who was found possessing hunting accoutrements who was not licensed could be convicted. In addition, anyone caught illegally killing game could be prosecuted at the Quarter Sessions court. This included the killing of deer, hares, rabbits and pigeons.

Owners of estates could appoint a gamekeeper to manage their land for them. The gamekeeper would be permitted to shoot game on the estate; this also included angling and fishing in rivers. The gamekeeper would also be required to manage the stock levels of animals and fish on the land; and would be responsible for stopping poachers.

Gamekeepers’ Deputations was the process by which a gamekeeper was appointed to manage an estate. The names of the gamekeeper had to be registered with the Clerk of the Peace and a record of this registration process would be made at the Quarter Sessions. The gamekeeper would receive a certificate. Only one gamekeeper could be appointed to each manor.

This document records the registration of gamekeepers for a number of different manors in Nottinghamshire and adjacent counties between 1734 and 1736. They include:

• The appointment of Gervas Elliott of Carlton as gamekeeper of the manors of Sir Robert Clifton in the area around Retford, 'to take dogs, guns, bows and greyhounds and seize all nets and angles that shall be found of persons unqualified'
• The appointment of Thomas James, a fisherman of South Collingham, who was made gamekeeper of the manor of south Muskham by Lady Dowager Middleton, Lady of the Manor, 'to kill any sort of Game and seize and destroy all dogs, guns, nets etc'
• The appointment of Joseph Greenfield of Basford as gamekeeper to 'take and seize hares, pheasants and other game' killed in the Duke of Newcastle’s (Thomas Holles) manor and royalty of Basford.

In 1851 the Doncaster, Nottingham and Lincoln Gazette reported a 'desperate and fatal fray' between poachers and gamekeepers at Rufford Abbey. About forty poachers from Sutton-in-Ashfield and Mansfield became embroiled in a struggle with ten gamekeepers, one of whom, William Roberts, later died from his injuries. One of the gamekeepers, Frederick Brock, gave evidence at the inquest. The newspaper report is held at Nottinghamshire Archives (reference: DD/416/3).

See the gamekeepers’ deputations in more detail here [PDF 2711KB]

Read a transcript of the gamekeepers deputations [PDF 23KB]

The Gamekeepers' Deputations are part of the records of the Quarter Sessions. You can find out more about the Quarter Sessions in our Wednesday Workshops: see our Events page for more information.

Do you have a comment or question about this image? Contact us for more information.

Please read our notice relating to copyright.

In order to view the documents linked from this page, you will need Adobe Acrobat reader (for pdf format). You can download this free of charge by going to plug-ins and viewers. Useful information on pdf files and their accessibility is available at: http://access.adobe.com.