This blog post was written based on research during the ‘Interpreting Kiplin for 400’ project, a National Lottery Heritage Fund project with thanks to National Lottery players. This post is part of a collection of posts on various themes being published during December 2024.

George Crowe (1719-1782) was Kiplin’s owner for just six years between 1776 to 1782. He was the younger son of Christopher Crowe the Elder (1682-1749), and inherited Kiplin following the death of his older brother, Christopher Crowe the Younger (1716 – 1776). The Kiplin estate had expanded steadily under the ownership of the two Christophers, with the purchase of land and manors at Ellerton on Swale and Tunstall in 1724, and at Bolton on Swale and Scorton in the mid century. However, when George took over Kiplin in 1776 the expansion of the estate came to a halt. In the past, this has led to the suspicion that George had run into financial difficulties, with funds being diverted from Kiplin into other enterprises.1  But how true is this? 

As a younger son, George would have had no expectation of inheriting Kiplin. Therefore, as a member of a middle ranking gentry family, he would have needed to seek his fortune in other ways.  It would appear that, like his father, he was intent on a business career. In 1752 he is found entering a trading partnership in London with two foreign merchants, Christian Gottlieb Moser originally from Dresden but now identified as a merchant of London, and Gaspard Sollicoffre from Marseilles2.  This would appear to have been an ambitious commercial venture as Sollicoffre came from a distinguished Swiss mercantile family.  Originally from St Gall in Switzerland, the Sollicoffre family had also established itself in Marseilles during the 17th century.  They were venture capitalists, or negociants, providing the finance for a range of companies, which included silk weaving mills and hose manufacturers3.  The main interest of the Sollicoffre firm was trade which might involve “oils, cottons, wools, leather from Tunisia, materials necessary for industry, iron from Russia”4. George’s father, Christopher Crowe the Elder, had dealings with Tobias Sollicoffre during his time as British consul in Livorno5.  They were a family with international ambitions and may well have had a London base – Tobias Sollicoffre’s marriage to Katarina van Genue had taken place in the City of London6.  A member of the same family, John Leonard Sollicoffre, had been appointed as Britain’s Vice Consul at Tetuan (now Tétouan) in Morocco in 17317. 

Eighteenth century commerce was a perilous world and Gaspard Sollicoffre’s firm of G and N Sollicoffre went bankrupt in 17388.  This did not appear to create insurmountable difficulties as fourteen years later we find Gaspard entering into the agreement with George Crowe and Christian Gottlieb Moser. In the terms of the agreement, Crowe agreed to be “partners in trade” with Moser and Sollicoffre for ten years9.  The firm would initially be known as George Crowe and Co, and would operate from Crowe’s London house in the smart and recently constructed Broad Street Buildings in the parish of St Botolph Without in Bishopsgate. Crowe invested £1500 at 5% interest.  

Further research may be able to establish more detail about the fortunes of the company. So far the evidence is limited.  We know that in 1751 Crowe had a ship, The Amity’s Assistance, in London bound for the Mediterranean with a cargo of corn, and he appeared reluctant to pay the mooring fee of 10 guineas a tide10.  In 1752, Crowe and Sollicoffre were in the Court of Chancery pleading to recover costs from a George Coade and John Beart11.  In any case, by 1762 when the partnership is wound up, the firm does not appear to have proved financially successful.12  By this time, Gaspard Sollicoffre had died but his widow was listed as one of the many creditors to whom Crowe and Moser were in debt to, “by reason of several loses and misfortunes in trade”.  They were not “at present able to pay and satisfy their creditors”. It appears that more than £10,000 was owed when the partnership dissolved13.  Clearly this was an amount which could have serious consequences for the family estate. 

Around the same time, George Crowe was heavily involved in the ultimately fruitless attempt to improve the navigation of the nearby River Swale and Bedale Beck.  He appears to have been one of the landlords keen to promote the Act of Parliament in 1767. He also may have been a commissioner, and almost certainly put up significant sums of money.  In 1767, the Commissioners appointed him to be chairman of a new committee to oversee the work of the contractors and the accounts, as misgivings about the progress of the venture were gathering.  By 1769 costs were escalating and it was deemed necessary to raise a subscription for a further £20,000.  Crowe was responsible for drafting the bill to present to Parliament.  A House of Lords report into the scheme states that “sums have nearly exhausted towards effecting the purposes of monies … the monies borrowed will not be sufficient to carry on and complete the said works which are now at a stand”.  It adds worryingly that the investors “are in danger of losing their money”14.    

Work proceeded intermittently until 1772, then appears to have petered out.  The significant constructions at Linton Lock and Bedale Harbour rapidly fell into disrepair, although today they still provide a glimpse of what might have been.  There is much research still to be done to identify Crowe’s commitment to the scheme and the losses he might have endured, but it clearly contributes to an understanding of why the George Crowe years do not appear to be typical for the steady growth of the Kiplin estate in the eighteenth century. 

If further evidence of Crowe’s plight is required, then it comes in a letter he wrote to his cousin, Lord Litchfield, in 176715.  It is a somewhat embittered appeal for patronage on the grounds that he had been promised a place on the civil list by Lord R (Rockingham?) but seems to have been forgotten, “I know not by what ill fates”.  Litchfield had previously used his influence to secure Crowe the Comptrollership in the Exchequer Bill Office, but Lord R had apparently promised “unask’d at York” to George’s brother that George would gain a preferment worth £350 per annum.  It seems that George had actually been snubbed by Lord R; “never… since my return from London has [he] taken the least notice of me”.  

It would seem that the death of George’s brother, Christopher Crowe the Younger, in 1776 may well have been fortuitous for George. It enabled him to inherit the Kiplin estate with its substantial revenues and restore his precarious finances.  While there are no significant land purchases during his ownership, he did at least pass on a flourishing estate to his son Robert in 1782, so perhaps we should be careful not to over exaggerate his financial difficulties.  Further research into the 1761 Chancery case and his commitment to the ill-fated Swale Navigation scheme may shed more light on this in the future. 

(Published Dec 2024) 

Find out more about the ‘Interpreting Kiplin 400’ Project during our Open Days on 13th, 14th and 15th December 2024. BOOK HERE

References  

1. Webster, D and McLuckie, M. 2016. Kiplin Hall: North Yorkshire. Guidebook printed for Kiplin Hall CIO. p31. This information in the guidebook was based on Kiplin Hall and its Families, Connie Schulz. Gordian Print, Middlesbrough, 1994. p 13. 

1. North Yorkshire County Record Office (NYCRO) ZBL Vlll/1/3/1. 

1. Malzac, Louis. Les Zollicoffer de Saint Gall: une famille suisse a Marseilles 1550 – 1750. 

1. Malzac, ibid. 

1. Account Books of Christopher Crowe, 1710 –1715, Kiplin Hall. 

1. Marriage Registers St Gregory by St Paul, London, 1559-1754 Bodleian Library. And at Tobias dit Tobie voire Toby ZOLLIKOFER von Altenklingen (georgische Linie) dit SOLLICOFFRE : Family tree by mercurelesage – Geneanet  Accessed on 20/10/2024. 

1. A List of British Consular Officials in the Ottoman Empire, 1581-1860, David Wilson, 2011,  p.52. Available at ConsulsInTurkey Version3 (levantineheritage.com)  Accessed on 21/10/2024. 

1. Malzac, op cit. 

1. NYCRO ZBL Vlll/1/3/1. 

1. National Archives (NA) ADM 106/1089/247. 

1. NA C11/2146/11. 

1. NYCRO ZBL Vlll/1/3/2. 

1. Schultz, Connie. op cit. 

1. Northallerton and District Local History Society Occasional Paper 15, The Canal Age in the North Riding, by Stephen Hague & Barbara Muirhead February 2017, and The Canals of Yorkshire and North East England, Vol. 1, Charles Hadfield, 1972. 

1. NYCRO ZBL Vlll/1/3/4.