| Description | Summary
BUSINESS RECORDS
Thames Navigation work: accounts of work done, 1787-1801, 1821-1862; labour accounts, 1824-1833; memoranda and accounts for materials, 1825-1858; order book, 1840-1852; plans, specifications and estimates for work at Bray, c.1844-1845, at Clewer, 1820-1826, at Cookham, 1829-1839, at Ray Mill, Cookham, 1828-1829, at Noah's Ark, Fyfield, 1800, at Reading, 1837-1861, at Ruscombe, n.d., at Sandford, 1831-1850, at Sonning, 1827, at Chalmer Hole, Wallingford, c.1837, at Windsor, 1848, at Old Windsor, 1821-1836, at Seacourt, Wytham, n.d., at Boveney, Bucks, 1827-1839, at Marlow, Bucks, 1825-1827, at Clifton Hampden, Oxon, 1822-1823, at Cleeve, Goring, Oxon, n.d., at Culham, Oxon, 1824, at Radcot, Oxon, n.d., at Marsh Pound and New Mills, Henley, Oxon, 1842-1845, at Iffley, Oxon, 1862, at Oxford, 1820s-1852, at Nuneham, Oxon, 1852, at Shiplake, Oxon 1827-1862, and at Egham, Surrey, 1817; correspondence, 1815-1862, 1866; reports, surveys, notes and measurements, 1791-1861, register of barges, 1812; terriers, 1819, 1842; printed rules and regulations, 1804-1842; printed objections of Commissioners to canals, etc, 1811-1825; orders to surveyor, 1836-1839; annual statements of accounts, 1840-1855, 1860; inventories of materials, etc, 1840, 1849; printed accounts of Cookham and Hurley tithe commissioners, 1843; schedule of plans in possession of George Treacher, 1845; memo re repairs in hand, 1847-1849; report of sub-committee for sale of Sutton Lock, 1845; report on survey of 6th District, 1853; schedule of alterations in duties and salaries of lock keepers and ferrymen, 1854; lists of Thames Commissioners, n.d.; survey of tolls, n.d.; toll collection accounts, 1788-1800, 1854-1862; toll, rent and miscellaneous receipts, 1795, 1824, 1849-1863; printed plan of navigation of Thames and Isis, n.d. [1791-1809]; map of projected railways, 1846; newspapers, 1851-1865; miscellaneous, 1792-1862.
Bridges: elevations, accounts and receipts for building Wallingford Bridge, 1810-1813; estimate, accounts and bill for bridge over turnpike road at Aldermaston, 1814-1815; estimate and accounts for repairing Brick Bridge, White Waltham, 1814-1816; estimate, specifications, plans and accounts for repairing and rebuilding Folly Bridge, Oxford, 1814-1824; contract, specification, estimates, accounts and correspondence re repair of Caversham Bridge, 1815-1816; copy bill for work on Berkshire county bridges, 1813-1824; specification, plans etc for [building] Twyford Bridge, 1829-1831; receipt for repairing bridge near Sindlesham Mill, 1835; specifications, estimates, correspondence and plans for building Streatley Bridge, 1836-1838; estimates, correspondence and papers re building and repairing Cookham Bridge, 1836-1861; lists of Oxfordshire county bridges, 1845-1860; letters and reports on Marlow Bridge, Bucks, 1861; estimates for bridge at Holyport, Bray, n.d.; estimate and specification for bridge at Warfield Grove, n.d.; plans of Whitchurch Bridge, 1792-3; estimate for King's Bridge, Wokingham, n.d.; plans for bridge between Datchet road and Windsor Home Park, n.d.; plan of Henley Bridge, 1793; plans of Blacknest Bridge, Sunninghill, c.1800; elevation of Dorchester Bridge, Oxon
Other clients: general accounts, 1770-1786; specification, plans and tenders for Hungerford church tower, 1812; accounts and correspondence for work for Bray Drainage Commissioners, 1820-1823; plan of Mr Thryvet's house, Sonning, 1822; correspondence with committee overseeing formation of waterways under embankment of Great Western Railway at Maidenhead, 1837-1838; papers re proposed Windsor, Slough and Staines Atmospheric Railway, 1846-1849; correspondence, reports and estimates re Oxford Valley Outfall Committee, 1853; copy report on Trill Mill Stream, Oxford, 1862; miscellaneous, 1789-1854
OFFICIAL RECORDS
Sonning parish records: case of vicar re payments due from rectory, 1721; correspondence re tithes, 1783-1784; letter re parish administration, 1791; poor rate assessments : Sonning town, 1778, 1785, 1818-1826; voluntary subscription and accounts, 1820; notices re county rate, 1823, 1841; overseers' accounts : Sonning town, 1818-1829, 1840-1841; settlement examination, 1822; removal orders, 1822-1823; letter re foundling, 18c.; overseers' correspondence and papers, 1819-1829; appointments of Treacher family members as overseers, 1825-1840; constable's account : Sonning town, Woodley and Sandford, 1821-1822; Clifford's charity accounts, 1825
Sonning hundred: correspondence as high constable, 1821
Polehampton charity: letter re appropriation, 1878
PRIVATE PAPERS: memorandum book of John (senior) and George Treacher, 1789-1815, including account of James Treacher's voyage to Jamaica, 1814-1815; letters to George Treacher from his father, 1836; letter on death of John Treacher, 1836; poultry accounts, 1834-1836; electoral register : Broad Hinton, 1859; diary of John Treacher, 1837-1842; gardening accounts, 1842-1846; papers of Llewellyn Treacher (mostly historical notes), c.1901-1918
MISCELLANEOUS: receipt to Receiver General of Bucks, 1662/3; probate of William Mount of Kent, 1736; letter from Thomas Cobb, 1787; acts of parliament, 1801-1906; Jamaica Supplement to the Cornwall Chronicle, 1814; terrier of South Stoke, Oxon, 1819; sale catalogue of land in Twyford, 1839; print of Windsor Castle, 1850s; report on Ruscombe church, 1877; miscellaneous, 1819-1922. |
| Admin History | The papers of the Treacher family are of particular importance for the history of the Thames Navigation, as successive generations of Treachers served as surveyor and in other posts for almost ninety years, including the years of the Thames' greatest commercial use, and were responsible for building many of the pound-locks on the upper Thames. The first John Treacher (1736-1802) was a carpenter from Sonning, whose relative lack of education is evident from his handwriting and eccentric spelling. His first work for the Thames Navigation came in 1773; and from c.1786 he was put in charge of the lock-building programme for the river above Reading, under surveyor John Clarke. In 1791 Treacher was appointed General Surveyor for the upper district of the Navigation, and in 1795 he became General Engineer of the whole Navigation.
He died in 1802, and was succeeded in these posts by his son, another John Treacher. In 1821 the administration of the Navigation was reorganised, and Treacher was appointed General Surveyor of the whole Navigation. Between 1813 and 1824 he was also the surveyor of bridges for the county of Berkshire. His son George was a highly skilled builder and engineer, whose work on his own included the building of Hungerford church tower in 1812. In 1824 George was appointed assistant surveyor to the Thames Navigation, and when his father died in 1836, he was the obvious choice to succeed him as general surveyor. In 1856 he also became general receiver (of tolls etc) for the Commission. He resigned in October 1862 due to illness apparently caused by stress, and died early in 1863. This was the end of the Treachers' long association with the Thames Navigation Commission; descendant Llewellyn Treacher later said 'The family held tight to the commission throughout its existence... Frankly it was disastrous to them'. George Treacher's son John became a market gardener in Twyford, and died in 1907. His son Llewellyn assisted his father, and spent much of this time in amateur historical, geological and archaeological research. Some of his historical notes are found here; the majority of his papers were deposited separately and have been catalogued as D/EX 564.
A brief pedigree can be seen in the record office paper catalogue. |
| Acquisition | Transferred in 1974 (acc. 3487 part); in April 1997 (acc. 6030); and in June 1997 (acc. 6063)
Schedule of accessions:
Acc. 3487: 1/18A, 45-49, 54-58; 1/59/1-2; 1/60-63, 64A, 65-66, 68-71, 71A, 74-106, 110, 112-140, 142-158, 160-201; 2/3A, 5-10, 13A, 15, 17-32, 33A, 34-43; 3/6, 8-9, 13-20; 4/1-41; 5/1-2; 6/1; 7/2-6; 9/1-10; 10/1-16, 18-21
Acc. 6030: 1/1-18, 19-44, 50-53; 1/59/3; 1/64, 67, 72-73, 102-109, 111, 141, 159; 2/1-3, 4, 9A, 11-13, 14, 16, 33; 3/1-5, 7, 10-12; 7/1; 8/2; 10/17
Acc. 6063: 8/1
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