This section deals with records of domestic administration, including accounts, room occupation, furniture, pictures, plate, kitchen, cellar and brewhouse. It also covers official records of the staff (all of whom were designated 'servants' until after 1945). In many cases these records originated in the Bursary but other offices had responsibility for certain areas: for example, the Vice -President had (and still has) responsibility for pictures and plate owned by the college.

9.1 SERVANTS

9.1.1 GENERAL

Waynflete's statutes provided for the appointment of eight principal servants. A manciple or purveyor was to lay in stores of provisions, assisted by an under-manciple. These soon evolved into a steward, manciple and butler. There were also to be a principal cook with two under-cooks, two porters and a groom for the horses. In view of the quasi-monastic nature of the medieval college, all servants were to be male, with the possible exception of a washerwoman (in default of a laundry-man). Payments to the statutory servants were low, but it was accepted that they could add considerably to their income by commission from tradesmen, and from various unofficial perquisites. For a case study of a successful dynasty of college servants see R. W. Sheppard, 'Gunner of Magdalen, Venner of St Mary's: the Genealogy of a Myth' in Oxfordshire Local History, 4, (Spring 1995), 204-41, and The Gunstones of St Clement's: the History of a Dynasty of College Servants at Magdalen (Magdalen Occasional Papers 6 [2003]).

The College needed many servants other than the statutory few, to look after the buildings and gardens, to help in the bursary, chapel, library and kitchen, wait at table and act as valets for the fellows and undergraduates. The latter at first brought with them their own servants, and poor students could earn money as servitors, but by 1800 the category of male bedmakers, commonly known as scouts, had become an indispensable part of College life. By 1861, if not earlier, they were assisted by women cleaners, later called charwomen. For the scouts see Christopher Platt, The Most Obliging Man in Europe: the Life and Times of the Oxford Scout (London: Allen & Unwin, 1986).

There are no registers of servants comparable with those for the members of the College, and many have left no trace in the records. However, the names of the statutory servants (with the clerk of accounts and notary) are listed in the 'Famuli' section of the Libri Computi (see Section 8.1.2), which go up to 1883. Many other names can be found in the Libri Computi under the sub-headings of chapel, library, gardens and so on. The death of a long-serving servant is occasionally mentioned in the Vice-President's registers (see chapter 4, section 1/1), and the leading servants sometimes occupied College houses and can be traced through the lease registers (EL/ series) if the name is known. From 1883 the accounting system was changed, and it becomes easier to trace the servants and their duties.

College servants are discussed further in L. W. B. Brockliss (ed.), Magdalen College Oxford: A History (Oxford, 2008).

9.1.2 BONDS TAKEN ON APPOINTMENT

EP/219/1-5 Indentures between sacristan and President on entering office (1481-1522)

EP/107/14 Bond on appointment of manciple (1686**)**

EP/108/16 Bond on appointment of cook (1686)

EP/107/8 Bond on appointment of manciple (1705)

9.1.3 SERVANTS' COMMITTEE MINUTES

CP/9/24/i-ii Minute books (1886-1940)

See also CP/2/63: composite volume of minutes and reports including 'Servants' their salaries and perquisites', late 19th cent.

9.1.4 SERVANTS' ACCOUNTS

CP/2/48 Bedmakers' wages accounts (1855-85)

AO/7/1-2 Servants' and tradesmen's ledgers (1889-1947)

AO/30/1-5 Weekly wages accounts with signed receipts (1908-46)

AO/31/1-4 Monthly wages accounts with signed receipts (1891-1946)

See also LCE/ series (Libri Computi, 1481-1883)

9.1.5 SERVANTS' PENSIONS

AO/26/1 Register of deferred annuities for servants (and others) from 1920s

AO/76 Annuities (22) include Lay Clerks and Fellows (1919-69)

Note: for rules of the servants' pension scheme for deferred life annuities see A0/31/1

9.1.6 CORRESPONDENCE

CP/9/46 Letter concerning the need to replace an unsatisfactory manciple (n.d. [1858])

CS/24 Bedmakers' petition that their stipends are inadequate (n.d. [?late 19th cent.])

MS 704 Letters concerning college bellringers (1890s**)**

9.1.7 SERVANTS' CLUBS

O6 Records of MC Servants Cricket Club (1849-1953)

O7 Records of OU and Colleges' Servants' Rowing Club (c. 1950)

AO/32/1 College Clubs' rough cash book (1930-47)

9.2 KITCHEN, BUTTERY AND CELLAR ACCOUNTS

9.2.1 ACCOUNT OF BAKEHOUSE, BREWHOUSE AND LARDER

A single roll survives from what was probably as annual series. See Woolgar, 'Catalogue',p.224.

EP/180/2 Account roll (1483-4)

9.2.2 LIBRI PROMI

Stewards' and manciples' household accounts. See Woolgar, 'Catalogue', p.230

LP/1-12 Libri Promi (1701-1883)

9.2.3 LIBRI EXPENSARUM

Only one liber expensarum is extant, relating to three out of four terms in an unknown year, possibly from the 1560s. The gatherings contain weekly accounts of billae promi, for domestic expenditure on bread, food, drink, fuel and the amount remaining in store, with some separate accounts for meat and fish consumed. See Woolgar, 'Catalogue', p.225.

EP/254/6 Liber expensarum, 3 gatherings (n.d. [c. 1540-70])

9.2.4 REGISTERS OF BATELLS, KITCHEN AND BUTTERY EXPENSES

Registers of weekly accounts for batells and for kitchen and buttery expenses. See Woolgar. 'Catalogue', p.232.

BKB/1-12 Registers (1753-1806)

9.2.5 DAILY MEAL ACCOUNTS

Woolgar's 'Catalogue', p. 232, lists only one of the two extant volumes.

DMA/1-2 Daily meal accounts (1853-8)

9.2.6 CELLAR ACCOUNTS

The fine cellars under New Buildings (built in the 1730s) are an indication of the importance of wine in college life. Besides the accounts listed here, see the Libri Computi (LCE/), or annual account books, and day books. After 1883, see the Home Account books.

CP/2/46 Candle and wine acct book (1763-6)

CP/2/47 Wine account book (1763-1880)

O1/F6/1 Account of wine received, with correspondence and estimates concerning wine purchases (c. 1870-1914)

MS 750 Account of wine money paid by tenants and bailiffs (n.d.)

9.2.7 MANCIPLES ACCOUNTS

CP/2/25 Manciple's accounts and memoranda (1823-56)

9.2.8 TRADESMEN'S ACCOUNTS

AO/7/1 Servants' and tradesmen's ledgers (1889-1947)

AO/29/1-3 Analysis of quarterly bills from tradesmen (1889-1945)

9.3 KITCHEN, CELLAR AND BREHOUSE ADMINISTRATION

9.3.1 CHEF'S RECORDS

CP/2/42-44 Hall dinner books, with menus, names of those holding private dinner parties (1933-4; 1938-9; and 1941-4)

9.3.2 CELLAR AND BREWHOUSE RECORDS

Macray, Register V, 35, records the building of a brewhouse in 1802-4, and the discontinuing of proof brewing in 1861, except for a sufficient quantity for the High Table and Masters.

CP/2/22 Cellar book of wines added or withdrawn (1860-1914)

CP/2/16 Brewer's book (1825-71)

CP/2/59 Brewer's/beer book (1872-90)

See also CP/2/63: composite volume of minutes and reports, 1852-82; subjects include 'brewing'.

9.4 ROOM LISTS AND FURNISHINGS

9.4.1 ROOM LISTS

CP/2/60 Room allocation registers with names of occupants. 3 vols. Indexed (1867-1930)

See also CP/2/63, composite volume of minutes and reports, 1852-82: subjects include 'undergraduate rooms'

9.4.2 INVENTORIES AND VALUATIONS OF FURNITURE AND GOODS

Some of the furniture in the President's Lodgings belonged to the College, and inventories were taken from time to time.

CS/1/2 Valuation of goods including furnishings for Lodgings (1589)

CS/36/4 Inventory of the 'household stuff' of President Bond (c. 1589-1608)

CS/37/6 Inventories (3) of goods in the Lodgings (c. 1554-1667)

CP/2/37 Inventory of goods in the Lodgings (1667)

CP/2/38 Inventory of College goods in chapel, bursary buttery, kitchen and stables, and inventory of pewter (1659-87)

CP/2/39 Inventory of goods and linen in the Lodgings (n.d. [17th cent.])

CS/37/1 Inventories of linen in the Lodgings (1745, 1791)

CP/2/51 [Includes] inventory of goods in Lodgings (1792)

CP/2/53 Ditto (1856)

9.5 PICTURES

9.5.1 GENERAL

Pictures and other works of art are the responsibility of the Vice-President, who maintains a list which includes paintings, engravings, sculpture, tapestries, relics of the Founder* and other artefacts. Access to this is restricted but the archivist can extract some information for researchers. The list is not concerned with provenance, which can sometimes be established from College Orders, accounts, or labels on the objects. Macray's Register can sometimes be helpful. The portraits were listed in Poole, Catalogue of Portraits, vol. 2, 208-42.

* Surviving relics are the buskins and stockings of the Founder. Waynflete's mitre and pastoral staff were removed by the Parliamentary messenger as 'popish' in 1646.

9.5.2 INVENTORIES AND VALUATIONS

F35/MS2/3 Günther's catalogue of pictures (1901)

CP/2/41 Inventory and valuation of pictures, furnishings and effects (1942)

PRC/1/5 File on portraits (1931-3)

PRC/2/5 President's file on pictures and tapestries [restricted access] (1927-72)

9.5.3 PICTURES AND DRAWINGS IN THE ARCHIVES

(Excluding architectural and topographical drawings, and portraits of Fellows etc.)

MS 686 Bound volume of watercolours and text 'On sunsets' by the Revd. William Gilpin (1724-1804)

A/10/3 Watercolour, 'Deer Coming in across the March' by V. Balfour Browne (C. 1898-1902) (1922)

9.5.4 PHOTOGRAPHS

There are only a few photographs of College pictures and works of art in the archives. Some images are listed in the the B/ and PH/ collections.

9.6 PLATE

9.6.1 GENERAL

Provenance of the College plate is derived mainly from inscriptions, although inventories of plate sometimes name donors and the Libri Computi (annual accounts) occasionally mention sales of donated plate: for instance, in 1594. The College plate is in the care of the Vice-President.

A list of donors' plate is published in in Macray's Register, vol. 3 (1901), Appendix 3, pp. 207-61; there is an ms version in CS/30. The most complete published list is that of E. Alfred Jones, _Catalogue of the Plate of Magdalen College, Oxford (_London: Humphrey Milford for Oxford University Press, 1940), which has illustrations and an index of donors.

Most of the surviving plate has been given since 1590. Some of the chapel plate was disposed of in 1563 and other items were sold in 1594. The president and Fellows agreeed to give the College plate to Charles I in 1642, but managed instead to raise £1,000 for him by borrowing. In 1643, however, the King asked for the 'loan' of the plate, and this time all was sent except for the chapel plate and the Founder's mitre and crozier. The Founder's mitre and crozier were confiscated by the parliamentary messenger as 'Popish', in 1646; attempts to recover these relics were unavailing. President Frewen, however, redeemed and restored to the College the 'Magdalen Bowl', which is a gilt bowl surmounted by a figure of Mary Magdalen, now known as the Founder's Cup. John Hayward's article on 'The Tudor Plate of Magdalen College, Oxford', The Burlington Magazine, 125 (May, 1983), 260-5, takes account of documents not seen by Jones, which relate to the Founder's Cup. The standard work on early plate is Philippa Glanville, Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England: A Social History and Catalogue of the National Collection (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996). See also Helen Clifford, 'The Secret Life of Magdalen College Silver', Magdalen College Record (1996), pp. 73-5.

From 1659 the plate is well documented in inventories and plate books.

9.6.2 REGISTERS OF PLATE

CP/2/27 Volume titled (a) 'An Inventory of the Colledge Plate' and later (b) 'College Plate 1650'. Includes a list of plate given or bought, 1650-59 (1659-66)

CP/2/38 Volume titled 'Inventory of all the Colledge goods…' continues as a plate book (1672-87)

CP/2/29 Volume titled 'College Plate-1743' relates to the years 1688-1721

CP/2/28 Volume titled 'College Plate 1717-18' relates to 1718-41

CP/2/30 Volume titled 'Magd.Coll. Plate Book 1834' and inside: 'The Vice-President's Book' (1834-71)

9.6.3 INVENTORIES OF PLATE

For the inventory in B. M. Harl. MSS 4240 see Jones, Catalogue, p. 92. Inventories dated 1590-1685 are transcribed in Macray, Register, 3, Appendix 2, pp. 197-206 and in Jones, Catalogue, pp. 92-103.

MS 250 Inventory of plate (1516)

EP/197/16 Inventory of plate 'remaining in custody' (1572-3)

EP/198/3 Inventory of plate (1576-7)

CS/1/1 Note of plate in President's custody (1580)

EP/198/8 Inventory of plate in the buttery (1584)

CS/1/2,10 Valuation of plate bought and sold (1589)

CS/1/9 Inventory of President's plate (n.d. [16th cent.])

LCD/2 Liber Computi volume includes inventory of buttery plate (1602)

CP/2/27 Record of plate bought and given (1650-66)

CP/2/28 Record of College plate (1717-41)

CP/2/31 Printed inventory of plate (1874)

CP/2/32 Ditto (1895)

CP/2/53 List of plate (loose in a/c volume) (n.d. [19th cent.])

CP/2/33 Ditto (1929)

CP/2/34 Ts inventory of plate prepared for insurance purposes by Messrs Walford & Spokes, Oxford (1913; with loose papers to 1928)

CP/2/35 Ts inventory (1949)

9.6.4 ACCOUNTS AND VALUATIONS

CS/1/2 Valuation of plate bought and sold (1589; (see also related note, CS/1/10)

CS/1/3 Receipt for the Magdalen Bowl (for melting down) (19 Jan 1642/3)

9.6.5 CORRESPONDENCE

EP/144/40 Letter from William Browne concerning plate sent to Dr John Dale n.d. (c. 1660)

EP/144/39 Letter from John Dale concerning plate pawned by him (1661) [ts available in Hayward's article in Burlington Magazine, May 1983]

CS/1/4-7 Correspondence concerning donations of plate (Digby, Plummer, Tounson, Speed) (1673-82)

CP/9/62 Letter from R. T. Günther (1907)

CP/2/34 Loose papers in plate book include corr.regarding the Monteith Bowl and Prince of Wales's cup (1915-28)

9.6.6 OTHER PAPERS

VP1/A1/1 Vice-President's Register containing copies of letters temp. Civil War, concerning plate (1547-1686)

CS/1/8 Accepted Frewen's memorandum relating how he bought back the Magdalen Bowl (n.d. [17th cent.])

CP/9/25 Memoranda book with notes on plate (1852-8)

CP/9/62 Notes on plate by R. T. Günther (c. 1907**)**

VP3/C1/1 Vice-President's file on plate, including photographs (1939-61)

9.7 LODGE

CP/9/60/8 List of messenger's duties (n.d. [20th cent.])

See also now HP.