The Wilbraham Temple estate was acquired by the Hicks family in 1788, when the property was purchased from Dr. Thomas Watson Ward by Reverend James Hicks. The estate was devised on James Hicks’ death to Edward Simpson, who subsequently took the name Hicks by royal licence in 1835. The Temple remained in the Hicks and Hyde Smith families until its sale in 1980.
The records (R89/88) comprise deeds and estate papers from the 16th to 20th centuries, including papers for areas outside Cambridgeshire largely deriving from Edward Simpson’s legal practice in Birmingham, with some manorial records from the 18th century onwards, and family papers, mostly 19th century.
A brief summary box list with introduction to ‘Hicks papers’ is available for consultation on request, but although some further descriptive work has been undertaken no itemised list or index for the papers is yet available.
No online finding aid is available for this collection