The Langton family moved from Ireland, where
they were landowners, to Cadiz in Spain in the early eighteenth
century. Here the family prospered: they became
very wealthy merchants, were recognised as nobles, and made
advantageous marriages.
However, in 1809, with the Emperor Napoleon of
France invading Spain, most of the family fled from Cadiz and took
refuge in Bath. The head of the family, Miguel, remained in
Spain, but in July 1810, before he could join the others in
Bath, he died in Cadiz.
Miguel's son, Miguel Theobald, spent the
next seven years attempting to realise the family’s assets in Spain
and elsewhere and to share out the proceeds according to his
father’s will. In doing this, he wrote a huge number of
letters which have survived to this day, and are now
among the papers in the Langton collection. They deal with an
enormous range of subjects, and reveal fascinating information
about life at the time, both in Bath and in Cadiz. Most are in
English, but a small number are in Spanish or French.
Read transcripts of the letters here
Find out more about the people, places,
and events mentioned in the letters,
and see explanations of some of the terms
used in the letters.
The reference for the collection is
0770. You can see the full catalogue for the collection in
our
online catalogue - put 0770 in the 'RefNo' box.
A coat of arms from the Langton family
papers
(ref. 0770/2/1/1/4)
A letter from Cadiz addressed to Miguel Theobald
Langton in Bath (ref. 0770/1/2/22).