Early eighteenth-century manuscript list of 72 men and women to be given gloves and hatbands at the funeral of Benjamin Adams of Northumberland.

On both sides of a piece of 8vo paper, folded vertically to make a bifolium with 31 x 9.5 cm leaves. In fair condition, aged, worn and with a short central closed tear unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. Docketed 'Acct. of the Funeral of [blank'], and elsewhere in another hand 'Benja Adams | Benja Adams'. A total of 78 individuals are named (including six deleted) over three narrow pages, with 32 (including three deleted) on the first page, 6 on the second, and 40 (including three deleted) on the third. The document derives from the papers of Benjamin Adams's descendant, the Alnwick solicitor Thomas Adams. Several of the individuals are known to have come from Northumberland, including 'Edward Cook, Togston', Cuthbert Chessman (d.1729), Barbary Milburne (1705-1787). Others in the list include: 'Consellor Cook', Joseph Yellowby, Anne Patrick, Anne Claxton, Gilbert Park, John and Edward Archbold, Martin Milburne, William Milburne, John Chessman, Thomas Ogle, Henry Whitehead. The bottom half of the second page is filled with calculations. The list begins: 'John Weall, gloves | George Burrell, gloves | Mr Harley, Hatband, [the words 'and gloves' deleted | Mr Richardson Hatband, [the words 'and gloves' deleted]'. The distributing of gloves at a funeral by the family of the deceased was a widespread practice in early eighteenth-century Britain and North America. For more information on the subject, see the paper 'The Handsome Tokens of a Funeral: Glove-Giving and the Large Funeral in Eighteenth-Century New England', Steven C. Bullock and Sheila McIntyre, William and Mary Quarterly, April 2012.