Description:Sir John also received regular correspondence from Reverend George Plaxton, the Chief Agent on the Leveson-Gower estates. These letters refer again to estate business. However, unlike George Cookes’s letters, Plaxton’s letters often inform and advise Sir John about his estates. One letters from Plaxton refers to ‘Proposalls to be made...in relation to Trentham and Barlaston Churches’. Plaxton states that the curacy of Barlaston ‘is in possession of the Gleab Land’, adding that it was given to curate ‘by your Grandfather, and though you have a Right to it, it is not worth contesting’. Plaxton writes ‘you only confirm to the Church that which your Ancestors enjoyd by a strong hand, and by this means yow get 200 li Augmentation to it, and make the Curacy 40 li per annum’. Plaxton’s age and experience, having served as Chief Agent on the Leveson-Gower estates for three generations, meant that he was in a position to effectively inform and advise Sir John about the management of his estates.
Plaxton’s experience is reflected in his correspondence, which is very knowledgeable about the history of the Leveson-Gower estates. In the same letter he informs Sir John about the history of the curacies. He writes ‘Trentham is originally a poor curacy, the House, Orchard, & Croft have been enjoyd, by 6 successive Curates’. Plaxton also advises Sir John about the management of the curacy. He writes: ‘now my Lord you pay to Williams 30 li a yeare, keep him an Horse worth better than 5 li a yeare, a cow all the yeare worth 4 li or 3-10-0 per Annum’. Plaxton suggests that Sir John should cut back his expenses on the curacy, proposing to Sir John that ‘you will pay but 20 li, and cleare your self of Horse, and Cow meat, and other claims, from the incroaching Curate, this is all I have to say, and I hope you will further this good work’.