The Coats Viyella Pension Plan commenced on 1 January 1988 following the merger of 3 major UK textile companies in 1986 - Coats Patons plc, Vantona Viyella plc and the Nottingham Manufacturing Company plc.
The Coats Pension Plan registered office is, Coats plc, Pensions Office, Pacific House, 70 Wellington Street, Glasgow G2 6UB.
The Bedfordshire Pension Fund is managed by the County Council.
The pension scheme is administered by HS Administrative Services Limited
The following companies (some of them with sub-companies) represent the BASF Group in the United Kingdom in 2009: BASF plc, BASF Coatings Ltd, BASF Construction Chemicals (UK) Ltd, BASF IT Services Ltd., BTC Speciality Chemical Distribution Ltd., Elastogran U.K.Ltd., Engelhard Metals Ltd, Engelhard Sales Ltd., Wingas Storage UK Ltd., and Wingas UK Limited.
A detailed history of the Company is available on their website: http://www.basf.co.uk/ecp1/History_UK_Ireland/index (accessed Sept 2009)
The Unilever website provides the following historical information: In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Bros, wrote down his ideas for Sunlight Soap, a revolutionary new product that helped popularise cleanliness and hygiene in Victorian England. Although Unilever wasn't formed until 1930, the companies that joined forces to create the business were already well established before the start of the 20th century.
Unilever's founding companies produced products made of oils and fats, principally soap and margarine. In the 1920s, with businesses expanding fast, companies set up negotiations intending to stop others producing the same types of products. But instead they agreed to merge - and so Unilever was created.
See http://www.unilever.co.uk/aboutus/ourhistory/ for more information.
Shu Pao Lim was born in Burma in the 1920s. In 1942, with her family, Shu Pao fled across the Burmese border into China. After the war, she was awarded a scholarship in the USA. However, in 1959, she decided to move to London, England. At the age of 50, she went to Oxford University and studied Social Administration. In 1979, Camden Council employed Shu Pao as a community worker with the Chinese and in 1982, she set up the Camden Chinese Community Centre. The centre provides various services for the local Chinese community. Shu Pao later founded the Great Wall Society Limited which provides sheltered housing for elderly members of the Chinese community in London. In 1999, she was awarded the MBE.
Islington Chinese Association (ICI) was founded in 1986. The charity originally began in a single room at 70 Bavaria Road. In 1992, they enlarged and moved to 33 Giesbach Road. In October 2008, the charity moved to 21 Hatchard Road, London, N19 4NG.
ICI is committed to providing a variety of services to benefit the community in Islington, in particular the Chinese Community. They offer many classes including art, martial arts, dance, singing, English language, Mandarin and Cantonese. Other services include the elderly group, women and children's group and youth group. The charity also provides welfare advice to the Chinese community.
In 2005, the charity received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
The "Good View Restaurant " was set up by Mr Hau in 1987 as a Chinese take-away.
Mrs Ling was originally from Guangzhou City, China. In 1953, after attending school in Guangzhou, Mrs Ling left China to travel to the UK in order to join her husband who had arrived a few years earlier. She moved in with her in-laws, who owned a small laundrette in Birkenhead, near Liverpool.
In 1954, the Lings closed down the laundrette, opening a small restaurant instead. The restaurant traded for about 5-6 years.
Mrs Ling now lives in Kent.
Thomas Martyn was a wealthy gentleman who lived in Putney in the late 17th century. In his will, made shortly before his death in 1684, he granted his estate to his niece Lucy Cook, with the proviso that if she died without children the proceeds of the estate should be used to endow a school for the sons of watermen. Although Lucy married, she died childless in 1701 and the trustees of the will established a Watermen's School in 1718. Scholars were provided with a uniform and tuition in reading, writing and arithmetic. From 1817 the trustees also provided a sum of money towards the apprenticeship of school leavers, to watermen and other trades. The Watermen's School continued in Putney until its closure in 1911, but the charity, now known as the Thomas Martyn Foundation, still exists as an educational trust making financial grants to the sons and daughters of licensed watermen.
For more details see LMA/4523/06/01/002.
The Society of Pension Consultants (SPC) was formed in 1958 by the Insurance Brokers Organisation and is the representative body in the UK for the providers of advice and services needed to establish and operate occupational and personal pension schemes and related benefit provision. SPC's Members include accounting firms, solicitors, life offices, investment houses, investment performance measurers, consultants and actuaries, independent trustees and external pension administrators. Slightly more than half the Members are consultants and actuaries. The SPC is the only body in the UK to focus on the whole range of pension related functions across the whole range of non-State provision, through such a wide spread of providers of advice and services.
Source of information: www.spc.uk.com.
The Tower Hill Improvement Fund was set up in 1934 to improve the area around Tower Hill. A major influence in the foundation of the Fund was Rev P B ("Tubby") Clayton who, together with Dr B R Leftwich published Pageant of Tower Hill which advocated the removal of certain unsightly buildings from the area. The first president of the Fund was Viscount Wakefield of Hythe. The inaugural meeting of the Fund was held in December 1933 and an office was opened at 29/30 Trinity Square in January 1934. In 1937 the Fund was refounded as a charitable trust and was renamed the Tower Hill Improvement Trust.
The Trust demolished various buildings to make way for gardens and open public spaces. It also established a beach at Tower Hill (opened July 1934; closed 1971). The Trust is now known as the Tower Hill Trust.
Sir John Herbert Parsons was born in 1868 in Bristol. He qualified in medicine in 1892, and became assistant in Department of Physiology at University College, and was engaged in general practice in Finchley. His interest developed in ophthalmology. He gained a position of clinical assistant at Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital (Moorfields Eye Hospital) where he later became curator and librarian. He was elected to surgical staff there in 1904 and continued as consulting surgeon.
He became ophthalmic surgeon to University College Hospital and also Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. He was also a scientist carrying out and producing major research on the physiology of the eye and optics and became a world authority in ophthalmic pathology. Between 1904-1908 his work The Pathology of the Eye was published in four editions, alongside other extensive contributions during his career.
He was based at 26 Bryanston Square, Marylebone, Westminster during 1950s. Parsons died in 1957.
Mrs Dorothea Middleton-Joy, compiler of the scrapbook, lived in Leeds in 1945. A letter of condolence shows she was based at 26 Bryanston Square, London in 1957. She does not appear in the list of attendance at the memorial service.
The Hull Daily News was founded in 1884.
Established in 1978, Clapton Youth Centre was administered by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and managed on a day-to-day basis by Jean Tate (Tutor Warden) with the support of Anslem Samuel (Tutor-in-Charge). With Black young people from the Hackney area comprising the majority of its membership, the Centre developed objectives that included the development of an anti-racist policy, involvement with community and political groups in relation to issues of concern to the Black community, and the encouragement of collective decision-making (members were encouraged to participate in meetings, training, and briefing sessions).
The majority of evening sessions consisted of a variety of activities and classes, including art, dance, photography, sport, sewing, and steelband, while Monday evenings were reserved for girls and women only. Occasional special events held by the Centre included Cultural Open Evenings and an exhibition of photographs taken by members of the Centre. A number of residential Centre Development weekends were held for both staff and members, with the aim of examining the philosophy and strategies of the Centre.
The Centre closed in November 1983 following a dispute between Jean Tate and Anslem Samuel and ILEA regarding the management of the Centre.
The Comforters of Mourners Kindness and Truth Society was founded by Ashkenazi Dutch immigrants in 1853 as a mutual aid and burial society. At first the Society met in small rooms, but as they grew and expanded their activities they purchased a small Baptist church in 1867. The society began to renovate the chapel for use as a synagogue but met with strong opposition from the established synagogues of the East End. Indeed, Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler refused to attend the dedication ceremony.
The chapel entrance was on Artillery Lane, near Bishopsgate. However, it was on the south-east side of the building which is the traditional location of the Torah Ark. The architect blocked up the old door and opened a new one on the opposite side of the building, leading onto Sandy's Row. The interior was modelled on the nearby Great Synagogue in Duke's Place.
The Synagogue was one of the congregations which formed the Federation of Synagogues in 1887, but left the Federation in 1899. It became an Associate of the United Synagogue in 1922, but left in 1949. It is now an independent synagogue.
The company website provides the following history:
Having established a pharmaceutical chemist shop in 1856, Thomas James Smith entered into partnership with his nephew, Horatio Nelson Smith, in 1896 to form T J Smith and Nephew. The pair worked on developing medical dressings and saw their business expand between 1914 and 1918 to meet the needs of the military during the First World War. During the 1920s, the company began to develop Elastoplast plasters and, through subsequent acquisitions, have gone on to occupy a significant position in the medical market. The organisation currently operates four Global Business units across thirty-two countries: Orthopaedic Reconstruction and Trauma; Endoscopy; Advanced Wound Management; and Biologics.
Information available at http://www.global.smith-nephew.com/master/our_history_early_history_6184.htm and http://www.global.smith-nephew.com/master/about_us_what_we_do_1205.htm (accessed October 2010).
The Smith & Nephew UK Pension Fund was established in October 1961, and is open to permanent employees with at least three months service and who are over the age of 21. Benefits of the scheme include life assurance protection, a pension based on final pensionable earnings, and the opportunity to make Additional Voluntary Contributions.
Information taken from Smith and Nephew UK Pension Fund: Your Future Security (LMA/4557/01/002).
The Gulf UK Pension Scheme was available to employees of Eastern Gulf Oil Company Limited, Gulf Oil (Great Britain) Limited, Gulf Oil Refining Limited and London Oil Refining Company Limited. The Scheme was contracted-out of the earnings-related element of the State pension, and was a defined benefits scheme.
Doughty was a pupil at the 'old' College of Dulwich, which his father also served as Assistant Master. He later married Jane Hunter Kerr and became rector of Saint Peter Cornhill, City of London. After his death in 1926, his wife emigrated to Saskatoon, Canada to be with their daughter Janet Hunter Elizabeth Lynch.
Boodle's is a gentlemen's club founded in 1762 by Lord Shelburne (who later became Prime Minister) and other individuals who were opposed to many of the key government policies of the day. They met regularly at a tavern at 49-51 Pall Mall to discuss political issues and exchange ideas. The tavern was owned by the coffee house proprietor William Almack and the principal waiter was Edward Boodle. It is believed at some point Boodle took over the tavern and this is why the club became known as Boodle's.
In 1783, the club moved to 28 Saint James's Street, which was designed by John Crunden in 1775 and originally used by the Savoir Vivre Club. The ground floor was renovated by John Buonarotti Papworth between 1821 and 1834. It has a very fine interior including a beautiful eighteenth century saloon.
Until 1897, Boodle's was a proprietary club meaning it was run for the profit of the owner under the direction of a board of managers. Since 1897, Boodle's has been owned and run by the members.
In the early days, Boodle's was not only a political club but also a place for wining and dining, gaming and betting. In the nineteenth century, the club became less political. The club is now a place where members can meet, dine and engage in social activities.
Members have included David Hume; Adam Smith; Edward Gibbon; William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire; Charles Fox; Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; William Wilberforce; Beau Brummell; Ian Fleming; David Niven; John Profumo and Julian Fellowes. Winston Churchill was an honorary member.
James Hall was a Fellowship Porter of 32 Hollybush Gardens, Bethnal Green. He was born c 1861. A a 'fellowship porter' was a specific class of market porter who was a member of the Fellowship of the Porters of Billingsgate, the fish market.
UBS Global Asset Management is the business division of UBS, a global firm providing financial services to private clients, corporations and institutions. This collection comprises of publications produced by Phillips and Drew, a brokerage company established in 1895 which became a subsidiary of UBS in 1985.
Phillips and Drew were based in London, and although UBS are an international firm they retain offices in Lombard Street, London.
Source of information: www.ubs.com [accessed 6 Jun 2011].
Dyer, Son and Creasey were auctioneers and chartered surveyors. In 1945 they were based at 22 Tranquil Vale, Blackheath, with offices at 24 Budge Row, City of London, and Sidcup, Kent. The partners at the time were W F Dyer, J R Creasey and R D Creasey.
Phillips and Drew (or Phillips & Drew) was a large stockbroking partnership based in the City of London. The firm was established by George Allan Phillips (1862-1914) in the 1890s, initially operating as a sole trader in his own name. Harvey Richard Drew (known as Dick) became Phillips' chief clerk in 1892 and was subsequently made a partner in 1895, with the firm being renamed as G.A. Phillips and Company. The firm became Phillips and Drew in 1905 when Richard Drew's brother Geoffrey became a partner.
Initially Phillips and Drew was a small firm focused on managing the investments of private clients, but was reshaped in the 1940s and 1950s by an actuary, Sidney Perry. Perry joined the firm as a half commission man (i.e. someone whose pay was made up of half the commission they generated through dealing for clients they had introduced to the firm) in 1936. Along with a team he assembled, Perry built up a group of institutional clients, such as insurance companies and pension funds, with a focus on dealing in gilts, which proved highly profitable for the firm. The income from Perry's area of the business began to dwarf that of the other partners, and Perry went onto take ultimate control of the business in 1950, formally becoming senior partner in 1952. By the 1960s Phillips and Drew was one of largest firms of stockbrokers in Britain, with over 200 partners and staff in 1966.
Under Perry Phillips and Drew developed a reputation as a meritocracy, hiring staff by merit without the consideration for where a candidate had been educated or their social connections displayed in many other stockbroking firms. The papers in the collection demonstrate this through the care that was taken in hiring and mentoring staff. The work of Phillips and Drew's research department also enhanced the firm's reputation, and it became known as a scientific stockbroker and a key source of investment analysis and advice. Jonathan Rashleigh, who worked in the research department in the late 1940s and became a partner in 1951, produced a regular half yearly publication 'Selected Industrial Ordinary Shares' which showed the returns on capital employed for leading companies over decade. Rashleigh was also significant in the development of the 'cult of equity' in investment. Phillips and Drew were also innovators in the use of computers to analyse markets and evaluate the prices of stocks and shares. The firm's regular 'Pension Fund Indicators' and annual 'Surveys of Investment Management Arrangements' publications continued this tradition.
In 1984 the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) acquired a 29.9% interest in Phillips and Drew and went on to fully acquire the firm in 1986. By this time Phillips and Drew had a leading share of the UK gilts and fixed-interest markets and was the largest UK broker in convertible stocks and asset management. The company was renamed as UBS Phillips and Drew.
In 1987 UBS Phillips and Drew and County NatWest arranged a £837 million rights issue for one of their clients, Blue Arrow employment agency. To enable it to succeed both companies had to invest heavily in the shares themselves, but a subsequent stock market crash led the share prices to plummet and investors suggested that the companies' advisors had misled them. This led to a Department of Trade and Industry investigation and prosecution of the companies and eleven individuals, including four Phillips and Drew employees, for fraud. The trial of seven of these individuals and the companies became the second longest criminal trial in English history.
Use of the Phillips and Drew name was discontinued by UBS after 1992, but UBS's UK asset management business retained the name as Phillips & Drew Fund Management. This was eventually combined with other asset management firms to form the UBS Global Asset Management division in April 2002.
The firm was managed by its partners, led by the senior partner, and organised into departments such as loans, equity, pension funds, research, gilts and corporate finance. From 1968 the Partnership Policy Committee took a leading role on the firm's policy, and there were a number of other committees which existed to supervise the operation of different areas of the business and the work of specific departments. These included:
the Staff Committee;
the Research and Statistics Committee;
the Computer Committee (previously known as the Premises Sub-committee or Premises (Mechanisation) Committee);
the Office Administration and Accounts Committee, established in Jan 1966, which supervised organisation and methods within the firm particular matters overlapping more than one department of committee or outside their purview, and approved major items of capital expenditure;
the Institutional Clients Committee;
the Managed Funds Committee (established in Nov 1964);
the Investment Record Committee;
the Departmental Research Committee, established in Apr 1968, which issued a bulletin on the Research Department's work; and
the Private Clients Group (established in Feb 1970).
There was also a Sports Committee, set up in January 1963, which oversaw the involvement of teams from the firm in various sporting events.
The company had a number of subsidiaries:
Phillips and Drew Service Company, which ran its administrative services;
Phildrew Nominees Limited, a nominee company;
The Phillips & Drew Pension Fund, formed in 1952;
The Phillips & Drew Service Company Pension Fund, formed in June 1961 and merged with the main company's scheme in 1965; and
Phillips & Drew Pension Fund Trustees Limited, a company limited by guarantee established to hold stocks.
Phillips and Drew were also connected to Throgmorton Management Limited, which was incorporated in 1957 and provided investment advice to trust funds, including a number of pension funds. Throgmorton initially began with the management of Mars pension fund's investments and administration in 1958, and went onto administer John Smith's Tadcaster Pension Fund. Phillips and Drew were involved in setting up the company and provided office accommodation for Throgmorton.
Addresses: 2 St Michael's House, St Michael's Alley, Cornhill (1895); 70 Cornhill (1896- ); 4 Bishopsgate Street Within (1901); Palmerston House, 51 Bishopsgate/34 Old Broad Street (1914-1937); Capel House, New Broad Street (1937-1941); Pinners Hall, Austin Friars (1941-1963); Lee House, London Wall (1963-1982); 120 Moorgate (1982-). (All City of London).
General Office: 1-2 Great Winchester Street (1959); St Alphage House, 2 Fore Street, London Wall (1962 - 1963?); Regent House, 1 Hubert Road, Brentwood (1974).
Jersey Office: 60 Halkett Place, St Helier (1981); 17 Bond Street, St Helier (1984).
New York Office: Tower 56, 126 East 56th Street, New York, United States of America (1984).
Other addresses associated with the firm: Wood Street (1969); Triton Court, Finsbury Square (1984). (All City of London).
Sources: Phillips and Drew: Professionals in the City" by W.J. Reader and David Kynaston; Anecdotal Evidence: An Autobiography by Martin Gibbs; and "150 years of banking tradition" available at http://www.ubs.com/global/en/about_ubs/about_us/history.html (accessed 24th April 2013).
As a district, the London South Methodist District was led by a chairman, who was a member of the Connexional leadership team and was appointed by the bishop for a period of 6 years to act as evangelical leader and district administrator. As administrative unities, districts hold a twice yearly synod, which sets direct policy and defines the boundaries of the district. It also holds a ministerial synod for presbyters and deacons, giving the opportunity for ministerial training. As governor of a number of circuits, the district's purpose is to advance the mission of the church by enabling circuits to work together and support each other as well as to link the Connnexion and circuits, especially in training and to approve applications for grant aid to circuits.
The Methodist Church in Britain began to surface during the 1730s as a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment and its attack on religion. The first London Circuit began in 1765, with districts coming into existence in 1791. The Religious Census of 1851 shows that the Wesleyan Methodist and Primitive Methodist areas had extended from Kensington to Poplar, as well as South of the river from Greenwich to Lambeth and Camberwell. Between 1873 and 1932, the districts and circuits within the London and Middlesex areas were divided between the various different factions of the Methodist Church: the Wesleyan, Primitive and United Methodists. Each faction operated differently until 1932, when the three groups were finally united as the Methodist Church. After this unification, six London districts were created: the London North-East, London North, London North-West, London South-West, London South and the London South East. These were changed in 1957 to four districts (London North-East, London North-West, London South-West, and London South-East), until 2006 when all the Methodist districts in Greater London were merged into one, large London District. The areas which were not part of Greater London were distributed into the appropriate South-England districts of: South-East, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.
http://www.methodistlondon.org.uk/londondistrictmap2010.pdf
http://www.aberdeenmethodist.org.uk/AbriefhistoryofMethodism.pdf
The Pensions Management Institute (PMI), based at Artillery Lane in the City of London, is a professional membership institute providing educational services for those working in the pensions industry. It offers a set of qualifications for pension managers and trustees, training and support services for its members, as well as running two Conferences and producing a number of publications, including PMI News, PMI Technical News and Pensions Terminology. It also produces responses to Government consultative papers, although it is not a lobbying organisation.
Established as the Institute of Pensions Administration in 1975, the Institute was initially sponsored by four pensions industry representative bodies (the National Association of Pension Funds, the Society of Pension Consultants, the Life Offices' Association and the Association of Consulting Actuaries) who each provided four representatives to sit on the Institute's Council. The Institute was incorporated as the Pensions Management Institute in 1976.
The Institute was initially run by a Council and four committees: Constitution and Membership, Education, Public Relations and Finance and Services. Nowadays the Institute is managed by a Board, made up of the President, two Vice Presidents, the Chief Executive and Financial Director. The Advisory Council advise the Board on the strategic direction of the Institute and provide technical input and expertise on industry issues. The Council is now made up of 16 fellows, elected by the members of the Institute. There are also four governance committees - Education, Finance, Membership and Commercial Development - and a number of other committees overseeing the Institute's work.
The Institute's President serves a two year term, and chairs the Institute's Examiner's Liaison, Officers and Disciplinary Committees as well as sitting on the Board and Council. In 2002 a Management Committee was introduced, answering to the Council and chaired by the President. The Management Committee includes three members of the Council and four senior Secretariat members.
The day to day running of the Institute is carried out by staff in eight departments - membership, qualifications, commercial development, finance, central office support, business development, professional standards and IT - overseen by the Chief Executive. This replaced the Secretary General position in 2005.
The Institute's members are divided between various grades of membership: elected fellows, associate, diploma, certificate, student and affiliate. The associate, diploma and certificate memberships are dependent on qualifications. The Institute also operates a network of eight Regional Groups across the UK and a Trustee Group to support individual trustees and Trustee Boards. The Institute sponsors the Association of Professional Pension Trustees (formerly the Independent Pension Trustee Group), a network established in 2003 which aims to 'encourage and promote the highest professional standards in those who practise as professional pension trustees' and 'promote the role of professional trustees'.
The Pensions Management Institute is the holding company for PMI Services Limited, originally Armagret Limited, a service company for the Institute. Another registered company, PMI Trustee Limited, is trustee for the Institute's staff pension scheme.
George Henry Meering (1896-1975) was the eldest son of George Henry Meering, a lace manufacturer in Nottingham, and Ada Meering. After his parents' divorce, George and his three siblings moved with their mother to London, where she later remarried a Mr Geach.
During World War One, George was a corporal with the 'B' Squadron of 1st County of London Yeomanry (also known as the Middlesex Duke of Cambridge's Hussars). On 27 October 1917 his detachment was involved in a battle against the Turkish Ottoman forces on Hill 720, south of Beersheba in Palestine. Vastly outnumbered, the troops put up remarkable resistance, fighting to the last man. George was seriously wounded and taken to a Turkish hospital at Tel el Sheria as a prisoner of war. Left behind by the retreating Turks, he was discovered by the advancing British troops and sent to a British hospital in Cairo and then to Bristol, where in April 1918 he wrote a survivor's account of the battle. In September that year he wrote about his experiences as a prisoner of war. For the rest of his life, he had periodic operations to remove shrapnel from his body.
George was married twice, but both his wives had predeceased him. His first wife gave birth to stillborn twin sons; he had no other children. He died on 16 July 1975 at Kingston Hospital, aged 79.
The papers were deposited at LMA on 27 May 2005 by George Meering's niece, Mrs Pamela Burgess, who also provided some of the biographical information used above.
As part of the condition of obtaining a pass in her history class at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, USA, Anna Romskog, a student, interviewed one of her history professors, Jacqueline deVries, regarding her experiences in London whilst she was studying there during the July 2005 terrorist attacks.
deVries had gone to London for three weeks to carry out research for a new publication, where she stayed in London House in Bloomsbury. Whilst there, she was present in the Bloomsbury area when the explosions on public transport happened and recounts her feelings and actions afterwards in the interview.
The firm was established in 1894 by John Joseph Bergin (known as 'Joe') (1871-1927). In 1899 J J Bergin described himself as a 'heraldic engraver' living at 278 Kennington Road, Lambeth. The firm started drawing and painting heraldic designs but by 1900s had begun engraving on precious metal for west-end jewellers. In 1926 his son Norrie Bergin took over. By 1963 the firm described itself as 'herald, general and machine engravers, saw piercer, contractors to H. M. Government Departments'. The firm was later continued by David Bedford.
By 1927 the firm and workshop was based at Golden Square, Soho; later moved to Marshall Street, Carnaby Street, Soho (-195-); 11 Lancashire Court, New Bond Street ([1950]-1975); 42 Store Street (1975-1993); Clerkenwell Workshops, Islington (1993-2003); 14-16 Meredith Street (2003-2012); Faversham, Kent (2012-).
For more information on the firm and Bergin family see; 'J. J. Bergin - Engravers One Hundred and Twenty Years 1894-2013' by Chris Rowley.
Members of the Grand Priory of the Hospital Order of St John of Jerusalem in England saw a need to find a way to assist accident victims quickly since untreated injuries often led to death or disability. They decided to train ordinary people in first aid so accident victims could be treated quickly and on the spot and, in 1887, they set up St John Ambulance to do this. Classes were set up across the country, particularly in workplaces and areas of heavy industry but also in villages, seaside towns and middle class suburbs.
In 1887, trained volunteers were organised into a uniformed Brigade to provide a first aid and ambulance service at public events. In many parts of Britain, St John was the first and only provider of an ambulance service right up to the middle of the 20th century, when the National Health Service was founded. When there were far fewer doctors and hospital beds than today, St John nurses looked after the sick and injured in their own homes.
There were originally three charitable Foundations of the modern Order. One, which became The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Foundation, was established in 1882. The St John Ambulance Association, which was concerned with training the public in first aid, was established in 1877. The third was The St John Ambulance Brigade, which provided first aid care to the public. It had its origins in 1873 and became a Foundation in 1887. The St John Ambulance Association and The St John Ambulance Brigade were amalgamated in 1974 to form the present St John Ambulance Foundation.
St John Ambulance was originally divided into two fields, teaching first aid to workplace employees via the St. John Ambulance Association and providing uniformed medical volunteers to cover public and private events via the St. John Ambulance Brigade. However, these two entities merged in 1968 to form a single unified St. John Ambulance, providing both training and first-aid cover.
For further details please see the website www.sja.org.uk
Founded in 1921, the Association was initially entitled the City of London Wholesale Linen Trade Association. Membership consisted of buyers and agents within the wholesale linen trade who paid an annual subscription to join. In order to reflect changes in the industry, this was later expanded to include those from the manufacturing and retail sectors. By 1962, the name had been changed to the City of London Linen Trades Association (CLLTA). Further changes in the trade led to greater links with soft furnishings and a further name change in 1992 to the City of London Linens and Furnishings Association (CLLFA).
The aims of the Association were: 'to encourage and maintain the feeling of good fellowship amongst the membership and the trade' and 'to enable interchange of views between buyers, agents and manufacturers in their mutual interest and of the trade as a whole'.
Committee meetings were held monthly, initially at offices of the members (first meeting at 25 Noble Street. Other addresses include 16 Little Britain and The Guildhall Chambers, City of London. The Association was run by a management committee enrolled at the publically held Annual General Meetings in January of each year. A Benevolent fund, administered by 5 trustees, was established in 1926. This fund was set up to support members, former members and their dependents with financial assistance in times of hardship or ill health and was registered with the Charity Commission in 1962 as the City of London Linen Trades Association Benevolent Fund (later the City of London Linens and Furnishings Association Benevolent Fund).
Membership peaked at over 300 members (in the mid-1990s). Annual golf days, snooker, cricket and bowls events were organised for the benefit of members and to raise funds.
In 1979 a vote was passed to accept female members and the first (and only) female President, Jean Biggs, was elected in 1985.
Owing to a decline in linen manufacturing, membership began to reduce and in 2011 the Committee and Trustees made the decision wind up the Association as of 31 December 2011.
The Guinness Trust (London Fund) was established to provide working class housing 'for the amelioration of the conditions of the poor labouring classes of London'. The Trust was made possible by a gift of £200,000 from Edward Cecil Guinness [Lord Iveagh], the great grandson of the founder of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The organisation was formed by Deed of Trust on 4 February 1890 and enrolled into the Charity Commission under Working Classes Dwellings Act 1890. The Guinness Trust (London Fund) was incorporated and registered as a general charity on 28 February 1902 under the Charitable Trustees Incorporation Act (1872).
A further fund known as the Dublin Fund was established by Deed of Trust on 2 April 1890 for working classes in Dublin, Ireland. The Guinness Trust managed both the London and Dublin Funds until June 1903 when a bill for amalgamation of the Guinness Trust Dublin Fund and Dublin Improvement (Bull Alley Area) Scheme received royal assent. A new trust known as Iveagh Trust was formed to manage the Dublin Fund and 'all documents connected with the [Dublin Fund] were handed over accordingly' (see LMA/4656/A/02/002 page 85).
The following estates were purchased and developed with Guinness Buildings for working classes built from 1890s to 1930s in the Inner London area:
Brandon Street, Walworth;
Columbia Road, Bethnal Green;
Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith;
Kennington Park Road, Kennington;
Kings Road, Chelsea;
Lever Street, Finsbury;
Holloway Road, Islington;
Marlborough Road [later renamed Draycott Avenue] and Cadogan Street, Chelsea;
Pages Walk, Bermondsey;
Snowsfields, Bermondsey;
Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington;
Vauxhall Square [Vauxhall Walk], Lambeth.
In 1938 a Holiday Home was built at South Heighton, Newhaven, Sussex for tenants to use. Also Avenue Road Residential Club was developed in 1950s.
Later estates built post Second World War (post 1945) include:
John Street, Stratford, Newham [later the Lord Gage Centre];
Kennington Road, Lambeth;
Loughborough Park and Loughborough Road, Brixton, Lambeth.
From 1970s the Trust developed estates in outer London including Mortlake, Richmond and estates in the south and home counties.
In 1972 the Trust provided 3500 low-rented dwellings including special accommodation for the elderly and for younger working people. By 1979 the Trust had employed a Supervising Officer based at Roman Road, Bethnal Green for increased building work and by the early 1980s a Chief Estates Managers Department was formed to take control of matters relating to the estates. By 1985 the Trust had opened Area Offices for London and South East, South West, and Northern Regions.
In the mid 2000s the Guinness Trust Group was made up of The Guinness Trust, Guinness Housing, Wycombe Friendship (Charitable), Clapton Community Housing, Kennet Housing (Charitable) and Guinness Developments, Guinness Care and Support (Charitable) and Parchment Housing Group Limited. In 2012 the housing properties and operations of The Guinness Trust were combined with those of the other main housing divisions to form a single charitable community benefit society known as The Guinness Partnership Limited. By 2014 the Partnership was providing housing and services across England with more than 60,000 homes with 120,000 residents.
The Secretary handled most matters concerning the estates on behalf of the Trustees. The Trustees included members of the Guinness Family. By 1950s the Secretary's position became known as the Manager and Secretary. Secretaries included: Lee Knowles MP, Honorary Secretary based at Local Government Board, Whitehall (1889); Captain Thomas H Vickers (1890s); E W Winch (joined 1889; Secretary 1905-1935); Percival Laurence Leigh-Breese (Assistant Secretary 1931-1935, Secretary from 1935, Manager and Secretary by 1958); Ronald A W Lear (before 1980). Patrons included Lady Diana Princess of Wales.
Registered head office addresses: 5 Victoria Street (1891-1949); 11 St James's Square (1949-1967); 5 Iveagh House, Ormond Yard (1967-circa 1975); 4 Corporation Street, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (circa 1975-); 17 Mendy Street, High Wycombe (2000s - 2015).
In-depth histories concerning the development of the Trust's work, personalities and life on the estates can be found in series LMA/4656/B/01/05, LMA/4656/F/01 and LMA/4656/F/03.
The Greene Sisters, stage names Judy, Gertie and Jeanette were a close harmony singing trio. The girls were three of five children born to Rebecca Lazarus and Jacob Greenbaum in the East End of London; Gillian (1912-2000), Marcus (1914-1983), Janetta (1921-2007), Juliet (1922-2008) and Sylvia (1928- 2009).
Their father Jack worked in the leather trade and encouraged his daughters singing career over the years.
Rebecca their mother was the daughter of Jacob Lazarus a founding members of the staunchly orthodox Machzikei Hadath Synagogue in Spitalfields.
The trio were discovered by Sidney Phillips, bandleader and arranger in the late 1930's. They spent their early years touring Britain appearing on stage in Bradford, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Dundee to name but a few, and on the London Stage including Empire, Finsbury Park and the London Coliseum. They also performed in fundraising concerts in 1941 in aid of General Jewish Hospital (Shaare Zedek) Jerusalem and in aid of 10th London and 33rd Middlesex Battalions, Home-guard Welfare Fund.
They were a hard working trio moving from live stage performances to radio and latterly Television broadcasts, but they were probably most well known as performers on the popular radio series 'Hi Gang!' 'Hi Gang!' featured Ben Lyon and his wife, Bebe Daniels the Jewish Hollywood couple. Along with Vic Oliver, the well-known entertainer, they broadcast 'from the heart of London”'each week between May 1940 until 1949 to a home and forces audience.
Sadly the trio never made it in America as their father prevented them crossing the Atlantic to perform on Bing Crosby's wartime show. However the Sisters continued performing and in 1954 appeared on 'Showcase' where Benny Hill introduced artists and acts new to Television.
Sylvia was a gifted composer and wrote and arranged music for her sisters as well as occasionally performing with them or on her own. She also wrote a musical play 'A Great Guy' which was never performed but was published and copies of the play and the music also written by Sylvia survive in the collection.
The family moved to North West London in the 1940's to a home named 'The Harmonies' and although none of the children married they remained close.
Customs and Excise Officers, including coastguards, did not have protection in case of death, injury, illness and old age. In response to this the Customs Annuity and Benevolent Fund was established by the Customs Office in 1816. The Fund was formed as a mutual insurance fund, to provide conditional benefit to widows, children and other immediate relatives of civil servants. Any person aged 16-65 was able to effect an Insurance upon their lives, answerable to their respective cases. The Fund was to be raised by subscription, both annual and occasional.
Initially named the 'Civil Fund' but 'Customs Annuity Fund' was substituted shortly after foundation, resulting from extension of the same benefits to all other departments under the Crown. Operated as 'Customs Annuity and Benevolent Fund' from 1879, 'Customs Fund' from 1893 and from 1896 it was incorporated by Act of Parliament as 'The Customs Annuity and Benevolent Fund Incorporated' but referred to as the 'Customs Fund'.
The Fund was based at Customs Office, London initially at City Gate House, Finsbury Square and later at Kings Beam House, Mark Lane, City of London.The organisation continued to operate as a Life Assurance and Pensions Mutual Company until it was acquired by National Friendly (National Deposit Friendly Society (NDFS), established in 1868) in 2004. The Customs Fund Division continued under NDFS.
Incorporated on 18 January 1993 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Granada Group PLC. The main trading object of the company was the provision of security services.
In 1994 the parent body changed when Sterling Granada Contract Services were acquired by Securiguard Services Limited, a member of the Rentokil group of companies.
In 2006 ownership again changed when the MITIE Group PLC acquired Initial Security Limited and all of its subsidiary undertakings from Rentokil Initial PLC.
The company never traded and was dissolved in 2012.
Registered Offices:
Felcourt, East Grinstead, West Sussex (1993 - 1997)
Garland Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex (1997 - 2012)
Company No. 2780369
Paul R. Dawson worked within the Pension Technical Information Service at Noble Lowndes and Partners Limited during the late 1980s and early 1990s providing information to staff, consultants, technicians and administrators on subjects including the 1989/1990 Social Security Bill, 1989 Finance Act, equalisation of pension ages and National Association of Pension Funds' annual surveys.
Noble Lowndes set up his own brokerage firm in 1934, which would later became Noble Lowndes and Partners, initially specialising in Estate Duty. Lowndes' first pension scheme was set up in April 1936 and was based on individual endowment contracts. In 1949 Noble Lowndes and Partners became a limited company.
Lowndes was particularly active in assessing suitable areas for international expansion and overseas development began in 1947 when the Irish Pensions Trust Limited was set up in Dublin. Noble Lowndes and Partners continued to expand, becoming an international business specialising in the design of company pension schemes, insurance broking, and life assurance with established subsidary companies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as a network of branches throughout the United Kingdom. By 1960 Noble Lowndes had expanded into Europe, the Far East and the United States and had become one of the largest pension consultant firms in the world with a quarter of British companies having a pension scheme devised by Noble Lowndes.
Noble Lowndes retired in 1966 and the firm was later acquired in 1969 by the merchant bankers Hill Samuel.
Registered office address: Sackville House, 143-149 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 6BP.
Nicholas Wakelam's longest accounting appointment was at Thorn EMI where he was involved with the Pensions Fund Trust.
Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence, retail and television broadcasting and was the successor to Thorn Electrical Industries Limited and EMI. On 16 August 1996, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerging Thorn from EMI and the company was split into EMI Group plc and Thorn plc.
Field and Sons, Auctioneers and Surveyors was established in 1802 in Southwark. In 1890s and 1900s the firm described themselves as 'Auctioneers, Surveyors, Land and Estate Agents'. Charles R Field was a partner during the 1900s-1910s and personally dealt with matters relating to clients including Borough Market Trust for which he was also a Trustee. The firm passed out of the family's hands in 1999 after being managed by six generations of the Field Family.
Premises: in Southwark (1802-1880); 54 Borough High Street, Southwark (from 1880). The firm also had a further office successively at 17 Tokenhouse Yard, City of London (1907) 52 Chancery Lane; and 5 Waterloo Place, Westminster (1910s).
Originally formed in 1904, the Tottenham Hebrew Congregation, which moved to 336A High Road Tottenham N17 in 1911, was an Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogue affiliated with the Federation of Synagogues. In 2003 it was decided to close the synagogue owing to the dwindling demand and the dilapidated state of the building.
Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.
CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. They also had the power to refer decisions about proposed closures of NHS facilities to the Secretary of State for Health. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the ‘watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.
Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third were elected from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.
All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.
Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.
Harrow Community Health Council was created in September 1974. Half of its members were nominated by the boroughs of Brent and Harrow. The CHC Initially met at Harrow Hospital and then in a conference room of the Brent and Harrow Area Health Authority in Signal House, Lyon Road from February 1975 onwards. The CHC later had offices on Junction Road.
Community Health Councils in England were abolished in 2003 as part of the ‘NHS Plan (2000)’. The last meeting of Harrow CHC was held in October 2003.
Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.
CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. They also had the power to refer decisions about proposed closures of NHS facilities to the Secretary of State for Health. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the ‘watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.
Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third were elected from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.
All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.
Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.
Waltham Forest Community Health Council met for the first time in July 1974 and was originally called West Roding Community Health Council. It catered to the West Roding District of The Redbridge and Waltham Forest Area Health Authority which covered Waltham Forest and part of Redbridge to the West of the River Roding. In 1979 the CHC changed its name from West Roding to Waltham Forest "in order to more closely identify with the community we represent" (Annual Report, 1978-1979). Its stated functions were "first, to provide information, advice and advocacy to health service users, and secondly, to influence the nature of health care provision and monitor its provision on behalf of the local population" (1993/1994 Work Programme).
Community Health Councils in England were abolished in 2003 as part of the ‘NHS Plan (2000)’. The last meeting of Waltham Forest CHC was held in November 2003.
Founded in 1900, the Notting Hill Synagogue was part of the Ashkenazi Orthodox Ritual and affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues. The Synagogue was located at 206/8 Kensington Park Road, London, W11 1NR and closed in the early 1990's being amalgamated with the Shepherd's Bush, Fulham and District Synagogue.
The first assessments of 1692-3 were made under the terms of an "Act for granting to their Majesties an aid of four shillings in the pound for one year for carrying on a vigorous war against France" [4W and M c.1, 1692/3]. The Act specfied that real estate and personal property, that is buildings and moveable property as well as land, were to be taxed. It nominated, for each borough and county in England and Wales, the local commissioners who were to supervise the assessments and local collection.
The tax was voted annually, usually in the spring, until 1798 when it was transformed into a permanent tax, but was redeemable on a payment of a lump sum. It was levied on a number of different bases: as a pound rate between 1693 and 1696, as a four shillings assessment supplemented by a poll tax in 1697 and, from 1698-1798, on the system whereby each county or borough was given a fixed sum to collect. In 1949 redemption became compulsory on property changing hands and in 1963 all unredeemed land tax was abolished.
The assessors for each county are listed in the annual Acts of Parliament, until 1798. The sums collected for the counties of London, and Middlesex (and the City of Westminster) appear, until at least 1760, to have been passed to the Chamber of London and subsequently to the Exchequer.
Tooting Bec Manor originally comprised two estates, Tooting and Streatham. They were united when both came to Richard de Tonbridge, Lord of Clare. In 1086 he granted some of the manorial lands to the abbey of Bec Hellouin in Normandy, and a Priory of Tooting Bec was established. The manor was held by the Tonbridge family until 1349, and then passed to Margaret wife of Hugh Audley. In 1436 the manor was held by her great-great-grandson Humphrey Earl of Stafford. By 1521 the manor was held by the Crown. It was sold to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who sold it on. The manor passed through various families until 1873 when all the estates were enfranchised and acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and then the London County Council in 1889.
The origins of the Justices of the Peace lie in the temporary appointments of 'conservators' or 'keepers' of the peace made at various times of unrest between the late twelfth century and the fourteenth century. In 1361 the 'Custodis Pacis' were merged with the Justices of Labourers, and given the title Justices of the Peace and a commission (see MJP).
The Commission (of the Peace) gave them the power to try offences in their courts of Quarter Sessions, appointed them to conserve the peace within a stated area, and to enquire on the oaths of "good and lawfull men" into "all manner of poisonings, enchantments, forestallings, disturbances, abuses of weights and measures" and many other things, and to "chastise and punish" anyone who had offended against laws made in order to keep the peace.
During the sixteenth century the work of the Quarter Sessions and the justices was extended to include administrative functions for the counties. These were wide ranging and included maintenance of structures such as bridges, gaols and asylums; regulating weights, measures, prices and wages, and, probably one of their biggest tasks, enforcing the Poor Law.
The dependence of the justices on officials like the sheriff, the constables, and the Clerk of the Peace to help them carry out their functions (both judicial and administrative) cannot be underestimated.
As their workload grew, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more help was needed and there was an increase in the number of officers appointed for specific tasks. Small committees of Justices, appointed by the court, were also set up at this time to deal with much of the regular and routine administrative business. Reports were made to the court and entered in the general Orders of Court minute books (see MJ/O). Another solution for dealing with increased judicial business was (by an Act of Parliament passed in 1819) to allow the justices to divide in order that two courts could sit simultaneously (see MJ/SB/B and MJ/SB/C); and the Middlesex Criminal Justice Act of 1844 decreed that there should be at least two Sessions of the Peace each month, and also that a salaried assistant judge (a barrister of at least ten years experience in the Middlesex Commission) should be appointed.
The bulk of the administrative work was carried out on one specific day during the court's sitting known as the County Day (see MJ/O, MJ/SP and MA). By the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was clear that the Quarter Sessions' structure was unable to cope with the administrative demands on it, and it lost a lot of functions to bodies set up specifically to deal with particular areas - the most important of these was the Poor Law, reformed in 1834.
By the end of the century, when the Local Government Act of 1889 established county councils, the sessions had lost all their administrative functions. The judicial role of the Quarter Sessions continued until 1971, when with the Assize courts they were replaced by the Crown Courts. Alongside the aforementioned functions of the Quarter Sessions, was its role as the place of registration and deposit for official non-sessions records, which needed to be certified and available for inspection (see MR).
The origins of the Justices of the Peace lie in the temporary appointments of 'conservators' or 'keepers' of the peace made at various times of unrest between the late twelfth century and the fourteenth century. In 1361 the 'Custodis Pacis' were merged with the Justices of Labourers, and given the title Justices of the Peace and a commission (see MJP). The Commission (of the Peace) gave them the power to try offences in their courts of Quarter Sessions, appointed them to conserve the peace within a stated area, and to enquire on the oaths of "good and lawfull men" into "all manner of poisonings, enchantments, forestallings, disturbances, abuses of weights and measures" and many other things, and to "chastise and punish" anyone who had offended against laws made in order to keep the peace.
The cases which the justices originally dealt with were offences which could not be dealt with by the manorial court (i.e. misdemeanours), but which were less serious than those which went to the Assize Judges (i.e. felonies). Misdemeanours included breaches of the peace - assault, rioting, defamation, minor theft, vagrancy, lewd and disorderly behaviour, and offences against the licensing laws. In 1388 a statute laid down that the court sessions should meet four times a year (hence the name 'Quarter Sessions'): Epiphany, Easter, Trinity (midsummer) and Michaelmas (autumn) - two or more justices (one at least from the quorum) were to decide exactly where and when. The Middlesex justices were also empowered to try the more serious cases (including those from Westminster) under the Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery normally given to the Assize Judges, but these cases were heard at the Old Bailey Sessions House (see MJ/GB and OB).
The judicial process began even before the sessions opened with examinations being taken by the magistrates once the crime had been reported by the constable, the injured party or a common informant. The accused could then be bailed to keep the peace or to appear at the next sessions, be remanded in gaol before a trial, or acquitted. Once the sessions had opened there was still an examination by a Grand Jury as to whether there was a case to answer, before the trial proper could get underway.
During the sixteenth century the work of the Quarter Sessions and the justices was extended to include administrative functions for the counties. These were wide ranging and included maintenance of structures such as bridges, gaols and asylums; regulating weights, measures, prices and wages, and, probably one of their biggest tasks, enforcing the Poor Law. The dependence of the justices on officials like the sheriff, the constables, and the Clerk of the Peace to help them carry out their functions (both judicial and administrative) cannot be underestimated. As their workload grew, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more help was needed and there was an increase in the number of officers appointed for specific tasks, and committees for specific purposes were set up. Another solution for dealing with increased judicial business was (by an Act of Parliament passed in 1819) to allow the justices to divide in order that two courts could sit simultaneously (see MJ/SB/B and MJ/SB/C); and the Middlesex Criminal Justice Act of 1844 decreed that there should be at least two Sessions of the Peace each month, and also that a salaried assistant judge (a barrister of at least ten years experience in the Middlesex Commission) should be appointed.
The bulk of the administrative work was carried out on one specific day during the court's sitting known as the County Day (see MJ/O, MJ/SP and MA). By the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was clear that the Quarter Session's structure was unable to cope with the administrative demands on it, and it lost a lot of functions to bodies set up specifically to deal with particular areas - the most important of these was the Poor Law, reformed in 1834. By the end of the century, when the Local Government Act of 1889 established county councils, the sessions had lost all their administrative functions. The judicial role of the Quarter Sessions continued until 1971, when with the Assize courts they were replaced by the Crown Courts.
Alongside the aforementioned functions of the Quarter Sessions, was its role as the place of registration and deposit for official non-sessions records, which needed to be certified and available for inspection (see MR).
Much of the routine judicial and administrative work during the period covered by the existing records was carried out by small groups of justices. This was done outside the main court sittings by the justices in their local areas - usually within a Hundred division. Special Sessions were held for purposes such as licensing alehouses (Brewster Sessions), or to organise the repair of the highways. More common were the meetings of one or two justices in what became known as petty sessions and which dealt with issues such as rating, granting of licences, the appointment of parish officers, and the examination of witnesses and suspects prior to the start of the next sessions. Increasingly here the justices also began to determine cases involving minor offences and exercise 'summary jurisdiction'.
The inconvenience of using their own homes for this work, and the need for the public to know where magistrates would be available led to the setting up of 'public offices'. The first one was in Bow Street, Westminster from about 1727. Following this example, in 1763 Middlesex set up three such offices in the divisions of Ossulstone Hundred nearest to the centre of London. Here two (paid - stipendary) justices would sit each day on an hourly rota basis. Not until 1792 was the system officially established by an Act of Parliament, when seven more public offices were set up in Westminster and Middlesex. The Bow Street office, (under John Fielding, and his brother Henry, the novelist, both magistrates for Westminster), had introduced paid constables as early as 1756, and each new public office from 1792 had six constables of their own; these were the forerunners of the Metropolitan Police as introduced by an Act of 1829. In 1828 all courts of Quarter Sessions were allowed to create within their county, divisions for petty sessions, thus formalising any earlier informal arrangements. Although there are occasional references to early petty and special session meetings in the main records (this collection), the class of records concerned with such sessions (see MSJ) covers mainly the nineteenth century.
The County of Middlesex stretched along the north bank of the River Thames from the River Colne in the west to the River Lea in the east, excluding the City of London, and including the City of Westminster (although separate sessions were held here between 1618 - 1844) (see WJ). It is misleading to refer to the sessions in Middlesex as Quarter Sessions since in theory they were only to be held twice a year, rather than four times a year as was usual in other counties. By an Act of 1456 the county was permitted to hold only two sessions, because it was felt unreasonable to expect the local population to bear the cost of the whole panoply of justices, officers and constables which accompanied each sitting, when they were also having to service the other major courts in the capital. However, the level of crime in the county increased the need for more court sittings, and the court sat in adjourned sessions for, effectively, most of the year.
Separate Westminster Quarter Sessions ceased in 1844, when they became part of the Middlesex court sittings, held 'by adjournment' following the end of the latter, and involving a physical move (adjournment) to the Westminster Sessions House. Thus the Westminster records came to be kept with those for Middlesex.
Until the seventeenth century the Middlesex court met in the Castle Inn near Smithfield, which was replaced in 1612 by a new sessions house built in Saint John's Street, at the expense of a leading justice, Sir Baptist Hicks. Essentially only a wooden building, Hicks Hall, as it was known, was demolished in 1782, a new sessions house having been built on Clerkenwell Green in 1779, and also known as Hicks Hall. In 1889 following the reduction in size of the County of Middlesex, the sessions moved to the Westminster Guildhall in Broad Sanctuary. When this building proved too small for the amount of work carried out there, a new Middlesex Guildhall was built next to it and opened in 1913. The new County of London sessions continued to meet on Clerkenwell Green until 1919 when they moved to the former Surrey sessions house on Newington Causeway.
A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.
An assignment of term, or assignment to attend the inheritance, was an assignment of the remaining term of years in a mortgage to a trustee after the mortgage itself has been redeemed. An assignment of a lease is the transfer of the rights laid out in the lease to another party, usually for a consideration (a sum of money).
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
Lease and release was the most common method of conveying freehold property from the later seventeenth century onwards, before the introduction of the modern conveyance in the late nineteenth century. The lease was granted for a year (sometimes six months), then on the following day the lessor released their right of ownership in return for the consideration (the thing for which land was transferred from one party to another, usually, of course, a sum of money).
A 'fine' was a fee, separate from the rent, paid by the tenant or vassal to the landlord on some alteration of the tenancy, or a sum of money paid for the granting of a lease or for admission to a copyhold tenement.
A marriage settlement was a legal agreement drawn up before a marriage by the two parties, setting out terms with respect to rights of property and succession.
A bargain and sale was an early form of conveyance often used by executors to convey land. The bargainee, or person to whom the land was bargained and sold, took possession, often referred to as becoming 'seised' of the land.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
These papers relating to properties in London were collected for their general or antiquarian interest rather than having a united provenance (that is, being produced by the same institution or business).
No administrative history has been found for Miss Stratton.
These papers relating to properties were collected for their general or antiquarian interest, rather than having a united provenance (that is, being produced by the same institution or business).
Curzon Street runs between Fitzmaurice Place and Park Lane in Mayfair. In around 1715 the land in this area was purchased by a Derbyshire baronet, Nathaniel Curzon. Building began in the 1720s although much of the north side remained open until the 19th century. It became a fashionable address, and was well known for the Mayfair Chapel where illicit marriage ceremonies were performed without banns or licence, until the 1754 Marriage Act stopped the practice.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
