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A lease is a grant of property to a tenant for a specified period, usually a term of years, by the lessor to the lessee. Types of lease include life lease: lease for the life of the tenant; three-life lease: lease until the deaths have occurred of three named people (with an upper limit of 99 years); 'perpetual' lease: intended to continue indefinitely, granted for a very long period, e.g. 1,000 years; building lease: lease, generally for 99 years, including an agreement for the tenant to build a house.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

A deed of composition and release sealed an arrangement whereby the creditors of an insolvent debtor agreed to settle for a percentage of the amounts owed.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

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).

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

The early history of the Brewery begins in 1699 when Thomas Mawson of Chiswick, brewer, was admitted to two cottages, a granary, orchard garden, and curtilage abutting on the road leading to Bedford House, Chiswick, on a conditional surrender by Thomas Warren which was made absolute in 1704, when the property was described as a messuage and brewhouse. Remaining in the Mawson family the Brewery passed to Matthias Mawson, Bishop of Ely and benefactor of Ely Cathedral and Kings College Cambridge. On his death in 1770 his estates were inherited by his niece Amy, wife of Charles Purvis of Darsham, Suffolk. The Brewery, with other properties in Chiswick, was sold by her son Charles in 1791, and bought by John Thompson of Chiswick, brewer, passing, on his death in 1808, to his sons Douglas and Henry. By this date the brewery was known as the Griffin Brewery. They became partners in 1822, but neither the partnership nor the Brewery prospered, and when their partnership was dissolved in 1829 financial difficulties were acute.

In 1829 John Fuller and Philip Western Wood, invested in third shares in the Brewery with Douglas Thompson, one of the previous owners. Wood died in 1832, and Thompson was finally bought out by Fuller in 1842. The partnership of Fuller, Smith, and Turner at the Griffin Brewery dates from 10 November 1846 when John Bird Fuller (son of John Fuller), then owner of the Brewery, entered into a partnership with Henry Smith and John Turner of Romford, brewers.

Fuller, Smith and Turner Ltd was registered as a limited liability company in August 1929 and in 1987 owned 135 public houses and 55 off licences.

A militia force was raised from the civilian population of a county, in order to supplement the regular army in cases of emergency. In Middlesex they were called out at times of unrest. They came to be supplemented by volunteer forces, such as those raised by the 1794 Bill for "encouraging and disciplining such corps and companies of men as shall voluntarily enrol for the defence of their counties, towns and coasts or for the general defence of the Kingdom during the Present War [with France]".

There were around 300 militiamen in Middlesex in 1802. During the Napoleonic Wars this number rose to over 2000 by 1808 and 12,000 by 1812. More volunteer corps were raised in 1859, again in response to threat of French invasion. In 1881 the Army was organised into territorial regiments formed of regular, militia and volunteer battalions. Middlesex militia and volunteer battalions came under the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own).

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.

There is no unifying factor to these papers (e.g. that they relate to property owned by one estate or family or the legal work of one office), they were simply collected for their antiquarian interest before being passed to the archive.

It is not clear where Brown and Merry where based. However, the documents relate to properties in Harrow, Wealdstone, Uxbridge, Hayes, Enfield and Northolt.

Harrow Manor belonged to the archbishops of Canterbury from the early middle ages until 1545 when Henry VIII forced Cranmer to sell the manor to him. Henry sold the estate to Sir Edward North. The North family sold the manor to the Pitt family, whence it came to Alice Pitt and her husbands, Edward Palmer and then Sir James Rushout. The Rushouts acquired the barony of Northwick in 1797. Harrow stayed in the family until the death of the 3rd Baron, Sir George Rushout-Bowles, in 1887. His widow left the estate to her grandson Captain E. G. Spencer-Churchill. He sold the land in the 1920s.

Harrow Manor described both the manorial rights over the whole area and the chief demesne farm in the centre of the parish. This farm was known as Sudbury Manor or Sudbury Court. The ownership of Sudbury Manor followed that of Harrow, hence the name Harrow alias Sudbury.

From: 'Harrow, including Pinner : Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 203-211 (available online).

The Manor of Harrow Rectory alias Harrow-on-the-Hill originated in land owned by priest Werhardt in the 9th century. From 1094-1845 Harrow Rectory was a peculiar of the archbishopric of Canterbury within the deanery of Croydon. The rector had sole manorial jurisdiction over Harrow-on-the-Hill and Roxborough, and collected tithes from a large area. This was a prized position which attracted ambitious and important men, and the rectory house was accordingly fine and spacious. In 1546 the rectory was impropriated to Christ Church, Oxford, but in 1547 the college alienated the rectory, the advowson of the vicarage, and (from 1550) the tithes to Sir Edward North, lord of Harrow alias Sudbury Manor. The grant was made in fee farm in perpetuity, North paying the College an annual fee. North sublet the rectory and tithes while retaining the manorial rights, and enjoyed the rights and profits of the rectory. In 1630 the rectory was conveyed to George Pitt and thereafter descended with Sudbury Court Manor until 1807, when the rectory house and 121 acres of land north of it were sold to James Edwards; the remaining land becoming part of Harrow Park.

From: 'Harrow, including Pinner : Harrow church', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 249-255 (available online).

The College was founded in 1893 by the National Society (National Society for Promoting Religious Education) in the disused Brew House of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace. Here, training was provided for teachers of Cookery and Laundry. Housewifery was added to the curriculum in the first decade of the twentieth century after the College had acquired additional premises in Charles Street, Southwark.

In 1902, under the will of the late Mr Richard Berridge, a large sum of money became available for technical education and in 1904 the Board of Education approved a scheme submitted by the National Society for building a new college. Land was acquired in Hampstead, a Governing Body set up and in 1908 the specially planned building, Berridge House, was completed.

After the move to Hampstead, the curriculum was expanded to include technical courses, and later on, a three year course leading to the Teacher's Certificate of the University of London Institute of Education was offered.

As the College continued to expand, the following premises were also used to provide teaching rooms and accommodation: 54 Fortune Green Road (from October 1913), 52 Fortune Green Road (from September 1915), 13 Parsifal Road (from June 1927), 15 Parsifal Road (from 1929), 6 Parsifal Road (from October 1929) and "the annex", a former church hall, in Fortune Green Road (from September 1930). In 1932 the Field Lane School and its land adjoining the College was bought and adapted. This formed the 'West Wing' which was later re-named Maughan House. In 1937 Holland House was built in the grounds of Maughan House.

During World War I Berridge House was occupied by the WRAF and used as a school for instruction. It re-opened in September 1919. In World War II the college buildings were requisitioned, and the staff and students moved to Bournemouth. Princes Hotel, Bournemouth, became the college headquarters, Pokesdown Technical Institute at Boscombe provided facilities for teaching cookery, and science and laundry lessons were held in Bournemouth Municipal College. Further accommodation for teaching and residence was found in the hotels in the City.

In March 1945 the National Society requested the Council of the Church Training Colleges to accept Berridge House into its federation. Sixteen years later it was decided that Berridge House should be amalgamated with another church training college, and in 1964 it joined St. Katherine's College, Tottenham, to form the College of All Saints, White Hart Lane, Tottenham. Berridge House continued in use for Home Economics until September 1965.

The manor of Ealing or Ealingbury was presumably the 10 hides at Ealing granted in 693 by Ethelred, king of Mercia, to the bishop of London for the augmentation of monastic life in London. The manor passed through various owners until 1906 when most or all of the land was sold to the Prudential Assurance Company.

Source: "A History of the County of Middlesex": Volume 7 (1982).

Taken as a whole, this collection builds a picture of Enfield at different times. Leases of the market and the surrounding area in David's and Prounces property show the development of the Market Place. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, for example, there was a market house, a market cross, a gatehouse with a room over it and a staircase, and a little weigh-house. There were a number of wooden stalls of posts and rails for the Saturday market, and a shambles of 24 stalls for butchers. There were also some little shops of not very substantial structure in the middle of the Market Place; in one William Greene sold bread, flour and meal, and there was a blacksmith and a glazier. On the west side there were a number of more permanent shops, probably quite small as some had been divided, while on the east were a few other buildings used as shops. The Greyhound Inn with its stables and outbuildings stood on the east, and near the churchyard was the Kings Head Inn with its garden and bowling green. By the nineteenth century the Kings Head also had a 'skittle-ground' with a pantiled roof. The Free Grammar School and the schoolmasters house was next to the Kings Head. Although they were three distinct charities; the Market Place and the two estates which surrounded it, David's and Prounces, made up the Market Place area and were frequently leased as one unit and were administered by the same trustees.

Property in the rest of Enfield was mostly scattered in strips in various fields, and information is given of early field names and place names too numerous to mention, such as Donnefield (later Dong or Dung field), Lockers Croft, Swetyngs, Folswell field, etc., etc. Early names of roads and lanes appear such as Tokystrete or Tokestrete which in the eighteenth century turned into Turkey Street. Baldwins Lane, Perkyns Lane, Plesance Strete and others are also mentioned. Many of the names seem to be connected with personal names (although it is difficult to say whether a family gave a name to a place or took their name from the place where they lived); for example we find John Toky in 1376, and John White Webb in 1437 and Walter Ponder in 1394. Some of the family names of prominent parishioners occur right through the period, in varying spellings, for example Hunsdon (earlier Honnesdon, Hunnisdon), many of whom were tanners; Cordell (often maltmen), Loft and Curtis.

The deeds do not provide much information about the administration of the charities themselves, such as would occur in early minute or account books if any have survived. The original purpose of the charity is sometimes recited in the appointments of trustees, although the originating deeds or wills have not usually survived. Most were for alms or clothing for the poor or orphans and for the education of children. There are also some early deeds giving property for the support of chantries, discontinued at the Reformation. An interesting example of "insurance" is Mrs Gillett, "a poor auncient woman" who conveyed her cottage to the churchwardens in 1692 in return for her maintenance (see No. ACC/903/142). Peter Hardy described the charities in his Enfield Charities of 1828.

An assignment was the transfer of a right, usually a lease, or a mortgage. Copyhold land was land that belonged to a Manor and was, notionally, property of the Lord of the Manor.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

John Lane, solicitor, was based at Goldsmith's Hall, Foster Lane.

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).

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.

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.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Sunbury lies on the north bank of the Thames just upstream from Hampton. In 1930 the old parish was enlarged to include Ashford Common. Subsequent changes in the 1930's added Feltham Hill (98 acres) and 2 acres of Hampton parish to Sunbury and transferred one acre from Sunbury to Hampton.

'Vizard and Sons' could not be found in London, Surrey or Middlesex trade directories; although some Vizards were listed as solicitors in the Post Office London Directories for the late nineteenth century.

The County of Middlesex Education Society was founded in 1887 on the initiative of G. Armine Willis, one of H.M. Inspectors, to promote "educational efficiency and general sociability". It was the first society in the country where School Inspectors and School Teachers could meet on equal terms and, at a time when the system of "payment by results" with its "consequent suspicion and subterfuge on every side" was in force, it was regarded as a novel and even hazardous experiment.

When the Society was finally wound up in 1957, it was resolved that its records should be "deposited in the archives of the Education Office, 10, Great George Street, S.W.I." (the offices of the Middlesex Education Committee).

The Association was formed in 1946 for the purpose of furthering the cause of education; strengthening the organisation of the Union [National Union of Teachers]; promoting the friendly co-operation of all Teachers' Associations in Middlesex; and facilitating prompt and united action in matters affecting teachers serving the Middlesex Education Authority.

Following the re-organisation of local government in the Greater London area as a result of the London Government Act, 1963, the Association was reconstituted as the Middlesex Teachers' Association in 1965, but survived for only one year as the National Executive did not see "fit to extend the life of the Association beyond 31 December 1965".

The Causton family were noted Highgate residents. Reverend Thomas Henry Causton was perpetual curate at St Michael's, Highgate, from 1838 to 1854.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

The Royal Commercial Travellers' Schools at Pinner derived from a small school for the orphans of commercial travellers founded on the initiative of John Robert Cuffley in 1845 at Wanstead, then in Essex. In 1855 the foundation stone of a larger school with accommodation for 140 was laid by the Prince Consort on a site in Hatch End. The building, in red brick with stone dressings in the Gothic style, was enlarged in 1868, 1876-7, 1878, 1905, and 1907. There were 365 boys and girls, all of them boarders, in 1937. The school, which provided a grammar school education, was renamed the Royal Pinner School, Hatch End, in 1965. By this date it was in financial difficulties and it was closed in 1967, although a Royal Pinner School Foundation was set up to help pupils who had been receiving a free education. The buildings were divided between Harrow College of Further Education and a Roman Catholic primary school

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 265-269 (available online).

Flambards manor was held as a sub-manor from Rectory Manor, Harrow. The core of the Flambards estate consisted of free and copyhold land held from both Harrow and Rectory manor, on either side of the border between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Sudbury. William Gerard was living at the manor as a tenant from 1566, and in 1573 the property was conveyed to him in fee farm by John Spilman. Gerard and his descendants paid Spilman and his descendants an annual rent of £30. In 1656 John Spilman sold the fee-farm rent to John Bernard and Daniel Waldo. Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Gerard, was married to Warwick Lake and then Miles Stapledon. In 1767 members of the Lake and Stapledon families sold Flambards to Francis Herne. It then passed to the Page and Hoare families, and later the Northwick, Macgregor and Phelps families.

From: 'Harrow, including Pinner : Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 203-211 (available online).

John Cordy Jeaffreson (1831-1901) was a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He also tutored in classics and lectured on English Literature. After receiving tuition in palaeography from Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy he became one of the inspectors of ancient writings under the Commissioners on Historical Manuscripts, 1874.

Jeaffreson was a prolific author of both fiction and history. Some of his works include: Novels and Novelists, from Elizabeth to Victoria, 1858; A Book about Doctors, 1860; The Life of Robert Stephenson, CE, FRS, 1864; A Book about Lawyers, 1866; A Book about the Clergy, 1869; The Annals of Oxford, 1871; A Book about the Table, 1875; A Young Squire of the Seventeenth Century, from Papers (AD 1676-1686) of Christopher Jeaffreson, of Dullingham House, Cambridgeshire, 1878; The Rapiers of Regent's Park, 1882; The Real Lord Byron, 1883; The Real Shelley, 1885; Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson, 1888; The Queen of Naples and Lord Nelson, 1889; and Victoria, Queen and Empress, 1893.

The Custos Rotulorum (Keeper of the Rolls) was responsible for the care of the county records. Appointed (since the fourteenth century) in the Commission of the Peace (see MJP/C), he was a leading justice, unpaid and holding the post for life; and from the seventeenth century usually also holding the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county. His Deputy was the Clerk of the Peace who was in practice the actual keeper of the records, and who drew up, registered and oversaw the storage of the records.

Biographical information from 'JEAFFRESON, John Cordy', Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920-2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 (available online).

In 1485 William Hobbayne left his house and 24 acres of land for the benefit of the poor of the parish of Hanwell. The trustees of the charity used the income from the property for various parish purposes, including the repair of the church, provision of an annual sermon, and relief of the deserving poor. In 1790 the trustees built almshouses for the use of the parish, and in 1779 they founded a parish school.

Source: 'Hanwell: Charities', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 236-237.

The rectory and advowson of Harrow came into the hands of Christ Church, Oxford, by a grant from the Crown in 1546. The College subsequently made a practice of leasing the tithes out for a substantial rent and they were in turn sub-let by the main lessor. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the main lease was usually for 21 years at an annual rent of £74. 17s. 8d. renewable every 7 years for a substantial fine. The lease was held by the Conyers family, the first of whom was an executor of Sir Francis Gerard, from 1709-1772, then by the Hernes until 1793 and by Richard Page from 1793 to 1803. All tithes were extinguished by the Inclosure Act of 1803.

In medieval times Saint Mary's was one of the most important churches in Middlesex. There is a twelfth-century tower with tall octagonal lead spires. The nave was re-built in the thirteenth-century when the rector was Elias de Dereham, the canon of Salisbury. Various additions and embellishments took place under John Byrkhead, rector from 1437 to 1468, then restored heavily in the nineteenth century. Many brasses including a small brass of John Lyons, founder of Harrow School.

The Victoria County History of Middlesex notes that "the ancient parish of Greenford lay to the northwest of Ealing. It covered approximately 2½ miles from north to south, and 1½ from east to west, and in the 1860's comprised an area of 2,078 acres north and west of the River Brent, which formed part of the southern and western boundaries. Elsewhere the boundaries crossed former open-field country and were defined only by artificial boundary marks. In 1775 a detached area of Northolt lay inside the parish, in a rectangle of 46½ acres immediately north of the Ruislip Road and west of Oldfield Lane. It had become part of Greenford by 1871. Another detached area of Northolt in the parish in the 1860's lay along the southern field boundary. This was called Mill Field in 1775 and was owned by Daniel Larrimore of Greenford, but the tithes were being claimed by Northolt. This 2½-acre piece of land remained detached at least until the end of the 19th century. There were no detached areas of Greenford parish. In 1894, when the urban district was set up, the civil parish of Greenford covered 2,127 acres, which remained unaltered until 1926, when the parish was dissolved and became part of the municipal borough and civil parish of Ealing."

From: 'Greenford: Introduction', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 206-209 (available online).

Hamhaugh Island is situated in the River Thames, near Shepperton. It is accessed by bridge. It was first used for holiday camps around 1900, from which a small community began to grow on the island and small timber shacks or bungalows were erected. In 1920 the residents bought a communal green in the centre of the island on which they held entertainments such as dances. The housing was gradually modernised.

If a person died intestate (without a valid will) their money, goods and possessions passed to their next of kin through an administration (or letters of administration) which had the same form in law as a will.

The Bodimead family were farmers, but also had interests in brick-making, tile-making and lime-burning. They held property pricipally around Harrow Weald Common, in the parish of Harrow-on-the-Hill, including Copse/Coppice Farm, and cottages further north in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. The Bodimead family have had their surname spelt in numerous ways throughout this collection of documents.

Kilburn Brewery, established on the Mapesbury estate at Edgware Road by William and George Verey in 1832, employed 22 men in 1851 and 66 in 1919, a year before it closed.

From: 'Willesden: Economic history', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 220-228 (available online).

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

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.

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).

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

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.

Green Lanes is a main road in North London which runs through several postcodes. The section of road which runs through Harringay and Hornsey includes late Victorian terraced mansion houses and shops such as that owned by the Seckers. 555 Green Lanes is now an estate agent.

The roads alongside Tottenham Green were a popular location for building large houses and saw increased growth from the 1700s onwards.

Hornsey Lane runs between Crouch End Hill and Highgate Hill and includes the bridge of Highgate Archway. It forms the boundary between Islington and Haringey boroughs. The street did not become built up until the 1870s, when a train station (now closed) was constructed at the Crouch End Hill end of Hornsey Lane.

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.

Court rolls are documents (originally a 'roll' of parchment) on which all the business of a manorial court were recorded, including decisions relating to property ownership including admissions to and surrenders of land and proof of the right of ownership.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

The documents relating to Willesden relate to David Dakers of Brondesbury, builder, and William Henry Bufton of Hampstead, builder. They appear to have collaborated on the construction of dwelling houses in Willesden.

James Strudwick of Ealing, was a builder. He died in 1855, leaving his wife Sarah.

The Ferme Park estate was developed by the Streatham and Imperial Estate Company in the 1880s.

Shaftesbury Road runs between Crouch Hill and Hornsey Rise, in the Stroud Green area of Islington borough.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases. 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".

Probate (also known as proving a will) was the process of establishing the validity of a will.

William Schaw Lindsay (1816-1877) purchased the manor of Shepperton in 1856, and was succeeded by his grandson William Herbert Lindsay (died 1949). W.S. Lindsay usually lived at the manor-house and died at Shepperton. He was a ship-owner and member of Parliament and wrote a history of merchant shipping as well as one of Shepperton. He was largely responsible for the construction of the Thames Valley Railway. In 1954 W. H. Lindsay's widow transferred the estate to her husband's nephew, Mr. P. A. R. Lindsay, who was the owner in 1958.

From: 'Shepperton: The hundred of Spelthorne (continued)', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 1-12 (available online).

The premises at 46 High Street, Yiewsley, now appears to be a shop.

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.

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).

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

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.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

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.

Feoffment was an early form of conveyance involving a simple transfer of freehold land by deed followed by in a ceremony called livery of seisin.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Harrow Manor belonged to the archbishops of Canterbury from the early middle ages until 1545 when Henry VIII forced Cranmer to sell the manor to him. Henry sold the estate to Sir Edward North. The North family sold the manor to the Pitt family, whence it came to Alice Pitt and her husbands, Edward Palmer and then Sir James Rushout. The Rushouts acquired the barony of Northwick in 1797. Harrow stayed in the family until the death of the 3rd Baron, Sir George Rushout-Bowles, in 1887. His widow left the estate to her grandson Captain E G Spencer-Churchill. He sold the land in the 1920s.

Harrow Manor described both the manorial rights over the whole area and the chief demesne farm in the centre of the parish. This farm was known as Sudbury Manor or Sudbury Court. The ownership of Sudbury Manor followed that of Harrow, hence the name Harrow alias Sudbury.

From: 'Harrow, including Pinner : Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 203-211 (available online).

The Manor of Harrow Rectory alias Harrow-on-the-Hill originated in land owned by priest Werhardt in the 9th century. From 1094-1845 Harrow Rectory was a peculiar of the archbishopric of Canterbury within the deanery of Croydon. The rector had sole manorial jurisdiction over Harrow-on-the-Hill and Roxborough, and collected tithes from a large area. This was a prized position which attracted ambitious and important men, and the rectory house was accordingly fine and spacious. In 1546 the rectory was impropriated to Christ Church, Oxford, but in 1547 the college alienated the rectory, the advowson of the vicarage, and (from 1550) the tithes to Sir Edward North, lord of Harrow alias Sudbury Manor. The grant was made in fee farm in perpetuity, North paying the College an annual fee. North sublet the rectory and tithes while retaining the manorial rights, and enjoyed the rights and profits of the rectory. In 1630 the rectory was conveyed to George Pitt and thereafter descended with Sudbury Court Manor until 1807, when the rectory house and 121 acres of land north of it were sold to James Edwards; the remaining land becoming part of Harrow Park.

From: 'Harrow, including Pinner : Harrow church', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 249-255 (available online).

The Court of King's Bench was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

The Court of Exchequer originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the Curia Regis (the King's Court). By the reign of Henry II it had become separate, and was responsible for the collection of the king's revenue as well as for judging cases affecting the revenue. By the 13th century the court proper and the exchequer or treasury began to separate. The court's jurisdiction over common pleas now steadily increased, to include, for example, money disputes between private litigants. A second Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up in 1585 to amend errors of the Court of the King's Bench. These were amalgamated in 1830 when a single Court of Exchequer emerged as a court of appeal intermediate between the common-law courts and the House of Lords. In 1875 the Court of Exchequer became, by the Judicature Act of 1873, part of the High Court of Justice, and in 1880 was combined with the Court of Common Pleas (source of information: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008).

George Payne Rainsford James, 1799-1860, belonged to a well-known medical family; his grandfather was the inventor of Dr James's Pills and Powders, and his father and elder uncle were both doctors. James was a prolific writer, turning out nearly a hundred novels, besides works of a more serious historical nature.

James inherited an entailed estate at Hampton Wick and Teddington when it was disclosed that his father's elder brother, Robert Harcourt James, had never married the lady always recognised as his wife and whose children were therefore not lawful heirs to the property. The estate was heavily mortgaged, and despite the success of his novels James appears to have been in serious financial difficulties.

His affairs cannot have been helped by the number of law-suits he engaged in with his various publishers. In 1850 his difficulties made him decide to emigrate to Canada, but his friends managed instead to obtain for him the post of British consul in Norfolk, Virginia. He was not happy there, and in 1853 his friends petitioned the Foreign Secretary for another post considered to be more deserving of his personal qualities and abilities (ACC/0976/222). In 1856 he was made consul-general in Venice, and he died there four years later.

The Church Commissioners were formed in 1948 by joining together two bodies - Queen Anne's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The Church Commissioners are based at Church House, Great Smith Street, London. They moved there in March 2007 to work under one roof with the Archbishops' Council and the Church of England Pensions Board.

The Commissioners' role is to manage the Church's historic assets, today invested in stock market shares and property, to produce money to support the Church's ministry. The Church Commissioners meet some 18% of the Church's total running costs.

The Church Commissioners' main responsibilities are: to obtain the best possible long term return from a diversified investment portfolio in order (1) to meet their pension commitments and (2) to provide the maximum sustainable funding for their other purposes such as support for the work of bishops, cathedrals and parish ministry; in doing so, to pay particular regard to making 'additional provision for the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is most required'; to administer the legal framework for pastoral reorganisation and settle the future of redundant churches.

Source: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/ (accessed June 2009).