Burleigh House, Enfield, was built circa 1700 west of the market-place. It was replaced soon after 1913 by a cinema, with shops along the street frontage of the grounds.
From: 'Enfield: Growth before 1850', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 212-218 (available online).
The Manor of Harefield was owned by the Swanlond family from 1315. The Manor passed to the Newdigate family [the spelling later changed to Newdegate] at some time between 1439 and 1446, possibly after the marriage of John Newdigate and Joan, the daughter and heir of William Swanlond. The Newdigates owned the estate until 1586 when they exchanged the manor (and Moorhall Manor) for Arbury Manor in Warwickshire. They kept the Brackenbury estate.
Harefield passed through various hands, including the Countess of Derby, the Chandos family, and the Pitts. Richard Newdigate bought back the manor in 1675. The manor remained in the Newdigate family until the manorial rights were extinguished in 1925.
The Manor of Moorhall was sold to John Newdigate in 1553. After this the manor was joined with Harefield and followed the descent described above.
The Manor of Brackenbury was held by John Newdigate in 1486, although the family did not come into full possession until after 1500, certainly by 1558. The Newdigates retained the manor in their own possession, and it was the sole land excepted from the sale of Harefield and Moorhall manors in 1586. By 1558 it was considered part of the demesne of Harefield manor.
From: 'Harefield: Manors', 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. 240-246 (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.
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.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
The Colne is a tributary of the River Thames which rises near North Mymms in Hertfordshire. It flows mainly through Hertfordshire and has several separate branches. On its route it passes Watford, Uxbridge, West Drayton and Staines before joining the River Thames above Penton Hook Lock at Staines.
The sales particulars detail properties in various locations including Mill Hill, Harrow, Hendon, Hampton, Wealdstone, Chiswick, Northolt, Chadwell Heath, Southall, Lampton, Twickenham, Teddington, Yeading, West Drayton, Yiewsley, Golders Green, Eastcote, Wembley, Ruislip Manor, Edgware, Staines, and Cranford.
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.
Airwork Limited, also known as Airwork Services Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary company of VT Group plc. It has a long and rich history in providing a variety of defence support services to the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm and overseas air forces as well as having played an important role in the development of civil aviation - both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Airwork was founded in 1928 by Sir Nigel Norman and Alan Muntz with the opening of the private Heston Aerodrome, then in Middlesex, registering at Companies House in December 1936.
Airwork moved out of Heston in 1935 due to a lack of adequate space and relocated to Gatwick where it continued with a contract to maintain Whitley bombers for the RAF.
The documents in this collection are of two types, here divided into three parts. The first relates to the career of Gen. Sir Henry Charles Barnston Daubeny, G.C.B., 1810-1903, and includes his commissions from the rank of ensign in 1830 to that of colonel in 1857. He subsequently rose to the rank of general, and retired from the army in 1880. He was closely connected throughout his military career with the 55th Regiment of Foot, later the Border Regiment, and achieved the colonelcy of the 2nd Battalion in 1879. Besides being successively created C.B., K.C.B., and G.C.B., (ACC/1096/015,017,020), and honorary commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, he was created Knight of The Legion of Honour (15) and Officer of The Imperial Turkish Order of the Medjidie. The latter two decorations were granted as a result of his service in the Crimea, for which he also gained a pension of 100 p.a. (ACC/1096/012,013), and he served in the East Indies and China. He was a justice of the peace for Middlesex, and for Co Clare, Ireland. His appointment to the Commission of the Peace for the latter is included in this collection (ACC/1096/007). For the later years of his life he lived in Spring Grove, Isleworth, and devoted much of his time to a study of family history.
The final two parts of the collection deal respectively with pedigrees and genealogical notes, and with tombs, heraldry, and property connected with the Daubeny family. The division is not altogether clear cut, as some original bundles whose contents fall preponderantly into one category contain a few items from another. The Daubeny family was of direct Norman descent in the male line, and the head of the South Petherton branch was successively Baron Daubeny by tenure, by writ of summons to parliament (c 1295-1486) and by letters patent (1486-1548). The last of this line was Henry Lord Daubeny, later Earl of Bridgewater, who died without issue in 1548; his uncle and heir, James Daubeny of Wayford, never laid claim to the barony.
Later Daubenys had distinguished careers in the Church and the army. Colonel Henry Daubeny, 1779-1853, the father of H.C.B.D., who was also a keen genealogist, collected information concerning the Daubeny family and the related family of Hungerford, and compiled a manuscript pedigree (ACC/1096/041). His son continued his work on the pedigree with additions and corrections, and it was printed in 1884, but only as far as 1841. H.C.B.D. also arranged for the restoration of family tombs at South Petherton, Somerset, and Westminster Abbey. He collected material relating to families connected with the Daubenys by marriage (Hichens, Barnston, and Carpenter) and by name (the D'albinis, Delbenne and Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne, grandfather of Madame de Maintenon). A recognised authority on the history of the family, he was consulted for advice and information by other Daubenys. Many members of the family took an active interest in the subject, not only in his lifetime, but also after his death, as can be seen in the correspondence concerning Philip D'Aubigni the Crusader (ACC/1086/130-137) and the shields of the barons of Magna Carta (ACC/1096/130-137). After his death the manuscript pedigree (ACC/1096/41) received further limited additions.
A large number of items in this collection have no indication of date, and can only be dated approximately. It should also be mentioned that the spelling of the family name differs between branches of the family, as well as varying at times in the family history; while Col. Henry and Sir Henry Charles Barnston favoured the form "Daubeney", other branches usually used the form "Daubeny". Sir Henry is often described as "Charles" to distinguish him from his father and three of his brothers who also bore the name "Henry" as a first Christian name. The best guide to the various Daubeny branches is the book of pedigrees (ACC/1049/041).
The Home Guard was first raised in May, 1940, on a semi-civilian basis in close association with the Police force, and was originally known as the Local Defence Volunteers. It was organized in companies, grouped in zones, corresponding to the Police districts, and In Middlesex there were four zones. In July, 1940, companies were organized in battalions, and after August, 1940; this semi-civilian force became known as the Home Guard. The following January, officers were given commissions and proper military status, and the force was brought under direct military control. In 1942, service in the Home Guard became compulsory. Early in 1943, zones were renamed Sectors. In the County of Middlesex there were 33 battalions, with a flotilla on the River Thames.
The operational, and recruiting area for the 1st (Middlesex) Home Guard, appears to have been within an area comparable with the Metropolitan Police Zone (Division) "T", including Heston and Isleworth; Staines; Ashford; Laleham; Harlington; Stanwell; Yiewsley and West Drayton; Hounslow; Whitton; Osterley; Cranford; Feltham; Bedfont; Hayes.
(Condensed from The Story of Middlesex, New Wartime Series, Vol. I, Number 2 - 1943, pp.59-61).
Torrington Park, part of Henry Holden's Friern Park estate lying east of the Great North Road, was already being built up by 1872, when his land on the western boundary of the parish was misleadingly advertised as 'Torrington Park', a freehold building estate. Most of the same estate (34 acres) was offered again in 1900 after Holden's death, by which time most of his land east of Holden Road had been built up. 'Artistic villas' were under construction in Westbury Road to the south in 1910 and land in Woodside Avenue was offered for good-class housing in 1914.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 38-55 (available online).
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
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.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
The documents are concerned with 69, later 73, Cambridge Road and 71, later 75, Cambridge Road.
Thomas Duffus Hardy was born in 1804, the son of Major Hardy, obtaining a junior clerkship in the Record Office at the Tower of London in 1819, with the assistance of Samuel Lysons. Several publications of the Record Commission were edited by him, while working at the Tower, including the Close Rolls from AD 1204-12 and The Patent Rolls for the reign of King John. Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, appointed him as Deputy-Keeper of the Public Record Office in 1861. During this period he was responsible for important reports on documents and a number of publications, writing a biography of Lord Langdale and editing several works for the Rolls Series of Chronicles and Memorials. The establishment of the Historical Manuscripts Commission was largely the result of Thomas's effort. The value of his work was acknowledged by a Knighthood in 1873, five years before his death.
William Hardy, the younger brother of Thomas Duffus Hardy, was born in 1807. Like Thomas he obtained a junior post in the Record Office at the Tower, until in 1830 he accepted the post of Keeper of the Records of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was also permitted to accept private work connected with antiquarian, legal and genealogical inquiries. In 1868 he was transferred to the Public Record Office as Assistant-Keeper, eventually becoming Deputy Keeper on the death of his brother in 1878. William retired in 1886, a year before his death. Other public activities included Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in 1839 and being placed in the Historical Manuscript Commission in 1887. He received a knighthood for his services in 1884.
William John Hardy was the second son of Sir William Hardy, being born in 1857. He was educated privately and subsequently became a legal and genealogist record searcher, working for some time in partnership with Mr W. Page at 15 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn. Experience in this profession had been gained previously by working in that capacity with his father, before the latter's appointment as Deputy-Keeper of the Public Record Office. His work involved him in numerous other activities including membership of the Council of Society of Antiquaries 1887-89, 1891-3, 1895-7, 1907, 1912; Inspector of Historical Manuscripts; editorship of Calendar of State Paper, William and Mary, and of Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries, from 1895 to 1898 and of Home Counties Magazine from 1899 to 1904. In addition to such activities he was also responsible for several publications, such as Book Plates, 1893, Lighthouses: their History and Romance, 1895, and Documents Illustrative of Church History, 1896.
A chapel was constructed in Uxbridge possibly as early as 1200, and was dedicated to Saint Margaret by 1281. According to the 'History of the County of Middlesex', "A chantry for the soul of Walter Shiryngton, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was endowed in 1459 with 27 acres of land and tenements in the town. Shiryngton's chantry was worth £7 in 1535, and in 1548 the chantry possessions, which included the 'Bull' and the 'Cross Keys' in Uxbridge, were valued at £11". This is probably the chantry referred to in this document.
Source: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Churches', 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. 87-91 (available online).
'Mr. Ware' is probably Isaac Ware, the architect (d 1766), appointed clerk of works to His Majesty's palace in 1738. The King's River supplied Hampton Court Palace with irrigating and drinking water.
Richard Ford was senior magistrate at the Bow Street Office from 1800 to his death in 1806. John Cole Steele was murdered on Hounslow Heath 6 Nov. 1802. Possibly this case did not proceed beyond suspicion, for Devlin does not appear in the Middlesex Sessions books or Old Bailey Sessions register for this period.
The Manor of Osterley in Heston was purchased by property developer Nicholas Barbon in 1683. Barbon conveyed the Manor to two co-mortgagees including the banker Sir Francis Child the elder (1642-1718). Child took possession of the Manor on Barbon's death in 1698, while his son Robert Child (d 1721) bought out the co-mortgagee, so that the Child family owned the whole estate. The family expanded the estates by purchasing nearby Manors and commissioned Robert Adam to redesign the house.
The estates and Child's Bank were inherited by Sarah Anne (1764-1793), daughter and sole heir of Robert Child (d. 1782). Under the terms of Robert Child's will the estates passed to Sarah Anne's daughter Lady Sarah Sophia Fane (1785-1867), who was said to have an income of £60,000 a year. Lady Sarah married George Villiers, the fifth Earl of Jersey (1773-1859) who took the name Child-Villiers in 1812. Osterley Park stayed in the Jersey family until 1949 when it was sold to the National Trust.
For more information about Osterley Park and Manor see 'Heston and Isleworth: Osterley Park', and 'Heston and Isleworth: Manors', 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. 100-111 (available online).
The assessment was signed by the Commissioners acting under several Acts of Parliament, and delivered to the Receiving Officer, John Hyde.
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
A large house was built in Whitton in 1607, standing west of Hounslow Road, opposite the present church. It was rebuilt in 1724-25 for its owner, the Earl of Ilay, later that Duke of Argyll. In 1726 Ilay recieved permission to inclose more heath around the house, and laid out a park with a lake and a Gothic tower. The house was known as Whitton Place. A later owner sold Whitton Place to Sir William Chambers and constructed another house, Whitton Park, further north. Both houses are now demolished.
From: 'Twickenham: 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. 139-147 (available online).
The church of Saint Mary is situated on Church End, Hendon. It appears that a church has existed on the site since the 9th century. The church has been rebuilt, enlarged and restored several times, including in the 13th, 15th, and early 16th centuries, with restorations in 1783, 1827 and 1915. The church includes the monument of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore; while Charles Johnson (1679-1748), dramatist; Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Bt. (1709-81), antiquary; Nathaniel Hone (1718-84), portrait painter; George Carter (1737-94), painter; and Benjamin Travers (1783-1858), eye surgeon, are buried in the churchyard.
Source of information: 'Hendon: Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 33-37 (available online).
The Tottenham and District Gas Company was founded in 1847 as the Tottenham and Edmonton Gaslight and Coke Company. In 1914 it absorbed the Enfield Gas Company and became the Tottenham District Light, Heat and Power Company, and in 1928 it absorbed the Waltham and Cheshunt Gas Company, becoming the Tottenham and District Gas Company. Two years later the Ware Gas Company was absorbed, and in 1938 the Southgate and District Gas Company.
The Southgate and District Gas Company was formed in 1858 as the Southgate and Colney Hatch Gaslight and Coke Company. In 1866 it was re-incorporated as the Colney Hatch Gas Company, and in 1904 it became the Southgate and District Gas Company. It was finally taken over in 1938 by the Tottenham and District Gas Company.
In 1948 when the gas industry was nationalised the Tottenham and District Gas company came under the Eastern Area Gas Board which covered Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, the Isle of Ely, Norfolk, the Soke of Peterborough, Suffolk and parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
The site of Kneller Hall, Whitton, appears to have been occupied by a less important building in 1635. Court painter Sir Godfrey Kneller had alterations made to it by Vanbrugh in 1703; subsequent additions and changes have, however, made the house in effect a different building, and the present appearance of the grounds also dates from a later period. The last large house of 1635 had apparently been built since 1607 and stood west of Hounslow Road, nearly opposite the present church, on inclosed land projecting on the heath. It was rebuilt in 1724-5 by Roger Morris for its owner, the Earl of Ilay (later Duke of Argyll), though it was subsequently destroyed.
Kneller Hall was rebuilt as a government college for the training of teachers, later passing to the War Office for use by the Royal Military School of Music as a military music school. James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, (created a baronet in 1849), whose signature is present on all drawings, was secretary to the Privy Council's committee on education.
The Mitchison family came from Northumberland. William Mitchison, whose will was dated 24 March 1817, owned the Benwell estate, Northumberland, and property in Newcastle-on-Tyne. This descended in turn to his two sons. Anthony, described as formerly of Wood Street, Cheapside, London, silk manufacturer, but late of Sunbury, died unmarried in 1836, aged 51 years, and was buried at Hampton. John the elder is described in a deed of 1834 as late of Gutter Lane, silk manufacturer, now of Sunbury. He owned property in Shoreditch, Islington, Soho and the City of London in the 1820's, although no draft or original deeds of these transactions are included in this accession. There are likewise no early deeds for the Manor Estate, Sunbury, which he probably purchased about 1828, and property in Lambeth which was acquired by him or his son, William Anthony Mitchison the elder. In 1839 he was operated on by Sir Astley Cooper, but, unfortunately, the shock of the operation rendered him temporarily insane. He eventually recovered his senses but the management of the estates, until his death in 1856, fell largely to his son, William Anthony the elder. By this time his elder surviving son, John Mitchison, the younger, was insane, though not certified as such until an inquiry in 1864 (ref: ACC/1156/69-71, 73-4).
After his father's death, William Anthony managed the estate on behalf of his brother John, whose Committee he became, his sister Juliana, who was domiciled in France, and himself, and acquired property in Kensington, Sunbury, Harmondsworth and elsewhere. William Anthony succeeded to John's estate in 1899, and on his death in 1900 left the estates to his three surviving sons, the Revd. Richard Stovin Mitchison, Herbert Sturges Mitchison and Arthur Maw Mitchison. They reached an agreement about the division of the estates between them (ref: ACC/1156/39), the properties being jointly managed until this could be effected. The Benwell and Sunbury Manor estates were sold, in 1903 and 1902-21 respectively, as were several other properties. The records end in the 1920's.
The Mitchisons inherited estates in Withern, Lincs., from the Stovin family (ref: CC/1156/178). Richard Henry Stovin bequeathed his estates to Richard Stovin Maw, eldest son of his deceased half-sister, Margaret. These lands were subsequently left mortgaged and in trust to his daughters, Catherine Sturges Maw, who died unmarried in 1902, and Harriett Jane Stovin Maw, who married William Anthony Mitchison the elder. The Withern Estate was sold by her sons in 1918-19 (ref: ACC/1156/167-177). Harriett and Catherine Maw were also beneficiaries under the will of their uncle, Joseph Sturges (d.1875), who set up a trust for the benefit of his nieces and nephews (ref: ACC/1156/190).
The parliamentary constituency of Tottenham is situated in the borough of Haringey. It was established in 1885 when it also included the Wood Green area. Between 1885 and 1918 the area returned Liberal candidates.
In 1918 the seat was divided into Tottenham North and Tottenham South, while Wood Green became a separate constituency. Between 1918 and 1950 the Tottenham seats were held by a mix of Conservative and Labour candidates. In 1950 the seats were reunited into the current Tottenham constituency, covering Tottenham, Tottenham Hale, Haringay, West Green, Seven Sisters, Bruce Grove, Northumberland Park and Finsbury Park. Since 1950 the seat has been held by Labour candidates.
The Wood Green constituency returned Conservative Members of Parliament between 1918 and 1950. Between 1950 and 1983 it returned Labour politicians. The constituency was abolished in 1983 and merged with Hornsey to form the parliamentary constitutency of Hornsey and Wood Green, comprising half of the borough of Haringey, covering Wood Green, Noel Park, Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, Crouch End, Cranley Gardens and Highgate. The new seat was held by the Conservatives until 1992 when a Labour candidate was successful. In 2005 and 2010 the seat was taken by the Liberal Democrats.
The manor of Isleworth or Isleworth Syon seems to have included land in Heston, Isleworth and Twickenham. In 1086 it belonged to Walter of Saint Valery, one of William the Conqueror's companions. The land subsequently passed into royal possession and was granted to Queen Isabel in 1327 and Queen Philippa in 1330. In 1421 the king granted Isleworth to the newly created abbey of Syon, in whose possession it remained until 1539. The Abbey was suppressed in 1539 and in 1547 the Duke of Somerset secured a grant of the estate to himself, which he held until his execution in 1552, although his widow continued to live at the manor until ordered to leave in 1554. The Crown leased the lands to various tenants until 1598 when Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, secured the tenancy rights. In 1604 he received a grant in fee of the house and manor with the park. The property descended to his heirs including Charles, Duke of Somerset (died 1748) and his son the Earl of Northumberland. Their descendants still owned Syon in 1958.
One notable event in the later history of the manor occurred in 1656. In that year articles of agreement were drawn up between Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, lord of the manor of Isleworth Syon, and Sir Thomas Ingram and other principal copyhold tenants. These articles established certain of the customs of the manor on a firm basis. Fines and heriots were to be certain and not arbitrary, at the will of the lord. The tenure of customary and was to be by Borough English, whereby the youngest son of a copy holder inherited on the death of his father. These articles were signed on 20 May 1656 and were confirmed by a decree in Chancery, 28 June 1656 (see ACC/1379/330 and partial transcript in History of Syon and Isleworth by G. Aungier p.206). A printed tract called Isleworth Syon's Peace was to be published in 1657 and according to Aungier was to be placed in the Isleworth parish chest. London Metropolitan Archives possesses copies in ACC/0479 and ACC/1379.
An order made by the Middlesex Quarter Sessions in 1705 that the "petty sessions" for the several divisions of the county should be held "at the known and usual place" indicates that their existence must have been well recognised by then. The divisional arrangement in the County was based to a large extent upon the old administrative area known as a 'hundred'.
Lord Howard had been accused of being the author of a seditious pamphlet, "The True Englishman", which advocated the overthrow of the King and his replacement by the Duke of Monmouth. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "With two footmen he assaulted an informer in April 1681, and the victim repaid him by accusing him of seditious language. Falsely charged with having written The True Englishman, which accused Charles of arbitrary rule, he was arrested on 11 June. In the king's bench he protested his innocence, and, with Algernon Sidney's assistance, persuaded the government to drop the case in the absence of credible witnesses." Richard L. Greaves, 'Howard, William, third Baron Howard of Escrick (c.1630-1694)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2009
Papers probaby compiled for an exhibition on the fate of Jews in Vienna during the Nazi era.
Fred Dunston (originally Fritz Deutsch) along with his friend Martin Goldenberg became involved in setting up a school to prepare Jewish children in Vienna for emigration to Palestine. After the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938 they started to help organise the Jewish childrens' transports to Great Britain. After a brief spell in the Kitchener Camp for Refugees, near Sandwich, Kent, they worked at Great Engeham Farm, Kent, where many of the children stayed initially before moving on to more permanent accommodation.
After spending a short period as a youth leader at Bydown, Devon, a Hascharah camp for Jewish children preparing for Palestine, Fred went on to manage a smaller centre for older refugees at Braunton, Devon. His time at Braunton was interrupted by a spell of internment on the Isle of Man along with many other German and Austrian Jewish immigrants. The centre closed at the end of 1940.
The only biographical information is provided by a letter (1302/7) from her uncle, Norbert Wellisch, in which he describes her as 13 and a half years of age, tall and thin, 'prettier than the enclosed picture' (1302/11), intelligent and with a fervent desire to come to Great Britain.
Karl Neumann was born into a Jewish family in Picin, Czechoslovakia, 1895. He trained at a business school and after initially working with his brother he went into business on his own in 1933. In 1939 on account of persecution by the Nazis on racial grounds he fled to London.
The Reichsbund der Deutschen Beamten (Reich League of German Civil Servants) became the national representative organisation for German Civil Servants from October 1933 and was affiliated to the Nazi party. Although not all members had to be Nazi party members, most were. The head of the organisation was Herman Neef, who had been the head of the predecessor organisation, Deutsche Beamtenbund (German Civil Servants' League). In addition to training and development of members, the organisation also ensured that Civil Servants maintained a Nazi focus.
Brissago is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. During World War Two it was the site of a camp for refugees and later survivors from Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Chaja Cohn, a former refugee residing in Israel, was responsible for collecting these accounts.
Gurs was a major internment camp in France, near Oloron-Sainte-Marie, 80 kilometers from the Spanish border. Established in 1939 to absorb Republican refugees from Spain, Gurs later served as a concentration camp for Jews from France and refugees from other countries. While under the administration of Vichy France (1940-1942) most non-Jewish prisoners were released and approximately 2000 Jews were permitted to emigrate. In 1941 Gurs held some 15,000 prisoners. The camp was controlled by the Germans from 1942 to 1944, during which time several thousand inmates were deported to extermination camps in Poland. An unknown number succeeded in escaping and reaching Spain or hiding in Southern France. Gurs was liberated in the summer of 1944.
This collection of documentation was generated as a result of the efforts made by the former mayor of Wertheim, Karl-Josef Scheuermann, to trace the fate of the town's Jewish population, to organise a gathering of survivors and to erect a memorial. Included is a memoir of former Jewish residents.
Maurice Heiber founded an organisation to save Jewish children in Belgium. He worked both for the Judenrat (Jewish Council) in Belgium's children's department (AJB) and for the Committee for the Defense of Belgian Jews (CDJ) as a special emissary. He managed the children's department for the CDJ, 1942. Heiber transferred a copy of the card index containing the names of all 'official' Jews from the AJB to the CDJ and visited these homes with persuasive proposals for hiding children.
The subject of the two letters at 13/18/1-2 was the paternal aunt of Herbert Engel's wife. The author of the account at 13/18/3 was Herbert Engel's great uncle. During the period of the latter (April 1945) Engel, then 6, was staying with his mother and 2 year old sister with relatives in the Harz mountains, having been evacuated from their home in Köln.
The papers in this collection document the fate of a Jewish mixed race family in Vienna during the Nazi era. The depositor's father, Alwin Goldschmied, was arrested in April 1938 by the Gestapo and eventually perished in Auschwitz having reached there via Drancy. The daughter, the depositor, Ellinor, came to England in 1939 with the assistance of the Quakers. Maria Goldschmied, the depositor's mother, seems to have spent the majority of the war in a small town called Stiefern with relatives some 90 km from Vienna. In August 1946 she came to England.
Lisbeth Perks was born into a Jewish family in Vienna c 1930; came to Great Britain as a refugee, 1939. Whilst bringing up her family she studied pianoforte with Herbert Sumison and Kendall Taylor and gained an associateship of the Royal College of Music. She has taught in many schools and at her own home.
The depositor was the grand-daughter of Feodor Schweitzer, the subject of some of the documents. The family came to Great Britain, 1938-1939. The relationship of the individuals referred to in the earlier documentation to the depositor is unknown. It appears that one of the depositor's ancestors was a court photographer in Berlin in the 1860s.
Born 1916, Wolfgang Josephs, a German Jew from Berlin, came to Great Britain sometime in the mid 1930s. He was interned as an enemy alien at the outbreak of war and later transported on the 'Dunera' to Hay Internment Camp, Australia. On his return to Great Britain in 1941 he enlisted in the Pioneer Corps, later changing his name to Peter Johnson. He was a military interpreter for the British occupying forces in Germany at Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, May 1945-Oct 1946 where he was involved with the denazification process. Whilst there he also took an interest in the returnees from concentration camps, arranging correspondence between them and their families all over the world. The Wiener Library has a copy of a tape recorded interview with him, the original being produced for the Imperial War Museum, which details his life as an internee in Great Britain and Australia.
'The Hyphen' was founded in 1948 by a group of younger continental Jewish refugees (between the ages of 20 and 35), many of whom were the children of members of the Association of Jewish Refugees, who having settled in Great Britain, found that owing to their similar background and experiences they had interests and problems in common. The group was to have no particular religious or political bias. The intention was to provide cultural, social and welfare activities in a way that would enable them to feel at home in their newly adopted country. The name 'The Hyphen' was chosen because it symbolized the gap between the older generation of refugees who had no intention or desire to integrate into British society, and the ideal of seamless integration which the younger generation aspired to but could not immediately realise.
One of the group's first activities was the setting up of a study and discussion group, which covered topics such as immigration in general, as well as German-Jewish immigration into Britain; German-Jewish history, and British cultural and political topics. Its most popular functions became the social gatherings, dances, and rambles in the Home Counties. 'The Hyphen' never had more than 100 members at one time but there were between 400 and 500 names on its mailing lists. The activities eventually petered out and the group was wound up in 1968. Compared with other German-Jewish institutions it was rather marginal, but for the members it fulfilled a very important function by giving them a sense of belonging during a difficult period of settling in to a new society.
This is believed to be a typescript transcript of an Associated Press telex containing the names on the infamous Nazi Black List, a facsimile copy of which the Wiener Library holds. The list contains the names of all those whom the Nazis regarded as a potential threat to their plans and would therefore be arrested after the successful invasion of Great Britain.
Max Gottschalk was the American Joint Distribution Committee's (JDC's) trust representative in pre-war Belgium. Born in Liege in 1889, he became a social scientist, joining the Institute of Sociology of the Free University of Brussels as a research professor in 1923, he later became Government Commissioner for Unemployment and President of the Social Security Board of Belgium. As President of the Belgian Committee for Refugees from Nazi Germany, he was instrumental in the rescue of the passengers of the ship 'St Louis', that was sent back from Cuba and finally permitted to land in Antwerp in July 1939. He got out of Belgium in 1940, emigrating to America and became the president of HICEM, the Jewish migration organisation.
Charlotte Salomon was born in Berlin in 1917 into a cultured and assimilated middle class Jewish family, and died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 26. 'Life or Theatre?' is the name she gave to a sequence of nearly 800 gouaches she produced between 1940 and 1942. Subtitled 'a play with music', it combines images, texts and musical references to recreate a life scarred both by family tragedy and Nazi persecution, yet interspersed with moments of intense happiness and love.
The correspondence and papers in this collection were generated by staff at the Wiener Library in an effort to identify the provenance and significance of two beer tankards which were deposited at the Wiener Library in memory of Leslie Simon Scott, formerly Ludwig Simon Schutz, of Berlin. The tankards were manufactured by the firm of Kerzilius of Cologne Ehrfeld.
Josa Morgan-Ruffner née Lederer was born in 1910 to Professor Lederer, a famous surgeon and Baroness Zenetti of Venice. She was Roman Catholic; studied for the theatre with Professor Arndt of the famous Burgtheater; married the star of stage and screen, playwright and wit, Paul Morgan, beloved by pre-war Berlin. She joined him when he was under contract in Hollywood to MGM. When they returned, Hitler rose to power. Paul Morgan's Theater der Komiker was taken away and they left for Vienna.
Josa started broadcasting about her American experiences and wrote regularly in the Sunday edition of Das Wiener Journal.
In 1938 Paul Morgan was arrested and sent to Dachau then Buchenwald where he was killed (according to Josa) by special orders of Hitler who could not forgive him for ridiculing him.
Josa was imprisoned in 1940 by the French as the holder of a German passport and taken to a concentration camp in the Pyrenees.
In 1944 she married Mr Joseph Ruffner III and became an American citizen. Later became estranged from him living in Munich and London.
The actor Paul Morgan was born as Paul Morgenstern. He belonged to the great theatre actors of his time. He appeared at the Simplicissimus in 1914 and founded together with Kurt Robitschek and Max Hansen the Berliner Kabarett der Komiker.
As an established theatre actor he dared to make first steps in the new and disapproved-of medium, film. To his early movies belong Der Herr ohne Wohnung, Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen as well as Fritz Lang's successful productions Halbblut and Die Spinnen.
In the 1920's there followed other very successful movies, among them Die Herrin der Welt, Kurfürstendamm, Hedda Gabler, Die Brüder Schellenberg, Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen, Der Stolz der Kompagnie, Venus im Frack, Casanova und Moral.
Morgan gained in popularity in the 1930s. He played in the following years in numerous movies like Nur Du, Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt, Menschen hinter Gittern, Casanova wider Willen and Ich und die Kaiserin.
Paul Morgan also made a name as an author of musicals besides his acting activity. He wrote among others the musical Axel vor des Himmels Tor, with which Zarah Leander launched her career.
The threat from National Socialism in Germany was underestimated by Paul Morgan for a long time. He was one of the first victims of the union of Austria to the German Reich in 1938 and was arrested on charges of possession of a letter of Gustav Stresemann (see copy at 1336/1/2). The real reason for his arrest was his Jewish roots.
Paul Morgan was deported to Dachau and arrived at the prison camp together with other Viennese in May. Paul Morgan was later transported to Buchenwald where he died of pneumonia, which he contracted during an inhuman punishment drill in one of the coldest winters in Europe.
The Reverend Wernham was one time parish priest at Christ Church, Forest Hill, in which parish there was also a German church. The latter's pastor, for a short time before the war, had been Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Reverend Wernham has been associated with Bishop George Bell of Chichester, who helped rescue a number of German clergy of Jewish extraction.
Two Czech Torah scrolls were given to the Northwood and Pinner Synagogue from the towns of Kolin and Trebon. It was decided to research the history and background to these scrolls. The content of this collection is the result of that research.
The author of this letter, Jella Caro, was the sister-in-law of the depositor's grandmother. She was 77 years old at the time of writing and lived to the age of 100. She was over 90 years old before she received any compensation for her suffering. In the letter she describes the deleterious effect on her health of 3 years in Terezin. Freezing cold and alone at an address in post-war Vienna, which functioned as a home for Jewish returnees, she describes how pleased she is to hear from her (unidentified) relatives and asks after them.
This copy letter in Yiddish with English translation was addressed to the father of the depositor, and describes the fate of the depositor's mother, who survived the Warsaw ghetto only to be murdered at Majdanek.
