The horticultural societies and shows represented in this collection took place in a variety of locations, mostly in the former Middlesex, including Hanwell, Watford, Southgate, Northolt, Hampstead, Friern Barnet, Hounslow, Enfield, Ealing, Edmonton, Haringey, Muswell Hill and Bush Hill.
William Willett was the founder of the Artistic Building Firm, a building and contracting business. He was born in Colchester in 1836. The business operated mainly in Hammersmith and Kensington, with their main office situated in Sloane Square. Willett retired in 1900 leaving the business to his son, William Willett junior. The Times newspaper noted that "the term "Willett-built" is a current expression in particulars of sale and it applies, broadly speaking, to a type of residence which is distinguished by individuality of design, both inside and out." Willett died in Hove in November 1913.
William Willett junior died in Chislehurst in March 1915, aged 58. As well as running the family business, he was also responsible for the daylight savings scheme where the clocks are moved forward in Spring and back in Autumn.
Information from The Times obituaries: Wednesday, Nov 12, 1913; pg. 11; Issue 40367; col D and Friday, Mar 05, 1915; pg. 10; Issue 40794; col E.
These papers were collected by J S Bumpus, antiquarian researcher, from a number of sources including the personal papers of Maria Hackett of 8 Crosby Square, Bishopsgate (1783-1874). Maria Hackett devoted much of her life to campaigning for various causes, notably the welfare and education of the choristers at St Paul's Cathedral and the preservation of Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate. Her interests and activities are described in "Miss Hackett of Crosby Square", by K I Garrett, in Guildhall Studies in London History, vol.1, no.3, (1974), pp.150-62.
Most of the letters were formerly in the possession of William Hawes, vicar choral, almoner and master of the choristers at St Paul's Cathedral, 1812-46, to whom some of the letters are addressed. The writers include Sir Andrew Barnard, Alfred Bunn, Lord Burghersh (John Fane), Joseph Grimaldi, Samuel Carter Hall, Rev Sydney Smith and many prominent organists and musicians of the late 18th and 19th centuries, including Adrien Boildieu, John Braham, G A P Bridgetower, Thomas Cooke, John Goss, William Jackson, Vincent Novello, Mary Paton, William Shield and Charles and Samuel Sebastian Wesley.
The Corporation of London is the local authority for the City of London or Square Mile, the financial and commercial centre at the heart of the metropolitan area. With its roots in medieval times, it is probably the oldest local authority in the United Kingdom and has an unusually wide range of responsibilities reflecting both its ancient role as a municipality and its modern-day role as the equivalent of a London Borough. The Corporation of London is also unique in local government as it has no charter of incorporation nor any specific date of establishment: it has evolved organically from earlier bodies. Most other councils in the United Kingdom were either created or substantially reformed in the 19th century or later.
Where "Corporation" is used in modern legislation such as City of London (Various Powers) Acts, its meaning is defined as "the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London". This latter title is one of the styles used in the charter dated 20 Sep 1608, which also lists the following titles or styles: Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London; Mayor, Citizens and Commonalty of the City of London; Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London; Citizens of the City of London; Barons of London; Barons of the City of London and indeed "any other name whatsoever, by reason or force of any letters patent, charters, or confirmations of any of our progenitors, Kings of England, which in any time or times had reasonably used or exercised". In 1690 an Act of Parliament confirming all the privileges of the Corporation of London declared that the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London should "remain continue, and be, and prescribe to be a body corporate and politick, in re, facto et nomine".
Another unusual feature of the Corporation of London is its ability to alter or amend its constitution when it benefits the Corporation of London and City of London to do so, under charters of Edward III (1341) and Richard II (1377 and 1383). This power is exercised by means of Acts of Common Council. Such Acts of the Corporation of London are authenticated by the City or Common Seal. Although the legal title of the Corporation of London remains 'the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London', statutory powers are usually conferred on the Court of Common Council, under the designation of 'the Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled'.
In 1682 - 1683 the King's Bench issued a writ of Quo Warranto against the City of London which led to the Charter of the City being forfeited and the Corporation of London being dissolved, reducing the city to the legal status of a small village. Quo Warranto writs had often been used to regulate liberties and franchises, such as the right to hold a fair or a market. It was claimed that the City of London had breached its Charter by allowing the collection of tolls at market and by publishing a seditious petition against the King and Government - these abuses of the ancient liberties of the City were enough to justify issuing the writ. The overall aim of the King, Charles II, was to control the personnel and the government of the Corporation of London. After the Charter was forfeited the King issued a new one giving him the right to appoint and remove officers, including the Mayor, Sheriffs, Recorder, Common Sergeant, Justices of the Peace and Coroner, thus allowing him direct control over the government of the City. Between 1683 and 1688 the City of London was governed by a Royal Commission. In October 1688 King James II issued a Proclamation restoring the City Liberties as fully as before the Quo Warranto judgement. In 1690 a Special Committee of the House of Commons declared the judgement illegal and an Act of Parliament was passed restoring the City to its ancient rights, enacting that the City might prescribe to be a corporation and declaring that the Charter of the City of London should never be forfeited for any cause whatsoever.
Paul Robeson was born on 9th April 1898 in Princeton to the Rev William Drew and Maria Louisa Robeson. His father was a former slave who had escaped to freedom at age 15 and earned a theological degree at Lincoln University. He worked as pastor of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church for twenty years until the authorities forced him to resign believing him to be a 'misfit' who fosters 'a general unrest and dissatisfaction on the part of others'. At age 55 William Drew had to support his family by driving coaches and hauling ashes. Further tragedy was to beset the Robeson family in 1904 when Maria Robeson was burned to death when her clothes caught fire over an open coal stove.
In 1907 the family moved to Westfield, where Paul's father built a small church and ministered a small congregation for the next 3 years before the family moved again to Somerville. Here the family finally settled. William Drew became pastor of St Thomas A.M.E Zion Church and Paul attended Somerville High School where his talent for academic study, music, oratory and athletics became apparent.
In 1915 Paul Robeson won a 4 year scholarship to Rutgers, and despite much physical intimidation he became one of the best football players of his generation. In May 1918 the Reverend Robeson died.
Paul Robeson graduated from Rutgers in 1919 and was accepted to Columbia University Law School where he financed his studies by tutoring in Latin and playing pro-football. In 1920 he met Eslanda 'Essie' Goode, the first black analytical chemist at Columbia Medical Centre whom he married in 1921.
His acting debut came in 1922 as Jim in Taboo at the Sam Harris Theatre, and after some hesitation he agreed to star in a British production of the play renamed Voodoo, where he met Lawrence Brown, a black American musician who was to become a life-long friend. In 1923 Paul Robeson was hired as the only African-American at the law firm of Stotesbury and Miner in New York but shortly after resigned his law career when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him.
Over the next ten years Paul Robeson's acting career made him an internationally known star. His films included Eugene O'Neill's All Gods Chillun' Got Wings, The Emperor Jones, Sanders of the River, Jericho and Song of Freedom, as well as stage productions of Show Boat, Porgy and most famously Othello in which Robeson was only the second black actor to portray Othello. By 1932 Robeson's marriage and his health were beginning to fail, but at the same time Robeson's interest in political and ethnic concerns were coming to the fore. In 1934 he made a whistlestop tour of the Soviet Union and considered resettling his family there in a country where he felt all races were treated equally. This tour however helped to fuel the hostility felt toward Robeson's outspoken opinions.
In 1937 at London's Albert Hall Robeson brought the Hall to a standstill by changing the lyrics of Ol' Man River from "I'm tired of livin' and scared of dyin'" to "I must keep fightin' until I'm dyin'"
Throughout the Second World War Robeson continued to fight for leftist and anti-fascist causes, inspite of being hounded by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a communist and being placed under surveillance by the FBI.
In March 1947 Robeson announced that he would stop doing professional concerts for two years and devote himself to the fight against racial prejudice. In 1950 he was asked to give up his passport after denouncing the Korean War. Paul Robeson refused. In answer to his refusal the State department told him he could keep his passport if he swore he was not a communist, again he refused, filing a suit against the State demanding the return of his passport. It was not to be returned until 1958.
The last ten years of Robeson's life were beset with illness both himself suffering from exhaustion to chronic depression and Essie who had terminal cancer but kept it from Paul until her death in 1965 two days before her seventieth birthday. In 1974 the FBI concluded that 'no further investigation [of Robeson] is warranted'. In 1976 aged 77 Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia on January 23. Five thousand mourners attended his funeral, where they listened to recorded spirituals sung by Robeson.
Buildings featured include the:
Ritzy Cinema, Brixton;
The Palace, Denmark Hill;
Empire Music Hall, Camberwell;
Peckham Crown Theatre;
Hippodrome, Peckham;
Bingo Club, Peckham;
Empire, New Cross Road;
Broadway Theatre, Deptford;
Wellington Street, Woolwich;
Grand Theatre, Woolwich;
Hippodrome and Brownhill Road, Catford;
The Oxford, Oxford Street;
Palladium, London;
The Empire, Leicester Square;
The Alhambra, Leicester Square;
Daly's Theatre;
The Hippodrome, London;
Theatre Royal, Haymarket;
His Majesty's Theatre;
Lyric Theatre;
The Globe Theatre;
Cambridge Cross and Palace Theatre;
Wyndhams Theatre;
Garrick Theatre;
The Coliseum;
Duke of York's Theatre;
The Opera House, Covent Garden;
Drury Lane Theatre;
Vaudeville Theatre;
Adelphi Theatre;
Gaiety Theatre;
Waldorf Theatre, Kingsway;
The Old Vic;
St. James Theatre;
Imperial Theatre;
Euston Music Hall;
Camden Theatre, Camden;
Deacons Music Hall;
Sadler's Wells;
Collin's Music Hall, Islington;
Marlborough Theatre, Holloway;
Empire, Holloway Road;
Hackney Empire, Mare Street;
Finsbury Park Empire;
Alexandra Theatre;
The Palace, Stoke Newington Road;
Hippodrome, Golders Green;
Tottenham Palace;
Walthamstow Palace;
Hippodrome, Poplar;
Hippodrome, Harlesden;
Palace, East Ham;
Walham Green, The Broadway;
Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Gate;
Grand Theatre, Fulham;
Shepherd's Bush Empire;
Kings Theatre, Hammersmith;
Chiswick Empire;
Ealing Hippodrome;
Grand Music Hall, Clapham Junction;
Hippodrome, Balham;
Duchess Theatre, Balham;
Wimbledon Theatre;
Prince of Wales Theatre, Richmond-upon-Thames;
Grand Theatre, Croydon;
Prince of Wales Theatre, Kennington;
Borough Theatre, Stratford; and
Grand Opera House, Croydon.
Actors featured include:
Sir Henry Irving;
Harry Tate;
Kitty Colyer;
Mr and Mrs Kendal;
Eugene Stratton;
Hetty King;
Marie Lloyd;
Alec Burley;
Little Tich;
George Robey;
Fanny Fields;
Fred Terry;
Julia Neilson;
Gertie Gitana;
Elsie Craven;
Beerholm Tree;
Sir Charles Wyndham;
Arthur Bouchier;
Maud Allen;
Fred Emney;
Harry Fragson;
Harry Randall;
Walter Passmore;
Camille Clifford;
Cyril Maude;
Gladys Cooper;
Seymour Hicks;
Ellaline Terriss;
George Alexander;
Lewis Waller;
Henry J. Wood;
Ellen Terry; and
Mrs Patrick Campbell.
On July 7th 2005 a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks hit London. Suicide bombers detonated devices on tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road, between Kings Cross and Russell Square and on the Number 30 bus at Tavistock Square. 52 people were killed, and hundreds more injured.
Cleopatra's Needle was made of pink granite at the time of Thothmes (Tuthmose) III, circa 1500 BC, with later inscriptions added by Ramesses II. It was later removed to Alexandria. It was brought to London in the container ship Cleopatra, towed by the steam ships Olga and Anglia, in 1877. It was erected on the Victoria Embankment between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge by the engineer John Dixon in 1879, with two sphinxes added to the base.
Henry Barber traded as a salmon factor from 1841. By 1855 he had a stand in Billingsgate market and by 1880 had leased shop 7 where the business remained until it went into voluntary liquidation in 1979. The limited company was formed in April 1925. It specialised in salmon, but also dealt in eels through subsidiaries.
Subsidiaries of H Barber and Son Limited included:
- D and J Barber (Eels) Limited, formerly John and Paul (Eels) Limited, eel merchants, trading from 13b Lovat Lane (they were taken over and renamed in 1960);
- Braddan Fishing Co Limited, formed in 1952 to manage salmon fishings;
- Cahill and Young Limited, a defunct Irish company which was acquired ca. 1954 and used to purchase the Galway fishery;
- John T Clark Limited, a Billingsgate company taken over ca. 1960;
- UC Farmer Limited, a Billingsgate company formed in 1965;
- A Langley and Co Limited, cooked eel merchants, trading from 28 Monument Street;
- EF Marchant Limited, a Billingsgate company taken over in 1964.
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).
Abstract of title is a summary of prior ownership of a property, drawn up by solicitors. Such an abstract may go back several hundred years or just a few months, and was usually drawn up just prior to a sale.
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).
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
Several of the documents mention Sir W S Prideaux, possibly Sir Walter Sherburne Prideaux, solicitor of Prideaux and Sons, Goldsmith's Hall. Presumably Prideaux was acting in a professional capacity in these property transactions.
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.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
Trades mentioned in the documents include carver, haberdasher, carman, fruiterer and loriner. Loriners made bits and bridles for horses.
The ships represented in this collection are the:
- 'Latona' No. 55362, registered 1874, 270 tons net, owner, J. Dickie, Glasgow; master, E.H. Tidmarsh, Liverpool; voyages, Liverpool to Chittagong, etc
- 'Indus', No. 13884, registered 1863, 1319 tons net, owner, John Taylor, London; master, E.J. Hunt; voyages to Australia with emigrants
- 'Buston Vale', No. 47765, 411 tons net; owner, F.G. Fry and Co., Liverpool; master G.H. Galloway.
- 'Welsh Girl', No. 44939, registered 1866, 137 tons; owner, Stephen Morse, Watchet, Somerset; master, Alfred Nicholas, Watchet; coasting and to Antwerp.
- 'Alfred and Mary', No. 10723, 45 tons; owner, Fleming Hewett, Gorleston, Suffolk Master, William Kittle, Gorleston; trawling in N.Sea, and later Master James Green, Gorleston.
- 'Princess Royal', No. 17033, 42 tons; owner, John Parsons, Harwich; voyages, master, William Mixter, Harwich; voyages, Harwich-Rochester, London, Colchester Maldon, Ipswich.
Saint Mary's Nunnery of Augustinian canonesses, founded in 1140, was dissolved in 1539 and the church converted to the parish church of Clerkenwell, dedicated to St James. In the 1780s the building was declared ruinous and demolished. The present church was built 1788-92 by the architect James Carr, on the site of the choir of the mediaeval nunnery.
Pentonville was laid out as a planned development on land belonging to Henry Penton. The developers provided a church, constructed from 1787, but the parish of Clerkenwell refused responsibility for it. However, when the parish trustees required funds to rebuild St James's in 1788, they purchased the new church in return for a loan to their building fund. The Pentonville church thereafter operated as a chapel of ease to the parish church.
Bagnigge House was situated off King's Cross Road, Clerkenwell. Bagnigge Wells was established as a popular spa resort in 1758 when the owner of the House, Thomas Hughes, found that water from his well was a good purgative. He opened his gardens to the public, charging 3d to taste the waters, and adding entertainments, tea rooms, flower gardens, fish ponds and benches beside the Fleet River, which flowed through the garden. Concerts and entertainments were held in the pump rooms. The Wells were a fashionable retreat until the beginning of the 19th century; by 1810 they were the resort of 'lower class tradesmen' (Lysons). The Wells were closed in 1841 and the site was built over.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
Sir Richard Holford of Lincoln's Inn and Weston Birt, Gloucestershire (d 1718), to whom the majority of these papers relate, was called to the bench in 1689, made a master in Chancery 1694, and knighted in 1695.
Of the other members of the Holford family mentioned, Robert Holford senior (1686-1753), son of Sir Richard, was called to the bench in 1715, having already become a master in Chancery in 1712, and his two sons, Peter (b 1719), and Robert junior, followed the family tradition, the former becoming a master in Chancery in 1750 and the latter being admitted to Grays Inn in 1742.
William Hurt was a merchant of Bishopsgate and official of the East India Company, while his nephew Thomas Rogers was a factor for the Company. Although Hurt and Rogers were both employed by the East India Company, and Rogers' letters contain much about the Company's business, they appear to be private correspondence.
Various
Harold Richard Goring Greaves (1907-1981) taught at the London School of Economics from 1930 onwards. He was Professor of Political Science in the University of London from 1960-1975.
The proposed United Nations University Institute was not established until 1973; it is called the UN University and based in Tokyo.
Most of the letters in the collection were collected by Charlotte Erickson and the staff of the Survey of Sources for American Studies during their work in the 1950s, whilst others were donated or purchased.
Various
The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 as the Royal Geographical Society of London. Its aim was the advancement of Geographical Science. The Society was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1995 the RGS merged with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) to create the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Since 1831 the Society has published a Journal, initially containing the principal papers read at the Society's evening meetings and abstracts of Geographical works published elsewhere, it is now a refereed academic publication. The journal has appeared under various titles: Journal of the RGS (JRGS) 1831-1880; Proceedings of the RGS (PRGS) 1857-1878; Proceedings of the RGS (New Series) (PRGS (NS)) 1879-1892; Supplementary Papers (1882-1893); and the Geographical Journal (GJ) 1893 onwards. At first edited by the Secretary of the Society, the preparation and editing of these journals is currently carried out by the Geographical Journal Office.
The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 as the Royal Geographical Society of London. Its aim was the advancement of Geographical Science. The Society was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1995 the RGS merged with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) to create the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Since 1831 the Society has published a Journal, initially containing the principal papers read at the Society's evening meetings and abstracts of Geographical works published elsewhere, it is now a refereed academic publication. The journal has appeared under various titles: Journal of the RGS (JRGS) 1831-1880; Proceedings of the RGS (PRGS) 1857-1878; Proceedings of the RGS (New Series) (PRGS (NS)) 1879-1892; Supplementary Papers (1882-1893); and the Geographical Journal (GJ) 1893 onwards. At first edited by the Secretary of the Society, the preparation and editing of these journals is currently carried out by the Geographical Journal Office.
Sir Phipps Hornby (1785-1867) began his naval career in 1797, being promoted to Lieutenant in 1804 and to Captain in 1810. He was on half-pay between 1816 and 1832, and then held several posts ashore until his promotion to Rear Admiral in 1846. From 1847 to 1850 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Squadron, with his base at Valparaiso, where he established his wife and family. He served briefly as a Lord of the Admiralty, was promoted on retirement in 1854, and became Admiral in 1858.
Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby (1825-1895), son of Sir Phipps Hornby, entered the Navy in 1837, being appointed to the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, flagship of Admiral Stopford. He was promoted to Captain in 1852 and commanded several vessels, including the EDGAR, flagship, Channel, 1863-1865. He was given command of the Channel Squadron from 1871 to 1874, and was Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean from 1877 to 1880. He became Admiral of the Fleet in 1888.
Robert Stewart Phipps Hornby (1866-1956), younger son of Sir Geoffrey, entered the Navy in 1879, served in the Egyptian War in 1882 and became a Lieutenant in 1886. He was promoted to Captain in 1903 and commanded the DIANA in the Mediterranean, 1904 to 1906. From 1914 to 1915, he was Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, and he was promoted to Admiral in 1922 on the retired list.
Windham Mark Phipps Hornby (1896-1987), son of Admiral R S Phipps Hornby, entered the Navy in 1909 and was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant in 1916. He joined the RAMILLIES in 1917, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1918, to Lieutenant-Commander in 1925 and retired in 1932.
No futher information.
The L and M series, and the Visitation records, represent the main collections of the College pre-dating the English Civil War, being mostly the work of Tudor heralds. Samson Lennard's 1618 list of the contents of the library indicates that these volumes were part of the collection then, although descriptions are usually somewhat too general to allow for precise identification. The volumes are listed in the 'Syllabus' of College of Arms' manuscripts, compiled in c 1780
The two compilers of these MSS. are the same as those of MS. No. 210 (Consultationes], the later hand may be that of Pierre Rivallier [1644- ],a physician at Nîmes.
Robert Philip Baker-Byrne was born in Berlin in 1910. His father was the owner of the company, Modellhaus Becker, Berlin. In 1936 he and his parents, under increasing pressure from life under the Nazis, came to Great Britain as refugees. Some time later he married and had a daughter. From 1939 until 1944 he was a member of the Pioneer Corps. In 1944 he began working for the British Secret Service and made two lone parachute drops into enemy territory. Whilst on the last mission into the Lübeck area he was apparently captured.
Having survived the war, he worked as an investigator in the investigation section of War Crimes Group, North West Europe. After he left the military he went to Australia (presumably with his family). After a few years he returned to Great Britain where he worked as a sales manager in the 1950s. Nothing further is known about his life nor that of his family.
Max Sander was a German Jew, born in 1890, who apparently came to Great Britain in 1939. During World War One he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer. He is described in various documents as a businessman and there is a photograph of a shop in Hamburg called Nebel und Sander. Sander died in London in 1979.
Julia Rahmer, a former member of the underground Leninist group Neu Beginnen, gives some insight into the activities of the group and the realities of life as a member. Julia Rahmer was recruited into the group in Berlin by a friend, Fritz Meyer, in April 1933. As a Jew, frustrated at no longer being able to continue her studies at university, she was attracted to the possibility of 'keeping socialist ideas alive' under the Nazi regime. By 1935 she had become disillusioned with the group and in 1936 emigrated to Prague and later London on account of the danger posed to members of subversive organisations.
The movement to gain the vote for women was a mass movement that evolved most fully in the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was not, however, the only area of activity with the aim of improving the social and political situation of women in Britain. Earlier in the century, the idea of the 'sacred' protective duty of women gave them a 'high' ideological status in society that far outstripped their legal status. The social work that was undertaken by women's groups in the areas of housing and nursing led to changes regarding national laws on the poor, education and the treatment of the infirm. However, despite these achievements, the women who were responsible for them still found themselves legally impotent. This was also a time when the proportion of women compared with men in the country was increasing and the number of unmarried women without the expected financial support of a husband was growing as a consequence. Reformers therefore began to focus on the most immediate ways of improving the status and economic position of women, focusing on improvements to female education and the employment opportunities available to them. Schemes in the 1860s such as Emily Faithfull's Victoria Press and the plethora of female emigration societies that sprang up at the time and directed by individuals such as Maria Rye were designed to give women who were reasonably educated the means of supporting themselves. These developments were followed by activities centred on women's legal status regarding property and their ability to stand for election at the local level. None of the strands of activity was independent from the other as attitudes towards one affected perceptions of the others, and those who were active in one area such as women's employment also worked with colleagues more commonly associated with others such as education.
Hannah More (1745-1833) was born in Stapleton in 1745. When in her teens she wrote her first significant work, a play for schoolgirls entitled The Search after Happiness, published in Bristol in 1762. After a brief engagement she devoted herself to writing. She became particularly close to David Garrick and his wife who drew her into writing for the theatre. She wrote such plays as 'The Inflexible Captive' in 1774 and 'Percy' in 1778 until Garrick's death the following year. When this occurred, she retired to Hampton with his widow and continued her writing career in the form of didactic plays and poems. Her politics became increasingly reactionary with the outbreak of the French Revolution but she continued her use of popular forms such as ballads and in 1795-8 she published The Cheap Repository Tracts for the poor. In 1799, she published 'Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education', which called women to be worthy of holding superior moral value in the world while accepting women's inferior social status. Throughout the 1790s she and her sister Martha became involved in a project to teach the children of the poor in the Mendip Hills area. The children were taught to read, though famously not to write, with the purpose of Bible study. They were also taught the skills for trades such as weaving and sewing. She spent the rest of her life engaged in theological and moral reformatory work which found an outlet in texts such as 'Christian Morals' (1813) and 'Moral Sketches' (1819). In 1802, she built Barley Wood where her retired sisters joined her and where she lived until her move to Clifton. She died there 1833.
During the campaigns for women's franchise which had been conducted during the later nineteenth century, the focus of the groups taking part had been on influencing members of Parliament and their parties so that reform could be introduced from within Parliament. However, a series of bills to introduce a vote for women had been defeated as members of the Liberal Party, to which so many suffragists were attached, proved hostile to their cause. Additionally, by the turn of the century the media's interest had been diverted to the Boer War, meaning that publicity for the suffrage movement was rare. In this situation, a new organisation was established in 1903. Emmeline Pankhurst had been a supporter of women's suffrage for many years, but resigned from the Manchester branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in this year and formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) with her two daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Initially, the group's purpose was to recruit more working class women to the movement, but by 1905, when the new Liberal government began to withdraw active support for women's suffrage, they began to use different 'militant' methods to gain publicity that were soon adopted as a new campaign strategy and would be reused by others both in and outside of their own group. At a meeting on 13 Oct 1905, at which the government minister Sir Edward Grey spoke, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney disrupted the event by shouting, then refused to leave before becoming involved in a struggle. This resulted in their arrest on the charge of assault, they were fined five shillings each, and were sent to prison for refusing to pay. Their methods were in direct contrast to the constitutional methods of other groups such as the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and attracted a number of early adherents such as Charlotte Despard and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. During 1906, the WSPU also began to increase the level of violence used, breaking the windows of government buildings and attacking Asquith's house with stones on the 30 Jun. However, not all agreed with the escalation of militancy or the Pankhurst style of leadership. A number of members left the group in 1907 with Charlotte Despard, Edith How Martyn, Teresa Billington-Greig, Octavia Lewin, and Caroline Hodgeson, to form another militant, but this time non-violent, organisation: the Women's Freedom League, which engaged in acts of civil disobedience. The impact of WSPU arrests increased when, in Jul 1909, hunger strikes began. The prison authorities feared public opinion would turn against them but were unwilling to release the increasing number of suffragettes who adopted this tactic. Consequently, women on hunger strike were force-fed. The violence escalated even further in 1913 when abortive arson attacks on the homes of two anti-suffrage MPs took place, followed by the burning of a series of other buildings. Some members of the WSPU disagreed with this arson campaign and, like Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence in 1912, were expelled or themselves left the group. However, the number of hunger-striking women rose even further and the government introduced the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act, known as the 'Cat and Mouse Act', by which ill suffragettes were released to be re-arrested on their recovery and sent back to prison to complete their sentence. However, the WSPU's situation changed on 4 Aug 1914 when the First World War broke out. Suffrage organisations across the spectrum of opinion suspended their political activities and transferred their efforts to war work, while the WSPU began negotiating with the government to end their militant activity and begin war work in return for the release of current suffragette prisoners. This occurred and the group began to organise demonstrations in support of the war and encouraging women to replace men in the workplace, bringing the militant stage of the campaign for the vote to an end.
An 'indenture' was a deed or agreement between two or more parties. Two or more copies were written out, usually on one piece of parchment or paper, and then cut in a jagged or curvy line, so that when brought together again at any time, the two edges exactly matched and showed that they were parts of one and the same original document. A 'right hand indenture' is therefore the copy of the document which was on the right hand side when the parchment was cut in two.
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 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.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
The Poynder family included Thomas Poynder, the younger, of Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, Treasurer of Christ's Hospital; Edmund Samuel Poynder of Brasenose College, Oxford; Thomas Henry Allen Poynder of Wrotham Place, Wrotham, Kent and Sir John Poynder Dickson Poynder, of Hartham Park, Wiltshire, M.P.
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.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
Hayes Manor was granted to Christ Church, Canterbury, in 832; and remained in the possession of the church until 1545 when it was taken over by the king. It was sold to the North family in 1546, who in turn sold it on in 1613. It subsequently passed through various owners. The estate was broken up in 1898.
Southall Manor has its origins in land held by William of Southall in 1212. In 1496 the manor was sold to Edward Cheeseman. His son gained the Manor of Norwood, and the two manors were henceforth united. The manors passed through various owners until 1757 when it passed to the Child family, and then the descent of the manor passed with Hayes Manor.
Information from 'Hayes: Manors and other estates', 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. 26-29 (available online).
Colham manor was in 1086 assessed at 8 hides, 6 of which were in demesne. At some time before 1594 Hillingdon manor was incorporated in that of Colham. Insulated within the lands of Colham lay the 'three little manors' of Cowley Hall, Colham Garden, and Cowley Peachey, and freehold estates belonging to a number of manors in other parishes, including Swakeleys in Ickenham. The manor passed through several owners before, in 1787, John Dodd sold the whole manor to Fysh de Burgh, lord of the manor of West Drayton. Fysh de Burgh died in 1800 leaving Colham subject to the life interest of his widow Easter (d 1823), in trust for his daughter Catherine (d 1809), wife of James G. Lill who assumed the name of De Burgh, with remainder to their son Hubert. The manor passed to Hubert de Burgh in 1832 and he immediately mortgaged the estate. Hubert retained actual possession of the property until his death in 1872.
Information from: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Manors and other estates', 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. 69-75 (available online).
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.
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.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
The Pocock family appear to have leased their estate from part of the lands of the manor of Isleworth Syon, which was held by the Crown.
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.
Yeoveney Farm was a manor in Staines, formed in the 13th century. It comprised 200-300 acres situated east of Staines Moor. The land was usually farmed by tenants and the manorial rights lapsed soon after 1758. The land passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
The History of the County of Middlesex mentions a 'Batcher Field', comprising 63 acres, as situated east of Northolt village.
Source of information: 'Staines: 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. 18-20; and 'Northolt: Introduction', 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. 109-113.
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.
Highgrove House in Eastcote, Ruislip, was constructed in 1881 for to designs Sir Hugh and Lady Juliana Hume-Campbell after the existing house was ruined by fire. The house was designed by E S Prior in an early Georgian style. It is now Grade II listed. Winston Churchill is believed to have honeymooned there. The house was later used by the Middlesex County Council to accommodate homeless families.
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.
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
Abstract of title is a summary of prior ownership of a property, drawn up by solicitors. Such an abstract may go back several hundred years or just a few months, and was usually drawn up just prior to a sale.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
An estate in Mill Hill known as Belmont Farm was acquired by Peter Hammond between 1768 and 1792. He left the estate to his daughter, wife of Somerset Davies. Davies coveyed 83 acres to Robert Anderson in 1801, but when Anderson went bankrupt in 1803 the estate was bought by Captain Robert Williams. He conveyed the estate to David Prior in 1812. Prior's widow sold the estate to Sir Charles Flower in 1820. Flower was a mill owner and had been Lord Mayor of London. He purchased more land from Robert Finch and Michael Coomes in 1821 and 1826, so that by 1828 his estate comprised 441 acres and stretched from the Hale to the Totteridge boundary, including Lawrence Street, Uphill and Bittacy farms. Flower left the estate to his son James, who died in 1850. By 1889 the estate had been split up.
From: 'Hendon: Other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 21-23 (available online).
Albion Lodge was a large house, constructed in 1815, and situated in what was once the rural outskirts of Tottenham parish. In 1861 the new Saint Ann's church, with its schools and model cottages, brought development to the area. The area is now known as Fortis Green and the Lodge has been converted into a residential care home for the elderly.
These papers were collected for their general or antiquarian interest and relevance to the local history of Middlesex, rather than having a united provenance (that is, being produced by the same institution or business).
These papers relating to cultural events were collected for their general or antiquarian interest and relevance to the subject, rather than having a united provenance (that is, being produced by the same institution or business).
The letters formed lot 235 in Sotheby's sale on 25 March 1974 and were bought by Mr Godfrey Groves, a keen collector of topographical material relating to North London. It is possible that at one time they formed part of the Gardner Collection of London topography, broken up in 1923.
Cecil Roth (1899-1970), Jewish historian, compiled a report and catalogue on the archives of the United Synagogue and its predecessor synagogues in 1930. A copy of the catalogue is available within this collection (reference ACC/2712/13/01/50).