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Authority record
Various.

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.

Various.

In 1086 Twickenham was part of the manor of Isleworth Syon. It is not mentioned as a separate manor until 1445 when it was held by the York family. It was sold in 1538 to Edward Seymour, later the Lord Protector, who later swapped it with the Crown for other lands. It was granted to Queen Henrietta Maria in 1629. The Crown leased out the manor houses and lands, and finally sold the manorial rights in 1836. By 1909 the manorial rights had lapsed.

Source of information: 'Twickenham: 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. 147-150 (available online).

Various.

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).

Various.

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.

Various.

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.

Various.

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.

In 1800 the Manor of Hayes was sold to the executors of Robert Child's will and was therefore added to Osterley and passed to Lady Sarah Sophia Fane and her husband the Earl of Jersey. They sold the Manor in 1829 to Robert Willis Blencowe.

The Manors of Norwood and Southall were united in 1547. In 1754 they were sold to Agatha Child who left them to her son Francis Child. They were united with the Manor of Hayes and followed the same descent-passing to the Jersey family and then sold to Robert Willis Blencowe.

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).

See also 'Hayes: Manors and other estates' and 'Norwood, including Southall: 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. 26-29 and pp. 43-45.

Various.

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.

Various.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

Various.

A marriage settlement was a legal agreement drawn up before a marriage by the two parties, setting out terms with respect to rights of property and succession.

A demise is the conveyance or transfer of an estate by means of a will or lease.

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).

Various.

The lease of the house in Gower Street featured in these records was assigned to Frances Wombwell and her daughters by a probate of 1809-10. Other Wombwells mentioned in the collection are Walter Wombwell, a stage coach proprietor and horse dealer, and his wife Martha.

Various.

The Goldsmith's Company held estates in East Acton which they acquired in 1682. The estate comprised a house, farmhouses, cottages, and several acres of land. The Company leased out the house, as evidenced by document ACC/0455/001, a lease from the company to Charles Watson. In the twentieth century the Company sold off most of the land and demolished the house.

From: 'Acton: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 16-23 (available online).

Various.

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).

Various.

Lawn House was a large private home in Hanwell. From the mid-nineteenth century it was used as a private lunatic asylum. It was demolished in the early twentieth century.

Various.

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).

Various.

Sir Charles Howard (1696-1765), army officer, was the second son of Charles Howard, third earl of Carlisle. He entered the army in 1715, joining the Coldstream Guards. By 1738 he was colonel of the 19th foot, which became known as the Green Howards in 1744. Howard saw action in Flanders, being wounded four times, and in the Jacobite uprising in 1745-46. He was made KB in May 1749. He attained the rank of general in March 1765, but died in August of that year. He was unmarried, however, his will made provision for a natural son, William, who was also in the Army.

It is probable that the General Sir Charles Howard of ACC/0657/002 is the same man; and that the daughter Eleanor of ACC/0657/001, 003 and 004 is another illegitimate child of his.

Biographical information from H. M. Chichester, 'Howard, Sir Charles (c.1696-1765)', rev. Jonathan Spain, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009.

Various.

The privileges of the Freedom of the City of London were sought for centuries by those who wished to exercise a retail trade or handicraft within the City. Among the privileges were immunity from toll at markets and fairs throughout London, freedom from impressment into the armed forces and the right to vote at ward and parliamentary elections.

Various.

These papers relating to the local history of Middlesex and Westminster 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).

Various

The manor of Little Stanmore was also referred to as the Manor of Canons. In 1709 the manor was purchased by James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, who built a luxurious house filled with exotic collectibles. The Duke's son inherited the estate but had to sell it and much of the collection and even architectural elements of the house. The land passed through various owners until 1860, when it was bought by Dr David Begg. On his death the estate stretched from Whitchurch Lane north beyond London Road, and from Edgware Road westward to Marsh Lane. Apart from the mansion it contained the farm-house which had belonged to Marsh farm, North and South lodges, at the Edgware gates, and Stone Grove House, Lodge, and Cottage, along Edgware Road; there were also four 'superior' houses at the corner of Dennis Lane and London Road and fields at the corner of Marsh Lane and London Road.

After Dr Begg's death a Morris Jenks bought the entire estate, amounting to some 479 acres, and sold it in 1896 to the Canons Park Estate Company, which in 1898 issued a prospectus of its plans for development. Arthur du Cros, founder of the Dunlop Rubber Co. and later a baronet, bought the mansion but in 1905 sold part of the estate. In 1919 he formed a trust, the Pards Estate, and in 1920 Canons itself was offered for sale, with lands that had been greatly reduced in the north, west, and south-east. Canons Park, formerly Marsh, farm-house and the other houses had been sold and 150 acres remained, almost corresponding to the present open space but still stretching eastward, along the north of the avenue, to reach as far as Edgware Road. In 1926 George Cross bought 85 acres and in 1928 the remainder was bought by Canons Limited and, on the west, by Harrow Urban District Council as a park. The mansion and 10 acres were sold in 1929 to the North London Collegiate school. More land was acquired by the school in 1936 and by the county council for playing fields, which were lent to the school.

Canons Park Estate is a housing estate built in the 1920s and 1930s. The housing estate incorporates 340 houses, gardens, open spaces and ponds.

From: 'Little Stanmore: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 113-117.

Various.

'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.

Various.

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).

Various.

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).

Various.

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).

Various.

Norman Mello Fergusson lived at Park House, Westmount Road, Eltham.

In The Story of Royal Eltham by RRC Gregory (1909) Barn House is described as belonging to the local doctor, James Jeken. Former residents included the Ravenhill family, the Teggarts, and Thomas Lewis who helped found the Eltham Friendly Society. The clock at Barn House acted as the public clock for the neighbourhood.

See http://gregory.elthamhistory.org.uk/bookpages/i001.htm for more information [accessed Jul 2011].

Various.

Fenton House in Hampstead was built some time between 1686 and 1689. The first owner was Thomas Sympson, whose widow sold the house in 1706 to Joshua Gee, a merchant. Later owner Philip Fenton gave the house its name, while it was owned from 1936 by Lady Katherine Binning who was a keen collector of porcelain, furniture and needlework.

For more information see: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-fentonhouse (accessed August 2011).

24 Cheyne Row was constructed in 1708 on land owned by Lord Cheyne. In June 1834 the writer Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane moved into the property (then known as number 5, not 24). The couple rented the house until Carlyle's death in 1881 (Jane died in 1866). After 1881 the house continued to be rented out, although largely untouched. In 1895 the freehold was purchased by public subscription and the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust was formed to manage the property and open it to the public. It was transferred to the National Trust in 1936.

For more information see: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-carlyleshouse.htm (accessed August 2011).

Various.

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.

Various.

The Port of London Authority was established in 1908 to take full control of the tidal river Thames and its docks.

The Authority was housed in a large stone office in Trinity Square, overlooking Tower Hill. The offices were built between 1912 and 1922 to designs by Edwin Cooper.

Various.

Standard Chartered Bank was formed in 1969 when the Standard Bank Limited merged with the Chartered Bank. This merger created the Standard Chartered Banking Group Limited; the group consisted of the Standard Bank and the Chartered Bank along with their principal subsidiaries and associated companies.

Immediately following the merger both banks continued to operate separately with each maintaining their own board of directors and a third board being created for the Standard Chartered Banking Group Limited. It was not until 1973 that the General Management of both banks were amalgamated and 1974 when the three boards of directors were all run by the same people. On 1 October 1975 the name of the company was changed to Standard Chartered Bank Limited. In 1983 all banking operations of both Standard Bank and Chartered Bank were brought together into one company, titled, Standard Chartered Bank. In 1985 the parent company was again renamed to Standard Chartered PLC.

Following the 1969 merger the bank retained City of London headquarter premises at 10 Clements Lane (former headquarters of Standard Bank Limited) and at 38 Bishopsgate (former headquarters of Chartered Bank). In 1990 new premises were opened in Aldermanbury Square for all London staff and in 20--, the headquarters were moved to 1 Basinghall Avenue, where the bank remains situated (as at 2014)

CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA AUSTRALIA AND CHINA

The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, known from 1956 as The Chartered Bank, was established by Royal Charter in 1853. It was an overseas exchange bank, based in and controlled from the City of London. It was established to take advantage of the end of the East India Company's monopoly in 1853.

STANDARD BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Standard Bank of British South Africa Limited, known as the Standard Bank of South Africa Limted from 1881, was incorporated on the 18 October 1862 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Initially operating within British controlled areas, the bank gradually expanded its network to include branches across South, East and Central Africa responding to the economic development and growth of the regions.

Both the Chartered and the Standard Banks acquired shares in and merged with many other banks.

Geographical ranges these covered are as follows:

African Banking Corporation: British South Africa, Nigeria and New York

Bank of British West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Cameroon and Canary Islands

Bank of Nigeria: Nigeria and Ivory Coast

Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China: India, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Siam [Thailand], Burma [Myanmar], Singapore, Malacca, Penang and the Malay States, the Philippines, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], North Borneo, Brunei, Sarawak, Pakistan and East Pakistan. There were also branches in New York (United States of America) and Hamburg (Germany). Despite its name, the bank never operated in Australia

Eastern Bank Limited: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Yemen, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Oman

P & O Banking Corporation Limited: India, Sri Lanka, China and Singapore

E D Sassoon Banking Company Limited: London, India and China, Gulf ports, Iraq and Japan

Standard Bank of South Africa: Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal [South Africa]. After amalgamations; Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Cameroon, Canary Islands and Ivory Coast

Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited: India, Burmah [Myanmar], Thailand, Java [Indonesia], Malaysia and East Africa

Various.

Tothill Fields was the name given to an open area between Westminster Abbey and Millbank. Tournaments were held there by kings living in the Palace of Westminster. Later the fields were used for cattle, growing food, horse racing, military parades, and bear baiting. A fair was held there every year. Duels were often fought here, and public punishments and executions held. The area was also used for burial pits during the plague. The fields were not developed until the 1830s.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

Various.

William D'Oyley was a surveyor from Loughton, Essex. He was appointed as the first Superintendent of Epping Forest in 1876 (to oversee the forest lands which the City of London Corporation had begun to acquire in anticipation of the Epping Forest Act 1878). He was succeeded as Superintendent by Alexander McKenzie in 1878.

Various.

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.

Various.

The Diocese of Southwark was formed in 1905 and lies in the Church of England Province of Canterbury. The Diocese has jurisdiction over 317 square miles of London south of the River Thames, formerly in the ancient counties of Kent and Surrey, areas which had been in the Diocese of Rochester and vast Diocese of Winchester.

A British fleet took control of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795 and established a garrison in Cape Town.

Various.

William Clapham of London was a Citizen and Grocer (d 1688), who owned Cox Key, Fresh Wharf and Gaunt's Key as well as warehouses in Thames Street. The properties were left in tail to his son William Clapham (d 1730). By 1764 William Skrine had gained the reversionary interest. Skrine may have been distantly related to the younger William Clapham through Clapham's wife, Mary Lem.

Various.

No historical information has been found for Thomas Poynder.

Various

Parish officials were responsible for early forms of local government as well as administration of the church. In Edmonton, overseers of the poor were first mentioned in 1639. One overseer was appointed for each of the four wards. Parish vestry meetings had begun by 1739 and included a workhouse committee which comprised the trustees, the vicar, churchwardens, overseers and elected parishioners. The committee administered poor relief, providing money or goods to paupers. It appears that the poor were admitted to the workhouse as a last resort, while poor children were apprenticed.

Source of information: 'Edmonton: Local government', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 175-179 (available online).

Various.

William G. Venn was a butcher based in Beckenham, Kent.

William James Bonser lived in Newgate Street, City of London.

Various

Sir John Maynard, 1602-1690, was a Member of Parliament and lawyer. In 1645 he was granted the books and manuscripts of the late Lord Chief Justice Bankes. In 1698/9 he was made Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal with Sir William Rawlinson. He was buried at Ealing and his library of manuscripts is now at Lincolns Inn Library.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography notes: "having survived nearly all his family, Maynard left his property to his grandchildren in a will so tangled by the remainders he appointed that it required a private act of parliament and litigation to unravel" - the agreement in this collection arises from this action. Maynard's eldest daughter was married to Sir Duncumbe Colchester; his grand-daughters were married to Sir Henry Hobart and Thomas, Earl of Stafford.

Paul D. Halliday, 'Maynard, Sir John (1604-1690)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004.

Various.

Jonathan Crane lived at 3 Tulse Hill Terrace, Lambeth and died in 1860.

Various.

The Gascherie and Gashry families were related by the marriage of Suzanne Gascherie, daughter of Estienne and Suzanne Gascherie to Francois Gashry, a parfumier, at the church of St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London on 10 December 1696. Gashry appears to be an anglicised form of Gasherie, and it is possible that the two families are related but their connection is not apparent from the documents in this collection.

Francois and Suzanne Gashry had 12 children. The eldest, Susanne Gashry (Gascherie) returned to La Rochelle and died there in 1762 (see ACC/2079/A1). Her sister, Madeleine Gashry (Gascherie) brought the law suit to claim inheritance of lands in La Rochelle against more distant relatives, the Bonneau family (see ACC/2079/A1). Documents relating to the Gashry family were produced to prove Madeline's title to the lands, as a direct descendant of Estienne Gascherie through her mother Suzanne Gascherie, wife of Francois Gashry (see ACC/2079/A1) and to show that Gashry and Gascherie were variant spellings of the same name. As these documents refer principally to the Gascherie branch of the family they have been put with other documents relating to the legal case.

Francois and Suzanne Gashry's son Francis Gashry was a commissioner of the Navy in 1741 and Treasurer and Paymaster of His Majesty's Ordnance in 1751 (ACC/2079/B1/004). He married Martha ,whose will survives (ACC/2079/B1/007) and died in 1762 (ACC/2079/B1/002-003). A daughter, Margaret Gashry married Abraham Ogier in 1767 and her will also survives (ACC/2079/B2/001). Another daughter, Mary Martha married Henry Henrott, thus making the connection with the Hanrott family (see ACC/2079/C).

The Hanrott family is another Huguenot family. Jonas Hanrot came to England from Sedan. The Hanrott family name is a corruption of the original Henreau and is found in various forms including Henrott and Hanrot. Jonas Hanrot married Marie Anne Bocquet (Bauquer, Boque) in 1688 and their son Henry Hanrott married Marie Marthe Gascherie in 1724. They had two sons and a daughter. One of their sons, Francis Hanrott, (ACC/2079/C1/001) had seven children, including Francis Gashry Hanrott (ACC/2079/C2/001) and Philip Augustus Hanrott (ACC/2079/C3). Philip Augustus Hanrott was apprenticed as a solicitor's clerk to the firm of Dunn Lancaster and Dunn (see ACC/2079/D) and later formed his own firms, Hanrott and Metcalfe and Hanrott and Son (see ACC/2079/E,F). He married Caroline Cory and had several children including Henry Augustus Hanrott (ACC/2079/C5) with whom he had the solicitor's partnership, and Philip Augustus Hanrott Jnr. (ACC/2079/C6). Henry Augustus married his cousin Louisa Cory and had two sons, Howard Augustus, and Robert Cory (ACC/2079/C7) who married Julia Hanson and had several children, including Conrad Hanrott (ACC/2079/C8).

Philip Augustus Hanrott was articled to the firm of Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn in 1795 (ACC/2079/C3/001). The papers in this group relate to cases dealt with by Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn, and retained by P A Hanrott. The Penn papers (ACC/2079/D/003) include the Cremorne papers which do not appear to have a clear connection with the solicitor's firm, but which may have been kept with other Penn papers as the Penns were related to the Cremornes by marriage.

Philip Augustus Hanrott formed his own solicitors firm after leaving Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn. The first partnership was with a Mr Metcalfe and it broke up around 1837 (see ACC/2079/E6/005). The second partnership was with his son Henry Augustus Hanrott, and there seems also to have been a partnership with Charles Cory, Henry's brother-in-law. The last partnership was dissolved on Henry's death in 1852, although the settlement of accounts took until 1857 (see ACC/2079/E6/008).

The Archbishop of York held extensive estates in Battersea, Penge and Wandsworth partly derived from the Bridge Court Estate. Hanrott and Metcalfe acted as stewards for the Archbishop, collecting rents etc. In 1813 and 1837 the Archbishop of York applied for Acts of Parliament to allow him to sell off the Battersea and Wandsworth estates, to keep the revenue in trust for purchasing similar estates near the home estates of Bishopthorpe in Yorkshire (see ACC/2079/F1/008-012). Hanrott and Metcalfe were involved in valuing the land, calculating fines and arranging the sale of the estates to the tenants. The Archbishop also purchased a London house in 1809.

Various.

The property in Paddington was owned by Daniel Tidey, Westbourne Grove, Paddington, builder, in the 1850s. The premises then passed into the ownership of the Reverend T Blockley.

F P Morrell took over property in Spitalfields from Reverend L L Sharpe of Brixton. F P Morrell lived at Black-Hall, Oxford and was the coroner for the University.

Various.

Commercial Union Assurance Company Limited was based at 24-26 Cornhill (in 1901). Established in 1861, it transacted fire, life and marine insurance.

Commercial Union acquired the following companies (with the date of acquisition in brackets):-
Accident Insurance Company Ltd (1906);
Edinburgh Assurance Co Ltd (1918);
Guardian Plate Glass Insurance Company (1953);
Hand-in-Hand Fire and Life Insurance Society (1905);
Imperial Live Stock and General Insurance Company Ltd (1912);
Liverpool Victoria Insurance Corporation Ltd (1913);
North British and Mercantile Insurance Company Ltd (1959);
Northern Assurance Company Ltd (1968);
Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation Ltd (1910);
Palatine Insurance Company Ltd (1900);
Union Assurance Society (1907);
World Auxiliary Insurance Corporation Ltd (1971).

Various.

Globe Telegraph and Trust Company Limited was incorporated in 1873 by John Pender, a Liberal MP, who also founded the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group. Globe was formed in order to spread the short term risk of cable laying over a number of companies, and shares in Globe were offered in exchange for shares in submarine telegraph and associated companies. The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group, meanwhile, was built up by Pender over a number of years in the late 19th century, as described below.

MEDITERRANEAN AND INDIA. 1869: British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company Limited was formed to lay a cable from Bombay to Suez and thence to Alexandria and to Malta; and Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company Limited was formed to complete the chain to England with cables via Gibraltar and Portugal. 1872: British Indian Submarine; Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta; Marseilles, Algiers and Malta (formed 1870); and Anglo-Mediterranean (formed 1868) telegraph companies were amalgamated by Pender to form Eastern Telegraph Company Limited.

THE FAR EAST. 1869: British Indian Extension Telegraph Company Limited was formed to lay a cable from Madras to Penang and on to Singapore. 1870: British Australian Telegraph Company Limited was formed to bring Australia within the ambit of submarine telegraph communication with Britain and laid a cable from Singapore to Java and on to Australia. 1869: Pender had meantime formed China Submarine Telegraph Company Limited to extend the cable from Singapore to Hong Kong via Saigon. 1873: Pender amalgamated the above three far eastern companies into Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company Limited which, with Eastern Telegraph Company Limited, formed the nucleus of the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group.

SOUTH AMERICA. 1865: River Plate Telegraph Company Limited was formed, with a head office in Scotland, to lay a cable across the mouth of the River Plate and operate a telegraph service between Argentina and Uruguay. 1872: Companhia Telegrafica Platino Brasileira was incorporated in Brazil, but reformed in England in 1878, as London Platino Brazilian Telegraph Company Limited and became part of the Eastern Group. 1892: Pacific and European Telegraph Company Limited was formed to compete with South American telegraph companies which connected the main Brazilian ports with each other and with Europe.

AFRICA: 1879: Eastern and South African Telegraph Company Limited was formed to lay cables up the east coast of Africa from Durban to Aden where they would join Eastern Telegraph Company's main line system. 1885: West African Telegraph Company Limited was formed to lay cables along the west coast of Africa and connect them with, in the main, foreign government systems. 1885: African Direct Telegraph Company Limited was formed to link the main British ports on the west coast of Africa with each other and with England. 1889: Eastern and South African, West African and African Direct all became part of the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group.

AZORES. 1893: Europe and Azores Telegraph Company Limited was formed under the aegis of the Eastern Group to lay a cable from Lisbon to the Azores.

By the turn of the century, therefore, the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group possessed a virtual monopoly of worldwide communication by telegraph cable. However, from this time on, cable communication came increasingly into competition with wireless telegraphy, chiefly in the form of Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Limited.

In 1928 the Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference recommended that the overseas cable and wireless resources of the British Empire be merged into one system. As a result Cable and Wireless Limited (known from 1934 as Cable and Wireless (Holding) Limited) was formed in 1929 to acquire the shares of both the Eastern Group and the Marconi company, and Imperial and International Communications Limited (known from 1934 as Cable and Wireless Limited) was formed also in 1929 to acquire the communications assets of both the Eastern Group and the Marconi company.

In 1935 Globe Telegraph and Trust Company Limited acquired Cables Investment Trust Limited as a subsidiary. In 1946, when Cable and Wireless was nationalised, Globe owned a third of Cable and Wireless (Holding) Limited which was converted into an investment trust. It was renamed in 1971 as Cable Trust Limited. Since 1948 Globe and its associates have been concerned chiefly with general investment business, and in 1969 Globe was renamed as Globe Investment Trust Limited. In 1977 it merged with Cable Trust Limited.

Globe and the associated telegraph companies had offices at Winchester House, Old Broad Street until 1902; Electra House, Moorgate, until 1933; then Electra House, Temple Place, Victoria Embankment (more recently known as Globe House). Cable and Wireless shared accommodation with Globe until 1955 when Cable and Wireless moved to Mercury House, Theobalds Road, WC1.

Various.

It appears that William Hunt lost the Assizes case and was fined. The matter then went to the Court of Queen's Bench. The Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench, depending on the monarch) 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).

Various.

The general election of 1906 was held from 12 January to 8 February 1906. It was won in a landslide victory by the Liberal Party under Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

The 1907 London County Council elections were won by the Municipal Reform Party, who were allied with the Conservative party.

Various.

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.

Various.

No further information.

Various.

No futher information.

Various

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

Various

The issue of women in the Church in Great Britain was one that had its origins in the Reformation. Convents were included in the abolition of the English monasteries and with their disappearance women lost the only ecclesiastical role open to them until the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century women in the Church of England began to campaign for women's work in the church to be acknowledged by allowing them to hold positions in its hierarchy.

Various

The central themes of the collection are the views of Judge N W Rogers, a virulent anti-semite, who believed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and that the financial world was controlled by international Jewry. He sent one of his pamphlets and two others of a similar nature to Hugo Valentin in Sweden, with a letter in which he reasserts his antisemitic arguments. Evidently, they had already corresponded although it is not clear why. In addition there is correspondence between the Jewish Central Information Office and Valentin. Whilst little is known about Rogers, save for the fact that he had published a number of antisemitic tracts, the following information on Valentin was taken from Encyclopoedia Judaica.

Hugo Maurice Valentin, 1888-1963, was a historian and Zionist leader. Born in Sweden, Valentin first served as a teacher of history at a high school in Falun, but in 1930 was appointed lecturer and in 1948 professor at the University of Uppsala. Topics: European/ Prussian history and history of Jews in Sweden. In 1925 he became a Zionist, and from then on dedicated himself passionately to spreading Zionism to Swedish Jews. He became president and later honorary president of the Zionist Federation. He died suddenly preparing an argument against an anti-Zionist in a Stockholm radio station.

Various

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.