Sir John Chapman was a mercer who held office as Alderman of London. He was a Sheriff 1678-79 and Lord Mayor 1688-89, dying while in office.
Buzzacott and Company is a firm of chartered accountants based at 12 Fetter Lane, formed out of numerous predecessor firms.
Down and Harper was formed from the partnership of A N Harper and H E Down in 1945, and became Down, Son and Harper on Down's son's qualification and entry into the partnership in 1952. They were based at 44 Bow Lane. Their successor firms merged with Watson, O'Regan and Company, Buzzacott, Lillywhite and Company and Vincent and Goodrich to form Buzzacott and Company in 1971.
No historical information has yet been found for the other companies represented in this collection.
The companies listed in this collection had several connections, such as shared premises and directors.
They had ceased trading or had become holding or investment companies by 1982 when those that survived became subsidiaries of the Caparo Group Limited.
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.
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).
These papers relating to Battersea Park were collected by James Phillips 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).
Battersea Fields were converted into Battersea Park between 1846 and 1864, designed by Sir James Pennethorne.
These papers were collected for their general or antiquarian interest, rather than having a united provenance (that is, being produced by the same institution or business).
The church of Saint Paul in Covent Garden was constructed between 1631 and 1633 to designs by Inigo Jones. The church was given a parish in 1645. It has an association with the theatre since it is located close to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House. Several well-known actors are buried here, including Charles Macklin and Ellen Terry.
The church of Saint John the Evangelist, Kensal Green, was constructed in 1844. It was originally a detached portion of Chelsea parish, but a separate parish was assigned in 1845 taken from parts of the neighbouring parishes. A chancel was added in 1903.
Unknown.
The letters in the Letter Collection were bought or donated on an individual basis between 1938-1946 and given separate accession numbers and presumably collected and bound soon after 1946.
The general election was held in June 2001 and was won by the Labour Party with a large majority. Requests for donations were sent out to candidates of all parties throughout the country and major deposits were received from all parts of the United Kingdom. Parties represented include: Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, UK Independence Party, Socialist Alliance, Plaid Cymru, Scottish National Party and a range of parties from Northern Ireland. The collection also includes a wide range of addresses and material from smaller parties and Independent candidates.
The collection also contains ephemera from the County Council election, held at the same time, and holds material covering the major parties. The ephemera has been listed by party and entered onto the election ephemera database where material can be located by party, candidate, constituency or region.
No further information available.
No further information at present.
No further information.
Scientific papers sent to the Society with a view to publishing, these were either not published or abstracted after being read at meetings of Fellows, and subsequently deposited in the archives.
Either sent to the Royal Society, presented at meetings of Fellows, or commissioned by the Society. Final papers concerning trade in Cl.P/25 and those on the same subject in Cl.P/3(i) date from the first half of the 17th century, and were acquired from a different source. The present 25 volumes (bound as 31 volumes) may have originally been bound as 39.
The Royal Society King Charles II Medal was instituted by Council in 1997. It is awarded at the discretion of Council only to foreign Heads of State who have made an outstanding contribution to furthering scientific research in their country. The Medal is awarded only in exceptional circumstances and is normally presented on the occasion of a State Visit. The first medal was awarded in 1998 to His Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan, the second to the Prime Minister of India in 2007.
Letters sent to the Royal Society, usually Officers or Assistant Secretaries.
Engineering - volumes
Edward Heron-Allen (1861-1943) was a marine biologist and zoologist.
Sir Bruce Stirling Ingram (1877-1963) was editor of the Illustrated London News and for a time was an Honorary Vice-President of the Society for Nautical Research.
Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), founder of the Wellcome Research Institution, collected numerous documents of a maritime origin as well as papers connected with the history of medicine.
The Royal Society's Tercentenary celebrations took place on 18 July 1960.
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.
Unknown
In the 1860s, a number of individuals such as Bessie Rayner Parkes and Barbara Bodichon, who were involved in creating employment agencies for women and opening up a variety of professions, became involved in the campaign for women's suffrage. The two movements came to be closely connected through shared membership. Many saw votes for women as the only means by which the professions could be opened up to both sexes and the conditions of working women improved through appropriate legislation. The connection between the two campaigns continued into the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Individual members of suffrage societies were involved in the work of the Women's Industrial Council, which was established in 1886 to campaign for 'equal pay for equal work'. The London Society for Women's Suffrage established a Women's Service department and a bee toymakers' scheme during the First World War, which later became the Women's Employment Department in the post-war period.
'Zines' (produced "zeens") are non-commercial, hand-made magazines and booklets. Written, designed and published by their creators, these grass-roots publications are made simply and quickly on photocopiers and home computers. They fuse original artwork with images appropriated from the mainstream media and include writing that is creative, critical, personal and humourous.
Produced in small print runs from 10 to 10,000 copies, zines are ephemeral publications written on any number of topics. Due to their eclectic natures and amateur production values, zines exist on the fringes of popular culture, journalism, art practices, life writing, and academia. They are distributed by their creators through local, postal and internet-based networks and at events such as Ladyfest.
Whilst the history of zines dates back to the mimeo-graphed science fiction fan magazines (fanzines') of the 1930s, it was the fusion of punk culture and cheap photocopying rates in the late 1970s which saw a 'zine explosion' of DIY (do-it-yourself) cultural expression.
Traditionally, zine cultures are dominated by young men. However, the 'girl zine movement' of the early 1990s saw many young women and girls explore their experiences and voices within zines for the first time; inspired by the rise of the feminist and personal zines of the Riot Grrrl movement.
Young women make zines for a number of reasons: to explore their creativity, to make friends, to overcome isolation, and to think critically about the world around them. They blur genre boundaries by mixing together stories, essays, photography, rants, collages, lists, doodles, reviews, diary entries, and autobiographical confessions.
Zines are historical primary sources documenting women's everyday lives and cultural opinions. Zines are also a key tool in analysing 'third wave feminism', as young women explore their self-identities and redefine feminism in these publications.
The Women's Library collects zines and comics which reflect women and girls' experiences, interests and concerns in the UK today.
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 by the Wiltshire Archaeological Society for their antiquarian or research interest before being passed to the archive.
A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.
Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.
A bargain and sale was an early form of conveyance often used by executors to convey land. The bargainee, or person to whom the land was bargained and sold, took possession, often referred to as becoming 'seised' of the land.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
The Manor of Sunbury was held by Westminster Abbey until 1222 when they transferred it to the Bishop of London to settle a dispute. It passed to the Crown in 1559 and was leased out until 1603 when it was granted to Robert Stratford. The manor subsequently passed through several hands and families until 1925 when it was considered virtually lapsed.
'Sunbury: 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. 53-57 (available online).
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.
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.
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).
The Breakspears Estate was the foremost manor in Harefield, Middlesex. It took its name from William Breakspear who owned it in 1376. It belonged to the Ashby family from 1447. In 1769 the last male Ashby died without a male heir and the house passed to a daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to Joseph Partridge. Their son left the estate to a relative of his wife. By 1877 the property belonged to Alfred Henry Tarleton, whose widow sold the house to the county council in 1942. The estate land was used as a park while the house became an old people's home.
Source of information: '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.
Jonathan Passingham, a farmer from Heston, died in 1833, leaving most of his estate at Heston in trust for his wife Elizabeth and, after her death, to be divided between his two daughters. Ellen, who married Jonathan Passingham of Cornwall in December 1833, was to receive Heston Farm estate (143a 29p), and Emma, wife of James Basire, engraver of Chancery Lane, was to receive North Hyde Farm estate (132a 2r 3p). After their deaths the property was to be divided between their respective heirs. The executors and trustees of the will were Francis Sherborn, gentleman of Bedfont, and Charles Farnell, brewer of Isleworth.
The inheritance became a cause in Chancery in 1836 when the heirs accused Francis Sherborn of "a series of frauds, misconduct, negligence and breaches of trust", and Charles Farnell of "gross negligence" in failing to take steps to prevent this. Farnell stated he had been "a mere cypher in the business", as Sherborn had been the active trustee (see ACC/0328/033). The main charge of the plaintiffs concerned the mismanagement of Heston and North Hyde Farms which, soon after the death of Jonathan Passingham, had been leased by the trustees to Francis Sherborn and his brother Matthew as tenants in common. The plaintiffs claimed that the terms of the lease, which was drawn up by Henry Farnell, brother of Charles, were fraudulent, and resulted in "acts of waste and destruction" by the Sherborns. These were specified as ploughing up valuable meadow and pasture land, denuding the estate of timber, and allowing buildings to fall into decay and, in some cases, pulling them down. A further charge related to the sale of a brickfield called Tentlows in which the trustees had a beneficial interest. The decree in Chancery in 1839 discharged Sherborn and Farnell from their trusteeship.
George Robert Rowe, M.D. of Chigwell, Essex, and Francis Passingham of Truro, Cornwall, were subsequently appointed new trustees, to be accountable for the estate to the Master of the Rolls. An Act of Parliament in 1844 (7 and 8 Vict. c.22) enabled the trustees to grant leases for digging brick earth on the estate. The royalties from brick making were to be paid into two accounts at the Bank of England, one for Heston Farm and one for North Hyde Farm, in the name of the Accountant General of the Court of Chancery. Another act in 1847 (see ACC/0328/058) authorised the construction of a canal link for transporting bricks. This, however, was not undertaken, a tramway being built instead.
The Depot Estate was land originally purchased by HM Ordnance in 1814 from several owners. Three small pieces of land, copyhold of the manor of Heston, were added to the estate in 1817. When it was sold in 1832, the estate comprised barracks, storehouses, dwelling houses, lands and a private canal. Most of the Depot Estate was purchased in 1845 by Messrs. Allen and Holmes, solicitors to the Passingham trustees, and conveyed to the trustees in 1848. James Basire, widower of Emma, the daughter of Jonathan Passingham, held the life interest in the rents and profits of North Hyde Farm and the Depot Estate. When he died in 1869 the Basire heirs brought a further cause in Chancery for the sale or partition of the North Hyde Estates, and in 1871-2 the property was sold in twenty one lots, primarily for building development, (see ACC/0328/105-106).
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).
The Manor of Little Stanmore, also known as Canons, was sold to James Brydges in 1709. Brydges later became Lord Chandos, and in 1719 was made Duke of Chandos. However, Henry, Duke of Chandos, was forced to sell the manor and house in 1746, to pay off heavy debts. James Brydges also acquired the Manor of Great Stanmore which remained in the Chandos family until 1840.
Warren House, situated on Wood Lane, and its estates were originally part of the Manor of Great Stanmore and were leased out by the Chandos family. It was later owned by James Forbes of the East India Company. Forbes sold it in 1813, and by 1827 it was the property of the architect Sir Robert Smirke who also held 23 acres in Great Stanmore and 108 acres in Little Stanmore. It was then owned by Charles Keyser, banker Henry Bischoffsheim, and his grandson Major General Sir John Fitzgerald. In 1937 Fitzgerald sold 123 acres of land to Harrow Urban District Council as part of the Green Belt; and then in 1951 sold the house with 11 acres of land to the National Corporation for the Care of Old People.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), available online.
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.
Stanmore Hall, Great Stanmore, was purchased by Robert Hollond, MP, in 1847 and his wife Ellen Julia Hollond, authoress and founder of London's first créche.
From: 'Great Stanmore: Introduction', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 88-96.
In 1719 Henry Gough, M.P., a director of the East India Company, purchased a house in Enfield. His son Richard, an antiquary (1735-1809), recalled many pleasing hours of research in his native parish. The house, which became known as Gough Park, was demolished in 1899.
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.
Old Oak Common in Acton had three wells which were said to have medicinal properties and were briefly fashionable in the eighteenth century.
Nicholas Abbott of Uxbridge was a malster, while his son William Abbott (fl. 1677-84) was a victualler. Edward Powell of Uxbridge (fl 1791) was a carpenter who had 6 children.
Oxgate Farm was part of the estates built up by the Roberts family in Willesden from 1295 onwards. Francis Roberts purchased Oxgate in 1587. The family sold Oxgate in 1700.
'Willesden: Other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 216-220 (available online).
The Manor of Sunbury was held by John Alliston between 1825 and 1852. The estate was then sold to John Park, who died in 1887 leaving the manor to his widow. It was then left to their son C J Park who died in 1909, when the manor passed to the Chester family.
From: 'Sunbury: 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. 53-57 (available online).
The Commission (of the Peace) gave Justices of the Peace the power to try offences in their courts of Quarter Sessions, appointed them to conserve the peace within a stated area, and to enquire on the oaths of "good and lawfull men" into "all manner of poisonings, enchantments, forestallings, disturbances, abuses of weights and measures" and many other things, and to "chastise and punish" anyone who had offended against laws made in order to keep the peace.
The Custos Rotulorum (Keeper of the Rolls) was responsible for the care of the county records. Appointed (since the fourteenth century) in the Commission of the Peace, he was a leading justice, unpaid and holding the post for life; and from the seventeenth century usually also holding the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county. His Deputy was the Clerk of the Peace who was in practice the actual keeper of the records, and who drew up, registered and oversaw the storage of the records.
The court case between the Duke of Westminster as Custos Rotulorum of the County of London and the Duke of Bedford as Custos Rotulorum of the County of Middlesex concerned the custody of quarter sessions records relating to those parts of Middlesex which were moved into the new County of London. The Local Government Act of 1888 had given the Middlesex Sessions House at Clerkenwell Green to the new County of London. As part of their vacating of the premises, the Middlesex Clerk of the Peace removed all court records to the Middlesex Guildhall in Westminster. The Duke of Westminster argued that the records should be divided between the two counties, so that records relating to those parts of Middlesex now in London should be handed over to the custody of London County Council. The judgement was that the records created in what was Middlesex at the time should stay in Middlesex, despite later changes of administrative boundary. A full report of the case and the reasoning behind the judgement can be found in The Times newspaper for December 19 1899.
The documents in this collection relate to public houses owned by Courage Limited and various subsidiary or merged companies.
A calendar of prisoners is a list of persons awaiting trial, often including a physical description, age and place of birth. The calendar may also provide information about the nature of the crime and the charges, list the names of the aggrieved persons, witnesses and the Justices who heard the case. Sometimes the outcome of the trial is also given. The Calendars were compiled by officers at the prison and submitted to the Clerk of the Peace.
Stephen Knott of Exmouth served in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Naval Reserves. The Knott and Legg families were connected by the marriage of Emma Knott and John Legg. The family lived in Holloway.
Duncan Sinclair died in the 1840s.
The Bodimead family were farmers, but also had interests in brick-making, tile-making and lime-burning. They held property pricipally around Harrow Weald Common, in the parish of Harrow-on-the-Hill, including Copse/Coppice Farm, and cottages further north in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. The Bodimead family have had their surname spelt in numerous ways throughout this collection of documents.
These papers relating to Middlesex local history 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).
'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.