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.
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.
As of 2011, 73 High Street, Teddington, was operating as a clothes shop.
The Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter in Westminster is better known as Westminster Abbey. The exact date of foundation is unclear. The monastery was situated on Thorney Island in the Thames, a suitable place because of the fresh water and food resources of the river. When Edward the Confessor became king in 1042 he had vowed to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome, but as this would have been impractical the Pope released him from this vow on condition that he build or restore a monastery to the saint. He therefore moved his palace to Westminster and began work on a new monastery and church. The new building was completed in December 1065 and consecrated just 8 days before Edward died. William I (the Conqueror) was the first monarch to be crowned in the Abbey, and to date all but two of his successors have been crowned there.
After Edward the Confessor was canonised in 1139 the importance of the Abbey increased and various kings gave gifts, endowments and privileges to the monastery. Henry III began a rebuilding project in 1245, determined to make a sumptuous building, influenced by recent French architectural styles. Saint Edward was given a special shrine in a chapel. The rebuilding was not completed until 1532. The monastery was dissolved in 1540 but because of its royal associations it was saved from destruction. It became the cathedral of the new diocese of Westminster and a Dean and Chapter were appointed.
The Abbey is full of monuments and tombs including those of several kings and queens; churchmen; statesmen and politicians; members of the armed forces, poets and writers; scientists; explorers; architects; educators and actors. The dead of the First World War are commemorated by the monument to the Unknown Warrior.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
In 1293 Edmund, Earl of Lancaster and brother of King Edward I, constructed the Savoy Palace on land formerly belonging to the Count of Savoy. The palace was rebuilt at great expense by Henry, 1st Duke of Lancaster, between 1345 and 1370; after which it was said to be the finest house in England. In 1381 the palace was attacked during the Peasant's Revolt; the rioters started a bonfire of the Duke's possessions and mistakenly threw a box of gunpowder onto the flames, thus destroying much of the Great Hall.
In 1505 Henry VII ordered the palace to be rebuilt and used as a hospital for the poor. The hospital held 100 beds and included three chapels, a large precinct and outbuildings. It was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and a statue of him was positioned over the Stand gate. In 1570 complaints were made that Thomas Thurland, Master of the Hospital, used hospital money to maintain his relatives, rarely went to church, had sexual relations with hospital staff, and owed the hospital £2,500. The hospital never recovered from this mismanagement.
Houses in the hospital precinct were fashionable addresses for noblemen and highly ranked clergy. However, by the later 17th century these houses were occupied by businessmen, while the hospital was used for wounded servicemen, and barracks and a military prison were constructed. Some of the chapels and halls were converted for use by non-conformist religious groups such as French Protestants, Lutherans, Quakers and Calvinists.
The hospital was formally dissolved in 1702. In 1772, with most of the buildings in ruins, a dispute over ownership of the land was settled: the Crown took possession of the central part of the precinct, while the Duchy of Lancaster took the outer part and the Savoy chapel. The site was cleared in 1816-20 for the Waterloo Bridge approach road, Savoy Street and Lancaster Place. In 1864-70 Victoria Embankment and Gardens were made. The only remaining part of the hospital is the Savoy Chapel. The site is now occupied by the Savoy Hotel, the Savoy Theatre, Victoria Embankment and Gardens, and part of Somerset House.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
Sir John Buckworth was a leading merchant, trading with Turkey. The property referred to in this collection comprises four capital messuages variously known as Augustine Fryers, Winchester Place or House, St John House, the Excise House and the Glasshouse, and a number of adjacent messuages, all formerly part of, or on part of the site of, the dissolved Augustine Friary.
The documents in this collection all relate to associations but have not been assigned separate fonds due to their size or because the originator cannot be identified.
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).
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.
The church of Saint Sepulchre, Holborn Viaduct, was first mentioned in 1137. It was damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 and was rebuilt in 1670-71. However the tower and outer wall survived and date from around 1450. The church is now the National Musicians' Church. The church is also known as Saint Sepulchre without Newgate as it stood just outside the Newgate walls. The parish was partly within the City of London and partly within the former county of Middlesex.
These items had been collected by the antiquary George Scott (1720-1780), and passed to his heirs. George Scott, a honorary doctor of law and a great collector of antiquities and manuscripts, was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1748. He died in 1780, a widower, without children and a virtual recluse at Woolston Hall to which he had retired after his wife's death, and his estate passed to his cousin, although much of his collection was sold in 1782. These items clearly remained with the family. The 1891 sale was probably made by his cousin's heir, Louisa Watlington (d.1892), who had married Robert Peel Ethelstan. She inherited not only Moor Hall, but also Scott's Woolston Hall. Her son Capt Robert W Ethelstan sold Moor Hall itself in 1898.
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.
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).
The Court of Exchequer originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the Curia Regis (the King's Court). By the reign of Henry II it had become separate, and was responsible for the collection of the king's revenue as well as for judging cases affecting the revenue. By the 13th century the court proper and the exchequer or treasury began to separate. The court's jurisdiction over common pleas now steadily increased, to include, for example, money disputes between private litigants. A second Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up in 1585 to amend errors of the Court of the King's Bench. These were amalgamated in 1830 when a single Court of Exchequer emerged as a court of appeal intermediate between the common-law courts and the House of Lords. In 1875 the Court of Exchequer became, by the Judicature Act of 1873, part of the High Court of Justice, and in 1880 was combined with the Court of Common Pleas (source of information: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008).
The Lord Chancellor and his deputies sat in the Court of Chancery to hear disputes about inheritance and wills, lands, trusts, debts, marriage settlements, apprenticeships and so on. As an equity court, Chancery was not bound by the stricter rules of common law courts. Please see The National Archives Research Guides Legal Records Information 22, Legal Records Information 42 and Legal Records Information 28 for more information (all available online).
The Star Chamber was a special court which sat in the Palace of Westminster. It was intended to ensure that prominent and powerful individuals could be tried. Sessions were held in secret with no jury or witnesses. The system was vulnerable to corruption.
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.
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.
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.
These documents have been placed together for convenience under one fonds due to their small size (most are only one document or volume) and their lack of provenance. They do not form a united collection from one source. They relate to a variety of institutions, such as the Houses of Parliament, Commissioners of Excise, Armed Forces, War Office, Royal London Militia, Tower of London, Commissioners of the Treasury, Exchequer, Privy Council, Comptroller of the Revels; and historical events, such as the abdication of James II and the accession to the throne of William of Orange.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is the trade body for insurance companies in the UK. It was formed in 1985 on the merger of the British Insurance Association, the Life Offices' Association, the Fire Offices Committee and the Accident Offices Association. The Association has around 400 companies in membership. The work of the ABI includes policy formulation, research and statistics, and public relations representing the insurance industry. It also organises conferences and seminars and publishes reports. The ABI is based at 51 Gresham Street in the City of London.
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.
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).
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.
The Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) was founded in 1971 when the London Corn Trade Association merged with the London Cattle Food Trade Association. GAFTA is a trade association for those working in the international grain trade. It defines standards, acts as a regulatory body and handles problems for its members.
For historical information about the predecessor bodies whose records comprise this collection, please see the sub-fonds entry for each organisation (listed in the 'arrangement' section).
Gresham House, in Old Broad Street, was the home of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79), Lord Mayor of London, and was the site of Gresham College until 1768 when the house was demolished and HM Excise Office was built. This was sold in 1853 by the Government to six partners and, in 1857, the Gresham House Estate Company Limited was formed by them to manage the property. Other property was purchased in 1936 and 1955 in Bishopsgate (nos 25-27 and 31-33 respectively). Gresham House was sold in 1959.
In 1921 Broad Street Estates Limited (incorporated 1913), which owned a freehold building in Old Broad Street opposite Gresham House, was acquired. This property was sold in 1953. An "island" site between London Wall and Great Winchester Street, comprising approximately 1 acre, was purchased in 1928 and a subsidiary, Great Winchester Street Estates Limited, was formed to hold it. This company went into voluntary liquidation in 1958 and the site was sold in 1960. Since the late 1950's, Gresham House Estate Company Limited and its subsidiary, Broad Street Estates Limited, have been concerned mainly with investment business.
The Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Company was established in 1821 and renamed as Guardian Assurance in 1902. It was founded by a group of private bankers for UK and overseas fire and life insurance and expanded into employers' liability from 1897.
Royal Exchange Assurance was established by royal charter in 1720. Its business comprised marine, fire and life insurance, and general accident insurance in Britain and overseas.
In 1968 Royal Exchange Assurance combined with the Guardian Assurance Company Limited to form Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance. The company had offices at the Royal Exchange from 1720 until ca. 1999 when Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance was taken over by AXA.
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:
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.
The London Fish Trade Association was formed in 1880 as the London Fish Salesman's Association to protect the interests of Billingsgate merchants. It changed its name to the London Fish Trade Association in 1881. From 1884 it occupied the subscription rooms in Billingsgate Market. From 1934 the Association operated coastal advice and bulking schemes for the benefit of members; various other schemes were undertaken later.
The Association was incorporated in 1946 as the London Fish Merchants' Association (Billingsgate) Ltd (see CLC/B/151-01), and a trading company, London Wholesale Fish Trade (Billingsgate) Ltd (see CLC/B/151-05), was formed at the same time to take over the operation of the various schemes.
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).
G Bedford is a party mentioned in the marriage settlement of 1843.
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).
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].
Robert Gunter, of Earl's Court Lodge, Kensington, was a Captain in the 4th Dragoon Guards.
The property was owned by William Holland, who died in 1874 leaving it to Louisa Froud. Louisa left the house to her daughter Jessie Blount in 1922. In 1938 the house was purchased by the London County Council for demolition in a road widening scheme.
The manor of Paris Garden covered almost the same territory as the parish of Christ Church, Southwark, a little less than 100 acres. The whole area is below high-water level and was prone to flooding. Consequently it was not built-up until after 1809 when new sewers were constructed. The land belonged to the Knights Templars from around 1113. After that order was supressed the manor was granted to the Knights Hospitallers, who leased it out. The first use of the name "Parish Garden" (later Paris Garden) to describe the estate was made in 1420.
In 1536 the Hospitallers surrendered the land to Henry VIII. It was held by the Crown until 1578 when it was granted to Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon. Two years later he demised the demesne lands to one owner and the copyhold lands to another; thenceforward they have separate histories. The copyholder's lease was converted into a fee simple in 1881, but the manorial rights were not abolished until 1936. The manor was bought by William Angell in 1655, and was sold by him to George Baron. The Baron family held the manor until 1827, when Elizabeth Ann Baron married John Lethbridge, it then passed into the Lethbridge family, who still held it in the 1950s.
For a more detailed history see 'Paris Garden Manor', Survey of London: volume 22: Bankside (the parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark) (1950), pp. 94-100 (available online).
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).
The manor of Stepney, also known as Stebunheath, was recorded in the Domesday Book as owned by the Bishop of London, and was probably part of the lands included in the foundation grant of the see of London circa 604. At this date the manor included Stepney, Hackney, and parts of Shoreditch, Islington, Hornsey and Clerkenwell; although parcels of land were later granted to other institutions and people, such as lands in Clerkenwell given to the priory of St Mary, Clerkenwell, and the Knights Hospitallers.
In 1550 the manors of Stepney and Hackney were surrendered to the King, who granted them to Lord Chamberlain Sir Thomas Wentworth. The manor stayed in the Wentworth family until Thomas, Lord Wentworth, the earl of Cleveland. He incurred large debts and was forced to mortgage the manors. The family eventually lost Hackney manor but retained Stepney until 1695 when it was sold to William Herbert, Lord Montgomery. In 1710 he sold it to Windsor Sandys. By 1754 it belonged to the Colebrooke family who held it until 1939. In 1926 all remaining copyholds were converted into freeholds.
The manor house at Stepney was used as a residence of the bishops of London and the Stepney meadows provided hay for his household's horses. The house later became known as Bishopswood or Bishops Hall, and later Bonner Hall.
Information from: 'Stepney: Manors and Estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 19-52 (available online).
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.
Trades mentioned in the documents include carver, haberdasher, carman, fruiterer and loriner. Loriners made bits and bridles for horses.
Henry Andrade Harben was born in 1849, son of Sir Henry Harben, Director and Chairman of the Prudential Assurance Company. Harben studied to become a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1871. In 1879 he followed his father as Director of the Prudential (he succeeded him as Chairman in 1907). As well as his work as a lawyer Harben sat on several local administration committees and served as Mayor of Paddington. He was also an antiquarian and researcher, becoming fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1893. Harben died in 1910, leaving his collection of antiquarian books, maps, drawings, and prints to the London County Council. His major work was the Dictionary of London, which was published posthumously in 1917.
John Burns was formerly a member of London County Council. His private collection of documents was acquired by Lord Southwood, who gave them to the Library.
These statistics were prepared by local judicial administrators for the Home Office.
These 1473 photographs of London views, buildings, and sights appear to have been taken in sets relating to specific subjects during the period 1948-1981, as part of a deliberate project. Most of the photographs give descriptions on the reverse.
No administrative history has been traced for these photographs.
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.
Samuel and Henrietta Barnett were important figures in the social reform movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Samuel was the vicar of Saint Jude's Whitechapel, founder of Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel Art Gallery and the Education Reform League. Later he became Canon of Bristol and Canon and Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey.
Henrietta was the founder of the London Pupil Teachers' Association, and is widely reknowned as the founder of Hampstead Garden Suburb.
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 came into the possession of the Kansas City Museum who passed to the archive.
