A bond was a deed, by which person A binds himself, his heirs, executors, or assigns to pay a certain sum of money to person B, or his heirs.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
The memorial service was held for the airmen of two Zeppelins which were shot down in the Potters Bar area in 1916 - one on 2 September near Cuffley and one on 1 October which came down in Oakmere Park. The latter Zeppelin contained renowned German airship commander Lieutenant Heinrich Mathy. The crews were buried in the local cemetery but were removed to the Cannock Chase German War Grave Cemetery in 1962 by the German War Graves Commission.
Totteridge is in Barnet, north London. It was a small village until the opening of a railway station in 1872; which encouraged the building of new housing.
These photographs show properties and streets that are presumed to have been destroyed or altered significantly by the construction of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, which was opened in 1908. Around 3000 local people were displaced by the construction.
A Carabinieri Band is an Italian uniformed marching band. The first Carabinieri band was founded in 1820 by the Royal Carabinieri Corps. This band first toured in 1916 to raise money for wounded Allied soldiers.
Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court. It was founded in the 14th century and moved to its present site off Chancery Lane in 1412.
Common Recovery was a process by which land was transferred from one owner to another. It was a piece of legal fiction involving the party transferring the land, a notional tenant and the party acquiring the land; the tenant was ejected to effect the transfer. An exemplification was a formal copy of a court record issued with the court's seal.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
The name of Peter Dobree is found in a number of places in these ledgers, perhaps as a partner in the business, but the bank cannot be identified from London directories. Samuel Dobree and Sons (later of 6 Tokenhouse Yard) can be found in directories at 65 Old Broad Street from 1800; Dobree and Aubin, merchants, are found at this address 1798-99.
According to the donor, these notes were probably compiled by journalists working on the Evening News, a daily paper published in London between 1881 and 1980.
The City of London Livery Companies originated in medieval guilds, organised around specific trades, which controlled prices and working conditions and provided welfare for members fallen on hard times. Guilds became known as livery companies as they wore unique uniforms, or liveries. Entry to a company was by three methods: patrimony (if one's father was a liveryman), apprenticeship or redemption (purchasing entry). All liverymen gained the Freedom of the City of London.
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 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.
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).
The London Pavilion on Piccadilly Circus was originally an annexe to the Black Horse Inn. From 1861 it was used as a music hall and museum of anatomy. The hall was rebuilt in 1885 by architects Worley and Saunders. It was managed by Edmund Villiers and was hailed as a new, improved type of music hall, known as a variety theatre and noted for its interior opulence. In 1934 the building was converted into a cinema and premiered several noted films. In 1986 the building was closed. The interior was gutted (although the facade was preserved and is still visible) and was converted into part of the Trocadero shopping centre.
The Second Boer War commenced in 1899 when the Transvaal and the Orange Free State declared war on Britain. Initial victories by Boer forces included the capture of Mafeking. Kimberley and Ladysmith were besieged. British reinforcements arrived in 1900 and Kimberley and Ladysmith were relieved, to be followed by Mafeking. The Boer states were annexed by the British and, although the Boers continued a guerrilla campaign, hostilities ended in 1902 with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
Cecil John Rhodes, born in 1853, first went to South Africa in 1870. He was a prominent figure in the history of South Africa as a businessman (he had interests in the Kimberley diamond fields and was founder of the De Beers mining company) and imperial politician (prime minister of Cape Colony, 1890-1896). During the Second Boer War he commanded troops at Kimberley and was besieged there. He died in South Africa in 1902 and was buried in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
The Boxer Uprising (1898-1900) was a movement against Western influence in China. A secret anti-foreign society, the Boxers (Ch'uan), undertook attacks on foreigners from 1899. In 1900 the Boxers occupied Peking (Beijing). The siege was lifted later that year by an international force which ended the Uprising.
In the colonial period Cameroon was divided between French and British influence. The French Cameroons achieved independence in 1960. Soon afterwards the British territory was divided, the northern zone being united with Nigeria and the southern incorporated with Cameroon. Agriculture is important to the economy, with bananas among the significant exports.
The House of Commons is the effective legislative authority in Great Britain. It alone has the right to impose taxes and to vote money to, or withhold it from the monarch, public departments and services. The passage of legislation is the House of Commons' primary function.
The Royal Navy is the naval military organization of the United Kingdom, charged with the national defense at sea, protection of shipping, and fulfillment of international military agreements.
Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) was a renowned philosopher, who numbered Thomas Reid, Sir Archibald Alison and Sir Walter Scott amongst his friends, and Henry John Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston, and Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell as his pupils. He was a Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh from 1785 to 1820. He wrote numerous works of biography and philosophy (see the British Library catalogue for details).
The East India Company, also known as the Governor And Company Of Merchants Of London Trading Into The East Indies (1600-1708) and the United Company Of Merchants Of England Trading To The East Indies (1708-1873), was an English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on 31 Dec 1600. Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid19th century.
Kent was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England.
Chichester is a city in West Sussex, England. It lies on the coastal plain of the English Channel at the foot of the chalk South Downs a mile from the head of Chichester Harbour, with which it is connected by canal.
A number of petitions on the subject of the farthing tokens were presented to the House of Commons in 1643 and 1644.
The Privy Council is descended from the curia regis, which was made up of the king's tenants in chief, household officials, and anyone else the king chose. This group performed all the functions of government. About the time of Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), the executive and advising duties of the Curia Regis came to be handled by a select group, the king's secret council, which later came to be called the Privy Council. This manuscript shows the attempts of King Henry V to secure the support or at least the neutrality of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who controlled Flanders, before undertaking an invasion of France in 1415.
The Privy Council is descended from the Curia Regis, which was made up of the king's tenants in chief, household officials, and anyone else the king chose. This group performed all the functions of government. About the time of Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), the executive and advising duties of the Curia Regis came to be handled by a select group, the king's secret council, which later came to be called the Privy Council.
The Militia was a military organization of citizens with limited military training, which was available for emergency service, usually local defence.
The English Royal Mint was responsible for the making of coins according to exact compositions, weights, dimensions and tolerances, usually determined by law. During this period English minting was run from the Royal Mint in London by the Master and Warden of the Mint.
Richard Martin (1534-1617) was the official goldsmith to Queen Elizabeth I. He was Warden, 1560-1595, and Master of the Royal Mint, [1581-1617]. Martin was also Lord Mayor of London in 1581, 1589 and 1594.
Calcutta was the former capital (1772-1912) of British India.
Great Britain was the first country to impose a general income tax (1799) to finance the Napoleonic Wars. It was alternately repealed and reimposed until the 1880s, by which time it was generally accepted as a permanent levy.
Grosvenor, Sir Richard, first baronet (1585-1645), magistrate and politician, born Eaton Hall, near Chester, Cheshire, 9 January 1585; educated in the puritan household of John Bruen of Stapleford, Cheshire, and at Queen's College Oxford, where he matriculated on 26 October 1599 and graduated BA on 30 June 1602; married in 1600 Lettice, daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley of Cholmondeley, Cheshire; had one son and three daughters before Lettice's death on 20 January 1612; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey, Cheshire, 1614 and after her death, he married Elizabeth (d. 1627), daughter of Sir Peter Warburton of Grafton, Cheshire; Grosvenor was knighted on 24 August 1617 and made a baronet on 23 February 1622; Grosvenor made his principal mark in local affairs; succeeded his father as a JP for Cheshire in 1619 and he served on the bench until his removal, as part of a purge by George Villiers, first duke of Buckingham, on 26 October 1626; sheriff of Cheshire in 1623-4 and of Flintshire in 1624-5; although not one of the foremost Cheshire gentry in terms of wealth or landholdings, Grosvenor became the most influential local governor in the area of his main estate, immediately to the south of Chester: this was because of his industry and his abilities as a man of affairs, and also because of his reputation as a supporter of puritan ministers; William Hinde, who had probably been his tutor at Queen's College, described him as a paragon of the godly gentleman, and another leading Cheshire puritan preacher, Nathaniel Lancaster, hailed him in 1628 as a father of the country' (Lancaster, sig. A2); represented Cheshire in the parliaments of 1621, 1626, and 1628-9; not in the front rank of Commons spokesmen, but he was an effective public speaker and a diligent attender of committees; many of his interventions in parliament were concerned either with the welfare of his Cheshire constituents or with the defence of the Calvinist religion; In 1621 he spoke out against the patentee Sir Giles Mompesson, and the 'popish threat' to the palatinate, and in 1629 he delivered a notable attack on the influence of the King's Arminian advisers; He was also a meticulous parliamentary diarist, providing the fullest known account of debates in 1626, 1628, and 1629; 1629 and 1638 he was imprisoned in the Fleet, 1629-1638, having become liable for the debts of his brother-in-law, Peter Daniel; Although he was not restored to the bench after his return to the county, he remained an influential figure in local politics, in May 1640 he arbitrated a dispute over the parliamentary election for Chester, and in July 1642 he played a leading role in organizing, and probably also drafting, the Cheshire remonstrance, a petition containing over 8000 signatures, which called on the King and Parliament to settle their differences and avoid civil war; During the war Grosvenor remained neutral; he is not to be confused with his eldest son, Richard Grosvenor esq., who played a prominent part in the royalist defence of Chester. Grosvenor's speeches and writings make it possible to reconstruct his political views in considerable detail. He was a firm believer in the divine right of kingship and in patriarchal authority, but at the same time he staunchly defended the liberties of the subject and of parliament's role asthe representative of the people'. Above all, he was concerned to root out the evil of popery and to overcome the influence of `evil counsellors' close to the King; died at Eaton Hall on 14 September 1645 and was buried in Eccleston church, Cheshire.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The lower Exchequer, or receipt, closely connected with the permanent Treasury, was an office for the receipt and payment of money. The upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts.
William Sanderson (1586-1676) was secretary to Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, whilst the latter was Chancellor of Cambridge University. During the English Civil War, Sanderson took the side of the royalists, leading to his appointment as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Charles II, who bestowed a knighthood upon him. Publications: A Compleat History of the life and raigne of King Charles from his cradle to his grave (London, 1658), A Compleat History of the lives and reigns of Mary Queen of Scotland, and of her son ... James the Sixth (H Moseley, R. Tomlins, and G. Sawbridge: London, 1656-55).
Barbados was in British possession from its initial settlement in 1627, until its independence in 1966. The main export of the island was sugar, which was grown on plantations worked by slave labour.The Leeward islands are an arc of West Indian islands which include the Virgin Islands, Antiguilla, Saint-martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Monserrat and Guadeloupe.A farm was the system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district.
Argenta is a town in the province of Ferrara, North-East Italy, situated on the Fiume Reno. Direct Papal rule was established in Ferrara in 1598.
Tithes were a tax of a tenth of the income from the agricultural yield of the land and livestock, which was paid to the etablished church for the support of the clergy, or for religious and charitable uses. When Henry VIII disestablished the monasteries in 1537, these tithes, which were mainly collected centrally by monasteries and churches, were effectively sold to the highest bidder and most of them passed into the hands of wealthy, and often absentee, landlords.
The Court Baron was the principal type of manorial court, and was the court of the chief tenants of the manor. It was responsible for the internal regulation of local affairs within the manor, and was attended by all those free tenants whose attendance at court was a condition of their tenure, and by customary tenants. Customary tenants held land by an agreement made at the manor court which was entered on its roll, a 'copy' of which was his regarded as proof of title.
An annuity is an annual payment of an allowance or income, granted for life or a term of years .
Hamburg is Germany's largest port and commercial centre and one of the largest and busiest ports in Europe, with this growth beginning in the medieval period.
Diego de Estella (1524-1578) is also known by the names Didacus Estella and Diego de Ballesteros y Cruzat. He was born in Estella in Navarre in 1524, and entered the Franciscan Order in 1541, becoming active in Portugal as a preacher. He accompanied the Infanta Juana, sister of Philip II of Spain from 1552-1554, and later preached at Philip's court in Madrid, 1565-1569. His criticism of high officials and way of life at the royal court led to rebukes by the Order, and Diego's eventual removal to the Franciscan convent of Salamanca. There he produced many mystical writings, which were printed with the support of his brother. He died in 1578. Meditaciones devotisimas del amor de Dios was first published (by Mathius Gast) in Salamanca in 1576.
Thomas Lovell Beddoes was a poet whose work featured strongly in the Elizabethan revival of the late Romantic period. Born in 1803, his father was the radical physician Thomas Beddoes, and his mother Anna Edgeworth, sister of the novelist Maria Edgeworth. Educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford, Beddoes published The Improvisatore (1821) and The Bride's Tragedy (1822) soon after his graduation. Following a spell among the literary circles of London, he attended medical school in Gottingen, Hanover, and Wurzburg, Bavaria. He achieved his medical doctorate in 1831, but was banished from Bavaria the next year for writing anti-establishment pamphlets, and moved to Switzerland, where he was to spend the rest of his life. Beddoes committed suicide in 1849. After his death, his friend and literary executor, Thomas Forbes Kelsall, published his play Death's Jest Book, and a collected volume of his poems.
Very little is known about Johannes Gratian, who was born in Italy, possibly in Chiusi, Tuscany. He became a Camaldolese monk, and taught at Bologna. At a date some time after 1139 (probably 1140), Gratian compiled the Church laws (`canons') from all available sources and called the collection Concordia Discordantium Canonum (the harmonizing of discordant canons). The collection became known as the Decretum Gratiani. He died before 1179, some say as early as 1160. Although the Dectretum was not an official collection, it was, for a time and for all practical purposes, accepted as the fundamental text of Church law.
Situated in the parish of St Giles in the Fields, Soho, London, Hog Lane was an ancient medieval thoroughfare, which seems to have been renamed as Crown Street and West Street before being incorporated into Charing Cross Road.
Dôle is located in the Franche-Comté region of France, between Dijon and Bescanon.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c AD 56-117) was a Roman orator, public official and historian. He was a friend of Pliny the Younger and married the daughter of Gaius Julius Agricola. In AD 97 he was appointed substitute consul under Nerva, and later he was proconsul of Asia. Tacitus was the author of several works, including Dialogus, a discussion of oratory, and Germania, on the origins and location of the Germans. A sense of moral purpose and severe criticism of contemporary Rome, fallen from the virtuous vigor of the old republic, underlies his two longer works, commonly known as the Histories (of which four books and part of a fifth survive) and the Annals (of which twelve books survive). The extant books of the Histories cover only the reign of Galba (AD 68-69) and the beginning (to AD 70) of the reign of Vespasian, and the surviving books of the Annals tell of the reign of Tiberius, of the last years of Claudius, and of the first years of Nero.
Excise are inland duties levied on articles at the time of their manufacture, notably, alcoholic drinks, but have also included salt, paper and glass. In 1643 a Board of Excise was established by the Long Parliament, to organize the collection of duties in London and the provinces. Excise duty was settled by statute despite widespread aversion in 1660. A permanent board of Excise for England and Wales was established in 1683 with separate boards for Ireland in 1682 and Scotland in 1707.
After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, control of the major aspects of English coinage passed from the Crown to Parliament. Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer, solicited advice from a selection of eminent persons on solutions to the poor state of the silver coinage, 1695-1696.
Inspeximus (literally 'We have seen') is a word sometimes used in letters-patent, reciting a grant, inspeximus such former grant, and so reciting it verbatim; it then grants such further privileges as are thought convenient. The term letters patent in its most general form refers to a letter delivered open with the royal seal attached, designed to be read as a proclamation.
The island of Newfoundland is situated off the eastern coast of North America between the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean, and is one of the four Atlantic provinces of Canada. Claimed as an English possession in 1583, British sovereignty of the island was recognised in 1713 by the Peace of Utrecht. During the nineteenth century, the population was swelled by labourers brought over from Britain to work in the fisheries, which were the main industry of Newfoundland. In 1855, the island was granted self-government.
Great Tower Street is in the centre of the City of London, and was formerly the site of the parish church of St Dunstan in the East, which was built in the 13th century. For biographical details of William Allen, see A.B. Beaven, The aldermen of the City of London (1908). He may have been the same William Allen who was elected Mayor of London in 1571.
The Bank of Scotland was established by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695, and the Royal Bank of Scotland was founded as a corporation by grant of a Royal Charter under the Great Seal of Scotland, May 1727.
The decretals are canonical epistles, written by the pope alone, or by the pope and cardinals, at the instance or suit of some one or more persons, for the ordering and determining some matter in controversy, and have the authority of a law in themselves. Pope Gregory IX (1143-1241) ordered the first complete and authoritative collection of papal decretals, the Corpus Iuris Canonici.
The Vagrancy Act of 1531 made a distinction between those found begging although able to labour, and those incapable of work. Magistrates were allowed to give licences to beggars allowing certain kinds of begging.
