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Grand Lodge, to provide benefits to clothe and educate the sons of indigent freemasons. In 1808, a similar Institution was established by the Royal Naval Lodge of Independence, No. 59, of the Moderns Grand Lodge. In 1816, the two Institutions merged under the Patronage of HRH the Duke of Sussex following the union four years earlier between the two Grand Lodges to form the United Grand Lodge of England. Although known as the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys from 1798, its official title changed over time. Formed in 1798 as the Masonic Institution for Clothing and Educating the Sons of Deceased and Indigent Free Masons, by 1832, the suffix ‘Royal’ was added when King William IV (1765-1837) became the Patron. From 1858, the Institution operated under the name of the Royal Masonic Institution for the sons of Decayed and Deceased Freemasons, until it formally adopted the title of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys in 1868.

The Institution initially supported boys by providing grants for clothing and education at local schools, known as out-education and maintenance grants. The Institution offered support to boys in this form throughout its existence but in 1857, the Institution also opened its own School for the sons of indigent freemasons. From 1857-1902, the Royal Masonic School for Boys was located in Wood Green, London. In 1903, the School relocated to Bushey, Hertfordshire and in 1929 the Institution opened a Junior School adjacent to the Senior School. Due to a fall in pupil numbers, the Junior and Senior Schools were merged in 1970. In 1977, due to a continued fall numbers, the Royal Masonic School for Boys was closed and the Institution reverted to its initial remit of supporting boys through out-education and maintenance grants.

In 1971, HRH the Duke of Kent, as Grand Master, set up a Committee of Inquiry on Masonic charity, under the Chairmanship of the Hon Mr Justice Bagnall. In 1973, the Committee of Inquiry produced a report, known as the Bagnall Report, which recommended the merger of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys and Royal Masonic Institution for Girls into a single Trust. In 1982, the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys merged with the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls and the trust deed establishing the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys was signed. The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys became active in 1986 and it continues to provide educational support to the children of Masonic families where required.

The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls was founded in 1788, by Chevalier Bartholomew Ruspini who formulated a scheme to establish a school to aid the education of the daughters of deceased and distressed freemasons. The first School was based in Somers Place East, near Euston, London and was known as the Royal Cumberland School for the Daughters of Indigent Free Masons. In 1795, the School moved to larger premises in St George’s Fields, Westminster Bridge Road, London and changed its name to the Royal Freemasons School for Female Children. The School moved to even larger premises in Clapham Junction, London in 1858 and in 1868, the Institution formally adopted the name the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls. In 1880, the Institution opened a Junior School, known as the Royal Masonic (Junior) School for Girls, at the site at Clapham Junction. In 1918, the Junior School moved to Weybridge, Surrey where it remained until its closure in 1973. The Royal Masonic (Senior) School for Girls moved to its current premises in Rickmansworth Park, Hertfordshire in 1934. Due to a fall in pupil numbers, fee-paying boarding pupils were allowed to fill vacancies from 1965 and fee-paying day-girls admitted from 1972, if they were daughters of a freemason. In September 1978, the Royal Masonic School for Girls became a limited company, The Rickmansworth Masonic School Limited and girls from non-Masonic families were accepted to fill vacancies on a fee paying basis. In 1984, the School became an entirely fee-paying independent school, with the Institution paying the fees of girls placed there as a result of petitions.

As well as providing places at the Royal Masonic Schools, from 1906, the Institution also awarded grants for girls to attend schools local to them, a procedure known as out-education. They also extended their benefits to provide special grants for girls to pursue courses in further and higher education.

In 1971, HRH the Duke of Kent, as Grand Master, set up a Committee of Inquiry on Masonic charity, under the Chairmanship of the Hon Mr Justice Bagnall. In 1973, the Committee of Inquiry produced a report, known as the Bagnall Report, which recommended the merger of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys and Royal Masonic Institution for Girls into a single Trust. In 1982, the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys merged with the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls and the trust deed establishing the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boy was signed. The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boy became active in 1986 and it continues to provide educational support to the children of Masonic families where required.

Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852 by Charles West on its current site in Bloomsbury as the Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first children's hospital in Britain. It became part of the NHS in 1948 and took over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Sick Children in 1968. It went through several changes of name during this period and adopted its current name in 1994.

The Post Office was established in 1635 by Charles I. The head of this new service was variously known as Master of Posts, Comptroller General of the Posts and Postmaster of England.

The Civil War saw the the Post Office contested by both sides. Acts of Parliament were passed during the Interregnum (1656) and later upon the Restoration (1660). These established the General Post Office as a branch of government which was to be headed by the Postmaster General.

The service at this time consisted of a number of main routes from London to the provinces. Postmasters on the routes collected and distributed mail and collected revenue.

During this period the scope of The Post Office's activities was limited and its administrative functions were largely concerned with its finances. The General Post Office was based in the City of London and was organised into three departments; the Inland Office which handled all internal letters, the Foreign Office which handled all overseas mails and the Penny Post Office which dealt with all locally posted mail for London. This building was destroyed by the Great Fire of London, which might explain why only a small number of Post Office records from that period survive. Those that have survived are largely volumes of accounts detailing levels of income and expenditure through the years. From 1667 the role of Postmaster General became a political appointment. Between 1691 and 1823, two Postmasters General were appointed, one being a Whig and the other a Tory. At the same time the post of Secretary to the Post Office was created. Over time this post developed into one which held real influence within the General Post Office; the Secretary's Office becoming the centre of decision making within Headquarters.

The eighteenth century saw much development of routes and post towns, although the Post Office continued to be run from London. It was not until 1715 that the Post Office appointed its first regional administrators, known as Surveyors. Surveyors were charged with ensuring that those at lower levels in the organisation were doing their duty and that the revenues were being correctly managed.

The nineteenth Century was a period of vast expansion for The Post Office. Postal rates were subject to a reform which resulted in the introduction of penny postage and the adhesive postage stamp. Increased adult literacy led to a dramatic increase in the volume of mail. The latter half of the century saw an explosion of new services as the Post Office moved into banking, telecommunications and set up a parcels operation. It also saw the development of a nationwide network of post offices through which these services could be accessed.

By the end of the century, Headquarters buildings had accumulated large volumes of historical material. To meet the challenge of managing this material, in 1896 The Post Office established its own record room.

The responsibilities of the surveyors had also grown during this period. They became the heads of districts of management; responsible for managing the range of Post Office activities in their areas.

The Post Office's move into telecommunications began in 1870, with the establishment of the United Kingdom telegraph service as a Post Office monopoly. From 1880, the control of the telephone service passed progressively to the Post Office, with the entire service being taken over in 1912. The Post Office also became involved in international telecommunications culminating in 1947 when, following the nationalisation of Cable and Wireless Ltd, it acquired the company's telecommunications assets in Britain. In 1904, the Wireless Telegraphy Act conferred licensing powers on the Postmaster General, and the Post Office continued to regulate radio services until the responsibility was passed to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1969. Within the field of broadcasting, the Post Office was responsible for the granting of transmission licences and the collection of radio licence fees, and for advising Parliament on questions of sound and television broadcasting services. In 1933 the Post Office's new Public Relations Division took over the Film Unit from the Empire Marketing Board, and in 1940 this unit was transferred to the Ministry of Information, later becoming the Crown Film Unit.

By the 1930s the size and complexity of The Post Office had grown so much as to lead to public criticism. The result of this was a committee of enquiry; the Bridgeman Committee, which led to a large-scale devolution of powers to provincial management and the creation of eight regions.

The Post Office Act of 1961 created a Post Office fund under the management of the Postmaster General. All income was paid into the fund and all expenditure met out of it. This enabled the Post Office to operate as a business with the financial status of a public authority. However, the Post Office remained a government department answerable to Parliament on day-to-day business.

The Post Office Act of 1969 saw the General Post Office ceasing to be a branch of government and becoming instead a nationalised industry, established as a public corporation. Under the terms of the Act, the Corporation was split into two divisions - Posts and Telecommunications - which thus became distinct businesses. The office of Postmaster General was discontinued and The Post Office, as it was now known, was headed by a Chairman and Chief Executive/Deputy Chairman. This role was directly appointed by the Post Office Board. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was created in 1969 and, in addition to sponsoring the Post Office, took over the functions previously exercised by the Postmaster General in relation to Broadcasting.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was dissolved in March 1974. Broadcasting and radio regulation became part of the Home Office, whilst Post and Telecommunications functions became the responsibility of the Department of Industry. The latter merged with the Department of Trade in 1983 to become the Department of Trade and Industry.

In 1981 the telecommunications business of The Post Office became a separate public corporation, trading as British Telecom. In 1984, British Telecom was privatised and since 1991 has traded as BT. Following the 1981 split, the Post Office was then reorganised into two distinct businesses; Post and Parcels. In 1987, there was a further separation of Post Office business as Girobank was transferred to the private sector, eventually being acquired by Alliance and Leicester in 1994.

In late 1986 The Post Office was restructured to create three businesses; SSL (Subscription Services Limited), Royal Mail and Parcelforce. A year later the network of post offices was established as Post Office Counters Limited; a limited company which was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Post Office. Although each of the above had their own Managing Directors and headquarters functions, what was now the Post Office group of businesses retained a headquarters function for group policy. Additionally this Group function continued to provide the rest of the businesses with services and support.

In 1993 the positions of Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive became two separate roles. The position of Chairman as the 'head' of the Post Office remained. The White Paper on Post Office Reform was published in 1999, with the objective of giving greater commercial freedom to the Post Office to enable it to compete and respond to changes in the market place. The paper reduces the governments' financial demands on the business and allows it to borrow from the Government at commercial rates to pay for acquisitions and joint ventures with private companies. This White Paper was followed by the Postal Services Act 2000, which put the recommendations of the White paper into action, giving the postal service the necessary greater commercial freedom. It also established Postcomm as the independent regulator of the postal service, and Postwatch as a national consumer body, which replaced the old Post Office Users National Council (POUNC).

The name Consignia was taken in Spring 2001 as part of an attempt to position the business globally. However, since November 2002, the business that carries letters and parcels and runs the mail has been known as Royal Mail.

Sir Frederick Augustus Abel (1827-1902) was an English chemist and became the 15th President of the Chemical Society (1875-1877) and the 2nd President of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1880-1883). His area of expertise was in explosives and in 1889 invented Cordite with Sir James Dewar.

The first registers of voters were lists of those owing land tax, since the right to vote depended on the amount of property a man owned.

It was not until the 1832 Reform Act that the creation of electoral registers became a requirement. At first these were the responsibility of the Quarter Sessions, although from 1888 they were compiled by County Councils and from 1974 by District Councils. The registers mainly list those eligible to vote for parliamentary elections although they often double as lists for local government elections.

A turnpike was barrier placed across a road to stop traffic passing until a toll was paid.

The Manor of Isleworth Syon was in the hands of Walter de St. Valery in 1086, having been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the conquest of England. The family retained possession of the manor until 1227 when it escheated to the crown. In 1229 a full grant of the manor was made by Henry III to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, whose son Edward inherited it in 1272. In 1301, Edward's widow Margaret was assigned the manor by Edward I as part of her dower, but it reverted to the crown on her death in 1312. The manor was eventually granted for life by Edward III to his wife Queen Philippa in 1330. The reversion was included in a grant of lands to Edward, Duke of Cornwall, in 1337. In 1390 Queen Anne the wife of Richard II was given a life interest in the manor. Henry V held the manor, as Prince of Wales, but when king, separated the manor from the duchy of Cornwall by Act of Parliament in 1421 in order to bestow it upon his newly founded convent of Syon. It remained as part of the convent's possessions until the dissolution in 1539 when it fell into the hands of the Crown and was added to the Honour of Hampton Court. In 1604 James I granted the manor to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, in whose family it remained.

Strawberry Hill was the residence of writer Horace Walpole (1717-1797). Situated in Twickenham, it was described as a 'little Gothic castle'. The building eventually came into the ownership of George, Earl of Waldegrave, who sold the contents in 1842 in order to pay off his debts.

Under the Education Act of 1876 Ealing Educational Association was formed instead of a school board to meet current deficits and pay for building extensions to existing local schools, which were mostly church schools. Apart from an unsuccessful voluntary rate in 1880, funds were raised by subscription until 1895. Rates levied for the Association by Ealing council from 1896 were criticized because the demands did not indicate that they were voluntary, and by 1901 only one-third was collected. Average attendance at local schools under the management of the Association rose from 754 in 1878 to 2,388 in 1902 at Ealing. By the late 1890s there may have been overcrowding but a request by the Board of Education for extra places in 1901 was ignored, as responsibility under the Education Act of 1902 was to pass to Ealing Metropolitan Borough (M.B.), which duly became an autonomous part III authority.

Ealing had too few places in 1903, when the population was growing rapidly. In addition to temporary schools, permanent ones were built by the borough engineer Charles Jones: Little Ealing, Northfields, Drayton Grove, Lammas, and North Ealing, the first four containing large boys', girls', and infants' schools on a single site. Few places were needed in North Ealing, where most children were educated privately, and elsewhere the council charged fees, which at Drayton Grove were higher than the Board of Education would permit. After the First World War only Grange school replaced the voluntary schools as they closed. From 1931 school building was concentrated in the expanding north and west parts of the borough; although Jones's buildings were seen as outmoded by 1938, it was only from 1952 that they were replaced.

The county council established secondary schools for boys in 1913 and girls in 1926 at Ealing, where a selective central school was opened in 1925. Following the Hadow report, four of Ealing's council schools acquired a single-sex senior department and after the Education Act of 1944 the former central school became a grammar school. Secondary classes elsewhere used converted premises and the only change before the introduction of the comprehensive system was the transfer of two of the smaller secondary schools to the new Ealing Mead school in 1962. At Brentford the boys' and girls' senior schools and Gunnersbury Roman Catholic grammar school were the only secondary schools. Under the Act of 1944 Ealing M.B. became an 'excepted district', responsible for primary and secondary education. From 1965 they lay within Ealing and Hounslow London Boroughs.

From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Education', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 162-170.

Pinner for some time depended upon fire hydrants but there was a fire brigade by 1881 and in the 1890s a manual engine was kept at Pinner Hall and later at the George Inn. A fire station was opened in 1903 at the Red Lion Inn to house a steam fire engine. New fire brigade headquarters were opened in 1938 in Pinner Road.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 237-249.

A Presbyterian congregation was established in Uxbridge in 1753. By 1833 they had adopted Congregational Church practices and the name Uxbridge Old Meeting Congregational Church. They joined the London Congregational Union in 1922. A second Congregational body was established in Uxbridge in 1777, called the Providence Congregational Church. The two churches were united in 1962 as the Uxbridge Congregational Church, worshipping at the Old Meeting premises.

John Wilkes was born in Clerkenwell in 1725. He was educated at the University of Leiden from 1744, where he developed life-long habits of vice and profligacy. In 1747 he returned to England to enter into an arranged marriage. The dowry was the manor of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. In London Wilkes was admitted to several clubs and moved in intellectual circles, while in Aylesbury he participated in local administration as a magistrate. In 1757 he stood for the Aylesbury Parliamentary seat in an uncontested by-election. In 1761 he again won the seat by bribing the voters. Wilkes began to write anonymous political pamphlets and in 1762 he established a political weekly, the North Briton which was highly critical of the Prime Minister Lord Bute and his successor, George Greville. In November 1763 the North Briton was declared to be seditious libel, leaving Wilkes exposed to punitive legal action. At the same time he was badly injured in a pistol duel with another MP. Wilkes fled to Paris to escape legal proceedings and was expelled from Parliament.

In January 1764 Wilkes was convicted for publishing the North Briton. He was summoned to appear at the court of the King's Bench and when he failed to appear was outlawed. Wilkes therefore stayed abroad for four years as returning to England would mean imprisonment. In Paris he moved in intellectual circles and was praised as a champion of freedom, however, he was accruing serious debts. Between 1766 and 1767 he made brief return visits to London, hoping to be pardoned. In 1768 he returned permanently, living under a false name. He announced that he would attend the King's Bench when the court next met, and declared his intention to run for Parliament. He contested for the Middlesex seat and ran a superbly organised campaign backed by popular enthusiasm, winning the seat in March by 1292 votes to 827.

Wilkes was immediately expelled from Parliament as it was assumed he would be imprisoned when he attended court in April. The decision was reversed as it was feared that Wilkes' supporters would riot. In June Wilkes was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison. On 3 February 1769 he was again expelled from Parliament, only to be re-elected on 16 February in a by-election. He was expelled again but again re-elected in March, only to be expelled. At the April by-election Parliament produced a rival candidate who was soundly defeated, but nevertheless was awarded the Parliamentary seat. The resulting controversy forced the Prime Minister to resign.

Released in 1770 Wilkes stood for election as alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. In 1771 he was elected Sheriff and in 1774 Lord Mayor. In the same year he was again elected to the Parliamentary seat for Middlesex. He held this seat until 1790. In 1779 he became the City of London Chamberlain and after leaving Parliament concentrated on this post until his death in 1797.

Joanna Southcott was born in Devon in April 1750, the daughter of a farmer. She promised her dying mother that she would devote her life to piety, and rejected all her suitors to work as a maid or labourer in households in and around Exeter. It was not until she was 42 years old, in 1792, that she began to experience the voices and visions which were to make her a celebrated public figure. She was spoken to by a voice which predicted future events. Joanna attempted to interest clergy of several denominations in her prophesies, sending them sealed copies of her predictions to be opened after a certain date - thus proving her foreknowledge of events. In 1801, spurred by the correct predictions she had made for 1796-1800, she spent her life savings and published a book of her prophesy entitled "The Strange Effects of Faith". Her publication was a success and began to attract followers. Joanna moved to London and received the patronage of Jane Townley, who promoted her cause, welcomed Joanna into her household and provided her with a maid to act as her amanuensis. Between 1801 and 1814 Joanna published 65 pamphlets outlining her prophesy and spiritual vision, becoming one of the most popular writers of her time. In 1815 it is estimated that her followers numbered 20,000.

At the age of 64 she claimed to be pregnant with Shiloh, the second coming of Christ. She was due to give birth in November 1814 but despite experiencing labour pains no child was forthcoming and instead Joanna died in London on 27 December 1814. An autopsy found no foetus, although the doctor noted swelling in the abdomen which could have mimicked the symptoms of pregnancy and caused pain similar to labour.

After Joanna's death a core of her inner circle kept the faith quietly, and protected the 'great box', which contained sealed prophecies that were to be opened some time in the unspecified future. In 1816 the box was passed to Jane Townley, and upon her death in 1825 to Thomas Philip Foley, and finally in 1835 to Foley's son, the Revd Richard Foley. In 1839, in order to gain control of Southcott's legacy, Lavinia Taylor Jones (niece of Lucy Taylor, one of Joanna's Exeter employers) dressed as a man to enter Richard Foley's rectory, where she tried to steal the box. Soon after that, rival boxes began to appear. As recently as 1977, the Panacea Society, a twentieth-century millenarian group dedicated to Southcott, claimed to know the secret whereabouts of the true box.

Source: Sylvia Bowerbank, 'Southcott, Joanna (1750-1814)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

In 1819 there were two Methodist meeting houses in Edmonton, (W Robinson, The History and Antiquities of Edmonton, 1819, p 186). One of these was probably replaced by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Fore Street, built in 1860. In 1909 the trustees purchased the freehold of the "Manor House", a site adjoining the chapel, for the building of the Edmonton Wesleyan Mission or Central Hall, which was opened in 1911. The old chapel and school were demolished and new Sunday school premises erected on the site in 1929. The Edmonton Methodist Church was part of the Stoke Newington Methodist Circuit until about 1896 when it joined the Tottenham Circuit. In 1941 Edmonton was one of the churches which constituted the Enfield Circuit.

A Methodist place of worship was first registered in the Tottenham area in 1765. Numbers grew slowly until a period of rapid expansion in the 1860s which encouraged the building of new chapels. The original 1765 chapel was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1867 and an ambitious construction project - to build 50 new chapels - was begin in Wood Green in 1871. In 1896 Tottenham became the head of a large circuit stretching from Seven Sisters Road to Cheshunt and had one of the most active communities in North London. A circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

In 1882 a Roman Catholic chapel was opened in Hampton Wick, and in 1884 a Roman Catholic school was built in Fairfax Road, South Teddington. The ground floor served as a school and the upper floor as a chapel until the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Kingston Road was opened in 1893. Built of red brick in the classical style, this consisted at first of five bays and was extended westwards in 1935 by another two bays. The church was consecrated in 1944.

Source: 'Teddington: Roman catholicism', 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. 79.

Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was born on 17 May 1768 at Brunswick, the second daughter of Karl II, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Princess Augusta, sister of George III. She was married to George, Prince of Wales on 8 April. The Prince was reportedly the worse for alcohol and had to be supported to go through the ceremony. This inauspicious beginning heralded a series of quarrels between the royal couple. Caroline alleged that throughout the honeymoon the Prince consorted with his drunken cronies and ignored her. On his part, the Prince took offence at Caroline's accusation that he had mistresses, refused to change his social and domestic habits for her benefit, and demanded that she should submit to his authority, which she refused to do.

The only child of this stormy marriage, Princess Charlotte Augusta (1796-1817), was born on 7 January 1796. Caroline had attempted to live on amicable terms with George, but he neglected her and she became increasingly lonely, bored, and resentful. The inevitable separation took place in 1796. Caroline left Carlton House in 1797 and went to live in a rented house near Blackheath. The Prince would have forbidden her access to her child, but King George III, who always favoured Caroline, insisted that she should be allowed to visit Charlotte.

Caroline made no attempt to exploit her situation politically. She remained prominent in society and entertained frequently at Blackheath, often in an informal and high-spirited atmosphere. During the Regency she was excluded from the court and only with difficulty could she obtain permission to see Charlotte, who was educated under the Prince of Wales's supervision. Caroline therefore decided to leave England, and set off on a series of travels, initially to Brunswick but shortly afterwards around the Mediterranean. Almost weekly reports came in of indiscreet and scandalous behaviour, improper entertainments in which she took part, and extravagant and theatrical behaviour which became a subject of scandal in the newspapers, providing further ammunition for her estranged husband in his efforts to divorce her.

As soon as George IV became king Caroline set off for England to claim her position as Queen. She was met at St Omer by Henry Brougham, whom she made her Attorney-General, and by Lord Hutchinson on behalf of the Cabinet who brought a proposal, reluctantly accepted by the King, to give her an annuity of £50,000 provided she would not cross the Channel nor claim the title of Queen. She refused, despite Brougham's plea to her to negotiate a settlement. She was now being advised by Matthew Wood, an alderman and former Lord Mayor of London, who represented a group of metropolitan radicals who wanted to use her to stir up opposition to the king and the government. The Queen's arrival became, as the government had feared, the occasion for widespread public rejoicings. She reached London on 6 June and went first to Alderman Wood's house in South Audley Street, later renting Brandenburg House at Hammersmith. Throughout the proceedings against her in the summer and autumn of 1820 she was the focus of many demonstrations, receiving over 350 addresses of support from all sections of the population, many from groups of women who saw her as a symbol of the oppression of their sex. She also had the support of The Times and many other opposition or radical newspapers. She herself had no interest in or sympathy with radicalism, but her cause was now overtly political as the nation divided into two camps.

The Cabinet, spurred on by the vengeful King, unwillingly prepared a bill of pains and penalties to strip Caroline of her title and to end her marriage by Act of Parliament. The bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 17 August. It was one of the most spectacular and dramatic events of the century. The Queen's progresses to and from Westminster to attend the 'trial', as it became known, were attended by cheering crowds; deputations by the dozen visited Brandenburg House to present addresses, the newspapers published verbatim accounts of the Lords' proceedings, and the caricaturists on both sides had a field day. So obscene were some of the prints against the King that over £2500 was spent in buying them up and suppressing their publication. Against this proof of public support for the Queen the 'trial' was doomed to failure. The witnesses were clearly unreliable and were discredited by the cross-examination of her counsel, Henry Brougham and Thomas Denman. Many of the witnesses were believed to have been bribed or intimidated, and the widespread knowledge that George himself had had several mistresses added to the belief that Caroline was a victim, if not an entirely innocent one, of royal and political persecution. In the end, though the circumstantial evidence against her was strong enough to convince many peers of her guilt, many also feared that her condemnation would spark off popular rioting or even revolution. Ministers realized that even if the Lords passed the bill the House of Commons would almost certainly reject it under intense pressure from their constituents. The bill passed its third reading in the Lords by only nine votes and Liverpool, the Prime Minister, announced on 10 November that it would proceed no further.

Caroline had not, strictly speaking, been acquitted of the charges against her, but the public verdict was in her favour as a wronged woman unjustly persecuted by a husband no better than she was. A great crowd turned out to witness her procession to a thanksgiving service organized by her supporters in St Paul's Cathedral on 29 November 1820, when the psalm ordered for the service was no. 140-'Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man'. Nevertheless, attempts to exploit her victory were unsuccessful. The Cabinet rejected her demand for a palace and the King refused to let her be crowned with him. He was supported by the Privy Council who declared that a Queen had no inherent right to coronation, which was at her husband's discretion. When she tried to force her way into the Abbey on coronation day, 20 July 1821, she was humiliated by being refused entry and she was jeered by the crowd that had so recently acclaimed her.

Caroline now accepted the Government's offer of an allowance of £50,000 a year if she went to live abroad, but less than a fortnight after the coronation she was taken ill at the theatre, and after a short but painful illness she died, apparently of an intestinal obstruction, on 7 August 1821. She wished to be buried beside her father at Brunswick, and the British government was only too anxious to get her corpse out of the country. Her funeral procession was intended to pass round to the north of the City of London to avoid public demonstrations. The cortège was intercepted by a crowd at Hyde Park Corner and forced to go through the city after a battle with the Life Guards in which two men were killed by the soldiers. The coffin was eventually embarked from Harwich, her supporters placing on it as it left British waters the inscription 'Caroline, the injured Queen of England'. Her body was taken to Brunswick and laid in the ducal vault on 24 August.

Source: E. A. Smith, 'Caroline (1768-1821)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004.

In 1878 the Primitive Methodists registered a chapel in Western Road, Southall. A new chapel building, standing on the corner of Western and Sussex Roads, was erected in 1876-1877. This was the first Methodist building in the Southall area.

John Wesley preached in Hillingdon and Uxbridge in 1754 and 1758, but there is no other evidence of 18th-century Methodist activity. By 1851, however, there were five Methodist meetings in Hillingdon. The Methodist Central Hall was erected in 1930 at the junction of High Street and Park Road. In 1957 Lawn Road Primitive Methodist congregation was amalgamated with that of Central Hall. The Central Hall was renovated and extended in 1959 to meet the increased demand.

Highgate or Jackson's Lane Wesleyan Methodist church was opened in 1905, on a site at the corner of Archway Road. The building included a Sunday school and was designed by W. H. Boney of Highgate. The church seated 650 and the schoolroom 400. Jackson's Lane was well known during the 1960s for its counselling centre. The church was closed in 1976.

There was said to be a congregation of about 30 Wesleyans at Isleworth in 1810, but they did not open a chapel until 1829, in North Street. A new chapel was built in 1924 in Twickenham Road, just south of North Street.

Trinity Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1899 at the corner of Walm Lane and Dartmouth Road, Willesden. The church was closed in 1948.

The Local Government Act 1894 made provision for local self-government in England and Wales in the form of parish councils for every rural parish with a population of 300 and upwards. The existing rural and urban sanitary authorities became the new district councils. Further re-arrangement of districts was carried out by review, by county councils under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1929.

Rating remained in the hands of the parish overseers in 1894, although under the Public Health Act 1875 a general district rate was levied by the urban authorities. The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 abolished the rating powers of the overseers of the poor and named the new rating authorities as the councils of every county borough and urban and rural districts. A consolidated rate - 'the general rate' - replaced the confusion of various separate rates. In addition, a new valuation list was to be made for every rating area, to come into force on either 1 April 1928 or April 1929, followed by a second list in 1932, 1933 or 1934. Instructions were given in the act for draft valuation lists and records of totals to be made.

Summary of constituencies of Sunbury and Staines District Councils:

Sunbury Urban District Council:

Sunbury UDC included Sunbury Common, Charlton and Upper Halliford, Shepperton (including Lower Halliford and Shepperton Green), Ashford Common and Littleton. By the Middlesex (Feltham, Hayes, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames) Confirmation Order, 1930, the parish of Shepperton and parts of Ashford and Littleton were transferred to Sunbury Urban District on the dissolution of Staines Rural District. As a result of local government re-organisation in the Greater London area, Sunbury Urban District was transferred to the administrative county of Surrey with effect from 1 April 1965.

Staines Urban District Council:

Staines UDC included Staines, Ashford, Laleham, Stanwell (including Stanwell Moor and Poyle). As a result of local government re-organisation in the Greater London area, Staines Urban District was transferred to the administrative county of Surrey with effect from 1 April 1965.

Staines Rural District Council:

Staine RDC included Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Cranford, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Shepperton, Stanwell (part). On the dissolution of Staines Rural District in 1930, East Bedfont with Hatton and Hanworth were transferred to Feltham Urban District, Cranford and Harlington to Hayes and Harlington Urban District, and Harmondsworth to Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District. The remaining areas were transferred to Sunbury and Staines Urban Districts, as detailed above.

In 1974 the Urban Districts of Sunbury and Staines became part of Spelthorne Borough Council, in the administrative county of Surrey.

The German Evangelical Reformed Church was established in London in 1697 by Protestant refugees fleeing religious oppression in the Palatinate. William III permitted services to be held in the chapel of the Savoy Palace. A new church built in Duchy Lane, Savoy, on the site of a French Church was consecrated in 1771. It was closed and demolished in 1816 to make way for the construction of Waterloo Bridge. A new church was consecrated in 1819 in Hooper Square, Leman Street, Whitechapel, which was in turn demolished as the site was required for railway purposes. The replacement church built in Goulston Street, Whitechapel, in 1886-1887 was destroyed by bombing in 1941.

A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

Brentford is now part of the Richmond and Hounslow Methodist Circuit.

Anne, Lady Belasyse was the daughter of John (Pawlet) 5th Marquess of Winchester, and his wife Honora. She was the third wife of John, Baron Belasyse of Worlaby, Lincolnshire. Lord Belasyse died 10 September, 1689, aged 75. Lady Belasyse died in September 1694 and was buried at St. Giles in the Fields.

From information taken from the London County Council's Survey of London, Volume V; The Parish of St. Giles in the Fields (Part II) 1914, the house in Great Queen Street which was known at one time as Bristol House and had been the home of the second Earl of Bristol from the Restoration until about 1671, was purchased by Lord Belasyse in 1684. Shortly afterwards the house was divided into two, to be numbered respectively 55-56 and 57-58 Great Queen Street. The first four occupants of the eastern half (nos. 57-58) were the Earl of Wiltshire, the Earl of Stamford, Henry, Viscount Montagu and the Portuguese envoy. It later was demolished and the site became part of the Freemason's Hall.

The Survey of London, quoting the will of Lord Belasyse, that "prior to 1689" the portion of Bristol House which became nos. 55-56 Great Queen Street had been occupied by Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk: "His residence {there} must have fallen in the period 1684-1689. Subsequently it was occupied by Thomas Stonor who had married the Hon. Isabella Belasyse, daughter of Lord Belasyse, to whom her father had bequeathed this portion of the original house; Stonor is shown in occupation in 1698 ..." Lady Belasyse must have occupied the house from her husband's death in 1689 until her own death in 1694.

Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.

If a person died intestate (without a valid will) their money, goods and possessions passed to their next of kin through an administration (or letters of administration) which had the same form in law as a will.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

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).

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Bittacy House stood at the southeastern end of the Ridgeway, at the top of Bittacy Hill. It was a plain stuccoed villa, which was demolished in 1950.

John Barton (1789-1852) was a Quaker merchant of Chichester, Sussex, who, in 1811, married Ann the daughter of Thomas Woodrouffe Smith of Stockwell Park, Lambeth. On his marriage he was made a trustee of Thomas Woodrouffe Smith's estate under his will and subsequent settlement {ACC/1246/048}.

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).

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Watney, Combe, Reid and Co Ltd was formed in 1898 when a merger was negotiated between Watney and Co Ltd of the Stag Brewery, Pimlico; Combe and Co Ltd of the Wood Yard Brewery, Long Acre and Reid's Brewery Co Ltd, of the Griffin Brewery, Clerkenwell. Following the merger the company was the largest brewing concern in the United Kingdom, and was based at Watney's Stag Brewery in Pimlico.

In 1953 Watney purchased (jointly with Beecham Group Ltd) the franchise for Coca-Cola in south and northwest England, setting up Coca-Cola Southern Bottlers Ltd in 1956.

In 1956 it was decided that the Stag Brewery offered no further scope for expansion. Mann, Crossman and Paulin Ltd of Whitechapel was acquired to provide a new London brewery, and its name was changed to Watney Mann Ltd.

In 1962 the trading assets of Watney Mann Ltd were transferred to Watney, Combe, Reid and Co Ltd and it became a holding company. In 1972 Watney Mann was acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels and was merged with Truman, Hanbury, Buxton and Co Ltd in 1974. In the 1990s it was Watney Mann and Truman (Holdings) Ltd.

On 23rd December 1306 Edward I granted a market and fair to the prioress and nuns of Saint Helen's London. Both priory and market came into the hands of the Crown at the dissolution and King James VI and I ordered the extinguishment of the market and fair. However, for some years Jerome Hawley and then James Hawley carried on the market illegally on a parcel of ground in West Brentford, situated between a messuage belonging to James Hawley called the Three Pigeons and another messuage owned by William Payne and occupied by Richard Bodicot. Both men went to great expense to erect stalls and market buildings much to the benefit of inhabitants.

The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway Company was incorporated on 6 August 1860, and the line opened on 23 September 1868. It ran between Aylesbury and Verney Junction. A planned extension to Buckingham was never completed.

In 1891 the Metropolitan Railway Company acquired the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway Company and used its line as a northern extension of the Metropolitan Railway.

The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway was constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited. The line opened in March 1906 running between Baker Street and Lambeth North, and was later extended to Elephant and Castle. The line was soon given the nickname 'Bakerloo', a contraction of Baker and Waterloo; which became so popular that the official name of the line was changed in 1906. By 1913 the line was extended to interchange with Marylebone, Paddington and Edgware Road stations.

The area of Earls Court was largely rural hamlet until the construction of the railway station of the same name. What had been farmland became waste-ground between four separate railways lines. In 1887 an entrepreneur called John Robinson Whitley had the idea of transforming this derelict ground into an entertainment venue, establishing spectaculars such as Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, a Great Wheel similar to the London Eye, and annual exhibitions. The managing company was known as Earls Court Limited.

After war broke out in 1914 the grounds were closed; Earls Court Limited surrendered their lease and went into liquidation. Earls Court Grounds Limited was incorporated in December 1914 and entered into agreements with the liquidated Earls Court Limited and the Metropolitan District Railway Company for taking over the lease of the grounds. The chair of the company was Mr Murray Griffith, a member of the board of the Metropolitan District Railway Company, and the registered office was the Earls Court Administration Offices on Lillie Road. One of the first items noted in the mintues is that the land had been let to the Local Government Board for the erection of temporary housing for Belgian war refugees. After 1919 the London General Omnibus Company used the area as a depot. In 1934 a notice in the minute book states that the company were surrendering the premises to the lessors - "the Metropolitan District Railway Company, now vested in the London Passenger Transport Board" - and as the LPTB were taking over the business of the company it was now defunct.

It was not until 1935 that a suggestion was made to use the space for an exhibition and event centre. A new company, also called Earls Court Limited was established under the chairmanship of Sir Ralph Glyn, director of the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company. The prospectus for the company states that it was formed to acquire from the London Passenger Transport Board a 99 year lease of the Earls Court Exhibition Grounds, for the purpose of erecting modern buildings designed for letting to producers of entertainments and exhibitions (see The Times, Monday, Jul 22, 1935; pg. 20; Issue 47122; col A). The centre was opened in 1937 - the first show was the Chocolate and Confectionery exhibition.

For more information and photographs of development see http://www.eco.co.uk/p/earls-court/21 (accessed Sept 2011).

The Hounslow and Metropolitan Railway Company was formed in 1880, operating a railway between the Metropolitan District Railway's Mill Hill Park Station (near Acton) and Hounslow. The line was later incorporated into the District Line, and in 1933 became part of the Piccadilly Line.

The Kingston and London Railway Company were established in 1881 with the authority to construct a line running between the Metropolitan District Railway Company's Fulham Station to Wimbledon. In 1882 the undertaking and liabilities of the Company were transferred to a joint committee of the London and South Western Railway and the Metropolitan District Railway. The branch is now part of the District Line.

The East Surrey Traction Company was incepted in 1911 by Arthur Henry Hawkins. The first service ran between Reigate and Redhill but operations expanded rapidly and by 1914 twelve vehicles were serving destinations between Sevenoaks and Caterham. An association was formed with the London General Omnibus Company Limited {LGOC} and by 1923 East Surrey was working more LGOC buses than its own and had changed its company livery from blue to LGOC red.

Throughout its time East Surrey kept careful control of its territory - rival operators were quickly bought out or allowed to fail and the company became the most significant operator in the whole of the area that came to be termed 'London country'.

On 12 June 1929 the LGOC secured control of East Surrey. In its new guise as London General Country Services, the company took over operation of country services north of London as well on 1 March 1932. However, the East Surrey livery virtually disappeared when the London Passenger Transport Board came into being on 1 July 1933.

The Compagnie General des Omnibus de Londres was an Anglo-French company founded in 1855 to operate horse drawn bus services in London. In 1859 the company changed its name to the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), using the fleet name 'General'. Before the LGOC bus services in London consisted of hundreds of independently owned buses; which the company proceeded to buy out. By the end of their first year of operations the LGOC owned 600 of 810 buses operating in London.

Between 1902 and 1905 the company began to use motorized vehicles. Horse drawn bus services ended in 1911. In 1912 the Company was bought by the London Underground group, and with them became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.

When the companies operating underground railways began to electrify them it was necessary for them to generate their own power as there was no National Grid. In 1897 the Metropolitan District Railway obtained permission to build a coal fuelled power station at Lots Road, at the junction of the Thames and Chelsea Creek. The station was completed by 1905. It provided most of the electricity needed by the London Underground and the tram networks, but was closed in 2002 when it became cheaper to purchase electricity than generate it.

In 1929 the London County Council tramways, the Underground railways and the London General Omnibus Company proposed to coordinate their services. It was not until 1933, however, that the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was established by law. During the Second World War the government assumed control of the LPTB, and remained in charge until 1947.

The LPTB became the London Transport Executive (LTE) in 1948, under the Transport Act 1947. The LTE was publicy owned and was part of the British Transport Commission, which also ran British Rail. In 1963, under the 1962 Transport Act, the London Transport Executive became the London Transport Board, reporting to the Minister of Transport. The company continued to use the name "London Transport" in public, as it had done since 1933.

The LTE was mainly responsible for the repair and reconstruction of Tube stations and lines damaged during the Second World War. The Central line was completed and the entire Tube network fully electrified during this period. The LTE also oversaw the removal of all trams and trolleybuses from London and the introduction of the "Routemaster" bus.

The Northern Line extension to Morden and the station there were constructed in 1926 by the City and South London Railway. The company obtained permission to open a garage opposite the station where commuters could leave their cars and then contine their journey by tube. They also offered minor repairs and sold petrol. The right of the company to establish such undertakings was debated in Parliament - while the need to encourage measures to reduce traffic congestion in London was acknowledged, running garages was considered too far outside the remit of the company and a threat to local small business and futher such undertakings were discouraged.

The Watford Joint Railway Committee was a joint undertaking of the Metropolitan Railway Company and the London North Eastern Railway Company. It was formed to construct a branch of the Metropolitan Railway to Watford, now part of the London Underground Metropolitan Line.

The Metropolitan Railway Company was responsible for the construction of the world's first underground passenger railway. Work began on the line in 1860, running from Paddington to King's Cross and then on to Farringdon Street. The first trial journey was held in 1862, with the line opened to the public in January 1863. The railway proved popular and extensions were constructed, the first being to Hammersmith by 1864 and Moorgate by 1865. In 1905 an electric service was introduced. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board.

A brewery is said to have existed in Isleworth since the early eighteenth century. The brewery, situated on St John's Road, Isleworth, passed through various owners until it was acquired by William Farnell in 1800, thereafter it remained in the Farnell family. In 1866 William, son of William Farnell Watson, changed the company name to Isleworth Brewery Limited. In 1920 the company amalgamated with Sich and Co. (brewers) and in 1924 the enlarged company was taken over by Watney, Combe, Reid and Co Ltd.

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.

A debenture was a certificate or voucher certifying that a sum of money is owing to the person designated in it.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Constituency changes: The county of Middlesex formerly returned two members of parliament for the undivided county. In 1885 seven parliamentary divisions were formed for the county. One of these was the parliamentary division of Ealing. The MP elected to represent the new division was Lord George Hamilton, who had previously been one of the two county MP's. In 1918 the parliamentary borough of Ealing was formed (the municipal borough had come into existence in 1901) and remained relatively unchanged until 1915 when the Ealing East and Ealing West constituencies were carved out of it. Further changes in 1948 replaced these with Ealing North and Ealing South. Later constituency changes are outside the period covered by the records. From 1906-1931 Ealing was represented in parliament by Herbert (later Sir Herbert) Nield, a Conservative. He was followed by Sir Frank Anderson, likewise Conservative, who represented Ealing until 1945 and Ealing East until 1950, and Angus Maude, Conservative, who represented Ealing South from 1950.

Local Conservative Association: It has not been possible to discover the date of the foundation of a Conservative Association in Ealing, but the evidence of the first surviving minute book {ACC/1338/1} shows that the District Conservative and Unionist Association was well established by 1915. The changes in constituencies caused changes in the name of the association. The association, before 1919, was known as the Ealing District Conservative and Unionist Association which endured until 1945. Ealing East Conservative and Unionist Association and then Ealing South Conservative and Unionist Association followed the changes in constituency boundaries of the post war years. The main work of the association was carried out by an executive committee meeting monthly. A general committee later known as the council met infrequently, usually immediately before the Annual General Meeting. A variety of minor or sub-committees dealt with finance, social matters, politics and propaganda, all reporting back to the executive committee.

The constituency was divided into wards, which over the period covered by the records, varied in number from six to nine, i.e. Drayton Ward, Castlebar Ward, Mount Park Ward, Brent Valley Ward, Lammas Ward, Manor Ward, Grange Ward, Greenford and Perivale Ward and Grosvenor Ward. Each ward had its committee usually meeting monthly. Two of these wards are represented in the records. Young people over the age of 16 were catered for politically by the Junior Imperial League, a national body founded in 1906. A junior branch of the Ealing Association replaced this in 1945 and was itself replaced by the Young Conservatives formed in 1948. The women's section of the association were responsible in the 1930's for organising groups on a ward basis, known as Young Britons. Children under the age of 16 made up the membership of these groups and many moved on later to become Junior Imperialists.

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.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

David Brown died in Delhi, India, on the 11th of February 1887.

Tower Hamlets consisted of certain parishes, hamlets and liberties which were outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, but within the liberties of the Tower of London and its Constable or Lieutenant, and included Hackney, Norton Folgate, Shoreditch, Spitalfields, Whitechapel, East Smithfield, St. Katherine's, Wapping, Ratcliffe, Shadwell, Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall, Bromley, Old Ford, Mile End, and Bethnal Green.

The Duke of Wellington was Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets and Constable of the Tower from 1826 to 1852. James Whiskin was made a J.P. for Middlesex, 16 Nov 1835, at which time he was living in Ashby Street, Clerkenwell and owned property in Conington, Cambridgeshire by which he qualified. He later lived in St Mary's Road, Canonbury Park, Islington. Nothing further is known about him.