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The Society for Organising Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicity was founded in 1869. It was more commonly known by its short title, the Charity Organisation Society (COS). It was later known as the Family Welfare Association. Its formation arose out of concern over overlapping charities in London, whose activities, it was feared, led to pauperisation and a waste of resources. Its founders sought to promote a more scientific approach to charity based on the principle that relief should only be given after a thorough investigation of the applicant's circumstances and character and that relief should be sufficient to prevent him becoming a pauper. Its objects included promotion of co-operation between charitable agencies and Poor Law authorities.

In the 20th century the COS played a major role in pioneering the proper training of social workers and in the development of social work as a profession. It was responsible for the appointment of the first hospital almoner at the Royal Free Hospital in 1895. The Council appointed a Committee on Training in 1897 and arranged a series of lectures which district secretaries on probation were expected to attend. In 1903 the School of Sociology was opened as an offshoot of the COS, although an independent body; it decided to merge with the London School of Economics in 1912. In 1915 the COS began its own twelve-month course of training in social work in conjunction with Bedford College. It also provided practical experience for students from other courses. Consequently the work of the district offices became increasingly dominated by salaried professional social workers and the role of the volunteer decreased in importance. The COS also played an important role in the setting up of Citizens' Advice Bureaux (CAB), an idea developed in response to the numbers of people seeking guidance and advice during the Munich Crisis in 1938. The London Council of Social Service and the COS jointly established some 80 CAB in London by the outbreak of war in 1939. Each bureau was autonomous, with a local management committee, and there was a national central committee. The COS was responsible for the CAB in inner London. They proved so useful that the service was continued after the end of the war. In 1946 the COS was renamed the Family Welfare Association (FWA) to reflect its changed role and to emphasise its principal function as a family casework agency.

Shirley Fielding Palmer founded the Guild of Saint Alban the Martyr in 1851, probably inspired by Newman's suggestion that laymen should assist clergy in densely populated areas. It was formed from lay communicants, clergy being admitted as associates, and aimed to assist them in maintaining and extending the Catholic faith, to defend the faith against attacks of error and unbelief and to support the independence of the English Church from the jurisdiction claimed by the Church of Rome. Within the Guild were grades of fellows and brethren and an order of Sisters of the Poor. The brotherhood was divided into sections forming separate brotherhoods under the superintendence of a master e.g. the Brotherhood of Saint John the Divine, Clapham.

The National Amateur Rowing Association was founded in 1890 to cater for the large number of working class men who were prevented from joining the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA) by virtue of their manual occupations. (According to the interpretation of ARA rules these men were to be considered professionals).

This definition of "amateur" was finally resolved in the 1920's and in 1930 NARA was reconstituted, its objectives being "to foster and encourage amateur rowing and to watch over and generally protect its interests" (Articles of Association 1930). In 1939 NARA was incorporated as a non-profit making company. From about 1929 discussions took place with ARA about the possibility of meeting to form one governing body and in 1956 it was proposed to call it the British Amateur Rowing Association. NARA was dissolved in June of that year.

Many regional associations (including the Thames Amateur Rowing Association, see A/NAR/50-52) and rowing clubs were affiliated to NARA and around 90 regattas a year followed NARA rules.

Charles Bernard Stanley Tugwell: Charles Tugwell was honorary secretary of NARA for over 25 years and devoted much of his life to rowing. He was appointed National Organiser for Rowing during the short-lived National Fitness Campaign (1937-1939). At the outbreak of war the NFC was suspended and Tugwell was left unemployed. The Times (his previous employers) were unable to offer him a job and during the war he worked for the Ministry of Labour, Foreign Office and for a short time, the Red Cross. He died in Spring 1957.

The National Education Association (NEA) was formed to give effect to the resolutions of the Education Conference Committee which was held in 1888 in reaction to the report of the Cross Commission, 1886-1888. The Cross Commission was formed to look into the competing systems of education then current: School Board Schools which were supported by rates, and voluntary schools (including Church schools) which were supported only by donations and fees. The report suggested that all schools should be rate-aided.

The Association aimed to promote a "free progressive system of national education, publicly controlled and free from sectarian interest" both by publicising and advancing the School Board System and by undermining denominational and private schools. Formed in 1888 and formally constituted in 1889 under the presidency of A.J.Mundella, the NEA acted as the education sub-committee of the Liberation Society, whose aims were the disestablishment of the Church of England, the attainment of religious equality for non-conformists and the preservation of the rights of conscience.

The NEA was disbanded in 1959 and its duties taken over by the Free Church Federal Council.

Elizabeth Newcomen School

In 1674 Elizabeth Newcomen, a widow of the parish of St Saviour, Southwark, died leaving a large estate in trust for her godson during his lifetime, and after his death as an endowment for charitable uses in the parish. These included charity schools for boys and girls. The earliest records surviving date from 1706. The schools were run by the Wardens and a Committee who could nominate children for places at the school. From 1808-1840 the Newcomen Schools were united with the parochial schools, but in 1840 the Boys' school separated from the parochial school and by 1849 the Girls' school had followed.

From 1887 the schools were administered by the Governors of the Newcomen Foundation, after the charity was re-established by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners. The Girls' School became Elizabeth Newcomen Secondary Technical School, which closed in 1970.

The London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality, later the Public Morality Council, was formed in 1899 to combat vice and indecency in London and to assist in their repression by legal means, already existing but neglected. Its members included representatives of the Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist churches and of the Jewish faith, leaders in education and medicine and charitable associations and others supporting reform. It continued until 1969, concentrating latterly on opposition to sexual immorality and pornography in general and in the theatre, cinema, radio and television. Its functions were taken over by the Social Morality Council, constituted in 1969.

The organisation known as "The Ranyard Mission and Ranyard Nurses" originated as "The London Bible and Domestic Female Mission" - a lay group of Anglican bible women founded in 1857 by Mrs L. N. Ranyard. In 1868 a nursing branch was added, and the title was changed to the "London Biblewomen and Nurses Mission". In 1952 the headquarters was moved from Holborn to Kennington and the organisation was then known by the title of "Ranyard Mission and Ranyard Nurses."

"The South Lee Benevolent Society and Nurses Fund" (see A/RNY/75-84) was supplied with the services of a nurse by the Ranyard Mission. In 1965 the nurses were taken over by the Boroughs, but the Home at Lewisham is still run by trustees.

The following information was sent to the Record Office in 1976, by Mr R. Crosfield Harris, Treasurer of the Ranyard Mission Fund:-

"In 1958 the Ranyard Memorial Charitable Trust was set up by an admirer of the work of the Ranyard Nurses, Mr A.C. Parker of Lewisham, for the building of a Nursing Home for terminal illness. With assistance from the Ogilvie Charities and other donors the Ranyard Memorial Nursing Home was built in Blessington Road, Lewisham, on land leased from the Merchant Taylors Company. It is managed by a committee responsible to the Trustees of the Ranyard Memorial Charitable Trust. These Trustees also administer the Ranyard Mission Fund - the funds of the Ranyard Mission and the Ranyard Nurses - under a Scheme of the Charity Commission. The income of this Fund, after paying pensions to retired members of the staff of the Ranyard Mission and Ranyard Nurses, is available towards the maintenance of the Home".

The Society, established in February 1772 on the initiative of James Neild, jeweller, of London, drew its first funds from the proceeds of a sermon preached in the Charlotte Street Chapel, Pimlico, by the Rev. William Dodd (later notorious for his trial and execution for forgery). William Wilberforce was one of its early supporters. The Society was popularly known as the Thatched House Society' from its regular meeting place, The Thatched House Tavern in St James's Street.

The Society was at first concerned with London prisons only and the greatest number of debtors relieved came from them, but by the 1780s prisoners from gaols in other parts of the country were also being assisted. Neild was troubled about the bad state of the prisons and the minutes contain reports of visits of inspection as well as names and numbers of prisoners assisted.

The Society for the Relief of Distress was founded in 1860 for the relief of distress in London and its suburbs.

The relief was administered by accredited visitors, later known as Almoners. Money was allocated to them to be spent at their discretion leaving the Committee to deal with exceptional cases or those in which more substantial relief was required. The Society is still active in providing assistance for people in the London area, particularly in cases which for one reason or another do not come within the scope of the Welfare Services. Funds are provided by bequests, donations and voluntary contributions.

County associations came into being under 7 Edw.VII, C.9, 1907 - 'An Act to provide for the reorganisation of his Majesty's military forces and to authorise the establishment of County Associations, and the raising and maintenance of a Territorial Force'. Such associations were to be in accordance with schemes made by the Army Council, through which they were to be financed. Each association was to organise and administer its local Territorial Force and, except during actual training or military service, to provide training facilities and horses, and accommodation for arms and equipment.

Toynbee Hall

In 1873 Reverend Samuel Barnett and his wife Henrietta requested to be placed in a deprived parish so that they could participate in poor relief. The foundation of Toynbee Hall in 1884 was their solution to the poverty they witnessed. The Hall was a student's residence combined with a community centre. The Hall was open to young academics who were able to rent out rooms, on the condition that they contribute to the community work. The Hall was named after Arnold Toynbee, a social philosopher and economist and friend of the Barnetts, who had died the previous year aged 31, of meningitis caused by overwork.

Although the idea that those studying poverty and unemployment should live among the poorer classes was not new, Toynbee Hall was innovatory because the students lived together like a college. This 'University Settlement' was the first of its kind in the world and the model for many others both in Great Britain and abroad. Clement Atlee and William Beveridge were among several influential residents.

The Hall carried out varied work, offering legal advice, campaigning for the rights of immigrants, hosting lectures and providing adult education.

Toynbee Hall is still active, situated on Commercial Street, E1 and providing support for the local community.

See http://www.toynbeehall.org.uk/default.asp for more information (accessed August 2010).

Various.

The manor of Isleworth or Isleworth Syon seems to have included land in Heston, Isleworth and Twickenham. In 1086 it belonged to Walter of Saint Valery, one of William the Conqueror's companions. The land subsequently passed into royal possession and was granted to Queen Isabel in 1327 and Queen Philippa in 1330. In 1421 the king granted Isleworth to the newly created abbey of Syon, in whose possession it remained until 1539. The Abbey was suppressed in 1539 and in 1547 the Duke of Somerset secured a grant of the estate to himself, which he held until his execution in 1552, although his widow continued to live at the manor until ordered to leave in 1554. The Crown leased the lands to various tenants until 1598 when Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, secured the tenancy rights. In 1604 he received a grant in fee of the house and manor with the park. The property descended to his heirs including Charles, Duke of Somerset (died 1748) and his son the Earl of Northumberland. Their descendants still owned Syon in 1958.

One notable event in the later history of the manor occurred in 1656. In that year articles of agreement were drawn up between Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, lord of the manor of Isleworth Syon, and Sir Thomas Ingram and other principal copyhold tenants. These articles established certain of the customs of the manor on a firm basis. Fines and heriots were to be certain and not arbitrary, at the will of the lord. The tenure of customary and was to be by Borough English, whereby the youngest son of a copy holder inherited on the death of his father. These articles were signed on 20 May 1656 and were confirmed by a decree in Chancery, 28 June 1656 (see ACC/1379/330 and partial transcript in History of Syon and Isleworth by G. Aungier, p.206). A printed tract called Isleworth Syon's Peace was to be published in 1657 and according to Aungier was to be placed in the Isleworth parish chest. London Metropolitan Archives possesses copies in ACC/0479 and ACC/1379.

Various.

There is no unifying factor to these papers (e.g. that they relate to property owned by one estate or family or the legal work of one office), they were simply collected or preserved for their antiquarian interest before being passed to the archive.

Kew Bridge Tontine

A 'tontine' was a financial scheme by which the subscribers to a loan or common fund each received an annuity during his life, which increased as the subscribers passed away, until the last survivor enjoyed the whole income. The word is also applied to the share or right of each subscriber. Such schemes were introduced first in France as a method of raising government loans. Afterwards tontines were formed for building houses, hotels, baths, bridges and so on.

Kew Bridge was first built in 1758-1759 by John Barnard. It had seven timber arches. This was replaced by a stone bridge in 1784-1789. The present bridge was constructed in 1903, designed by John Wolfe Barry. The bridge crosses the Thames River between Kew and Chiswick.

Unknown.

Teddington common was part of Hounslow Heath. It was situated to the west of Park Road and Stanley Road. When enclosed in 1800 it comprised 450 acres.

From: 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. 66-69.

The precise origin of the Truman family's involvement in brewing is unclear. Although 1666 is often cited as the start date, it is more likely to have been in 1679 when Joseph Truman Senior (died 1721) acquired the Black Eagle Street brewhouse from William Bucknall. Joseph retired in 1730 and his son Benjamin (died 1780) developed the business so that in 1760 Truman's brewery was the third biggest in London, brewing 60,000 barrels of beer per annum. After 1780, James Grant (died 1788), Sir Benjamin's assistant and executor, ran the business whilst the property passed to Sir Benjamin's grandsons, General Henry Read and William Truman Read.

In 1789 Sampson Hanbury acquired James Grant's share of the business and manged the brewery until 1835. He was joined in 1811 by his nephew Thomas Fowell Buxton. Additional partners joined in 1816: Thomas Marlborough Pryor and Robert Pryor, who had previously run Proctors brewhouse, Shoreditch. Production rose from 100,000 barrels per annum in 1800 to 400,000 barrels per annum in 1850, so becoming the largest brewery in London.

Truman Hanbury Buxton and Co. Ltd was registered in 1889 as a limited liability company. The company was acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1971 and changed its name to Trumans Ltd. In 1974 it merged with Watney Mann Ltd. Brewing at Burton ceased in 1971 but the Black Eagle Brewery at Brick Lane continued to operate until 1988. In 1991, Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd was taken over by Courage Ltd.

Various.

The manor of Ealing or Ealingbury was presumably the 10 hides at Ealing granted in 693 by Ethelred, king of Mercia, to the bishop of London for the augmentation of monastic life in London. The manor passed through various owners until 1906 when most or all of the land was sold to the Prudential Assurance Company.

Northumberland Park, Tottenham, was a new avenue, lined by middle-class villas, running from the High Road towards the new railway line. It was laid out and developed in the 1850s.

Source of information: 'Ealing and Brentford: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 123-128 and 'Tottenham: Growth after 1850', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 317-324 (available online).

Various.

The Bullock family first appear in this collection in the early eighteenth century as leather dressers of some substance in London. Henry Bullock was admitted in 1711 as a freeman of the City of London (ACC/0132/240). In 1715 he and his father John Bullock entered into articles of partnership for the management of leather mills at Poyle in Stanwell which they first leased, and later purchased in 1742 (ACC/0132/191, ACC/0132/243). It is title deeds to Poyle Mills, and to other properties in Stanwell which the family subsequently owned, which make up the major part of the collection. The Stanwell deeds date mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but the earliest is a grant of four acres dated 1366. The earliest deed which identifies the Mills is of 1612 (ACC/0132/145).

Besides title deeds the collection includes family settlements and wills of the Bullocks, and their connections the Bland and Maw families. It is clear from deposited account books of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (ACC/0132/285-286) that the family retained a connection with the City of London as well as being substantial citizens in Stanwell. Members of the family were from time to time churchwardens, as the presence of a group of Stanwell Parish Records shows, and Henry Bullock junior was appointed a trustee of the Bedfont to Bagshot, and treasurer of the Cranford Turnpike Trusts in 1760 and 1773 successively (ACC/0132/281-282). The Bland family papers include a series of commissions of Joseph Bland from practitioner engineer to lieutenant colonel in the East India Company Corps of Engineers between 1770 and 1801 (ACC/0132/288-296). There is also an extemely interesting letter from Alfred Bland describing in detail conditions in Zululand in 1879 (ACC/0132/297).

Deposited with the Bullock family papers, but having no apparent archival connection with them, is a group of three building leases of 1793 and 1794 from the Earl of Southampton to William and James Adam of Albemarle Street relating to houses in Fitzroy Square (ACC/0132/330-332).

Various.

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.

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.

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).

An 'indenture' was a deed or agreement between two or more parties. Two or more copies were written out, usually on one piece of parchment or paper, and then cut in a jagged or curvy line, so that when brought together again at any time, the two edges exactly matched and showed that they were parts of one and the same original document. A 'right hand indenture' is therefore the copy of the document which was on the right hand side when the parchment was cut in two. A 'fine' was a fee, separate from the rent, paid by the tenant or vassal to the landlord on some alteration of the tenancy.

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".

Manor of Hendon

The manor of Hendon is listed in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Abbey of Westminster. At the Dissolution it passed to the Crown, who granted it to the new Bishopric of Westminster. However, it returned to the Crown when the Bishopric was suppressed in 1550. It was granted to the Earl of Pembroke, William Herbert, and remained in the Herbert family until 1650 when it was sequestrated as the Herberts were Royalists. At the Restoration it was restored to the family. In 1757 the manor was purchased by James Clutterbuck who conveyed it to his friend David Garrick in 1765. It was left to Garrick's nephew but sold after his death and subsequently passed through various hands. The estate was described as 1226 acres in 1754.

Source of information: 'Hendon: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 16-20 (available online).

Various.

The manor of Edgware Boys (or Edgware and Boys) was sold to William Lee of Totteridge Park in 1762. It passed to his son William, who changed his surname to Antonie in accordance with the will of Richard Antonie of Colworth. He left the manor to his nephew John Fiott, who assumed the name of Lee under the terms of the will of his uncle. John Fiott Lee died in 1866.

Information from: 'Edgware: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 155-157 (available online).

The manor of 'Stebunheath alias Stepney' devolved from the bishop of London's Domesday manor or vill of Stepney. The Domesday manor was assessed at 32 hides and included most of Stepney parish as constituted in the 13th century, Hackney, a small part of Shoreditch, and large parts of Islington, Hornsey, and Clerkenwell; the 14 hides held in demesne later formed the demesnes of Stepney, Hackney, Harringay, Muswell, and possibly Brownswood manors.

The bishops held Stepney until 1550; when Nicholas Ridley surrendered the manors of Stepney and Hackney to the king, who immediately granted them to the Lord Chamberlain Sir Thomas Wentworth, Baron Wentworth (d. 1551). The grant included the marshes of Stepney, waters, fishing, wastes, mills, and the liberties, including free warren and view of frankpledge, that the bishops had enjoyed.

The manor subsequently changed hands several times until 1926 when the remaining copyholds were converted into freeholds under the Law of Property Act, 1922. They remained subject to such manorial incidents as quitrents, fines on change of ownership, and the lord's right to timber, until 1 January 1936.

From: 'Stepney: Manors and Estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 19-52 (available online).

Spelthorne was one of the Middlesex Hundreds, containing the parishes of Ashfrod, East Bedfont, Feltham, Hampton, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington and Shepperton. The hundred was held by the Crown.

1805 was during the Napoleonic Wars when many militia forces and volunteer forces were formed to participate in the war effort.

Prince William, the third son of King George the Third, was made Duke of Clarence in 1789. From 1797 he lived in Bushy House, Teddington, as ranger of Bushy Park. He became King William IV in 1830.

Hawtrey-Deane family

In 1438 King Henry VI granted Ruislip Manor to the University of Cambridge. The University gave up its interest in 1441 and the king granted the manor to the new College of St Mary and St Nicholas, later known as King's College Cambridge. This was made an outright grant in 1451. The estate remained in the possession of the college until the early 20th century.

Ralph Hawtrey acquired the lease of the manor in 1669. The Hawtreys and their descendants, the Rogerses and Deanes, kept the lease of the manor until the late 19th century when it was taken up by the College.

From: 'Ruislip: Manors and other estates', 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. 134-137.

Various.

A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

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.

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).

Various.

A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.

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.

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).

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).

Unknown.

Ruislip parish included a large number of open fields to the south of Eastcote Road. These comprised around 2,200 acres when they were enclosed.

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. 127-134.

The Cross Keys Inn, Uxbridge, was in existence by 1548.

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).

An 'indenture' was a deed or agreement between two or more parties. Two or more copies were written out, usually on one piece of parchment or paper, and then cut in a jagged or curvy line, so that when brought together again at any time, the two edges exactly matched and showed that they were parts of one and the same original document. A 'right hand indenture' is therefore the copy of the document which was on the right hand side when the parchment was cut in two.

A 'fine' was a fee, separate from the rent, paid by the tenant or vassal to the landlord on some alteration of the tenancy, or a sum of money paid for the granting of a lease or for admission to a copyhold tenement.

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 manor of Enfield is first recorded as held by Ansgar the staller in 1066. In 1086 it was owned by Geoffrey de Mandeville and stayed in his family until 1419 when it became the property of King Henry V. Subsequently it was assigned to various female members of the Royal family, including Margaret of Anjou; and was leased out until the lease was acquired by the Duke of Chandos in 1742.

John Pardoe, by deed of 1757, left his great tithes on some 230 acres in Hendon to ten poor widows aged 40 or over on Stanmore. A rent-charge payable in lieu of great tithes was gradually redeemed for stock between 1909 and 1943.

Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton, Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham, 1976, (available online).

Manor of Friern Barnet

The Manor of Friern Barnet was also known as the Manor of Whetstone. In 1336 it was owned by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. In 1540, when the Order of St John was closed, the lands passed to the Crown. In 1544 the Crown granted the manor to the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, London. The Chapter sold the lands in 1800, while the manorial rights passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

Information from 'Friern Barnet: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 15-17 (available online).

Sir George Stephen, lawyer and slavery abolitionist, was born on 17 January 1794 on St Kitts, West Indies. His parents returned to England with him when he was an infant. He was educated at private schools at Clapham Common and Cheam. He was placed in the office of J. W. Freshfield, afterwards solicitor to the Bank of England. On 17 March 1821 he married Henrietta (1797-1869), the daughter of Revd William Ravenscroft; they had seven children.

During five years' articles, Stephen managed his firm's extensive bankruptcy business and, when he began practice on his own, the firm handed much of that business to him. During the parliamentary inquiry in 1820 into the conduct of Queen Caroline he was employed by the government to collect evidence against her on the continent.

In 1826, declining remuneration, Stephen was retained by the House of Commons to investigate allegations that slaves were being traded at Mauritius. That had been made unlawful in 1807, but slavery itself was still prevalent in some British colonies, notably in the West Indies. Stephen, following his father, had become prominent in the Anti-Slavery Society and was its honorary solicitor. Hitherto, the committee had worked towards abolition by direct persuasion of parliamentarians; in 1831 Stephen proposed appealing to the people. His proposal was rejected by the committee but taken up by James Cropper and others, who provided funds. A small working group, including Stephen, employed agents to arrange and address public meetings and to inspire press publicity, the formation of local societies, and the promotion of petitions. The ensuing agitation persuaded the government: the act to abolish slavery in British colonies was passed in 1833. Stephen was knighted in 1838 for his services.

Stephen was solicitor in a scheme for the relief of paupers in contempt of court, without remuneration, and also acted for a society for the purchase of reversions; however, he quarrelled with the directors and was dismissed, losing a considerable sum. Disliking aspects of his profession, resenting its inferior social status, and struggling somewhat in his practice, he decided in 1847 to abandon it. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn on 6 June 1849 and settled at Liverpool, where he acquired a fair practice in bankruptcy cases.

But Stephen's work fell away on a change in the system, and in 1855 he emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, where he joined his two younger sons. He was admitted to practise as a barrister there on the same day (9 August 1855) as was his eldest son, James Wilberforce (1822-1881), who emigrated with him and afterwards became a judge of the supreme court of Victoria. Stephen died on 20 June 1879 and was buried in St Kilda cemetery, Melbourne, on 23 June.

Source: Leslie Stephen, 'Stephen, Sir George (1794-1879)', rev. Peter Balmford, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26371, accessed 6 July 2009].

Various.

Sir Lancelot Shadwell, the last Vice Chancellor of England, bought Northolt manor from George Villiers, Earl of Jersey, in 1827. The manor comprised 269 acres. The Shadwell family owned the manor until the early 20th century when the estate was broken up and sold.

From: 'Northolt: Manors and other estates', 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. 113-116 (available online).

Henry Jermyn, 3rd Baron Dover (1636-1708), was a prominent figure at the Restoration Court. He was a Roman Catholic in the household of James Duke of York and, on James' accession, began to take part in public affairs. In 1685 was raised to the peerage as Baron Dover of Dover and in 1636 became a member of the Privy Council. He followed James into exile in France and was given "Jacobite peerages". After the Battle of the Boyne, where he commanded a troop, Dover was eventually pardoned by William III and spent the rest of his life quietly at his home in Albermarle Buildings near St. James's Park or at his country seat at Cheveley near Newmarket. In 1703 he succeeded his brother as 3rd Baron Jermyn of St. Edmundsbury. He died at Cheveley on 6 April 1708 and his body was taken to Bruges to be buried in the church of the Carmelites. His wife, whom he married in 1675, was Judith daughter of Sir Edmund Poley of Badley, Suffolk.

Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright, 4th baronet, of Flamstead, Herts., was born 11 May 1692 and died 12 April 1736. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1702, and was M.P. for Hertfordshire from 1715 until his death.

Various.

The Manor of Osterley in Heston was purchased by property developer Nicholas Barbon in 1683. Barbon conveyed the Manor to two co-mortgagees including the banker Sir Francis Child the elder (1642-1718). Child took possession of the Manor on Barbon's death in 1698, while his son Robert Child (d 1721) bought out the co-mortgagee, so that the Child family owned the whole estate. The family expanded the estates by purchasing nearby Manors and commissioned Robert Adam to redesign the house.

The estates and Child's Bank were inherited by Sarah Anne (1764-1793), daughter and sole heir of Robert Child (d 1782). Under the terms of Robert Child's will the estates passed to Sarah Anne's daughter Lady Sarah Sophia Fane (1785-1867), who was said to have an income of £60,000 a year. Lady Sarah married George Villiers, the fifth Earl of Jersey (1773-1859) who took the name Child-Villiers in 1812. Osterley Park stayed in the Jersey family until 1949 when it was sold to the National Trust.

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

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

For more information about Osterley Park and Manor see 'Heston and Isleworth: Osterley Park', and 'Heston and Isleworth: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 100-111 (available online).

See also 'Hayes: Manors and other estates' and 'Norwood, including Southall: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 26-29 and pp. 43-45.

Various.

The Delme-Radcliffe family were the holders of Hitchin Priory in Hertfordshire. Through various marriages the family estates grew to include land in Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Bedfordshire, Essex, Croydon and Hampshire as well as the Middlesex and London lands featured in this collection.

The manor of Finchley was owned by the Bishop of London. However, 2 smaller sub-manors, Bibbesworth and Marches, were held separately. In 1622 they were purchased by Edward Allen, an alderman from London, who left the estate to his son Sir Thomas Allen. In 1674 Sir Thomas left the estates to his son Edward, entailing them to the male line. When Edward died childless in 1692 the estates went to Thomas, his nephew. Thomas's son Edward died in 1774 and broke the entail by leaving the manor to his brother Thomas, who had the surname Greenhalgh until 1774. He died in 1780 and left the estate to his son, also Thomas, who died childless in 1830.

The estates were disputed between Edward Cooper under the will of Edward Allen who died in 1774; and descendants of Edward Allen who died in 1692 under the will of Thomas Allen who died in 1780. Cooper's title passed to his son Edward Philip Cooper who bought out the other claimants and settled the Finchley estates on his daughters, who both died in 1888. The estate passed to their cousin Albert Henry Arden, who was succeeded by his son Edward Cooper Arden.

Source of information: 'Finchley: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 55-59 (available online).

Various.

Adelaide House was built in 1828 on the west side of Forty Green at a time when the area was fashionable. The house has since been destroyed. Forty Green is now known as Forty Hill.

The Bridgen Hall estate was situated between Carterhatch Lane and Goat Lane. It was sold in 1868 and was divided between a housing estate, gravel digging, and open parkland.

Manor of Cowley Peachey

Cowley Peachey was a small manor which sat within the lands of Colham Manor. Ownership of the estate was often the same as other small manors in the area, such as Cowley Hall and Hayes Park Hall.

Source of information: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Manors and other estates', 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. 69-75 (available online).

Court baron was an assembly of the freehold tenants of a manor under the presidency of the lord or his steward. Such a court had a jurisdiction in civil actions arising within the manor, especially in such as related to freehold land. This jurisdiction began to decay at an early date, and is now practically obsolete.

Jones and Sons , solicitors

Before the Norman Conquest the manor of Ruislip was held by Wlward Wit, a thegn of King Edward, who also held the manors of Kempton and Kingsbury in Middlesex and considerable estates elsewhere. By 1086 it had passed to Ernulf of Hesdin (de Hesding), who granted it to the Abbot and Convent of the Benedictine Abbey of Bec in Normandy. Bec enjoyed possession of it until 1211 when King John sequestrated the properties of the abbey, and were fully confiscated in 1404, when Henry IV granted Ruislip manor, with reversion to the king and his heirs, jointly to his third son John, later Duke of Bedford. On his death in 1435 the manor reverted to the Crown, and although Bec petitioned the king for the restoration of their property, Henry VI in 1437 leased Ruislip manor, with a plot called Northwood, for seven years, later extended to a grant for life, to his chancellor John Somerset. In 1438 the king granted the reversion on this estate to the University of Cambridge. The University surrendered its interest in 1441, and the king granted the reversion to his new foundation, the College of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, later King's College, Cambridge. In 1451, shortly after a Commons petition requesting the dismissal of Somerset, Ruislip manor was granted outright to King's College. In 1461, however, Henry VI was defeated by Edward of York and the Lancastrian grants were declared void. King's College was not included in the list of exemptions; but in the following year Edward IV granted Ruislip manor, with Northwood, in free alms to King's College, in whose possession it remained until the break-up of the college estates in the early 20th century.

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. 134-137 (available online).

Harrow manor was owned by Archbishop Wulfred, who gave the Harrow lands to his kinsman, Werhard, a priest, for life. Werhard in 845 devised the land to the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury. Harrow was held by King Harold's brother, Earl Leofwine, in 1066, but Canterbury regained it after the Conquest. When the Canterbury lands were divided by Lanfranc between the archbishop and Christ Church, Harrow and Hayes were allotted to the former. Except sede vacante, when it was administered by the Crown, Harrow manor was held by the archbishops until Cranmer was forced to exchange it with Henry VIII on 30 December 1545. Six days later, the king sold it to Sir Edward (later Lord) North (d. 1564), Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations. Dudley (d. 1666), the 3rd baron, sold Harrow manor in 1630 to Edmund Phillips and George and Rowland Pitt. In 1636, after Phillips's death, Rowland Pitt quitclaimed his interest to George Pitt and his heirs. George Pitt's son, Edmund, was dead by 1666 and the manor descended to Edmund's daughter, Alice, and her successive husbands, Edward Palmer and Sir James Rushout. The manor remained with the Rushouts, until the 3rd baron, Sir George Rushout-Bowles, died in 1887. His widow, Lady Elizabeth Augusta, sold some of the estate but on her death in 1912 the bulk passed to her grandson, Capt. E. G. Spencer-Churchill. He sold the remaining land in the 1920s but retained the manorial rights until his death in 1964, when they passed to his executors.

'Harrow manor' described both manorial rights over the whole area and the chief demesne farm in the centre of the parish. To distinguish it from the Rectory estate at Harrow-on-the-Hill, the demesne was, from the 14th century, called Sudbury manor or Sudbury Court. Its descent followed that of Harrow manor.

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. 203-211 (available online).

Various.

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

C. O. Banks was a local historian, author of Romances of the Finchley Manor and Early Days of Whetstone, Friern Barnet, North End and East End, Finchley, Barnet and The Story of Finchley, Friern Barnet and Whetstone. He founded Finchley Record Society in 1925.

The manor of Ickenham was conveyed to John Charlton in 1334. The manor was inherited by Charlton's daughter Juette, who was married to Nicholas Shorediche. The estate stayed in the Shorediche family until 1812 when it was passed to George Robinson after Michael Shorediche could not pay the mortgage. Michael married an East Indian heiress in 1813 but the family were unable to regain the manor.

From: 'Ickenham: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 102-104 (available online).

The early history of the estate later known as Swakeleys manor is obscure. In the early 13th century the estate seems to have passed to John de Trumpinton whose son, also called John, still held it about 1260. By 1329, however, part of this land had apparently been acquired by Robert Swalcliffe of Swalcliffe. Four years later Robert and his wife conveyed their lands to William le Gauger of London, but the family name Swalcliffe, later contracted to Swakeleys, continued to attach to the estate. In 1751 the estate was sold to the Reverend Thomas Clarke, Rector of Ickenham. Members of the Clarke family held Swakeleys for over a century. Thomas Clarke died in 1796 and was succeeded by his son Thomas Truesdale Clarke. Thomas Truesdale's son, another Thomas Truesdale, succeeded in 1840 and bought the manor of Ickenham in 1859. He died in 1890 and was succeeded by his son William Capel Clarke, who had married Clara Thornhill and had added his wife's name to his own. William Capel Clarke-Thornhill died in 1898 and in 1922 his son Thomas Bryan Clarke-Thornhill sold most of the Swakeleys estate to agents for development as a residential suburb.

The extent of Swakeleys in the Middle Ages is unknown: from the 14th century the manor included much land outside the parish. In 1531 it was said to comprise more than 1,000 acres and in 1608 over 2,000 acres. At inclosure in 1780 Thomas Clarke held 368 acres in Ickenham. A park is mentioned in 1453 and again in 1517. This presumably was that surrounding Swakeleys manor-house.

The origins of the estate later known as Hercies manor are obscure. The property is first mentioned by name in 1386 when it formed part of the extensive estates of the Charlton family. In 1778 or 1779 Hercies was sold to the trustees of Thomas Bridges under whose will it descended to Thomas Clarke, Rector of Ickenham and lord of Swakeleys manor. At the end of the 18th century Hercies or Herres Farm comprised 222 acres lying north of the farm buildings in the rectangular area bounded by Uxbridge Common, the Ickenham boundary, Long Lane, and Sweetcroft Lane. In 1796 Thomas Clarke died and the property, then described as the site of the manor of Hercies, passed to his son Thomas Truesdale Clarke. Under the inclosure award of 1825 Thomas Truesdale Clarke was allotted approximately 330 acres in lieu of Hercies and Rye Fields farms. The property is not mentioned again until 1922 when Hercies Farm was acquired by the local authority.

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. 69-75 (available online).

The Manors featured in these papers were all held by the interconnected Paget family. William Paget, first Baron Paget, (1505-1563) rose to prominence in the court of Henry VIII despite coming from a modest London family, acting as diplomat, ambassador, secretary of state and member of the Privy Council. As he became more successful Paget began to accumulate lands and estates, starting with the manor of West Drayton in 1536. The Manor of Harmondsworth was granted in 1547 and joined to his West Drayton estates. He later acquired estates in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Worcestershire.

The eighth Baron Paget, Henry Paget (1663-1743), an official in the Royal household, was made first Earl of Uxbridge in 1714. His son, also Henry (1719-1769), was the second Earl of Uxbridge and added to the family estates with the purchase of the Manors of Dawley and Harlington in 1755. Henry died unmarried and childless, so the barony of Paget passed to Henry Bayly (1744-1812), the great-great-grandson of William, the sixth baron Paget. Bayly, who changed his name to Paget, sold the manor of West Drayton in 1786, the manor of Dawley in 1772 and the manor of Harlington in 1773. His son Henry William Paget (1768-1854) became the marquess of Anglesey after losing a leg at the Battle of Waterloo. His son sold the Manor of Harmondsworth in the mid-nineteenth century.

Sources: 'Harlington: Manors' and 'West Drayton: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 191-195 and pp. 261-267; and 'Harmondsworth: Manors and other estates', 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. 7-10. See also entries for the Paget family in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.