Barbican Library Users (BLU), originally known as the Friends of Barbican Library, was formed by Barbican resident Hazel Brothers in response to the proposal to use the area of the Barbican Centre occupied by Barbican Library for conferences and banqueting and to move the library to another site. The campaign to keep Barbican Library within the Barbican Centre drew much support from Barbican residents and non-residents. At their meeting on on 28 July 1999 the Barbican Centre Committee agreed on commercial grounds that no further action would be taken, but the campaign group continued as Barbican Library Users with the aims of representing the interests of the library's users and to safeguard and promote its facilities and activities. At the time of deposit of these papers (2007), BLU is being re-shaped into a new Friends group.
Bassishaw Friendly Association was founded in 1840. In 1903 its name was changed to Bassishaw Ward Club.
The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. The Bassishaw ward is bounded north by Cripplegate Ward Without, east by Coleman Street Ward, west by Cripplegate Ward Within and south by Cheap Ward. The ward contained one City parish church: St Michael Bassishaw.
Bishopsgate Ward Club was instituted in 1790. The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. The Bishopsgate ward is divided into two portions Within and Without of the City wall, the gate through which gives the ward its name. Bishopsgate Ward Within contained three City parish churches: St Helen Bishopsgate, St Ethelburga, and St Botolph Bishopsgate, while the whole of Bishopsgate Without Ward is co-extensive with St Botolph Bishopsgate.
A 'factory' in this context is an establishment for traders carrying on business in a foreign country or a merchant company's trading station. Leghorn or Livorno is a port city in Tuscany which was important for trade with the Levant and the population included many foreign merchants. There was a thriving and wealthy British community there which used the British Factory chapel and chaplain for Protestant services. The Factory closed in 1825 and the community dwindled.
The British Horological Institute was founded in 1858 in reaction to the large number of foreign clocks and watches entering Britain, and to improve standards of British clock-making.
The Association was founded in 1849 "for the purpose of bringing before the legislature and the Poor Law Board the unfair, unequal and oppressive operation" of the poor rates in the City of London Union.
Described as "an association for the ratepayers of St Giles Cripplegate, for the purpose of ... interchange of ideas upon the various subjects which arise affecting the interests of the ratepayers", this Association discussed the municipal and administrative matters relative to Cripplegate ward without and St Giles Cripplegate parish (especially vestry reform).
The original Eastern Society of Master Pawnbrokers was established in 1813 at the Laurel Tree, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in order to support its members against litigious prosecution. In 1822 the original society dissolved itself and was reformed as a friendly association, with revised rules and regulations. Its subsequent history is unknown.
The Eclectic Book Society met at members' private residences, both within and without the City of London. The society acted as a private circulating library with members suggesting (often religious) titles for purchase.
The council consisted of representatives of the London and Home Counties Fish Friers' Association; the London Fish and Poultry Retailers' Association; the London Fish Merchants' Association (Billingsgate), (to 1946, the London Fish Trade Association); and from 1969, the Transport and General Workers' Union. It was formed in 1945 for the purpose of co-operating on matters of mutual interest.
A notary is officially authorized to perform certain legal formalities, including drawing up or certifying contracts and deeds, administering oaths, and protesting dishonoured bills of exchange.
The committee consisted of representatives of the National Federation of Inland Wholesale Fish Merchants; the Liverpool Wholesale Fish, Game, and Poultry Merchants' Association; and the Birmingham Fish and Poultry Merchants' Association. It was formed in 1950 to provide a means of communication between the wholesale trade and the White Fish Authority.
The Society was established in 1850 and its funds were acquired in 1864 by the Boot Trade Benevolent Society.
The Society met at the Law Institution in Chancery Lane and debated matters of legal interest.
The first recorded meeting of the Liverpool Independent Legal Victoria Burial Society took place on 3 March 1843. From as early as 1845, the Society did not confine its activities to the city of Liverpool, and in 1845 collectors were established in Runcorn, Chester, Warrington, Ormskirk and Northwich. By 1863, its operations had extended to Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and in England as far north as Newcastle and as far west as Plymouth, with outposts in London.
Under the National Insurance Act of 1911 a system of compulsory health insurance for the working-class was established, to be administered by "approved societies". In 1912 the Liverpool Victoria Approved Society was constituted. By the end of that year it had over 350,000 members and later became one of the largest and most successful of the Approved Societies.
The Association was formed in 1872 and its members met weekly in the City, most often at 8 Queen Street, Cheapside. It became the London district branch of the National Phonographic Society in 1894. In 1898 this body became the Incorporated Phonographic Society, a society still in existence.
The Rectifiers' Club was formed in the late 1780s. It met at the City of London Tavern to discuss matters relating to the trade of distilling (gin, cordials and other British spirits excluding whisky). The members of the Club included many prominent London distillers.
The Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships was formed in 1762. It was the first society to use a scientific form of life assurance which enabled the Equitable to accept a broad range of risks. By 1797 there were over 5,000 assurances in force.
The name 'Equitable Life Assurance Society' appeared in brochures by 1857, but the Society only became incorporated with this name in 1893.
The Society acquired the Reversionary Interest Society in 1919; University Life Assurance Society in 1919; and Equitable Reversionary Interest Society in 1920.
The Society was based at Nicholas Lane (1762-74); New Bridge Street (1774-1870); Mansion House Street (1870-1924); Coleman Street (1924-c1992); and Basinghall Street (c1993- ). The Society was closed to new business in 2000.
The Society of East India Commanders acted as a friendly society and also represented the interest of the commanders of East India Company ships to the East India Company. The Society was probably formed in 1773 when it met at the Queen Arms Tavern in St Paul's Churchyard. In 1775 it moved to the Antwerp Tavern and then met, from 1780, at the Jerusalem Coffee House.
The Society was formed in 1873 to 'promote sympathy and mutual help' among younger clergy and give the opportunity 'of freely discussing matters of practical interest in parish work'. Meetings were held at various churches, vestry halls, colleges, St Paul's Chapter House and, from 1889, at Sion College.
Vintry Ward Club was established in 1877 and in 1957 became Vintry and Dowgate Wards Club.
The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.
Vintry Ward lies to the west of the Walbrook on the bank of the River Thames and extends north to Cordwainer Ward and is bounded on the east by Dowgate Ward and on the west by Queenhithe Ward. The ward contained four City parish churches: St Martin Vintry, St James Garlickhithe, St Michael Paternoster Royal and St Thomas the Apostle.
Dowgate Ward lies between Walbrook Ward north, Candlewick and Bridge Within wards east and Vintry Ward west, and extends south to the River Thames. The ward contained two City parish churches: All Hallows the Great and All Hallows the Less.
The Chartered Accountants' Benevolent Association was founded in 1886 to 'provide for the relief of necessitous persons who are or have been members of either ICAEW or the former Society of Incorporated Accountants and their dependents'.
It was based at Moorgate Place (1886-1965), City House, 56-66 Goswell Road (1965-c.1982) and 301 Salisbury House, London Wall (c.1982-2001). In 2001 it moved to 3 Cottesbrooke Park, Heartlands, Daventry.
In 1803, Lloyd's Patriotic Fund was established at a general meeting of the subscribers of Lloyd's. It was known as the "Patriotic Fund" until the 1850s when the title Lloyd's Patriotic Fund was adopted. The Fund was governed by a Committee, later known as the Trustees, and administered by a Secretary. The Fund has extensive connections with Lloyd's, but is an independent charity.
Its original purpose was to provide relief for men wounded in military action (with both the army and the navy), to support the widows and dependents of men killed, and to grant honorary awards in recognition of bravery. These awards usually took the form of swords or vases, although recipients could choose to accept money instead. A total of 153 swords and 66 vases, many of which survive today, were commissioned by the Fund between 1803 and 1809, when honorary awards ceased.
In addition, the Fund took a keen interest in the education of children of men who had been killed in battle. Financial assistance was provided to a number of educational establishments. Most notably, in 1806, a grant was made to the Royal Naval Asylum (also known as Greenwich Hospital School and the Royal Hospital School), at Greenwich, and later at Holbrook, in Suffolk, which allowed the Trustees to nominate children to attend the school. The Fund's association with the school continues today.
Between 1805 and 1812, the Fund was also involved in sending money to English prisoners of war in France. The money was distributed by a Committee of prisoners at Verdun and was used to provide living allowances, a hospital and schools for children held captive.
The Fund was closed to new cases from February 1825 as it was considered that the Fund had fulfilled its original purpose. Following military action in 1841, however, the Fund was re-established on a broader basis and cases were once more heard. By 1918, the Fund had expended over £1 million.
Lloyd's Patriotic Fund continues to this day to provide financial assistance to former servicemen and women, their widows and dependants.
The Secretary of the Fund had offices at the following addresses: Lloyd's Coffee House at the Royal Exchange, 1803-13; 45 Lothbury, 1813-28; 8 Royal Exchange Gallery, 1828-38; 37 Old Broad Street, 1838-48; Sun Chambers, Threadneedle Street, 1848-57; County Chambers, 14 Cornhill, 1857-99; Brook House, Walbrook, 1899-1928; Lloyd's of London, Lime Street, 1928-.
The meetings of the Trustees were held at the following addresses: Lloyd's Coffee House at the Royal Exchange (in the Merchant Seamen's Office or in the Old Committee Room), 1803-28; 8 Royal Exchange Gallery, 1828-38; 62 Old Broad Street, 1838-42; Gresham Chambers, 75 Old Broad Street, 1842-8; the Fund's offices, as listed above, 1848-1928; and finally at Lloyd's of London, Lime Street, 1928-.
Records of the Fund were partially destroyed in the fire at the Royal Exchange on 10 January 1838.
The Chartered Accountants' Charities Ltd was set up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales in 1955, based at Moorgate Place, to act as trustee for the Institute Prize Trust Fund and the Chartered Accountants' General Trust Fund. Its directors were taken from the ICAEW's Finance Committee. In 1962 it also became trustee of the Chartered Accountants' Investment Pool for Educational Endowment.
Sutton's Hospital was founded by businessman Thomas Sutton in 1611 in the old monastery of Charterhouse, situated on Charterhouse Square, EC1. The hospital was intended for professional men fallen into poverty through "shipwreck, casualty or fire". A school for poor boys was attached to the hospital. The hospital opened in 1614 and admitted 80 men.
In 1872 the school moved to Surrey and part of the London site was sold to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1941 Sutton's Hospital was badly damaged by enemy bombing, but was repaired and still functions as an almshouse.
See http://www.thecharterhouse.org/ for more information.
Crosby Hall was part of a mansion in Bishopsgate built for Sir John Crosby in 1466. It was owned by Sir Thomas More in 1532. In 1621 to 1638 it was the headquarters of the East India Company, then it became a Presbyterian Meeting House, commercial premises, the Crosby Hall Literary and Scientific Institution, and a restaurant. In 1908 it was purchased by the Charter Bank of India and was demolished to make way for their head office. The building materials were preserved and the hall was rebuilt as part of the International Hostel of the British Federation of University Women in Chelsea.
These records date to the Hall's time as a commercial premises (1770-1853).
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
The Economic and Social Research Council is a UK agency which funds projects and training in the economic and social sciences.
The society was taken over by Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in 1952.
In 1923, the London Stock Exchange Dramatic and Operatic Society decided to put on additional performances to provide funds for hospitals. In order to augment the money raised, a Christmas Draw was organised and people and businesses in and around the Stock Exchange were invited to donate prizes. A separate organisation, the Help Yourself Society, was formed in 1927 to run these fundraising activities. Subscribers to the Society were entitled to a draw ticket for each subscription paid (originally half a crown). The funds raised were distributed amongst institutions and organisations nominated by the trustees of the Society. Many of the gifts donated for the draw were deliberately of a comic kind and from 1926 details were published in a catalogue. This became the Help Yourself Annual which was published until 1950 when it was replaced by a gift list, later by a newsletter and subsequently by a list of prizewinners. After the Second World War, with the creation of the National Health Service, the Society shifted its support from hospitals and large institutions to smaller charitable organisations which relied on voluntary contributions for the bulk of their income. The Society was wound up in 1986.
The Rolls Liberty constituted the Middlesex part of the parish of Saint Dunstan in the West (P69/DUN2), situated around Chancery Lane. A chapel is first recorded here in 1232, known as the Rolls Chapel from 1377. It was constituted as a separate ecclesiastical parish, known as Saint Thomas in the Liberty of the Rolls, in 1842; and as a civil parish, in 1866. The chapel became part of the Public Record Office building, now the library of King's College London. The chapel survives and includes some monuments.
Saint Martin's le Grand was a monastery and college, founded in 1068. The monks were granted the right to hold their own court by Henry II. The monastery was supressed in 1540. Nothing remains of the building.
Saint Saviour's Poor Law Union was formed in February, 1836. Its constituent parishes were Saint Saviour's and Christchurch, both in Southwark. Saint Saviour's Workhouse was situated on Marlborough Street.
The School Board for London was set up under the Public Elementary Education Act of 1870 for the whole of the 'metropolis', the latter being defined as the area coming within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works. The School Board was closed in 1903 and its powers passed to the London County Council.
The manor of Barnet was held by the Abbey of Saint Albans. At the Dissolution the manor came to the Crown, who granted it to John Maynard and John Goodwin. The manor subsequently passed through several hands, belonging for some time to the Dukes of Chandos. Manor courts were held on Easter Tuesday.
At the time of the Domesday book the manor of Hendon belonged to the abbey of Westminster. At the Dissolution the manor passed to the Crown, who granted it to Sir William Herbert, later Earl of Pembroke. It subsequently passed through various hands and was mortgaged several times. At the date of the document in this collection the manor was mortgaged to Guy's Hopsital, Southwark. It was later owned by actor David Garrick.
The Deputies were the elected representatives of every congregation of the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist denominations of Protestant Dissenters, within a ten mile radius of London. They evolved as a formal body to press for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts and "to take care of the civil affairs of Dissenters".
The Deputies appear to have originated at a general meeting of Protestant Dissenters held on 9 November 1732 at which a committee was appointed to consider an appeal to Parliament for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts. A meeting on 29 November 1732 recommended that every congregation of the three denominations appoint two deputies to form an assembly, and in January 1736 it was proposed that the deputies should be elected annually. This resolution became fully effective in January 1737, when 21 of these elected representatives were chosen to form a committee to deal with the main business of the year.
German Lutherans worshipped in the City of London at the Church in Austin Friars 'of the Germans and other Strangers' from 1550, and in 1672 they obtained from Charles II letters patent enabling them to build their own church, with the power to appoint ministers and hold services according to their own customs, on the site of the Holy Trinity Church (destroyed during the Great Fire), Trinity Lane. The inaugural service was held in December 1673, although baptisms were registered from 1669, and a church, rebuilt and extended in 1773, remained there until 1871. In that year it was bought and demolished by the Metropolitan Railway Company who were then building Mansion House station close by. The congregation then built a new church on a site in Alma (later Ritson) Road, Dalston, installing fittings such as the altar-piece and organ taken from the old church.
The Wesleyan chapel on the north side of Jewin Street, near the west end of Jewin Crescent, was established in the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1847. In 1878 the chapel was sold, and, although the trustees tried to maintain an establishment in Shaftesbury Hall, Aldersgate Street, this failed. The receipts from the sale of Jewin Street were then passed to Wesley's Chapel on the City Road.
The land which became Whitechapel Quaker Burial Ground was first leased by the Quakers in 1743. The burial ground was under the care of the Devonshire House monthly meeting until its closure in 1857.
This church of French protestants was established in ca. 1686 and was based at a number of addresses in the City of London, including Jewin Street and in Buckingham House on College Hill, before taking the lease of St Martin Orgar in 1699. This church, in St Martin's Lane, had been destroyed in the Fire of London and had not been rebuilt. The lease was surrendered and the church closed in 1834.
Holy Trinity, Aldgate, was a priory constructed by the Canons of Augustine in the 12th century. The Prior was an ex-officio Alderman of Portsoken Ward in the Corporation of London. The church of Saint Katharine Cree was built in the grounds of the Priory for the use of the parish. The Priory was the first in London to be dissolved, closed by 1532 and given to the King. There were few protests at the closure as the Prior was unpopular and heavily in debt. The land was given to Lord Audley who offered the church of St Katharine Cree to the parish. They refused the gift and the church was pulled down.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
Saint Mary Graces was a small Cistercian Abbey founded in 1349 by Edward III near East Smithfield, a liberty next to the Tower of London. It was also known as East Minster and New Abbey.
The Order of Friars Minor was founded by Saint Francis in 1209 and is usually known as the Franciscan Order. The Order first came to England in 1224 and were known as the 'greyfriars'.
Syon Abbey was founded in 1415 by Henry V. It was a Brigittine monastery (the Order of the Most Holy Saviour was founded in 1370 by St Birgitta of Sweden and is usually known as the Brigittine order). The first site was in Twickenham but it moved to Isleworth in 1431. Henry VIII took over the monastery in 1534 and since 1594 it has been the site of Syon House, home of the Percys, Dukes of Northumberland.
The Cripplegate Schools Foundation was constituted by a Board of Education scheme on 30 December 1904 to administer the Red Cross Street Boys' School and Lady Holles School for Girls. A school for 100 boys was first opened in White Cross Street in 1698, later moving to Glovers' Hall and Barbican. In 1709 a plot of land in Red Cross Street was purchased with a bequest from Thomas Moore and a new school was built there. Part of the premises was leased to the trustees of Lady Holles' School, which had been established in 1711 for the education of 50 girls. The Boys' School remained in Red Cross Street until 1864, when it moved to Bridgewater Square. Lady Holles School relocated to Hackney in 1878. Its current premises, at Hampton in Middlesex, opened in 1935.
Sir John Cass was born in Rosemary Lane, in the parish of St Botolph Aldgate, on 20 February 1660/1, son of Thomas and Martha Cass. Thomas Cass was a master carpenter at the Tower of London, but in 1665 the Cass family moved to Grove Street in Hackney and where Thomas acquired considerable land. John Cass was involved in Hackney affairs, becoming a select vestryman in 1699, but became wealthy as a City of London merchant. He was a colonel in the Orange Regiment of the City militia by 1707 and was elected as an MP for the City in 1710 and served until 1715. He was knighted in 1712. Cass was elected as Alderman for the Portsoken Ward three times in 1710, but was rejected by the Court of Aldermen for his Jacobite tendencies until 1711. He remained Alderman until his death in 1718 and served as Sheriff in 1711-12. His father had been master of the Carpenter's Company and he used the Company to enter City politics; he bought his way to the mastership in 1711 by paying 11 years quarterage and fines for the three subordinate offices he had not filled. In 1713 he transferred to the Skinners' Company (one of the great twelve which perhaps suggests Mayoral ambitions) and was master of that company in 1714. He was married to Elizabeth (perhaps nee Franklin), but they had no children. In 1709 he made a will which mentioned his intention to build a school for the poor children of the ward. This school was built in a room over the passage between the porch and south gate of St Botolph Aldgate and opened in 1710.
When John Cass made his first will in 1709 he endowed his intended school with his property in Althorne and West Tilbury, Essex and Bromley by Bow and Hackney, Middlesex. Thereafter he bought land in Poplar Marsh and Stepney, Middlesex, but he died in 1718 while signing his second will which added this land to the endowment. The land in Poplar and Stepney went to his heirs-at-law, but his widow Elizabeth maintained the school until her death in 1732. Thereafter Valentine Brewis, deputy of Portsoken Ward, had Cass's second will proved and kept the school until he died in 1738. The vestry of St Botolph Aldgate started a suit in Chancery in 1742, but it was only in 1748 that a Chancery scheme emerged for the charity and 21 trustees were appointed. The school was then re-established, in rooms above Aldgate. The charity's income derived largely from the rents of the lands left by Sir John Cass. In 1847 its annual income was £2,300; in 1868 £5,300. The largest property holding was in South Hackney where in 1817 it was estimated to be ca. 87 acres around Grove Street, Well Street and Well Street Common. Another 13 acres at the south end of Grove Street lay in Bethnal Green and the trustees held ca. 50 acres in Hackney Marsh.
The income from estates increased in the later 19th century, particularly from the Hackney estate which was let on short building leases from 1846. The rising income led to pressure for reform of the charity, both from Hackney residents who wanted to establish another Cass school there, and from the Charity Commissioners. The trustees disliked the Commissioners' proposals and successfully resisted them until 1894 when a Charity Commission Scheme (approved in 1895) provided for the establishment of a Technical Institute. The Sir John Cass Technical Institute was built in Jewry Street and opened in 1902. The Charity Commissioners' scheme also reorganised the charity into a Foundation with governors replacing the trustees previously appointed for life. The scheme also led to the establishment of a Sir John Cass Hackney Technical Institute, at Cassland House, with three of the Foundation's governors on the Board. This institute was taken over by the London County Council in 1909. Various ward schools and St Botolph Aldgate Parochial School amalgamated with the Cass School at the beginning of the 20th century. The records of these schools prior to amalgamation were deposited with the Sir John Cass's Foundation archive.
Cornhill and Lime Street Wards School was established in 1711 and minutes of the committee of management survive from then. Admissions of children are recorded in the minutes from 1738.
Langbourn Ward School was founded in 1702 and on the expiration of the lease of its schoolhouse in 1874 was united with Cornhill and Lime Street Wards School.
The united school was conducted at the Cornhill and Lime Street schoolhouse in St Mary Axe until its amalgamation with the Cass School.
Cornhill and Lime Street Wards School was established in 1711 and minutes of the committee of management survive from then. Admissions of children are recorded in the minutes from 1738.
Langbourn Ward School was founded in 1702 and on the expiration of the lease of its schoolhouse in 1874 was united with Cornhill and Lime Street Wards School.
The united school was conducted at the Cornhill and Lime Street schoolhouse in St Mary Axe until its amalgamation with the Cass School.
Turner's Free School was established under the control of seven trustees, by the bequest of Richard Turner, citizen and haberdasher (will proved P.C.C. 1768). It took the place of the Norton Folgate Charity School, of which Turner had been Treasurer, which was situated in the old court house of the Liberty of Norton Folgate. The school moved to 4 Primrose Street in 1775. It aimed to educate the children of the poor of the area in reading, writing, accounting and church catechism.
Under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners sealed 28 June 1880, the funds of the charity were diverted to the further training of female pupil teachers at church training colleges, providing "Turner's Exhibitions" held over a two year period, preference being given to candidates from the parishes of St Mary, Spital Square, St Botolph Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. In 1902 supervision of the charity was transferred to the Board of Education and various amendments were made
Under a new Charity Commissioners Scheme, sealed 16 August 1927, the exhibitions could be held at any places of education higher than elementary, not necessarily Church of England institutions. Since the Education Act of 1944 the funds of the charity have been allocated to training and further educating college students and secondary and grammar school pupils in financial need. For a more detailed account of the history of the charity see Ms 18608.
Saffron Hill is an area near Holborn between Leather Lane and Farringdon Road. In the 14th century saffron was grown in gardens here. In the 18th century the area deteriorated and became a notorious rookery with flourishing crime and vice, intersected by the open sewer of the Fleet Ditch. It is the site of Fagin's den in Oliver Twist. In the 19th century social workers began to operate in this area, and Saint Peter's church, to which this school was attached, was opened in 1832. The construction of Holborn Circus, Holborn Viaduct and Farringdon Road involved the covering of the Fleet and the demolition of many of the slum dwellings, changing the character of the area.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
Frederick Teague Cansick was born in 1829. He published several volumes of monumental inscriptions, for example the three volume A collection of curious and interesting epitaphs, copied from the monuments of distinguished and noted characteres in the ancient church and burial grounds of Saint Pancras, Middlesex (1869) and a similar publication for Hornsey, Tottenham, Edmonton, Enfield, Friern Barnet and Hadley, Middlesex (1875).
Robert Hollingworth Browne was an antiquarian researcher who made transcripts of many registers for parishes in London and Essex.
St John at Hackney: The earliest building on the site dated to around 1275. From the fourteenth century onwards the church was dedicated to Saint Augustine, but was changed to Saint John after 1660. The present benefice, created in 1971, is called Hackney, the church remaining dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. By the late 1770s it was clear that from the growing population of the area that a new and larger church was necessary. The new church was consecrated on 15th July 1797 with a wooden box-like structure. The old church was demolished except for the tower, which was left intact to hold the bells. The church was subsequenly rebuilt in Portland stone and a tower added in 1814. It suffered severe damage in the Second World War, but was repaired and re-consecrated in 1958. The old 16th century tower still stands to the south.
Francis Buckley was an antiquarian and author, who wrote many books and articles, published between 1912 and 1941, mostly relating to the history of the glass making industry, clockmaking and metal working; such as Old English Drinking Glasses (1913); Seventeenth Century Spoons (1928); Old watchmakers (1929) and Fob Seals in the Seventeenth Century (1932).
George Bent Buckley published books on cricket.