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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.

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.

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

The Trust was established by Sir Walter St John (1622-1708) in 1700 and made provision for education of boys in Battersea by the Vicar of Battersea. This was known as Battersea Free School. In 1817 a National School was superimposed on the school by the Vicar. By 1853 there was concern over the use of Trust funds for education, and a new scheme was established following a case in Chancery. This scheme separated the National School from Sir Walter St John's School.

In 1873 a new scheme for the Trust made provision for a new school to be established at St John's Hill, later moving to Streatham, known as Battersea Grammar School. The old upper school for Sir Walter St John's School became known as a 'middle class school' or 'middle school' (not to be confused with current usage) under the headmastership of William Taylor. The Taylor family provided three headmasters for this school. A third elementary or lower school, existed between 1875 and 1880.

In 1902 Sir Walter St John's School became a Secondary School under the Education Act of that year. It had already built up a strong reputation in the sciences.

During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Godalming, and in the post-war period the school was brought more closely into line with the administration of the London County Council Education Officer's Department as a voluntary controlled school (1951). It retained its distinctive status, benefitting from various investments, scholarship and memorial funds, enjoying its fine set of buildings (some of which were designed by W. Butterfield in 1859) and having an active Old Boys Association. Reorganisation of schools in the 1960s and 1970s by the ILEA meant the advent of comprehensive education and merger with neighbouring schools.

John Thornton was born in Clapham on 1 April 1720, the son of Robert Thornton, a successful merchant in Russia. John inherited his father's fortune and invested it in trade. He was a generous supporter of the first generation of 'Evangelical' Anglicans and was one of the so-called 'Clapham Sect', a group of pious evangelical reformers living in Clapham whose lives were ruled by the teaching of the Bible. In addition to their religious activities, the Clapham Sect were equally active in the cause of social reform and the abolition of slavery. The group included William Wilberforce and Thornton's diaries mention his friendship with the Wilberforce family. The journals reflect the great importance of the Bible in John Thornton's daily life and his intense religious conviction. He died on 7 November 1790.

The Royal Choral Society began its life as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society, and was formed towards the end of 1871 with money provided for the purpose by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the 1851 exhibition. Charles Gounod conducted the society's first concerts, which began in May 1872, but was soon succeeded by Sir Joseph Barnby, who remained in office until 1896.

In 1888 Queen Victoria became patron of the society, allowing it to change its name to the Royal Choral Society. Successive conductors have included Sir Frederick Bridge, who directed the society for 25 years; Sir Malcolm Sargent, who remained in office until his death in 1967; Wyn Morris, who left amidst some controversy in 1970 and Meredith Davies, 1971-1985, followed by Laszlo Heltay and Richard Cooke. During the 1920's and 1930's the Royal Choral Society became famous for its performances of Coleridge-Taylor's 'Hiawatha', which was performed in the Royal Albert Hall with full costumes and often up to 1000 performers. The society is also well known for its Good Friday performances of Handel's Messiah and its extremely popular carol concerts. Highlights of the society's career include the British premier of Verdi's Requiem, which was conducted by the composer. It was the first choral society to make a gramophone recording and, under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent, became one of the first choirs to present choral works at the annual promenade concerts.

The Royal Choral Society is closely associated with the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children, which was launched in 1968 as a memorial to its most famous conductor. Charity concerts in aid of the fund began in the autumn of 1968 with a performance of Verdi's Requiem, conducted by Sir George Solti. A special Music Fund was formed during the choir's 1972/1973 season, to commission or help finance new choral works for the society, and to make financial contributions to the performances of other contemporary choral works.

For further information see http://www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk/.

The first parish church in the area was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist and was probably built in the 12th century, situated near the site of the present Marble Arch. However it was too remote and was moved in 1400. The new church was dedicated to Saint Mary and was known as "Saint Mary at Bourne" as the Ty bourne (stream) flowed nearby, which over time became corrupted to "St Mary le Bone". A new church was built in 1740 and another in 1813, which was renovated in 1883.

For more information please see the church website at http://www.stmarylebone.org.uk/history01.htm (accessed March 2010).

The Company dates its origins from 1885 when Lord Charles William Augustus Montagu joined the firm of Wilson Brown and Montagu, stock brokers, of 5 Angel Court, City of London. The present company is an amalgamation of Shaw Loebl and Co and Montagu Stanley and Co, an amalgamation which took place in 1952.

It was taken over by the Save and Prosper Group in 1985-1986.

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 a lease is the transfer of the rights laid out in the lease to another party, usually for a consideration (a sum of money).

Abstract of title is a summary of prior ownership of a property, drawn up by solicitors. Such an abstract may go back several hundred years or just a few months, and was usually drawn up just prior to a sale.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

In 1889 the North Middlesex Association of Change Ringers put forward a case to Revd D W Barrett to establish the Association on a wider basis in order to promote the cause of change ringing in North Middlesex and South Hertfordshire. As a result, on 17 August 1889, the North Middlesex Association of Change Ringers became the Middlesex Association of Change Ringers.

The South and West Middlesex Guild was established on 4 February 1894 when ringers from Ealing and Isleworth proposed forming an association of bellringers for this district.

During 1896 and 1897 negotiations took place for the amalgamation of the South and West Middlesex Guild and the Middlesex Association of Change Ringers. On 7 June 1897 the Middlesex County Association of Change Ringers was formed "to bring about closer intimacy and a better understanding between the 2 Associations... [for] the advancement of both". The Association comprised 2 districts: the Middlesex Association became known as the North and East District, and the South and West Middlesex became know as the South and West District. The South and West District district was broadly based on the parliamentary divisions of Uxbridge, Brenford, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, and the North and East District on the parliamentary divisions of Harrow, Enfield, Hornsey, Tottenham and Hampstead. For lists of towers in each district see pp 7, 8 and 9 of ACC/2428/9/1. Each district retained its own management and officers, and the affairs of the new County Association were managed by a central committee.

On 10 October 1903, it was decided that the bellringers ought to regard themselves as churchworkers of the diocese and thus ought to have a diocesan name. The title of the Association was therefore amended to Middlesex County Association and London Diocesan Guild of Change Ringers. The name is now Middlesex County Association and London Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. In February 1984 the South and West District was divided into 2 separate districts: Southern and Western.

The London Co-operative Society was formed in 1921, on the merger of the Stratford, Edmonton and Brentwood Societies. It subsequently grew to incorporate the local co-operative societies of much of London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Surrey. It amalgamated with the Co-operative Retail Society in 1980 to form London Regional Co-operative Retail Services Limited, based in Stratford.

The Arcade Property Company Limited was established in May 1934 as a property holding company to the Furness Withy group of shipping companies and British Maritime Trust Limited. It took its name from property which it held in Regent Arcade. Its other principal assets were Hadley Wood Golf Course and the long lease of a private hotel in Cadogan Gardens. These properties were sold in the late 1970s and the company ceased trading in 1980.

According to the Kelly's Directory for Acton, an Albert Putnam, butcher, worked at 86A Church Street, Acton, W3.

The Darenth Valley in Kent follows the course of the River Darent, which flows from the Greensand hills to join the river Thames north of Dartford. The Metropolitan Board of Works was formed in 1845 with the duty of forming a working sewer system in London. Part of the work that arose as a result involved constructing outfall sewers at a distance from the metropolis, nearer the mouth of the Thames so that the effluent would be taken away with the tide.

The Grand Junction Water Works Company was incorporated in 1811 to exercise the water supply rights vested in the Grand Junction Canal Company by virtue of their Act of 1798. The original source of supply was the canal itself which was fed by the rivers Colne and Brent. Following an agreement between the Grand Junction and Regent's Canal companies and the water company for an exchange of water, an intake and pumping station by the Thames were constructed for the water company in 1820. The intake pipe for drawing water from the river was unfortunately laid almost opposite the mouth of the Ranelagh sewer (or Westbourne Brook). This was pointed out in a pamphlet called "The Dolphin" in 1827. This caused a considerable outcry and a campaign led by Sir Francis Burdett, M.P. for Westminster, resulted in the appointment of the first Royal Commission to inquire into the quality of the water to be supplied by the metropolitan water companies. It was not until 1835, however, that powers were granted to open a new intake at Brentford, near Kew Bridge. A pumping station there containing a beam engine by Maudslay, and a thirty inch main five and a half miles long to carry the water to Paddington were completed in 1838. This was the first long trunk main to be laid by any of the companies.

The Paddington works were abandoned in 1845 when a new reservoir was completed on Campden Hill, Kensington. In the same year slow sand filtration on similar lines to that used at the Chelsea waterworks was introduced at the Kew Bridge works.

In conformity with the Metropolis Water Act of 1852 the company again moved their intake, this time to Hampton where deposit reservoirs and a pumping station were completed in 1855. Additions were made to the Hampton works during the remainder of the century and in 1882 the company began to filter part of the supply there, thus relieving the Kew Bridge works.

A large open reservoir for filtered water was inaugurated on Hanger Hill, Ealing, in 1888. Acts of 1852, 1861 and 1878 enlarged the area of supply and by the turn of the century the company's boundary stretched from Mayfair to Sunbury.

In 1904 the functions of the Grand Junction Water Works Company were assumed by the Metropolitan Water Board following the Metropolis Water Act 1902.

The Metropolitan Water Board was established in 1902 under the terms of the Metropolis Water Act of the same year with a statutory area of 576 square miles, of which it directly supplied 540. Its Board met for the first time in 1903 and was composed of 66 members from every local authority concerned (some smaller authorities had joint representation) and the Lee and Thames Conservancies. This number was increased to 88 in 1956 (due to population growth) but reduced to 39 on the reorganisation of local government in 1965.

During 1903 and 1904 arbitration appeals were heard regarding compensation for the companies' shareholders and in 1904 the 'appointed days' for transfer of the undertakings took place, July 25 for the New River Company and June 24 for the rest. The new undertaking also included the areas covered by the Urban Districts of Enfield and Tottenham which had retained their own powers of supply (from wells) although they had also been heavily dependent on the New River and East London companies.

Its first task was to complete schemes inherited from the companies and effect the rationalisation of the eight separate undertakings, primarily in engineering, staffing, administration and water rates. To this end Staines reservoir was opened in 1904, the Kempton Park works in 1906, Walton reservoir in 1907, Honor Oak reservoir in 1909, and Island Barn reservoir in 1911.

Progress on the financial and administrative side was slower and politically sensitive especially in the rationalisation of water charges. Criticisms of the Board continued through the 1910's and eventually in 1919 it agreed to the setting up of a committee by the Ministry of Health under Sir Horace Monro to review the workings of the 1902 Water Act. The committee reported in 1920, largely supporting the Board's management of the undertaking and the resulting Metropolitan Water Board (Charges) Act of 1921 strengthened its financial position.

In 1914 the Round Pond was closed after three hundred years in operation and on its site in 1920 the Board's new headquarters at New River Head were opened. In 1936 another connection with the early history of the capital's water supply was broken with the decision to allow the lease on Hampstead and Highgate ponds to lapse. It had been in existence since 1543.

In 1947 a Departmental Committee was set up by the Ministry of Health on Greater London Water Supplies with a remit "To examine the present system of water supply administration in the Greater London area and to consider and report on the question whether changes in that system are desirable in the public interest and if so what should be the constitution, powers and duties of the new body or bodies in which control should be rented". The Board was in favour of, in effect, a single regional body based on the hydro-geological area of the London Basin but there was a great deal of opposition to the proposal and nothing of substance was enacted although indirectly it led to the creation of the Thames Water Authority in 1974.

The post war period saw the inauguration of a number of major schemes including the opening of the George VI reservoir at Staines in 1947, the William Girling reservoir at Chingford in 1951, the Ashford Common works in 1958, the Thames to Lee Valley trunk main (to supplement supplies from the River Lee) in 1960, the Elizabeth II reservoir at Walton in 1962 and the Coppermills Works (the last great project completed) in 1972. By 1974 the daily amount of water supplied by the Board had risen from an original 220 million gallons in 1904 to 420 million gallons (with peaks up to 500 million).

The Thames Water Authority came into existence under the 1973 Water Act on 1st August of that year. The last meeting of the Metropolitan Water Board took place on 29th March 1974 and the Authority assumed full control three days later.

The South London Water Works Company was incorporated in 1805 and originally drew its water from the Effra which flowed into the Thames at Vauxhall Creek. The company constructed works at Kennington and Vauxhall Bridge. In 1832 the supply of water from the Effra was abandoned as the water was polluted and silted up. Two years later, in 1834, the company changed its name to the Vauxhall Water Works Company and a limitation on its right to supply part of Lambeth and Newington (already within the Lambeth Water Works Company's area) was lifted at the same time by statute.

In 1718 a grant was made by the City of London to Francis Wilkinson to supply water to Southwark, procuring water from the Thames. In 1761 the London Bridge Water Works bought this business from a James Whitchurch whose father had acquired it from Wilkinson. In 1822 the New River Company took over the London Bridge Water Works and sold this Southwark interest to John Edwards Vaughan who, in 1820, had become the proprietor of another undertaking, the Borough Waterworks. In July 1834 the Southwark Water Company was incorporated and empowered to buy up Vaughan's undertaking and to construct new works at Battersea. The old intake at Bankside was abandoned at the same time and a temporary supply was taken from the Lambeth Company. In 1845 new works were built at Battersea on the approximate side of the Power Station and in 1855 an intake from the Thames was introduced at Hampton. Wells were also sunk at Streatham, Honor Oak and Merton Abbey in 1888 and 1902. In 1861 the Company took over the Richmond Water Company.

Between 1839 and 1842 there was a period of unfruitful competition between the Vauxhall company and the Southwark and Lambeth companies. Eventually in 1845 the Southwark and the Vauxhall companies were amalgamated to form The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company. The works at Kennington were dismantled and conveyed to the Phoenix Gas Company in 1847.

The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company acquired land at Hampton in 1851 and in 1852 an Act was obtained to sanction the construction of new works and to enlarge the authorised supply area. In 1870 the company began filtering the water at Hampton and the following year, in order to prepare for the introduction of constant supply, decided to construct four covered reservoirs at Nunhead. Peckham, to be supplied with filtered water from Hampton.

A high service reservoir was built on Forest Hill in 1887 and a pumping station at Wandsworth was brought into use in 1891 for pumping to Wimbledon and the higher levels. Wells were sunk at Streatham in 1888 and later at Honor Oak (1901) and Merton Abbey (1902). Throughout the 1890s additions were made to the Hampton works and by 1903 the company was able to dispense with the Battersea Works.

As a result of the Metropolis Water Act 1902, the Metropolitan Water Board took over the functions of the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company in 1904. When it did so the company was in the course of constructing storage reservoirs at Honor Oak and Walton.

The 4th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps were founded in 1860. They were known as the 'West London Rifles'. As their headquarters were in Kensington, this was changed to the 'Kensington Rifles' in 1905. In 1908 they became the 13th (Kensington) Battalion, part of the London Regiment of the Territorial Force Association.

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 a lease is the transfer of the rights laid out in the lease to another party, usually for a consideration (a sum of money).

Abstract of title is a summary of prior ownership of a property, drawn up by solicitors. Such an abstract may go back several hundred years or just a few months, and was usually drawn up just prior to a sale.

A covenant or deed of covenant was an agreement entered into by one of the parties to a deed to another. A covenant for production of title deeds was an agreement to produce deeds not being handed over to a purchaser, while a covenant to surrender was an agreement to surrender copyhold land.

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

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

An assignment of term, or assignment to attend the inheritance, was an assignment of the remaining term of years in a mortgage to a trustee after the mortgage itself has been redeemed. An assignment of a lease is the transfer of the rights laid out in the lease to another party, usually for a consideration (a sum of money).

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".

The Reverend the Honorable Baptist Wriothesley Noel was born in 1798, eleventh son of Sir Gerard Noel Noel of Exton Park and his wife Diana, Baroness Barham. His brother was the 1st Earl of Gainsborough (2nd creation). He was educated at Trinity College Cambridge before entering the Church. For many years he officiated at St John's Chapel, Bedford Row, where his sermons were popular with upper-class worshippers. In 1848 he declared himself a dissenter and joined the Baptist church. He was a supporter of Evangelical groups including the City Mission. He was married to Jane Baillie with whom he had 4 sons and 4 daughters. He died in 1873 aged 75.

Noel's son Ernest appears in this collection. Ernest Noel was born in 1831 and was the Chairman of the Eagle, Star and British Dominions Insurance Company.

Information from The Times, Tuesday, Jan 21, 1873; pg. 8; Issue 27592; col C.

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".

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).

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).

George James Brown was a Victorian surveyor and land agent, based at 34 Great George Street, Westminster, to the north of Parliament Square.

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.

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.

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).

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).

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).

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].

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.

No historical information can be found for this document.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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).

Robert Williams was an upholsterer and cabinet maker of Bow Street, Covent Garden. He appears to have produced furniture, furnishings and fittings, funeral undertakings, packing cases, compass rods and other ship's fittings.

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).