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Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born in 1751 in Dublin, his father an actor and his mother a playwright and novelist. He went to live in England with his family in 1759. In 1773 he married Elizabeth Linley, a famous singer, daughter of musician Thomas Linley who had worked with Sheridan's father on some productions. Sheridan was studying law at Middle Temple but gave this up soon after his marriage. His play The Rivals was premiered in 1775. In 1776 Sheridan, Thomas Linley and man-midwife Dr James Ford raised £55,000 to buy David Garrick's controlling share in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Sheridan's play The School for Scandal premiered in 1777.

Sheridan's success as a playwright and his wife's private concerts had allowed him to make friends with various nobility and influential people. In 1780, aided by his new friends, Sheridan began a political career, being elected Member of Parliament for Stafford. He left the management of the theatre largely to his wife and father-in-law. Elizabeth died in 1792, although Sheridan later remarried.

Between 1791 and 1794 the Theatre Royal was rebuilt. Sheridan was not good at managing his finances and was forced to sell 3000 renters shares in the Theatre in order to buy himself and his new wife a home. The Theatre was more successful when actor-manager John Philip Kemble and actress Sarah Siddons were the stars, but after they left in 1802 the Theatre's hey-day was over, culminating in a fire which destroyed the building in 1807. Sheridan sold his share in the Theatre to brewer Samuel Whitbread who took over the rebuilding of the theatre. Despite receiving some money from Whitbread Sheridan was arrested for debt in 1813 and 1815, and was forced to sell many of his possessions. He died in 1816 and was buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

The Sherborn family have been associated with East Bedfont in Middlesex for over 600 years. This association has taken many forms but most recently was the ownership of Fawns Manor, East Bedfont. The history of the family has been briefly recorded by the last of this long line of Sherborns, Derek Sherborn (see ACC/3259/SF1/025).

The Manor of Fawnes or Fawns was held from the Manor of East Bedfont. The manor is first mentioned as a manor in 1531, although reference to lands in this area held by the Fawne family date to the reign of Edward I. The manor was conveyed to the Crown in 1542 and from that date was held in chief. The manor had various owners, including Anthony Walker between 1583 and 1590, his son Thomas Walker up to 1618; Felix Wilson and his family until 1654; Thomas Darling and family until 1668. Records are then scarce until 1739, when Thomas Manning had the manor. By 1792 it was owned by Aubrey, Baron Vere. By 1911 it was the property of William Sherborn.

The Manor of Pates was also held of the Manor of East Bedfont, and was named after owner John Pate who held it in 1403. The manor was sold to Christ's Hospital in 1623, and they still owned it in 1911.

From: 'Spelthorne Hundred: East Bedfont with Hatton', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton (1911), pp. 309-314 (available online).

Education: Merchant Taylors' School; St John's College, Oxford; BCL (1683), Incorporated at Cambridge (1685), DCL (1694); studied botany under Tournefort in Paris (1686-1688); Leyden (admitted 1694); Padua (admitted 1696). Career: Fellow of St John's (1683-1703); granted permission to travel abroad for three periods of five years each (1685); travelled to Geneva, Rome and Naples, Cornwall and Jersey, sending lists of the plants he saw to John Ray (FRS 1667); Tutor to Sir Arthur Rawdon at Moira, Co Down (1690-1694), Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (FRS 1706), with whom he travelled in Europe (1694), Wriothesley, son of William, Lord Russell, with whom he travelled in France and Italy (1695-1699), Henry, Duke of Beaufort, at Badminton (1700-1702); Commissioner for Sick and Wounded Prisoners (1702); English Consul at Smyrna, where he grew many rare plants in his garden, formed a celebrated herbarium and travelled in Asia Minor (1703-1717); travelled in Europe (1721, 1723, 1727); bequeathed £3000 to found the chair of Botany at Oxford first occupied by his friend John James Dillenius (FRS 1724).

Education: Merchant Taylors' School; St John's College, Oxford; BCL (1683), Incorporated at Cambridge (1685), DCL (1694); studied botany under Tournefort in Paris (1686-1688); Leyden (admitted 1694); Padua (admitted 1696). Career: Fellow of St John's (1683-1703); granted permission to travel abroad for three periods of five years each (1685); travelled to Geneva, Rome and Naples, Cornwall and Jersey, sending lists of the plants he saw to John Ray (FRS 1667); Tutor to Sir Arthur Rawdon at Moira, Co Down (1690-1694), Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (FRS 1706), with whom he travelled in Europe (1694), Wriothesley, son of William, Lord Russell, with whom he travelled in France and Italy (1695-1699), Henry, Duke of Beaufort, at Badminton (1700-1702); Commissioner for Sick and Wounded Prisoners (1702); English Consul at Smyrna, where he grew many rare plants in his garden, formed a celebrated herbarium and travelled in Asia Minor (1703-1717); travelled in Europe (1721, 1723, 1727); bequeathed £3000 to found the chair of Botany at Oxford first occupied by his friend John James Dillenius (FRS 1724).

Born in 1659 at Bushby, Leicestershire, educated at Merchant Taylors School, and elected in 1677 to St John's College Oxford where he developed an interest in botany. In 1683 he was elected a law Fellow of St John's College, and in 1694 received the degree of Doctor of Common Law. With the permission of the college, he began a series of foreign tours. He studied botany in Paris under Tournefort (1686-1688) and in 1688 spent time in Leiden with Paul Hermann. The plants he listed in the Swiss Alps, Geneva Roma and Naples were sent to Ray to publish in his 'Stirpium Europeaorum' of 1694, and those from Cornwall and Jersey in his 'Synopsis methodica Stirpium Britannicarum' of 1690. He wa a tutor to Sir Arthur Rawdon, living mainly at Moira, County Down, then tutor to Charles Viscount Townsend on his continental tour, and in 1695 to Wriothesley, eldest son of William Lord Russell in France and Italy. During this period he began his revision of Gaspard Bauhin's 'Pinax', a project which remained unfinished at his death. Until 1702 he was tutor to Henry, second Duke of Beaufort at Badminton. In 1702 he had a short appointment as Commissioner for the Sick and Wounded, and the Exchange of Prisoners, follwed in 1703 with his appointment by the Levant Company as Consul in Smyrna. Here he indulged his botanical and antiquarian interests, collecting plants, copying anitquarian artefacts and collected coins.In 1717 he returned to England a wealthy man. In 1718 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and served on the council for two years. He made three further trips to the continent, in 1721, 1723 and 1727, visiting Boerhaeve in Holland and bringing Dillenius back to asist him with the 'Pinax'. He had been hampered in this by a quarrel with Sir Hans Sloane, who refused him his herbarium, but a reconciliation took place in 1727. Sherard died in 1728, leaving his books, drawings and paintings, and his manuscript of 'Pinax' to the library of the 'Physic Garden' at Oxford, the rest to St John's College. In addition, he left £3000 to establish the Sherardian Chair of Botany, naming Dillenius the first Sherardian professor. Sherard occupied a high position among botanists of his time, although the only work he himself wrote was 'Schola Botanica' (1689).

Shepton Mallet Town Street Investments Limited was set up by Horselydown Property Investment Company Limited and Regents Park Land Company Limited in 1963 to develop the Town Street area of Shepton Mallet, Somerset. In liquidation 1968.

Shepperton lies on the north bank of the Thames opposite Walton and Weybridge on the Surrey bank. Until 1930 it consisted of 1,492 acres and formed a rough triangle, with the winding river as the base and the east and west sides meeting at the apex about two miles north of the village. In 1930 the parish was incorporated in Sunbury urban district, but 77 acres in the north (nearly all lying in the Queen Mary Reservoir) were transferred to Littleton civil parish, in the same urban district.

In the early 19th century the vestry of Shepperton usually met once or twice a month and the rector was normally in the chair. Voting power was related to the amount of property held, so that in 1845 49 people had 81 votes, of which 41 belonged to 9 persons. With rare exceptions there were under a dozen people at the vestries and half or more were parish officers. By 1820 the officers appointed by the vestry included the constable and headborough, who continued to be appointed after the parish was included in the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. From 1822 there was a salaried assistant overseer and from 1826 there were one or two poundsmen. There was a parish fire-engine by 1819. The chief preoccupation of the vestry before 1836 was of course the administration of the poor law. From 1796, and possibly from 1776, there was a regular workhouse. This stood in 1834 in Watersplash Road and was held by the parish on lease.

The parish council which existed from 1895 until 1930, when the parish was absorbed by Sunbury urban district, met in the Shepperton church school. At first there were nine councillors who met seven times a year, but by the 1920's there was a monthly council meeting. In 1895 the council appointed one of its members to be unpaid clerk. Until 1929 its servants included a poundsman. The parish property which the council took over included not only the pound and a farren right in Cowey for the poundsman, but a small piece of land in Ferry Lane and the allotments and recreation ground set out under the 1862 inclosure, which had been managed by the vestry. From about 1907 the council managed Lower Halliford Green and Walton Bridge Green. A lighting committee was formed in 1906 but the first lighting scheme, which came into force a year or two later, was supported by voluntary subscriptions. It lapsed in 1915, and in 1922 the council took over the 30 lamps. By 1930 the Staines rural district council had built 110 houses in the parish. Others have since been provided by the Sunbury urban district council.

William Schaw Lindsay (1816-1877) purchased the manor of Shepperton in 1856, and was succeeded by his grandson William Herbert Lindsay (died 1949). W. S. Lindsay usually lived at the manor-house and died at Shepperton. He was a ship-owner and member of Parliament and wrote a history of merchant shipping as well as one of Shepperton. He was largely responsible for the construction of the Thames Valley Railway. In 1954 W. H. Lindsay's widow transferred the estate to her husband's nephew, Mr. P. A. R. Lindsay, who was the owner in 1958.

From: 'Shepperton: The hundred of Spelthorne (continued)', 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. 1-12 (available online).

This firm of stockbrokers had its origin in the partnership established in 1827 between James Sheppard (1787-1855) and Charles Folger Starbuck (d 1841). The successors to this partnership subsequently merged with Scott and Company (1888), Price and Pott (1906), Harris and Company (1920) and Chase, Henderson and Tennant (1967).

The firm has traded under the following names:

• Sheppard and Starbuck, 1827-1846;
• Sheppard and Son, 1846-1853;
• Sheppard and Sons, 1853-1860;
• Sheppard, Pelly and Allcard, 1860-1888;
• Sheppards, Pellys, Scott and Company, 1888-1905;
• Sheppards, Pellys and Company, 1905-1906;
• Sheppards, Pelly, Price and Pott, 1906-1920;
• Sheppards and Company, 1920-1967;

• Sheppards and Chase, 1967-

  The firm has traded at the following addresses: 3 Spread Eagle Court, Finch Lane, 1827-49; 28 Threadneedle Street, 1849-1888; 57 Old Broad Street, 1888-1920; Gresham House, Old Broad Street, 1920-1964; Clement House, Gresham Street, 1964.

  Also deposited with the records of Sheppards and Chase and its predecessors were the records of several other stockbroking firms: Price and Pott; Scott, Corthorn and Scott; Cannon, Pelly and Allcard; George Davidge, and John H. Davidge. Some of these firms later merged with Sheppards and Chase; some had one or more of the partner(s) later join it; and some are of doubtful or unknown association.

  The partnership of Hall Rokeby Price and Henry Pott was established in about 1852. Price and Pott merged with Sheppards, Pellys and Company in 1906. The firm had premises at 7 Pope's Head Alley (c 1852-5); 3 Abchurch Lane (c 1855-65); 1 Cowper's Court, Cornhill (c 1865-1903) and 2 White Lion Court, Cornhill (from 1903).

  The firm of Scott, Corthorn and Scott appears in trade directories from around 1831. It had premises at 26 Change Alley (to c 1841); 16 Throgmorton Street (from c 1846) and 3 Drapers' Gardens (from 1883). W A W Scott, formerly of Scott, Corthorn and Scott, was the founder of Scott and Co, which merged with Sheppard, Pelly and Allcard in 1888.

  The partnership of Stephen Cannon, Percy Leonard Pelly and Edward Allcard was formed in 1858 with premises at 26 Tokenhouse Yard. Pelly and Allcard became partners in Sheppards and Sons in 1860.

  George Davidge and John H. Davidge were stockbrokers of 13 Finch Lane; their connection with Sheppards and Chase is unknown.

Engineering student, King's College, London, 1935-1937; awarded BSc Engineering, 1937.

This set of copies of photographs belonged to W.W. Sheppard, who taught in London 1925-1927 and 1939-1940. During the Second World War he was seconded to the RAF Education Service from the post of headmaster of The Grange boys' modern secondary school, Wirral, Cheshire. It is probable that he used the photographs as a teaching aid while he was Education and Welfare Officer at RAF Nassau. In June 1946 he was appointed Principal of the London County Council Emergency Teacher Training College at Leavesden, near Watford, Hertfordshire.

On receipt of the radiotherapy case books of Sir Stanford Cade (GC/147), the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre arranged an interview with Cade's former colleagues at the Westminster Hospital, Professor Kurt Hellman, Professor Gerald Westbury and Dr Kenneth Newton. They were interviewed on 20 October 1993 by the Archivist, Julia Sheppard.

Members of the Sheppard family mentioned in these documents include John Sheppard of Southwark, stable keeper; William Sheppard of Newington, gentleman; John Sheppard of Lambeth, gentleman; Treadway Sheppard of Brixton, gentleman; and John Sheppard of Bond Street, fishmonger.

Ernest Howard Shepard was born on December 10, 1879, in London. His father was an architect, and his mother was the daughter of a watercolorist. He was educated at St.Paul's School, Heatherley's Art School, and the Royal Academy Schools. His first picture was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1901 and in 1907 Shepard had his first piece of work accepted by Punch. In 1915 he was commissioned by the Royal Artillery and served in France, Belgium, and Italy. During this time he continued to send regular contributions to Punch. On his return to civilian life in 1919, Shepard was elected to the Punch Editorial Table, where he met E.V. Lucas, who would later introduce him to A.A. Milne, author of the Winnie the Pooh books. The success of the Pooh books made Shepard famous and he contributed illustrations to more than fifty books, for both adults and children, among them Kenneth Grahame's classic The Wind in the Willows. He also contributed a weekly cartoon to Punch until 1949 and thereafter a monthly illustration. Although he closed his London studio in 1955 and retired to Lodsworth in Sussex, Shepard continued working into old age, completing some new Pooh drawings for a revised edition in 1968 and colouring his drawings for a special edition in 1973. He was twice married, in 1903 to Florence Chaplin (d.1927), a fellow student at the Academy, and in 1944 to Norah Carrol. He died in 1976.

Shenley Hospital, Radlett, Hertfordshire was opened on 31st May 1934 as part of the Middlesex Colony. Along with Napsbury Hospital it was established for the care of the mentally ill.

The hospital was built on the site of Porters Park and provided accommodation initially for 1047 and the full development of 2000 beds with 500 staff. It was planned on the villa system comprising of small nursing units ranging from 20-45 patients and had its own water supply treatment, sewage works and farm.

Shenley Hospital originally came under the aegis of Middlesex County Council. In 1948 it became part of the North Western Metropolitan Hospital Board until 1974 and the first major re-organisation of the NHS when the new health authorities were set up. Shenley came under the North West Thames Regional Health Authority and the Brent and Harrow Area Health Authority until 1982 when the Area Health Authorities were abolished and replaced with new districts in this case Brent District Health Authority. Finally in 1992 the hospital came under the responsibility of the North West London Mental Health NHS Trust until its closure in 1997.

Shenley Hospital closed in 1997 and the only remaining part is the Tower, the land has been redeveloped as a housing estate.

The Nazareth Baptist Church was founded by Isaiah Shembe, the Zulu religious leader and healer, in Natal in 1910. The amaNazarites are the oldest African independent church in South Africa. For further information see A Vilakazi, Shembe: the revitalization of African Society (1986).

John Nichols Shelley was born in 1783. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1805, and was listed as residing in Epsom. He was Assistant Surgeon of the 35th Foot Regiment, in 1805; he was in Egypt in 1807; and he was Surgeon for the Greek Light Infantry Corps, in 1811. He retired on half pay in 1816. He died in Streatham in 1858.

Robert Sheldon has been the Labour MP for Ashton under Lyne since 1964. He was born in 1923 and joined the Labour Party in 1944. By the late 1950s, he had become very involved with the Manchester City Labour Group and unsuccessfully contested the seat of Withington in October 1959. He was elected as Member for Ashton under Lyne in 1964 and during the last years of Harold Wilson's Government served on the Fulton Committee on the Civil Service (1966-1968) and the Labour Economic Group (1967-1968). In the Labour Party's years of Opposition, he became the Party's spokesman on Civil Service and Treasury Matters (1970-1974), a field of politics in which he specialised for the duration of his political career. Between 1974 and 1975, Sheldon served as Minister of State for, first, the Civil Service and then the Treasury in the Labour Government. After supporting an unsuccessful Denis Healey in the Labour Party leadership contest of March 1976, he was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury, a position he held until the election of 1979. In 1983, Sheldon was elected Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, after serving on the Committee on two previous occasions(1965-1970) and 1974-1979). During his time as Chairman, he was involved in all areas of audit investigation, especially concerning privatisation and public funding. In 1986, Sheldon was involved with the Zircon Spy Satellite Scandal, where it was alleged Parliament was not fully informed regarding the spending of public funds on major defence projects. He was re-elected as Chairman after both the 1987 and 1992 elections and as head of the Committee of Public Accounts presided over 300 reports, each one supported unanimously. He stood down as Chairman in 1997 and was soon standing as chairman on the important (post-Nolan) Select Committee on Standards and Privileges.

As well as his career in politics, Robert Sheldon is a part owner of a textile company and has been the Director of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce since 1979. He has also co-authored a book, Administrative Reform; The Next Step, published in 1974.

Esterwege prison camp was first established along with two others (Boergemoor and Neusustrum) in the Emsland region of Lower Saxony in June 1933 by the Prussian Interior Ministry. In April 1934, Esterwege became a concentration camp. Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsfuehrer SS and head of the Gestapo, reorganised the Prussian concentration camp sytem and installed a new commandant and guards from the SA and SS. Throughout the 1930s it served as a camp for political prisoners, Jehovah Witnesses, Jews and intellectuals. In 1936 many of the prisoners were transferred to Sachsenhausen and from January 1937 the camp was taken over by the Reichsjustizministerium and became the 7th prison camp in Emsland.

From 1940 it became increasingly used for army deserters and the like. Conditions deteriorated throughout the war, many prisoners dying from illnesses and overwork. From May 1943 it started to take in resistance fighters from foriegn lands. By the end of the war it was first used temporarily by the British occupying forces as a Displaced Persons Camp for Russians and later as an internment camp for war criminals.

John Sheldon: 1752-1808; ran a private anatomical school in Great Queen Street, London, 1777-1788; Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy, 1782; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1784; surgeon to Westminster Hospital, 1786; reputed to be the first Englishman to make a balloon ascent.

Alexander Monro: born, Edinburgh, 1733; educated at the school of Mr Mundell; University of Edinburgh, 1752; Professor of Anatomy and Surgery as coadjutor to his father, Alexander Monro, 1755; graduated, MD, 1755; went to London and attended William Hunter's lectures, and after to Paris, Leyden, and Berlin; matriculated, Leyden University, 1757; worked under the anatomist Professor Meckel in Berlin; returned to Edinburgh, 1758; Fellow, College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 1759; Secretary, Philosophical Society of Edinburgh; gave a full course of lectures every year, 1759-1800; stopped lecturing, 1808; died, 1817.
Publications include: Essays and heads of lectures on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and Surgery (Edinburgh, 1840); Dissertatio ... de testibus et de semine in variis animalibus, etc (Edinburgi, 1755); Observations, anatomical and physiological, wherein Dr Hunter's claim to some discoveries is examined. With figures (Edinburgh, 1758); De venis lymphaticis valvulosis et de earum in primis origine (Berolini, 1760); A State of Facts concerning the first proposal of performing the paracentesis of the thorax, ... and concerning the discovery of the lymphatic valvular absorbent system of vessels, in oviparous animals (Edinburgh, 1770); A short description of the human muscles; chiefly as they appear on dissection. Together with their several uses, and the synonyma of the best authors John Innes Second edition improved by A Monro (Edinburgh, 1778); Observations on the structure and functions of the Nervous System, etc (Edinburgh, 1783); The Structure and Physiology of Fishes explained, and compared with those of Man and other animals (Edinburgh, 1785); Experiments on the Nervous System, with opium and metalline substances; made chiefly with the view of determining the nature and effects of Animal Electricity (Edinburgh, 1793).

John Sheldon: 1752-1808; ran a private anatomical school in Great Queen Street, London, 1777-1788; Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy, 1782; FRS 1784; surgeon to Westminster Hospital, 1786; reputed to be the first Englishman to make a balloon ascent.

Sheffield and District Public House Trust Company Limited was incorporated in May 1902. It was acquired by Courage Barclay and Simonds in 1966. 4 public houses transferred to James Hole Limited in 1967-1968. The Company was transferred to Imperial Group in 1975.

John Sheffield was born on 8 September 1648. Sheffield served with the navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral for Yorkshire and Northumberland (1687-1689). He held several posts at the Royal Court and armed forces including Gentleman of the Bedchamber 1673-1682, Lord Chamberlain of the Household 1685-1688, Colonel of the Holland Regiment, 1673-1682 and 1684-1685. Sheffield also served as the Lord Lieutenant for the East Riding 1679-1682, North Riding 1702-1705 and 1711-1714 and Middlesex, 1711-1714. He was created Marquess of Normanby in May 1694 and Duke of the County of Buckingham and of Normanby in 1702. Sheffield died at Buckingham House in March 1721.

Sheer Metalcraft Limited (Company No.367412) was formed in 1941. Its registered office was at 22 Mare Street, Hackney while the company also occupied premises on the Weybridge Trading Estate and 20 Angel Factory Colony, later 20 Lea Valley Trading Estate, Upper Edmonton, London N18. The company was bought by A.V.P. Industries Limited in 1949. In 1962 Sheer Metalcraft Limited changed its name to Sheer Pride Limited. From March 1968 its registered office was Harbet House, Lea Valley Trading Estate, Upper Edmonton, London N18.

In January 1976, Harold H. Poster, chairman of the company, a director since 1943 and chairman for most of that period, died suddenly. Following his death, the A.V.P. Group of companies was acquired by Lonrho Plc who in 1979 transferred Sheer Pride Limited from its A.V.P. Sub-Group to its John Holt Sub-Group. Company No. 367412 subsequently changed its name to Rainbow Engineering Limited and then to Jagplace Limited . In 1987 the John Holt Sub-Group transferred Company No. 367412 to Firsteel Group Limited, another subsidiary of Lonrho Plc. Lonrho Plc then sold Firsteel, excluding Company No. 367412, which is believed to have been the subject of a management buyout. At about this time the business moved to Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan. When the business went into receivership around June 1995 it was being conducted by DMI Fabrications Limited trading as Sheer Pride.

Mary Sheepshanks was born in Liverpool in 1872, one of fourteen children. Her father, the Rev Sheepshanks, was a Church of England vicar who, in 1890, became the Bishop of Norwich. She attended the Liverpool High School until she was seventeen and then was sent to Germany for a year before returning to attend Newnham College, Cambridge in 1892. On graduation, Sheepshanks became involved in social work in Southwark for the Women's University Settlement for two years. She continued this work in Stepney before becoming the Vice Principal, then Principal, of the Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women in 1897. In 1907 she asked Emmeline Pankhurst to give a lecture on women's suffrage at the College and began the practice of organising women-only meetings for female students as well as holding college debates and lectures on the topic. In 1908 she attended the International Woman Suffrage Association congress which took place in Holland and by 1913 had been asked to undertake a lecture tour of Western and Central Europe for the organisation. This culminated in her attendance at the IWSA's 1913 meeting in Budapest, where she was asked to become the IWSA's secretary in London and where she also edited its journal, 'Jus Sufragii'.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Sheepshanks maintained a pacifist stance while the major suffrage societies undertook war work despite, a few months before, having worked with her on the International Manifesto of Women and the demonstrations for peace in August 1914. In October, she was the one who signed an editorial in Jus Suffragii entitled 'Patriotism or Internationalism' which attacked the war. However, when Belgium was overrun, she organised aid to Belgian refugees and helped stranded German women find safe refuges through her International Women's Relief Committee. Through her editorship, Jus Suffragii maintained a strictly neutral position throughout the conflict while attacking the war itself. This led her into difficulties that came to head over the International Women's Peace Conference held in The Hague in 1915 and which caused a damaging split within the suffrage movement. Like many, Sheepshanks applied for a passport to attend but was unable to attend due to the closure of the North Sea shipping lanes. Instead, Sheepshanks concentrated on the question of post-war reconstruction, working with the Union of Democratic Control and celebrated the coming of the Russian Revolution in 1917 in the pages of Jus Suffragii. However, after the end of the war, Sheepshanks resigned from its editorship and became the secretary of the Fight the Famine Council, lobbying the League of Nations meting at Geneva on its behalf in 1920. She also became a member of the British executive committee of the Women's International League at this time. They following year she took a holiday to South America and studied the economic and social conditions in the area, returning to Europe via the United States.

In 1927, Sheepshanks became the International Secretary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at their office in Geneva, monitoring the cases of political prisoners and attending meetings of the League of Nations Council on its behalf. In September 1928 she led a deputation of the WILPF to the Secretariat of the League to present a memorandum on disarmament before organising a conference on the use of modern chemical weapons and their use against civilian s in Frankfurt-am-Maine the following January. In September 1930 she organised a conference on statelessness attended by the International Council of Women, the Society of Friends, the International Suffrage Alliance, the League of Rights for Man and the League of Nations Union. However, she resigned from the post in December due to disagreements over policy between her and the more left-wing French and German members of the Executive Council. However, she remained a member and was commissioned in November of that year to carry out a fact-finding mission alongside Helen Oppenheimer to East Galicia and Poland to investigate reports of atrocities carried out by the government. Here she carried out covert interviews before reporting back and publicising their finding throughout Europe.

She moved back to London in 1932 where, two years later, she became interested in the question of the status of women and created a report on the admission of omen to the diplomatic and consular services. During the 1930s, Sheepshanks became involved with organising relief for child victims of the Spanish Civil War and her home became a safe-house for refugees. During the Second World War, she renounced her pacifism in the face of the threat of Nazism, gave English classes and discussion groups for female refugees and was employed as a German translator by the BBC. Chronic arthritis, blindness and the need to undergo an operation for cancer blighted her later years and it was as a form of therapy that her doctor suggested to her that, at the age of 83, she might write her still unpublished autobiography. She died in 1958.

Robert Shedden entered the Royal Navy and served throughout the [British attack on China, (the Opium War), 1840-1842] in which he was severely wounded; bought a schooner yacht, the 'Nancy Dawson', in which he accompanied the search for Sir John Franklin; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1844-1850. Died in Mexico, 1850.

Litigation to prove that William Patrick Ralston Shedden (b 1794) was the legitimate son and heir of William Ralston Shedden (1747-1798) commenced in 1801, went twice to the Scottish courts and the House of Lords, and judgement was finally given against the petitioner in Nov 1860.

Born 4 July 1915; BSc, Chemistry and Physics, King's College London, 1933-1935; PhD, Organic Chemistry, King's College London, 1935-1938; worked for ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries).

Born 1869; educated Sedbergh School and Sandhurst; commissioned Royal Irish Regiment, 1888; Lt, 15 Lancers, Indian Army, 1891; Boer War, South Africa, 1900-1902; Major, 1906; Western Front and Palestine, including role as commander 60 Div under the then Gen Edmund (Henry Hynman) Allenby, World War One, 1914-1918; GOC, Central Provinces District, 1921-1923; instrumental in reforming commissioning process for Indians in the British Army in India; ADC General to HM, 1924-1928; Adjutant-General in India, 1924-1928; General, 1926; GOC, Eastern Command in India, 1928-1932; retired 1932; prominent in scouting movement in India and UK; died, 1966.

Shaxson was educated at Sherborne School for Girls. She entered nurse training at King's College Hospital, London, in 1924, aged 20.

From their first venture in 1858, Shaw and Savill specialized in the New Zealand trade. When they gained a share of the New Zealand Government contract for a regular mail, passenger and cargo service between the United Kingdom and New Zealand, they began operating a joint service with the White Star Line. In 1899 the White Star Line began a steamship service from Liverpool to Australia via the Cape and in 1905 Shaw Savill and the White Star Line acquired a further interest in the Australian trade when they became the major shareholders in the Aberdeen Line. The Royal Mail Group purchased the White Star Line in 1926 and in 1928 the Australian Government's Commonwealth Line which was then amalgamated with the Aberdeen Line to provide a fortnightly service from London to Australia via Suez and Colombo. The group also acquired the major shareholding in Shaw Savill in 1928, but after the group's collapse and the reorganization which followed this, Shaw Savill became part of the Furness Withy Group (q.v.) in 1933. In 1939 a new fast passenger and cargo service to New Zealand via the Cape and Australia was inaugurated. In the postwar period many of the new vessels were designed without accommodation for passengers, but in 1955 the SOUTHERN CROSS was built solely for passengers and with one-class accommodation to operate on a new round-the-world route. When she was joined by her sister ship the NORTHERN STAR they maintained eight round-the-world sailings a year until the decline in the passenger trade in the early 1970s.

The firm was founded by Henry Shaw in 1750. In 1895 when it bought Butterworths it was owned by two brothers Charles and Richard Bond who were described in the sale agreement as "carrying on the business of printers and publishers at 7, 8 and 9 Fetter Lane under the style of Shaw and Sons." Charles and Richard divided up their business between 1895-1901 so that Charles ran Butterworths and took over Shaw and Sons' law publishing.

William Fletcher Shaw (1878-1961) was born near Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College (later the Victoria University of Manchester). In 1920 he was appointed Professor of systematic obstetrics and gynaecology in the University of Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1943. He was married twice, with three sons by his first marriage. He was knighted in 1942.

Fletcher Shaw was a gynaecologist of considerable distinction, with particular interests in conditions of the uterus and the use of analgesics in labour. He was an active member of medical societies, including the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, Gynaecological Travellers and the Gynaecological Visiting Society. He was the joint founder, with William Blair-Bell, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, its first Honorary Secretary, from 1929-1938, and President from 1938-1943. He was also the author of the first history of the College, Twenty-five years: the Story of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1954 (J & A Churchill Ltd, London, 1954).

It would appear that Fletcher Shaw kept in his personal custody much of his correspondence and other papers relating to the foundation of the College and to his terms of office as president and honorary secretary. He preserved them for their historical value and when he ceased to be president in 1943 he returned to an earlier plan to compose a history of the foundation of the College. In November 1950 the College's Council approved a proposal that it would pay for the publication of the history. Simultaneously, however, Fletcher Shaw appears to have wished to record for a distant posterity memories, judgements, and documents that he must have recognised could not be published during the lifetimes of his own contemporaries and the following generation. In 1953 the then President A A Gemmell suggested that the history should be extended beyond the foundation years to cover the entire period up to the present and that it should be published as part of the College's silver jubilee celebrations in 1954.

Fletcher Shaw resumed work with increased energy but his text aroused opposition, partly because of its account of the role of Victor Bonney in the College's formation, and partly because of its frankness. The publishers thought it actionable. After G F Gibberd (honorary secretary 1938-1947) had declined to revise the text Fletcher Shaw contacted a former student, Harvey Flack, who, with an assistant, prepared the text for publication. It was published as Twenty-five Years: The story of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1954 (hereafter cited as Twenty-five Years). (See e.g S34/73/3, S34/85/6, S34/70/7, S34/101. See also A4/4/15, A4/4/21a-b.) In his preface Fletcher Shaw praised Flack's skilful editing. Nevertheless it would appear that he felt that while compromise was necessary to ensure publication in 1954 it resulted in an incomplete account of events. It was apparently for this reason that he continued to revise and augment his different drafts and directed that after his death all his papers should be sent to the College. These papers therefore preserve all Fletcher Shaw's drafts together with supporting documentation, research notes, and specially prepared extracts from Council, and Finance and Executive Committee minutes, and from his personal diary. In the list below no serious attempt has been made to identify the relationship of the different drafts to the published text in Twenty-five Years.

One of Fletcher Shaw's motives in writing his accounts of the history of the College was to record his own recollections and perceptions of events in contradistinction to William Blair-Bell's. Fletcher Shaw knew that Blair-Bell had composed his own account of the early years of the College and he was concerned that this account might be unduly informed by Blair-Bell's own bitterness and regrets. (See in particular S34/3, S34/69/9). It is unlikely that Fletcher Shaw ever saw Blair-Bell's history as it remained in the custody of the latter's executors until 1970 when it came into the College's possession (it is now S33/1-2 - there is some correspondence between Blair-Bell and Fletcher Shaw in A4/4/22-24 on their respective plans).

In order to assist him in his composition the College Secretary W E Mallon sent Fletcher Shaw various papers and documents. Many of these are to be found among these papers. He also corresponded with some of his contemporaries and colleagues in order to make use of their recollections.

Bibliography: Sir John Peel, The Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1969, Whitefriars Press Ltd, 1975, pp 38-40.

William Fletcher Shaw (1878-1961) was born near Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College (later the Victoria University of Manchester). In 1920 he was appointed Professor of systematic obstetrics and gynaecology in the University of Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1943. He was married twice, with three sons by his first marriage. He was knighted in 1942.

Fletcher Shaw was a gynaecologist of considerable distinction, with particular interests in conditions of the uterus and the use of analgesics in labour. He was an active member of medical societies, including the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, Gynaecological Travellers and the Gynaecological Visiting Society. He was the joint founder, with William Blair-Bell, of the RCOG and its first Honorary Secretary, from 1929-1938. He was also the author of the first history of the College, Twenty-five years: the Story of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1954 (J & A Churchill Ltd, London, 1954). bibliography: Sir John Peel, Lives of the Fellows, pp.38-40.

Eyre Massey Shaw was born in County Cork, Ireland, and educated locally and at Trinity College Dublin. He spent several years in the navy before becoming superintendent of the police and fire services in Belfast in 1860; his success in this role led to his appointment a year later as the head of the London Fire Engine Establishment, later to become the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Shaw was uncomfortable working under the new London County Council (constituted in 1889) and resigned from the job in 1891; he received a knighthood on his retirement.

Dr Patricia Shaw (fl 1948-1965) was employed by the Boots Pure Drug Company and investigated the health of shopworkers.

Mabel Shaw was born in December 1889, at Bilston. She trained at the Women's Missionary College, Edinburgh. In 1915, she was appointed to Mbereshi, central Africa, with the London Missionary Society, and sailed on 6 March 1915. She was the first single woman missionary to be sent by the London Missionary Society to Central Africa. Her work was chiefly educational, but also evangelistic. She founded the Girl's Boarding School, which later became known as the Livingstone Memorial School in Mbereshi, and which marked a significant new chapter in the education of African girls in Northern Rhodesia. In 1931 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her missionary work in central Africa. She retired from the London Missionary Society in 1941. In 1942 she was appointed to temporary service with the Church Missionary Society, and sailed once more for Africa on 9 April. She retired from the Church Missionary Society in 1952. She died on 25 April 1973 in Guildford.

Books written by Mabel Shaw included Children of the Chief (LMS Gift Book for 1921); Dawn in Africa (Edinburgh House Press, 1927); God's Candlelights: An Educational Venture in Northern Rhodesia (Edinburgh House Press, 1932); A Treasure of Darkness: An Idyll of African Child Life (Longmans, 1936).

Harold Watkins Shaw, born Bradford, 3 April 1911; read history at Wadham College, Oxford, 1929-1932; studied at the Royal College of Music, 1932-1933; awarded the Oxford University Osgood Memorial prize for his dissertation on John Blow, 1936; taught in London; appointed music organizer to Hertfordshire County Council, 1946; appointed Honorary Librarian of St Michael's College, Tenbury, 1948; appointed lecturer at Worcester College of Education, 1949 (retained until retirement); published books on the teaching of music in schools at primary and secondary levels, 1950s; edited his edition of Messiah, 1957-1965; Keeper of the Parry Room library, Royal College of Music, 1971-1980; awarded DLitt in the faculty of music by Oxford University; awarded OBE, 1985; died, Worcester, 8 Oct 1996. Publications (a selection): Music in the Primary School (London, 1952); The Three Choirs Festival c1713-1953 (Worcester and London, 1954); Music in the Secondary School (London, 1961); The Story of Handel's 'Messiah', 1741-1784 (London, 1963); A Textual and Historical Companion to Handel's 'Messiah' (London, 1965); A Study of the Bing-Gostling Part Books in the Library of York Minster together with a Systematic Catalogue (Croydon, 1986) ;The Succession of Organists of the Chapel Royal and the Cathedrals of England and Wales from c.1538 (Oxford, 1991).

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856; attended a Weslyan school, but was largely self educated through visits to the National Gallery of Ireland and wide reading; worked as a cashier, 1872-1876; moved to London in 1876 to join his mother and sister; wrote but failed to publish five novels, 1878-1883; joined and became a leading member of the Fabian Society, 1884, and edited Fabian Essays in Socialism (1889); worked as a book, drama and music critic for the Pall Mall Gazette, 1885-1888, the World (1886-1889), the Star (1888-1890), and the Saturday Review (1895-1898); published The quintessence of Ibsenism, 1891; wrote Widowers' Houses for performance by Independent Theatre, 1892, attacking slum landlords and allying Shaw with a realistic and political movement in the theatre; this was followed by The Philanderer (1893), Mrs Warren's Profession (1893, concerning prostitution and banned until 1902), Arms and the Man (1894), Candida (1897) and You Never Can Tell (1899); obtained first successful production of a play with The Devil's Disciple, New York, 1897; married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, 1898; wrote Captain Brassbound's Conversion for Ellen Terry, 1900; completed Caesar and Cleopatra, 1899, which was produced by Mrs Patrick Campbell in 1901; established as a playwright of international importance, with the completion and performance of Man and Superman (1901-1903), John Bull's Other Island (1904), Major Barbara (1905) and The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), which were produced by Harley Granville-Barker for the Royal Court Theatre; wrote his most popular play, Pygmalion, in 1913 (he later adapted it for the screen, winning an Academy Award in the process); during World War One, made numerous anti-war speeches; his postwar plays include Heartbreak House (1920), Back to Methuselah (1922), and St Joan (1923); won the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1925, but refused the award; established the Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation for the translation of Swedish literature into English; wrote extensively on social, economic and political issues, notably The intelligent women's guide to socialism and capitalism (1928), and Everybody's political what's what (1944); his later plays, produced at the Malvern Festivals, included The Apple Cart (1929), Too True to be Good (1932) and Geneva (1939); retired, 1943; left residue of his estate to institute a British alphabet of at least 40 letters; died 1950.

Born, Dublin, 1856; attended a Weslyan school, but was largely self educated through visits to the National Gallery of Ireland and wide reading; worked as a cashier, 1872-1876; moved to London in 1876 to join his mother and sister; wrote but failed to publish five novels, 1878-1883; strongly influenced by Karl Marx's Das Kapital; joined and became a leading member of the Fabian Society, 1884, and edited Fabian Essays in Socialism, 1889; worked as a book, drama and music critic for the Pall Mall Gazette, 1885-1888, the World, 1886-1889, the Star, 1888-1890, and the Saturday Review, 1895-1898; published The quintessence of Ibsenism, 1891; wrote Widowers' Houses for performance by Independent Theatre, 1892, attacking slum landlords and allying Shaw with a realistic and political movement in the theatre; this was followed by The Philanderer (1893), Mrs Warren's Profession (1893, concerning prostitution and banned until 1902), Arms and the Man (1894), Candida (1897) and You Never Can Tell (1899); obtained first successful production of a play with The Devil's Disciple, New York, 1897; married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, 1898; wrote Captain Brassbound's Conversion for Ellen Terry, 1900; completed Caesar and Cleopatra, 1899, which was produced by Mrs Patrick Campbell in 1901; established as a playwright of international importance, with the completion and performance of Man and Superman (1901-1903), John Bull's Other Island (1904), Major Barbara (1905) and The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), which were produced by Harley Granville-Barker for the Royal Court Theatre; wrote his most popular play, Pygmalion, in 1913 (he later adapted it for the screen, winning an Academy Award in the process); during World War One, made numerous anti-war speeches; his postwar plays include Heartbreak House (1920), Back to Methuselah (1922), and St Joan (1923); won the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1925, but refused the award; established the Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation for the translation of Swedish literature into English; wrote extensively on social, economic and political issues, notably The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1928), and Everybody's Political What's What? (1944); his later plays, produced at the Malvern Festivals, included The Apple Cart (1929), Too True to be Good (1932) and Geneva (1939); retired, 1943; left residue of his estate to institute a British alphabet of at least 40 letters; died 1950.
Publications: include: The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (Constable & Co, London, 1928); The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God (Constable and Co, London, 1932); Everybody's Political What's What? (Constable & Co, London, 1944).

George Bernard Shaw was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. For a full biography, see the description for the Shaw business papers (Ref: Shaw).

For a full biography, see the description for the Shaw business papers (Ref: Shaw).

The International Health Exhibition was opened in London on May 8th 1884. It was held at the new exhibition centre in Kensington (on the site currently occupied by the Science Museum and Imperial College). The focus of the exhibition was hygiene and public health and exhibits were included on food, dress, dwellings, water supply, heating, lighting, ventilation, ambulances, schools, workshops and technical education.

The exhibition included a section on 'Old London' which included a replica of a pre-1666 London street. The Times newspaper described it as a "picturesquely built up row of houses representing a lane and street in old London" (Friday May 09 1884, pg 4).

No information was available at the time of compilation.

Born 23 August 1919 at Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire; educated at Queen Elizabeth's School, Wakefield, and St John's College Oxford, where he received a First Class Honours in the School of English Language and Literature, 1943; B Litt, 1947; Served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1939-1941; National Buildings Record, 1942-1944; Assistant Master, Rugby School, 1944-1946; Lecturer, University of Southampton, 1946, and Reader, 1962; Professor of English, University of Durham, 1963; Editor of the Durham University Journal, 1964-1968; Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of London, King's College, 1968-1981, and later Emeritus Professor; Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia, 1972; Warton Lecturer of the British Academy, 1972; Chairman of the English Association, 1972-1979; General Editor, Oxford Bunyan; died 27 December 1990.

Publications: Songs and Comments (Fortune Press, London, 1945); John Bunyan (Hutchinson's University Library, London, 1954), revised and corrected, 1968; editor of Selected poems of William Wordsworth (William Heinemann, 1958); editor of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1962); editor of Selected poems of John Dryden (Heinemann, 1963); editor of Keats: selected poems and letters (Oxford University Press, London, 1964); editor of The Pilgrim's Progress (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1965); John Bunyan: the pilgrim's progress (Edward Arnold, London, 1966); editor of The Pelican book of English prose (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1970); The figure in a landscape: Wordsworth's early poetry (Oxford University Press, London, 1973); editor of Bunyan, 'The pilgrim's progress' a casebook (1976); editor of English short stories of today (1976); general editor of The miscellaneous works of John Bunyan (1976); Life and story in 'The pilgrim's progress' (1978); editor of The Holy War, made by Shaddai upon Biabolus, for the regaining of the metropolis of the world, or the losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul: John Bunyan with James F Forrest (1980); Saints, sinners and comedians: the novels of Graham Greene (1984); editor of The life and death of Mr Badman, presented to the world in a familiar dialogue between Mr Wiseman and Mr Attentive: John Bunyan with James F Forrest (1988).

Career summary: Born 6 June 1850, at Hornsey, son of J W Schäfer of Highgate and Hamburg; educated University College London (medal for Physiology). 1871 first Sharpey Scholar, University College London. 1874 Assistant Professor of Physiology, University College London. 1877 published A course of practical Histology. 1878 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; married Maud Dixey. 1878-1881 Fullerian Professor, Royal Institution. 1883 Jodrell Professor, University College London; published his first researches in cerebral localisation. 1885 published Essentials of Histology. 1894 discovery with George Oliver of the effect of extract of the suprarenal gland. 1895-1900 General Secretary, British Association for the Advancement of Science. 1896 death of Maud Schafer, his first wife. 1897 awarded the Baly Medal by the Royal College of Physicians. 1898-1902 edited Advanced textbook of Physiology, to which he also contributed. 1899 elected to the Edinburgh Chair of Physiology. 1900 married Ethel Maude Roberts. 1902 awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society. 1903 gave papers on artificial respiration to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1908 founded the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology and edited it until 1933. 1909 awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the Royal Life-Saving Society (for the Schafer method' of artificial respiration). 1911 awarded the De Cyon Prize by the Accademia della Scienza, Bologna. 1912 President, British Association for the Advancement of Science: gave a controversial address onLife, its nature, origin and maintenance'; published Quain's Elements of Anatomy Vol II Pt I and Experimental Physiology. 1913 knighted; Lane Medical Lecturer, Stanford. 1915 death in action of his younger son Tom. 1916 published The endocrine organs; death of his elder son Jack at Jutland. c. 1916 death of elder daughter Marjory. 1918 added Sharpey to his name in memory of Professor William Sharpey. 1922 awarded the Neill Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1923 President, International Congress of Physiology. 1924 awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society. 1927 published History of the Physiological Society; resigned his Chair at Edinburgh: became Emeritus Professor; Volume 23 of Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology produced in his honour with papers by his former pupils worldwide. Died 29 March 1935, aged 85.

Sharpey entered Edinburgh University in August 1817, to study the humanities and natural philosophy. In 1818 he commenced medical studies and in 1821 was admitted as a member of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons. He graduated MD of Edinburgh in 1823, and obtained the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons there in 1830. In 1834 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1836 he was appointed to the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology at University College London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1839. He was appointed an Examiner in Anatomy at London University in 1840. In 1844 he was made a member of the Council of the Royal Society and in 1853 was appointed Secretary in place of Thomas Bell. For 15 years from 1861, Sharpey was one of the members appointed by the Crown on the General Council of Medical Education and Registration. In 1871 he retired as Secretary due to failure of eyesight. Sharpey died from bronchitis on 11 April 1880 in London and was buried at Arbroath.

Born, 1802; Education: MD; Research Field: Anatomy; FRSE; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1839; Secretary of the Royal Society 1853-1872; Vice President of the Royal Society 1872-1874; died, 1880.

In 1246 the first inclosure for a park was made at Kempton. Later the park covered much of the area north-east of Kempton village and extended into Hanworth. During the Middle Ages the royal manor-house of Kempton may have stood within the park near the site of the present Kempton Park House. Part of the estate has been used as a racecourse since 1876.

In 1697 Sir Thomas Grantham, lord of Kempton manor, built 'a fair house' at Sunbury, and this was probably the first of many large houses which were built in the parish. Sunbury was almost the farthest upstream of the Thames villages which became popular with the upper and middle classes in the 18th century, and it never became fashionable in the manner of Richmond, Twickenham, or Hampton. A little colony of exiled Huguenots probably accounted for a fair proportion of the gentlefolk in the parish during the earlier years of the century. By 1816 it was possible for a perhaps over-effusive writer to comment on the 'long range of fine domestic structures' facing the river and to add that other 'ornamental dwellings of this splendid village' lay farther inland. Among the finest of the houses was Sunbury Place (now Sunbury Court and occupied by the Salvation Army), which lay farthest downstream towards Hampton. There was a house on the site by 1754, from which some features in the main block of the present building seem to survive. It had been much enlarged by 1816, when it was said to show four fronts with an ornamental pavilion at each corner. The pavilions have been demolished and wings have been added on either side of the sevenbay south front. The house is of red brick with stone and cement-rendered dressings and has a central pediment to the south front.
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. 51-53 (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".

William Sharpe was a heraldic painter based at 3 Bennett's Hill, Doctors Commons. He became free of the Painter Stainers' Company in 1768 and died circa 1800. The business was taken over by his son Thomas Sharpe, who was made free of the Painter Stainers in 1803, having served his apprenticeship to his father, and died circa 1813.

On his death the firm was taken over by George Bishop (1787-1841), described as heraldic and house painter. He became free of the Painter Stainers in 1818. Throughout this period they did work for members of the royal family (at his death George Bishop was described as herald painter to Her Majesty), for the College of Arms, for livery companies, as well as for private individuals and undertakers.