Administrative records of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited, including organisational charts; papers relating to the directors of the company; reports on the organisation of the company; book 'sphere of operations', produced by the company to outline its departments, branches and subsidiaries; circulars; correspondence and lists of records.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited relating to London and international properties; including reports; financial accounts; correspondence; deeds, leases and circulars.

Records of the Issuing Houses Association including executive committee minutes (Ms 29328), reports and accounts (Mss 29329-331), membership files (Mss 29332-3), copies of the Association's rules (Ms 29336) and a useful booklet about Issuing Houses and the Issuing Houses Association (Ms 29337).

Access to records less than 30 years old should be sought from the London Investment Banking Association (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff). The Association retains its more recent records. No other records are known to exist.

General administrative records of Sun Insurance Office Limited, including standing order books; resolutions; papers regarding company policy, management and office organisation; papers relating to general insurance matters and other insurance companies; legal memoranda; newspaper cuttings; policy documents; prospectuses; circulars; blank policy forms; booklets; statistics; papers relating to Sun Life Assurance Society; papers relating to the London Fire Engine Establishment and the London Salvage Corps; and a history by FB Relton.

The administrative records cover the domestic division of the Sun into 'Town' and 'Country' departments, and also the records of the foreign division from its inception in 1836.

This section includes notebooks and scrapbooks compiled by Francis Boyer Relton, who was Office Secretary 1873-82.

THESE RECORDS ARE SUBJECT TO A 50 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD. LIFE POLICY REGISTERS, CLAIMS REGISTERS AND EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY POLICY REGISTERS ARE CLOSED FOR 75 YEARS.

Records of the Sun Insurance Office Limited relating to premises and property, including plans of London offices; photographs; and correspondence.

THESE RECORDS ARE SUBJECT TO A 50 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD. LIFE POLICY REGISTERS, CLAIMS REGISTERS AND EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY POLICY REGISTERS ARE CLOSED FOR 75 YEARS.

Records of the General Purposes Committee, Court of Common Council, including journals, 1789-1858; minutes, 1789-1981; rough minutes, 1791-1842; committee papers, 1789-1957; proceedings from various subcommittees including the Compter Committee, By Law Committee, Mansion House Committee, State Coach Committee, Marshale Committee, Blackfriars Bridge Committee, Shop Tax Committee, Court of Requests Committee, and investigations including the Sheriff's Court, regulation of unlicensed Carts, riots at Knightsbridge, regulating elections within the City, conduct of staff and proposal to alter the date of the annual wardmotes, 1777-1924; standing orders, 1826-1841 and summary of powers and duties with a list of Chairmen and standing orders of the Committee, 1880-1920.

Records of the Local Government Taxation Committee comprising minutes, 1866-1897 and committee papers, 1866-1895.

Papers relating to railways, 1839-1983, including reports, evidence and petitions relating to the construction of new lines and stations; papers relating to fires, 1522-1974, including papers on the provision of fire fighting equipment, the introduction of fire insurance policies and the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade; papers relating to the Great Fire of London, 1667-1966, including acts, orders and financial accounts relating to the rebuilding of the City of London including receipts from Christopher Wren, papers relating to the investigation into the cause of the Fire, financial accounts of funds to relieve those affected, descriptions and accounts of the Fire; papers relating to Royal and Municipal Commissions, 1816-1969; papers relating to war 1692-1995, including papers relating to the Corporation's activities during World War One; air raid precautions and casualties, Roll of Honour of Civilian War Dead in the City of London and papers relating to the bombing of Guildhall, World War Two and City of London salute to the task force, Falklands Campaign, 1982.

Papers relating to transport, 1663-1985, including hackney coaches and hackney carriages, carts and carmen, stage coaches, river traffic, tramways, omnibuses and buses, subways, Heathrow and Fairlop Airports, the London Underground and the Channel Tunnel terminal in London; papers relating to shipping, 1610-1989; papers relating to trades and crafts, 1510-1991, including bills, wages, regulations, acts and petitions regarding bricklayers, carpenters, carters, founders, glaziers, masons, painters, paviors, plasterers, plumbers, smiths, wireworkers, button makers, butchers, chimney sweeps, hairdressers, ironmongers, spoon makers, paper makers, tanners, tailors, rakers, midwives, engravers, clock makers and printers; papers relating to the Honourable Artillery Company, 1503-1967.

Papers relating to the history of London, 1565-1994, including "An exposicion of the Kinges prerogative collected out of the great abridgement of Justice Fitz-Herbert and other olde writers of the lawes of England" by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 1565, "Londinopolis: An Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, The Imperial Chamber, and chief Emporium of Great Britain: Whereunto is added another of the City of Westminster, with the Courts of Justice, Antiquities, and new Buildings thereunto belonging" by James Havel, 1657, and various other antiquarian and modern books, articles and pamphlets on the history of London; papers relating to health and medicine, 1657-1994, including bills of mortality, papers relating to the outbreak of plague in London, 1665-1666, letters, reports and conference papers relating to the control of cholera; papers regarding provisions, 1607-1990, including warrant authorising the Mayor to receive venison out of the Royal Parks, 1607 and papers of committees investigating the high price of provisions, 1767-1822; papers relating to the government of the City of London and Greater London, 1849-1993; papers relating to the provision and price of gas, 1828-1918; papers relating to the supply of water to the City, 1538-1992; papers relating to the placing, erection and upkeep of statues and monuments in London, 1680-1995; papers relating to weights and measures, 1678-1997, including records of action taken against those using false weights and measures and registers of weighed goods; papers relating to seals and medals, 1285-1995, including examples of medieval seals and register of documents sealed; papers relating to insignia and plate, 1650-1993, including information on the Collar of SS, Diamond Badge or Jewel, Mace, Crystal Mace, Swords, City Purse, Mayoralty Seal, Robes and Sceptre and inventories of City plate; papers relating to the population of the City of London, 1719-1982, including "A compu tation of the increase of London and parts adjacent; with some causes thereof, and remarks thereon", 1719, population returns, 1821-1897 and population studies and articles; papers regarding tolls, 1605-1833, including Acts, bonds, exemptions and leases; papers relating to the postal service, 1741-1938, including examples of early stamps and papers relating to the Penny Post; papers relating to the carrying out of writs, 1460-1965, including writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, subpoenas and jury summons; papers relating to the textile trade, 1674-1995, including orders, rates, inventories, petitions relating to the production of textiles including cloth, lace and wool, bonds of searches and sealers of tanned leather, 1699-1804, and articles on the history of textiles.

Papers relating to probate, 1693-1786, including estate inventories, letters of administration and notes on legal customs; papers relating to the regulation of fireworks and bonfires within the City, 1673-1857; papers relating to archaeological investigations in the City of London, 1972-1989; extracts relating to archery in Finsbury Fields, 1521; reports and articles relating to the armorial bearings of the City, 1216-1973; bullion certificates, 1696-1819; licences issued for the right to use calcium carbide, 1897-1919; papers relating to convex lights, 1692-1694; papers relating to conveyancing, 1770-1948 and various other papers relating to aspects of the administration of the City of London including common soil, conservation, criminal prosecutions, city customs and liberties, the Customs House, erection of hoardings, gifts and presentations, regulation of gunpowder, income tax, the London Building Acts, licensing, lotteries, regulation and licensing of petroleum, precedent books, precepts issued by the Mayor or Common Council, bills for printing and stationery, the Olympic Games, pageantry, proclamations, brewers and public houses, the Shops Act, smoke abatement and clean air, street cleaning, theatres, the unemployed, Viewer's reports, wharves, woods and forests, newspapers and cuttings, fishing, the Festival of the City of London, coffee houses, coinage, the Bank of England and other financial institutions.

Records of the Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising (SCAPA), including Executive Committee minute books; financial accounts; lists of members; correspondence, including letters relating to subscriptions, byelaws, cases and litter; petitions; annual reports; publications by SCAPA and others; newspaper cuttings and posters.

Records of unidentified subsidiary companies of Courage and Company Limited and Barclay Perkins and Company Limited, brewers, including brewing books; monthly beer duty book; photographs of beer tanks and brewery premises; deeds and papers for the Arundel Arms, Westbourne Road, Islington, land in Bury Green Road and Lordship Road, Cheshunt, Herts, the White Hart Hotel, Margate, Kent.

Also roll of plans and artist's views of proposed new brewery in Tanganyika, for Ind Coope and Allsopp Ltd, Burton-on-Trent probably from H and G Simonds and drawings, mainly of fermenters, for New Zealand Breweries Ltd, Wellington.

Corporate records of H and G Simonds Limited, brewers, including Board minutes; letter books; records relating to shares and debentures; registers of agreements, seals, directors, directors' holdings and interests; Directors' reports and accounts; papers relating to financial schemes; papers relating to the acquisition and liquidation of other companies.

Premises records of H and G Simonds Limited, brewers, including Estates committee minutes and agenda book; estates ledgers (purchase of property); rough valuations of licensed premises; rent ledger; particulars of freehold, leasehold and copyhold, etc., estates, made up from Nov 1895; register of free properties; schedules of deeds and documents; register of private houses, shops, cottages and other properties and easements; register of fire insurance renewals; and correspondence about deeds.

Records of John May and Company Limited, brewers, comprising Directors' minute book; compensation fund ledger including audited balance sheets and compensation fund accounts with bank.

Records of Octagon Brewery Limited, including Directors' minute book; Board agenda book; Annual and other general meeting minutes, including reports and accounts; register of seals and wages book.

Records of Phillips and Sons Limited, brewers, including Directors' minutes annual general meeting minutes; Directors' minute book (later called 'Board'); register of directors and secretaries; register of directors' holdings and interests; register of managers or directors; register of mortgages and register of seals.

Records of the South Berkshire Brewery Company Limited, including Board and annual general meeting minutes; debenture stock certificates; Directors' report and profit and loss account; register of private houses, shops, cottages and other properties; inventories and valuations of freehold, leasehold and copyhold estates and stock.

Records of the Bristol Brewery Georges and Company Limited, including Board of directors minute book; Directors' report and statement of accounts; rules and list of fixtures, Bristol Brewery Georges and Co. Ltd. Athletic Club; papers relating to wages and salaries; memorandums; correspondence; loan stock registers and report and valuation of properties, including those of subsidiaries (thus Bristol United Breweries, Charlton, Oakhill, Dunlop Mackie, Crocker, St Vincent's Hotel, Lewins Properties).

Deeds and other legal documents relating to public houses owned by subsidiary companies of Courage Limited, including Ashby's Staines Brewery; Harmans Uxbridge Brewery; Harris' Knowle Green Brewery (taken over by Ashby's with half of its houses in 1903); Hodgson's Kingston Brewery and H and G Simonds.

Records of Smith Kendon Limited, 1826-1987. The collection mainly comprises the papers of Donald Smith and his capacity as Managing Director and Chairman of Smith Kendon Limited, including papers relating to the formation of the business such as articles of partnership and certificates of registration; deeds and other legal documents relating to property owned by the company; insurance policies; inventories; correspondence; minutes of meetings; Donald Smith's business diaries; sales figures; financial accounts; papers relating to stock and stock control; papers relating to sales; papers relating to products including recipe books; advertising; reports; staff records and papers relating to the Second World War.

Corporate records of the East London Waterworks Company, including Court of Director's minute books; legal papers; Committee papers; title deeds; correspondence and letter books; papers relating to stocks, shares and debentures; Parliamentary papers; papers relating to royal commissions on water supply; Secretary's files; press cuttings; and plans.

Corporate records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, including Court of Directors minute books; Committee books; Court record books; General Assembly minute books; Directors' reports; correspondence and letter books; registers of shareholders; stock ledgers; mortgage records; and contracts records.

Corporate records of the Kent Waterworks Company, including Board of Directors' minute books; Committee minute books; Secretary's reports; correspondence and letter books; legal papers; records relating to shares, stocks and dividends; and contracts.

Corporate records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company, including minute books of the Committee of Management and Directors; Committee minute books; agenda books; Director's reports; correspondence and letter books; legal papers; papers relating to stocks and shares; dividend books; registers of bonds; and contracts records.

Records of the Metropolitan Water Board, including minutes and related papers for the Board; the Appeal and Assessment Committee; the Works and Stores Committee; the Stores Account Sub-committee; the Special Co-ordinating Committee and the Special Arbitration Committee.

Minutes of the New River Company, including minutes, papers and reports of Weekly Meetings, of the General Courts of Governors, of the Surveys of the River Committee, of the Parliamentary Committee, of the Building Committee and of the River Lee Conservancy Board. Also copies of the charters of 1606 and 1737.

Corporate records of the Staines Reservoir Joint Committee, including Committee meeting attendance books, proceedings books and minutes; legal papers relating to property, rating, water supply, stocks and shares, Parliamentary issues and contracts; correspondence and debenture stock volumes.

Corporate records of the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, including Board meeting minute books; Committee meeting minute books; Secretary's reports; correspondence and letter books; solicitor's accounts; legal papers; records relating to stocks and shares; registers of probates; mortgage records and contracts records.

Records of the South London Waterworks Company (later the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company) including papers relating to shares; minutes of Director's meetings; stock certificates; papers relating to works and papers relating to a lawsuit.

Papers of the North Thames Gas Board, comprising records of predecessor companies, including the Brentford Gas Light Company, the Gas Light and Coke Company, Harrow and District Gas Company, the Harrow and Stanmore Gas Company, North Middlesex Gas Company, Pinner Gas Company, Uxbridge Old Gas Company, the Hornsey Gas Company Limited, and Staines and Egham District Gas and Coke Company Limited, 1708-1947. Records include assignments of interest, leases, releases, fines, copies of wills, mortgages, papers relating to bankruptcy, conveyances, depositions, agreements, deeds, marriage settlements, testimony, bonds, quit rents, correspondence, abstracts of title, Chancery proceedings, sale particulars, licences, engineers reports, Parliamentary Bills and financial accounts for properties, businesses and persons in Acton, Brentford, Ealing, Chiswick, Greenford, Harrow, Hendon, Heston, Hornsey, Isleworth, Northwood, Pinner, Southall, Tottenham, Twickenham and Uxbridge. Also memorandum and articles of association for the Hornsey Gas Company, description of the Hornsey Gas Works, and regulations of the Staines and Egham District Gas and Coke Company Limited.

Papers of the Uxbridge and Hillingdon Gas Consumers Company, 1834-1924, including prospectus; certificates of registration; deed of settlement; list of shareholders; copy of Uxbridge Gas Act; correspondence; petition; handbills and posters; circular letters; notices; bonds; contracts; plan of the houses, lands and buildings situated within a radius of 330 yards from the works of the Uxbridge and Hillingdon Gas Consumers Company, with book of reference listing owners, lessees and occupiers; schedule of repairs; valuation of machinery and apparatus; list of meters; financial accounts; engineers reports; directors' reports; annual reports; agreement for transfer of Maidenhead Gas Company; report of the directors of Great Marlow Gas Company Limited, with account of intended amalgamation with the Uxbridge, Wycombe and District Gas Company; minute books of the Committee of Uxbridge and Hillingdon Gas Consumers' Company.

Papers of the North Middlesex Gas Company, 1869-1932, including printed account books and reports of the Company.

Papers of the Gas Light and Coke Company, 1896-1929, including agreement between the Warden and College of All Souls, Oxford and the Gas Light and Coke Company to lay gas main through College lands in Willesden and leases of 38 Oxford Road, Kilburn to the Gas Light and Coke Company.

Corporate records of Barclay Perkins and Company Limited, brewers, including legal case papers; papers relating to the organisation of the company; Board meetings minutes, agendas and papers; financial accounts; reports; papers relating to stocks and shares; mortgages and deeds; registers; investment ledger; articles of association and partnership deeds.

Corporate records of the Blue Nile Brewery Limited, including minutes of the directors' board; correspondence; press cuttings; managing director's reports; memorandum and articles of association; papers about political matters; papers regarding Sudan; compensation files; papers regarding the organisation of the brewery and visits file.

Corporate records of the Dartford Brewery Company Limited, including board meetings minutes; annual general meeting minutes; stockholders' meetings minutes; registers of directors, secretaries, members, shares, mortgages and deeds; share records; articles of association; annual and half-yearly reports, statistics and accounts.

Property records from the Dartford Brewery Company Limited, comprising insurance register for licensed premises; premises repair order book and tenants' dilapidations ledger.

Corporate records of the Royal Brewery Brentford Limited, including Directors' meetings minutes; agreements; share records; registers of seals; articles of association; and annual reports and accounts.

Property records of Royal Brewery Brentford Limited, including quarterly rent journal; insurance register for licensed premises; premises repair order book; tenants' dilapidations ledger and tenancy agreement.

Corporate records of Style and Winch Limited, brewers, including minutes of Board and general meetings; minutes of joint committee with the Dartford Brewery and the Royal Brewery Brentford; registers of members, shares, mortgages, sealing, and directors; trust deeds; articles of association; directors' reports and accounts; and agreements.

Property records for Style and Winch Limited, brewers, including joint diary with the Royal Brewery Brentford and Dartford Brewery recording notes on premises and public houses; register of insurance for public houses; order book for repairs; tenants dilapidation registers; and repairs ledger.

Corporate records of Courage and Company Limited, brewers, including Directors' meetings minute books; general meetings minute books; papers of the Board; papers of the Secretary; records of the Investment Committee; register of appeals; register of directors' holdings; articles of association; seal register; powers of attorney; papers relating to company formation; papers relating to the liquidation of Farnham United Brewery; and annual reports.

Property records for Courage and Company Limited, brewers, including Plans Committee minutes and papers; London Properties Committee minutes and papers; financial records relating to estates income; estate maintenance records; public house ledgers; public house deeds; agreements; plans; maintenance diaries.

Corporate records of the Camden Brewery Company Limited, including Board meeting minutes; trust deeds and related papers; articles of association; and statement of affairs with balance sheet.

Records of Arthur Cooper (Wine Merchant) Limited, including correspondence; share transfers; papers regarding mergers and name changes; papers relating to financial matters; memorandum and articles of association and annual reports with accounts.

Records of Courage, Barclay and Simonds Limited, brewers, including correspondence relating to properties owned by the company; and papers relating to insurance policies.

Corporate records of Charles Beasley Limited, brewers, including Directors' meetings minute book; Board and general meeting minute book; annual general meeting minute book; registers of members, shares, debentures, mortgages, directors, secretaries, seals and directors' holdings; articles of association; agreements; trust deeds; papers relating to stocks and shares; annual reports with accounts; and letter books.

Records of Clinch and Company Limited, brewers, including Board and general meeting minutes; annual reports with accounts; papers relating to shares; memorandum and articles of association; register of seals; and rent ledgers for public houses and other premises.

Corporate records of Harmans Uxbridge Brewery Limited, including minutes, agendas and related papers; Directors' papers; papers relating to stocks and shares; trust deeds; debenture records; agreements; papers and diaries of the Company Secretary; agreements; debenture stock records; annual returns; articles of association; certificate of incorporation; register of seals; papers relating to acquisitions; financial correspondence; annual reports with accounts.

Property records of Harmans Uxbridge Brewery Limited, including rent books; purchase of property book; estates summary; tenancy records; papers relating to building repairs; rating and valuations records; redemption of land tax certificates; insurance records; deeds; and register of plant and machinery.

Corporate records of R Halley Limited, brewers, including Board and annual general meeting minutes; papers relating to the acquisition by Harmans Uxbridge Brewery; general correspondence; papers of the Board; papers of the Company Secretary; and annual reports with accounts.

London County Council register of tramway track lengths, recording description and lengths of route, street length, track length and remarks, such as "conversion to trolleybus", "abandoned" and so on, [1912-1952], with enclosures: photocopy of map of tramways in the London County Council area, revised to 1931; and diagrams of track lengths in Leyton and Hammersmith.

Records of the Clerk of the Peace for the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1665-1807. Records comprise one volume containing the following: copies of orders of Privy Council to the Justices of the Peace of Middlesex and Westminster as to measures to be taken to prevent the spread of plague - including an order to erect a pest house; copies of resultant orders of the Justices to high constables, Churchwardens, etc including orders for removal of lay stalls and repair of an offensive lane; lists of suspected papists and instructions from the Privy Council and others to the Justices of the Peace in connection with them; lists (indexed) of persons who have taken oaths of allegiance and supremacy and subscribed the declaration under Act of 1 Wm and Mary, or who have refused to do so; lists (indexed) of persons convicted of profane cursing and swearing according to the Act of 627 Wm III, 1665-1708.

Also one volume containing the following: register of the names of persons who have been granted Game Certificates at the Westminster Sessions; Commissioners' Certificates under the Property Act, filed at Westminster Sessions; register of certificates of Freemans Lodges, filed at Westminster Sessions; register of the names of persons who carry on the trade of Press and Type Makers, and who have given notice to Westminster Sessions; register of names of persons who carry on the trade of Printer, and who have given notice to Westminster Sessions; register of Surveyors Certificates files at Westminster Sessions; 1799-1807.

Also a booklet containing standing orders, with appendix, 1840.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.

Records enrolled or filed with the Clerk of the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1552-1885. The records classified as WR/A are concerned with the registration of foreigners; WR/B are records produced by Building Surveyors; WR/F are returns of those eligible to serve on juries; WR/L/P covers the licensing of printing presses; WR/LV relate to Licensed Victuallers; WR/ML are concerned with Militia and Lieutenancy; WR/O are Oaths of Office; WR/P are papers concerning Parliamentary Elections; WR/PLT Land Tax; WR/R contains the records produced from the control and recording of all non-conformists; WR/S contains records concerned with Societies; and WR/U records deposited with the court concerning Public Undertakings.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.