The majority of these papers relate to Prest's time as a committee member of the Royal Commission on Civil Liability and Compensation for Personal Injury. There are also documents relating to his collected writings, his time as editor of the "Three Banks Review", his time as a member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, and miscellaneous correspondence.

Records, 1926-1951, of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission (CGPC), including information on the state of Chinese communications; the workings of the Chinese Ministries of Communications, Railways and Industries; Chinese banking; construction and engineering technology and the work of British manufacturers; and some information on Chinese educational and cultural institutions in receipt of subsidies from the Board of Trustees for the Administration of the Indemnity Funds Remitted by the British Government.

Records, 1926-1951, relating to the foundation and constitution of the CGPC comprise printed report of the Anglo-Chinese Advisory Committee (China Indemnity Advisory Committee), 1926; correspondence, largely letters from the Board of Trustees to the CPGC, 1931-1950, concerning the constitution of the Commission, procedural issues, personnel and financial matters; file on procedure on appointment of a new member of the Commission, 1947-1948; correspondence concerning events preceding the winding-up of the Commission, 1951.

Financial records, 1931-1951, comprise papers on the Board Account, 1937-1950; papers on the Chin Fund (apparently a grant paid to Constance Chin, a patient of the Bethlem Royal Hospital), 1945-1951; summaries of expenses relating to purchase orders made by Chinese ministries, 1931-1951; Indemnity Fund cash books, 1937-1950; invoices and receipts relating to CGPC business, 1937-1951; financial statements and correspondence relating to banking matters with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 1931-1951, the subjects including investments and tax.

Operational records, c1928-1951, relating to the administration of purchase orders, comprise register of tenders/purchase orders, 1942-1946; contract registers (not comprehensive), 1931-1949, recording the management of contracts for the supply and delivery in China of plant, machinery and other materials manufactured in the UK for the Chinese government, and over 1,000 related contract files for engineering companies and manufacturers for industrial, construction, railway and other projects; tender forms, 1934, issued to contractors by the CGPC; specifications and standards, c1928-1937 and undated, largely for the construction of railways and carriages; correspondence concerning administration of purchase orders, 1932-1951, relating especially to delivery of locomotive spare parts and related materials; registers of export licences issue to British manufacturers under wartime regulations, 1941-1946; applications for export licences, 1939-1945; registers of shipments, insurance, freight and inspection fees, 1931-1951; shipping letters, 1937-1950, issued for CGPC shipments; general correspondence concerning the administration of the CGPC, 1931-1951, including correspondence with solicitors and correspondence concerning the CGPC premises in Tothill Street, London.

Annual reports and accounts, 1931-1950, comprise typescript accounts and reports, 1931-1950, of the CGPC and published annual reports, 1931-1950, including summaries of receipts and payments; and annual reports of the Board of Trustees, 1931-1938.

Miscellaneous records, c1932-1950, comprise one file including papers on subjects including railways, training Chinese students, Japanese imperialism, and CGPC records, a photograph of ships in harbour, and maps of China and the Far East.

Records, 1939-1943, of the China Purchasing Agency Ltd comprise standing regulations of the Board of Directors, undated; correspondence, 1939-1943, concerning various purchase orders; miscellaneous items, c1939-1940, including list of tenders passed for acceptance, 1939, and an undated schedule of materials shipped.

The records of this collection fall into two related groups: the records of three Huguenot families who came to England between 1685 and 1690 (ACC/2079/A-C); and the records of several successive firms of solicitors in which one of the descendants of those Huguenot families, P A Hanrott, worked (ACC/2079/D-F).

The collection is of interest for the study of Huguenot families, and contains a good deal of genealogical information (see for example the Gascherie family tree in AC/2079/A/1/24). Papers of the Gascherie and Chesneau families are arranged in four groups. The first group is the largest and consists of documents relating to a legal action brought by Madeleine Gashry on behalf of her mother Suzanne Gascherie, widow of Francois Gashry (see ACC/2079/B1), in La Rochelle to reclaim lands inherited by more distant relations on the death of her sister, Suzanne Gashry (Gascherie) in November 1762. The case required extensive proof of family relationships and copies of baptism, marriage and burial register entries were produced, as well as wills and marriage contracts and other legal documents relating to the lands in question (ACC/2079/A1/003-036). The case was conducted by agents in La Rochelle as Madeleine Gashry and her mother were in Amsterdam and The Hague at the time (ACC/2079/A1/001-002). Although these records partly relate to the Gashry family, they chiefly refer to lands held by Estienne Gascherie, Suzanne Chesneau, his wife and the inherited title of their daughter, Suzanne Gascherie, widow of Francois Gashry. Other records of the Gashry family are listed in section B.

The second group consists of other papers of Estienne and Suzanne Gascherie, including receipts for soldiers billetted on them in La Rochelle in 1685 (ACC/2079/A2/001) and a bond concerning a ship which may have been used to bring Estienne Gascherie to England (ACC/2079/A2/002).

The third group represents the papers of Brigadier Paul de la Gascherie, son of Estienne and Suzanne Gascherie, whose invention concerning sails and keels of ships won him a pension from the Estates General of the Netherlands (ACC/2079/A3/001). He worked all over Europe fitting his invention to ships of various fleets. He went to Moscow and Poland (ACC/2079/A3/016-025) and was in Portugal at the time of the Lisbon earthquake (ACC/2079/A3/008).

The fourth group of papers relates to the Chesneau family, principally the parents of Estienne Gascherie's wife, Suzanne Chesneau. They were French Protestants, and it would seem that Suzanne's father was imprisoned (if not even sentenced to death) during anti-protestant feeling in 1656 (ACC/2079/A4/001). This may explain the context of the exhortation written by Suzanne's mother to both her children, encouraging them to stand firm in the Protestant faith (ACC/2079/A4/003).

The records of the Archbishop of York's estates are interesting for a study of development of the Battersea and Wandsworth areas. The arrangement of the documents reflects these four aspects of their work. ACC/2079/F1 consists of general documents relating to the sale of the Battersea estates, the original deeds, precedents for the Archbishop's tenure of the estates, schedules of deeds and leases, and correspondence relating to more than one property. ACC/2079/F2 consists of documents relating to the Battersea and Wandsworth estates arranged alphabetically by tenant, as the holdings are not described fully enough to arrange them topographically. ACC/2079/F3 refers to the purchase of estates in Bishopthorpe and ACC/2079/F4 to the purchase of Lord Petre's house in Grosvenor Square.

There are also several items in the collection which do not appear to have any connection with the families or the solicitors' firms (ACC/2079/G). P A Hanrott collected a large library, and it is possible that these records were also collected by him.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising probate of will of Anne Aleyn of Harefield, widow, 1724; papers arising out of Chancery Suit regarding a share in the Shadwell Waterworks Company formerly belong to Robert Bodington, including drafts, correspondence, genealogical notes and involving such families as Pitfield and Bathurst, also giving some account of the history of the company and early shareholders, 1740-1866; documents arising out of trusts under will of Dr Daniel Tuke of Lyndon Lodge, Hanwell, 1924-1934; conveyance and mortgages for West End Farm Estate, Pinner, 1914; mortgages and conveyance for number 2 Palmerston Road, Twickenham, 1929 and 1958; draft wills of Miss Sibyl Thesiger, 1931-1947.

Papers, 1855-1897, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to properties in The Park, Ealing, including conveyances, mortgage and abstract of title. Also papers of George Hill of Millwall, including leases, probates of will, assignments, conveyances and mortgage.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising abstract of title of Edmondsons Limited to freehold land in Edmonton, including plans, 1871-1906.

Records relating to property, especially deeds for 31 Leinster Gardens, Paddington (formerly No. 20). Also some papers relating to houses at White Hart Lane, Tottenham and 4-8 Booth Street, Spitalfields, owned by the Morrell family.

Papers, 1923-1977, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to 45 Fairfax Road, Teddington, including abstracts of title, conveyances and mortgages.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising lease and counterpart lease for a house and garden intended to be called 39 Alfred Road, Acton, 1 May 1880 and mortgage for the same property, 3 May 1880.

Notes (handwritten) relating to a housing loan scheme proposed by the Church Benefit Society, including draft of charges and sample correspondence. Includes prospectuses and advertising pamphlets from existing building societies, presumably gathered for research, including the Prudential Assurance Company Limited, the Temperance Permanent Building Society, the Bradford Second Equitable Benefit Building Society, the Abbey Road Building Society and the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society.

Personal property records of Baptist Wriothesley Noel relating to premises in Hampton and Enfield.

Records of British Chemical Projects (Iridion) Limited, comprising articles of association; indenture; correspondence with the Trade Marks branch of the Patent Office; correspondence with Haseltine, Lake and Co, chartered patent agents; and certificates of trademarks issued in the UK, Argentina, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and France, 1927-1929.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising probate copy will of David Aldridge of Church Street, Staines, later of Feltham, carpenter, made 17 Feb 1888, proved 4 Jan 1892. Bequests include cottage in Hythe Road, Egham, Surrey.

Papers, 1881-1919, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to properties in Chiswick and Southgate, including leases, assignments of leases and mortgage.

Papers, 1893-1959, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to 27 Northolme Road, Highbury, Islington; including conveyance, mortgage, abstracts of title, assignment of leasehold and copy of will.

Papers, 1865-1954, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to 117 Tollington Way, Holloway, Islington; including leases, mortgage, conveyance, abstract of title and assignment of leasehold.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising abstract of title of Percy Bilton Ltd to land at junction of Hanger Lane and Western Avenue, Ealing, 1933; abstract of title of Percy Bilton Investment Trust Ltd to numbers 1 - 2b Royal Parade, Ealing, 1937 and abstract of title of Metropolitan Estate and Property Company Ltd to numbers 3 - 13 Royal Parade, Greystoke Corner, Ealing, 1952.

Papers, 1880-1916, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to properties in Ealing, including marriage settlements, assignments, mortgages, leases, agreements and sales particulars.

Papers, 1761-1904, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to properties in Hertford Road, Edmonton, including conveyances, abstracts of title and building agreement. Also papers relating to the Wood family of Littleton, including lease, marriage settlement and will.

Records of Paris Garden Manor, Southwark, including title deeds such as morgages, leases, and releases; probates, wills and letters of administration; courts leet and courts baron books; court minute books; licence books; lists of copyholders; papers relating to tenants; and map of the manor.

Papers of the McIntosh family relating to property transactions. Properties mentioned are in Bromley by Bow, Stepney, Limehouse, Shoreditch, Haggerston, and Bow Common. The premises include a soap factory in Stepney and factories at Bow Common.

Records of the Le Neve family, including deeds for properties in Southwark; documents relating to the bankruptcy of Edwin Morgan of 6 Three Crown Square, hop merchant; and agreement for custody of a mentally sick person.

Papers, 1753-1850, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising a release, a quitclaim, and two assignments, relating to property in Saint Marylebone and Worcestershire.

Records relating to the premises of a sugar factory, including leases and releases, mortgages, assignment of leasehold, and sales particulars, 1733-1870.

Records of the Majestic Cinema, Stoke Newington, including leases, fire insurance policies, aircraft insurance policy, consent for alterations and correspondence with solicitors, 1916-1940.

Papers, 1766-1898, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising letters of administration, probate copies of wills, a lease, a fire insurance policy and a covenant to produce deeds; relating to properties in Islington and Hackney.

Papers, 1750-1919, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising deeds and legal documents relating to premises in Masons Yard, Duke Street, Piccadilly, Westminster.

Report on the disposal and development of the estate of Mr and Mrs Backhouse, Old Kent Road, Southwark.

Title deeds relating to two houses in Brompton Road, later 1 Bute Sreet and Bute House, later Prospect House and Bute House, later 1 and 2 (also 2A) Sussex Place, 1846-1931.

Collection of title deeds and marriage settlements relating to properties in Fulham, Holborn, Enfield and Hampstead.

Papers, 1773-1849, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising mortgage for messuage on Saint Martin's Lane; assignment of a lease for premises at Lamb's Conduit Street; order by Commissioners for Paving, Cleansing, Lighting, and Watching the streets of the Parish of Christ Church, Spitalfields and lease for cottages in Whitton.

Records of the Suburban Building Land Company Limited, comprising lease of 11 Hawarden Grove, Herne Hill and assignment of 44 Lowth Road, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell; both documents dated 1898.

Legal, administrative and financial records, some relating to the Carpenter family, including letters; accounts; papers regarding various companies including the London Life Association and the Liberation Building Society; legal papers and court proceedings; deeds for premises at Hampstead, Ealing, Kentish Town and Wood Green; advertisements and handbills; papers regarding the police forces; job applications; sales particulars for the Globe public house in Shoreditch; deeds for the George public house in Finchley; copies of wills; and pamphlets.

Records of the Bowkett Benefit Building Society, 1864-1875, consisting of declaration by Secretary as to trustees and a mortgage of 89 Grove Road, Upper Islington.

Records of Lord Bolingbroke relating to his estates in Battersea, including leases, releases, conveyances and particulars of the estate including plans.

Records relating to the Calthorpe family estates, including mortgages, conveyances, insurance policies, tax redemption certificates, and letters. The estate included premises in Grays Inn Road, City Road, Gough Square, Chelsea, Fleet Street and in Norfolk.

Records of the Crawley family relating to the management of their estates in Holborn and Marylebone.

Title deeds and other papers relating to the Gort family estates in London, the Isle of Wight and Ireland.

E/GOR/1-174 comprise documents relating mainly to Gresse Street, Stephen Street, Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, St Pancras, London. E/GOR/175-243 comprise documents relating to East Cowes Castle Estate and other properties at Whippingham and East Cowes, Isle of Wight. E/GOR/244-263 comprise documents relating mainly to Oatlands and Roxborough, Co Limerick, Ireland.

Each of these sections is further divided into: (i) marriage settlements, probates, and other documents listed by person, which cannot be related to a specific property; and (ii) documents listed by property. Except in listing the original numbered series, sub-numbering has only been used where an item was originally enclosed inside another item.

E/GOR/59-174 form an original numbered series. The series contains a few conveyances but consists mainly of licences to demise granted by the Lord of the Manor of Tottenham to a trustee under the will of John Jones, leases made by the trustees under the same will, and assignments of leases.

The properties were held in trust for his daughter, Elizabeth Mary, wife of George Tudor (who was also one of the trustees) and later wife of John Prendergast, Viscount Gort. Each group of deeds relating to a property has an original number (marked in red ink on some of the documents) making it a part of an original series consecutively numbered.

Within this number series the series is ordered by street and then by street number, although occasionally a document relates to different properties in different streets. Many of the documents are not numbered but were found with numbered documents relating to the same properties. This particularly applies to the licences.

Papers of Lord Lloyd Kenyon relating to premises in Conduit Street, St George Hanover Square, Westminster.

The collection comprises records of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and Anne Leigh Smith, including marriage settlement, insurance documents, and papers relating to property in Marylebone.

The records of the Marquess of Northampton's London Estates in Holloway and Canonbury form a considerable collection of material from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries relating to the development of Islington.

Estate Records (E/NOR/E): These relate almost entirely to the Northampton Estates in London in Clerkenwell and Canonbury, Islington. There is a fine series of eighteenth century rentals and accounts which extend into the twentieth century. These can be used in conjunction with the leases and maps in E/NOR/L.

Also included in this section are records of Estate administration in the twentieth century, relating to legislation under the Housing Acts of 1925, 1930 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, together with more local orders by Finsbury Justices. In particular, there is a lot of material relating to the Clearance of the Northampton Road area in the 1930s and the building of new flats in Canonbury via the Compton Housing Association in the same decade. By 1954 at least part of the Canonbury Estate had been sold by the Northampton trustees to property companies Western Ground Rents and the Oriel Property Trust.

The development of the Canonbury Estate is outlined in the Victoria County History of Middlesex vol VIII pp 54,55.

Leases (E/NOR/L): There are a number of schedules of leases giving an insight into the running of the Estates in the nineteenth century; these are complemented by the Maps of Estates which vary in date from 1809 to 1947 (E/NOR/L/2), the maps in the Map and Print Section of the LMA, and Estate Records mentioned above.

The leases have been split into two groups: one covering the geographical area of Clerkenwell (E/NOR/L/3) and one covering Canonbury (E/NOR/L/4). They include documents from all forms of transfer of property and other related records: bargain and sale, demises, assignments, abstracts of title, building agreements, mortgages. Most of these have been kept in original bundles where possible.

For ease of access the leases have been listed in alphabetical order of streets and within each street by the numbered property. An attempt has been made to give alternative street names. Similarly cross references to properties mentioned in other deeds have been added. However, it has not been possible (or considered necessary) to produce a totally comprehensive appendix of street numbering changes. Individual instances of street numbering can be further clarified by reference to the LCC's published Names of Streets and Places and the accompanying list of Street Naming and Numbering records in the Catalogue Room.

Many of the nineteenth century leases have plans on them, but a number of separate plans of buildings are included separately at the end of the leases section (E/NOR/L/5).

Among the leases of Clerkenwell properties belonging to the Marquess of Northampton are the London Spa, Wilmington Square, Exmouth Market, the Sheep Skin Market at Woods Close, and Northampton Square.

Canonbury leases include Canonbury Tower, Canonbury House, Canonbury Square and Northampton House. Pevsner describes Canonbury as "especially illuminating for the development of domestic building in London."

Other Records: Apart from the Estate Records there are a number of significant small collections and individual items in this archive.

The Sheep Skin Market run by the Skinners Company in Woods Close is documented by three volumes of market books 1754-1772 (E/NOR/S/1-3).

Among items of local historical interest there are photographs of Canonbury (E/NOR/X) and a small amount of printed material on Clerkenwell including a History of Spa Fields Burial Ground (E/NOR/Y/2), and a sketch of Finsbury Health Centre (E/NOR/Y/7).

Away from Clerkenwell and Canonbury, there are some records concerning the Northampton family's involvement in the Ragged School at Hertford Place, Mile End Old Town (E/NOR/R) and the Northampton Training Ship (E/NOR/Y/8).

The collection comprises title deeds relating to land owned by the Benn-Walsh family, barons Ormathwaite, in Marylebone, Westminster, Stepney, Essex, Buckinghamshire and County Durham.

Papers of the Pym family relating to their estates and property in Arlington Street and Bennett Street, Piccadilly; and in Saint Martin in the Fields.

Papers of the Roupell family relating to property in Charlton and Woolwich, including rentals, accounts and plans. Documents relating to a distillery in Paddington and to appointment as a gaoler at Newgate appear to be unconnected to the family. It is possible that they are linked with the legal practice of Robert G. Roupell, Q.C., or G. B. Roupell.

Records relating to property owned by the Lane family in Grosvenor Square and Eaton Square, Westminster; Caterham; Croydon and Hove; and papers relating to a suit in Chancery.

Papers of Samuel Henry Wilson, including will, probate and correspondence; and deeds, insurance policies, reports, and valuations for properties in Fulham, Brompton, and Ratcliff.

Records relating to the Wild family, including mid 18th century presentments at the Manorial Court, assessments for land tax and house tax and deeds and indentures for the manors of Harmondsworth, Harlington, Hamworth, Cranford and Colham dating from 1550 to 1840.

Records of the London Diocesan Council for Welcare, 1962-1993, comprising annual reports of the London Diocesan Council for Moral Welfare, annual reports of the London Diocesan Council for Welcare and annual reports of local branch associations in Westminster, Willesden, Brent, Camden, Hampstead and Hounslow.

Papers of the Berney family, comprising deed for the transfer of estates including land in Barbados and slave lists, 1799; and transcript, 2000.

Records of the Court of Requests, City of London, 1595-1853, including committee reports; petitions; regulations; appointment of Commissioners; accounts ledgers; cash books; record of fees; summons books; warrant books; bonds and promissory notes, and other administrative papers.