Collyer Bristow and Company , solicitors

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

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

A bargain and sale was an early form of conveyance often used by executors to convey land. The bargainee, or person to whom the land was bargained and sold, took possession, often referred to as becoming 'seised' of the land.

Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.

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

The firm of Collyer Bristow and Company, solicitors of 4 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4DF, has been in existence, albeit under different names, since the late 18th Century. The earliest document in this collection dates from 1781, when the partners were Dyneley, Bell and Dyneley.

In the mid-19th Century a member of the Collyer Bristow family joined the company, at which time it was known as Coverdale, Lee and Collyer Bristow. Between 1876 and 1922 a succession of partners passed through the firm, it became first Collyer Bristow, Withers and Russell, then Collyer Bristow, Hill, Curtis and Dodds and Collyer Bristow, Curtis, Booth , Birks and Langley, before setting on Collyer Bristow and Company in 1922.