Records of the London Western Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1927-1964.

Records of the Middlesex Eastern Coroner's District, comprising case papers, registers, daily records and annual returns, 1892-1965.

Records of the Middlesex North Eastern Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1890-1892.

Records of the Greater London Northern Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1965-2001. Please note these records are subject to a 30 year closure period.

For the closed period researchers are advised to consult local newspapers for references to inquests. In very rare cases where medical or legal questions are involved, information from closed records may be made available. It will be necessary to contact the Coroner currently in charge of the court concerned, who has the power to release transcripts or details of inquests to suitable applicants.

Records of the North West Kent Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1951-1965.

Records relating to the inquest on the victims of the wreck of the steamship "Princess Alice", 1878-1966. Records include inquisition giving names, ages, relationship and occupations of deceased; sworn statements of witnesses; verbatim report of inquest proceedings at Town Hall, Woolwich; indexes of witnesses; list of persons saved from the "Princess Alice"; correspondence; report of the Board of Trade investigation into the wreck of the "Princess Alice"; supporting documentation including maps of the area and navigation regulations.

Also items relating to the disaster including memorial cards, songs, press cuttings and notes made by Gavin Thurston in preparation for his book The Great Thames Disaster.

Records of the Greater London Southern Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1965-1999. Please note these records are subject to a 30 year closure period.

For the closed period researchers are advised to consult local newspapers for references to inquests. In very rare cases where medical or legal questions are involved, information from closed records may be made available. It will be necessary to contact the Coroner currently in charge of the court concerned, who has the power to release transcripts or details of inquests to suitable applicants.

Records of the Greater London Western Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1965-1997. Please note these records are subject to a 30 year closure period.

For the closed period researchers are advised to consult local newspapers for references to inquests. In very rare cases where medical or legal questions are involved, information from closed records may be made available. It will be necessary to contact the Coroner currently in charge of the court concerned, who has the power to release transcripts or details of inquests to suitable applicants.

Records of the City and Liberty of Westminster Coroner's District, comprising case papers, 1927-1928.

Records of the Diocese of London, 1467-1976, held at the London Metropolitan Archives include:

• records of the Archdeaconry of Hampstead (induction mandates, visitation papers)
• records of the Archdeaconry of Hackney (visitation papers)
• records of the Archdeaconry of Middlesex (assignation books, churchwardens' presentments, financial papers, calendars, probate books and probate inventories, caveat books, registers of wills, administration bonds, renunciations, warrants, original wills, visitation books)
• records of the Consistory Court of London (Acts of Court, assignation books, deposition books, Vicar General's books, registers of wills, original wills, matrimonial and testamentary cause papers, appointments of proctors, caveat books, Chancellor's notebooks, statistics)
• papers of various rural deaneries (Paddington, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Saint Pancras, Enfield, Chelsea, Tottenham, Shoreditch, Saint Marylebone)
• bishop's transcripts from the County of Middlesex and the County of London

• papers relating to tithes (maps, apportionments, altered apportionments, certificates of capital value, awards of exchange, redemption certificates).

  Records of the Diocese of London, 1306-1996, (held at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section but currently accessible through the LMA) include:

• Bishops' registers
• Vicar Generals' books
• Bishops' Act books
• Ordination papers and Ordination registers
• Licensing papers for curates, lecturers, institutional chaplains, parish clerks, midwives, physicians and surgeons, schoolmasters
• Marriage allegations and marriage bonds
• Parish files (of church deeds, consecration papers, plans and so on.)
• Faculty papers, by parish.
• Subscription books.
• Parish register transcripts
• Episcopal visitation records
• Records of jurisdiction:-
• Commissary Court records including court books, probate records, original wills, probate and administration act books, probate inventories

• Estate records for property and manors in the City of London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Westminster and Worcester.

  Also papers relating to the Bishop of London's jurisdiction overseas. The Bishop of London was held to exercise responsibility for Anglican churches overseas where no other bishop had been appointed. He retained responsibility for churches in northern and central Europe until 1980, but his jurisdiction in southern Europe ceased in 1842 on the creation of the diocese of Gibraltar. In 1980, the Bishop of London divested himself of all overseas jurisdiction and a new diocese of 'Gibraltar in Europe' was established. Records include:-

• Ordination and licensing records
• Consecration papers and chaplaincy deeds
• Foreign register transcripts
• issues of the "Gibraltar and Fulham Diocesan Gazette"
• Foreign chaplaincy archives for the chaplaincies of:
  Adelboden, Switzerland
  Aix les Bains, France
  Alassio, Italy
  Archangel, Russia
  Athens, Greece
  Balestrand, Norway
  Biarritz, France
  Bologna, Italy
  Bordighera, Italy
  Boulogne, France
  Bucharest, Romania
  Bucharest and Lower Danubian ports, Romania
  Burgenstock, Switzerland
  Calais, France
  Cannes, France
  Cap d'Antibes, France
  Cartagena, Spain
  Champery, Switzerland
  Chantilly, France
  Corfu, Greece
  Davos, Switzerland
  Ferrol, Spain
  Florence, Italy
  Fray Bentos, Uruguay
  Geneva, Switzerland
  Ghent, Belgium
  Grindelwald, Switzerland
  Haarlem, Netherlands
  Hamburg, Germany
  Helsinki, Finland
  Hughesovka, Russia
  Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
  Leghorn, Italy
  Leysin, Switzerland
  Libau, Latvia
  Lisbon, Portugal
  Lucerne, Switzerland
  Lyons, France
  Messina, Sicily, Italy
  Minas de Riotinto, Spain
  Monte Carlo, Monaco
  Moscow, Russia
  Nantes, North West France
  Odessa and South Russia
  Oporto, Portugal
  Ostend, Belgium
  Palermo, Italy
  Pisa and Bagni di Lucca, Italy
  Ponta Delgada, Azores
  Riga, Latvia
  Rigi-Kaltbad, Switzerland
  Saas Fee, Switzerland
  St Servan, France
  Seville, Spain
  Spiez, Switzerland
  Stockholm, Sweden
  Stresa, Italy
  Syra, Greece
  Tamaris sur mer, Toulon, France
  Taormina, Sicily
  Trieste, Italy
  Ulvik, Norway
  Versailles, France
  Viareggio, Italy
  Vitznau, Switzerland
  Wengen, Switzerland
  Zermatt, Switzerland

Papers of the African National Congress, 1920-1976; comprising;

1. Papers of South African Indian organisations - resolutions, reports, petitions, memoranda, conference proceedings and agenda, etc., of the South African Indian Congress (1946, 1956), South African Indian Organisation (1951, 1959), Transvaal Indian Congress (1939-1963), Natal Indian Congress (1940-1961), Colonial Born and Settlers' Indian Association (1933-1934), South African Passive Resistance Council (1946), South African Indian Conference (1948), etc.
   2. Treason Trials (1954-1961) - including Treason Trial Defence Fund papers, papers relating to evidence, addresses at Natal Indian Congress and ANC conferences (1954), letters to Thomas Hodgkin in Oxford, England, mainly from Michael Parkington regarding the trial (1959)
   3. Miscellaneous Documents (1953, 1972-1976) - mainly ANC public statements and publicity material
2. Government of India, Department of Education, Health and Lands, Overseas Section/Branch - microfilm copy of files from National Archives of India relating to Indians in South Africa.

Microfilm of papers of Dr Albert Louis (Albie) Sachs, lawyer and political activist, concerning legal cases and political trials of approximately 100 individuals, in South Africa, 1956-1968; charges include murder, sabotage, rape, contravention of Emergency Regulations, membership of the Pan African Congress, incitement, distribution of banned literature, banning orders, arson, corruption, race classification and entering native locations.

Papers of Edward Trevor Dyson on his time in the Ceylon Civil Service, 1910-1929; comprising report 'The Spirit of Trincomalee', a description of Trincomalee at the end of 1910, including comments on visit by the Crown Prince of Germany, Prince Wilhelm; report 'The Bo Tree Incident', describing events after the cutting down of a sacred Bo Tree at Anuradhapura, 1929; letters to Bertha [the future Mrs Dyson], 1911, including description of journey to Kantalai, and the area around Kantalai, and account of journey from Trincomalee to Batticaloa, with account of his first visit to the prison at Batticaloa in his capacity as Assistant Inspector of Prisons, and of a case in court where he presided as magistrate.

Papers of Ruth Hayman on politics and human rights in South Africa, c1950-c1968; comprising file of press cuttings on law cases in Eastern Districts, mainly under the Suppression of Communism Act, or for membership of the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress; file of judgements in cases of Roly Israel Arenstein, Helen Beatrice Mary Joseph, Dennis Vincent Brutus, Terence Vigors Rait Beard, Lancelot Makgothi, Isaac Heyman, Phillip Sello and Violet May Weinberg under the Suppression of Communism Act, 1963-1966; legal papers mainly counsel's opinions on the Suppression of Communism Act, 1965-1966; papers on Johannesburg City Council Election campaign, in which Hayman stood unsuccessfully as an Independent Candidate in Berea; file of legal opinions and judgements, mainly relating to individuals served with Banning Notices under the Suppression of Communism Act, 1962-1965; paper by D V Cowan 'Parliamentary sovereignty and the entrenched sections of the South Africa Act', 1957; file of papers on case of Walter Vannet Hain, Adeline Florence Hain, and Fatima Meer, who had been served with Banning Notices under the Suppression of Communism Act 1963, 1976.

Photocopies of papers collected by Joel Joffe, lawyer acting for Nelson Mandela, relating to Mandela's trial in Pretoria (1962) and the Rivonia Trial (1963-1964); including Mandela's application to have the Pretoria trial postponed, Oct 1962; Mandela's address to the court in mitigation of the sentence of five years imprisonment, detailing his political commitment and activities in the African National Congress (ANC), Nov 1962; copy of the indictment in the Rivonia Trial, initial statement made by Mandela to his lawyers, giving details of his early life; notes by Mandela on his life and ANC accociation; copy of Mandela's statement from the dock, signed by Mandela, manuscript notes by Mandela to use if he were sentenced to death, and manuscript notes by Mandela referring to the tribal council called Imbizo.

Memoir of TW Roberts, as office assistant, Magistrate and District Judge in Matara, Kurunegala, and Chilaw, Ceylon, 1902-1916; containing an account of the daily routine, comments on public health, comments on relations with village headmen and Mudaliyars (Chief Headmen), notes on the administration of Crown land and on the administration of justice.

Manuscript diaries of Melvill Keverne Trelawny Sandys as Assistant Government Agent in Mullaittivu (1922-1923) and Mannar, (1931-1933), Ceylon; subjects include visits to villages, court cases, land sales, settlement of disputes, public health, inspection of salvage operations after cyclone and tidal wave.

Proceedings at a Court Baron, with tenant list, 1716.

Papers of August Closs and his family, comprising:
August Closs: Personal Papers
Correspondence with Hannah and Elizabeth Closs (later Closs-Traugott);
Diaries, 1915-1928;

General Correspondence: correspondents include Stefan Andres, 1960-1972; Anthony Blunt, 1976; Albert Einstein, 1930; T S Eliot, 1953; E M Forster, 1955; Sigmund Freud, 1930; John Galsworthy, 1928-1932; Bernt von Heiseler, 1953-1965; Arno and Anita Holz, 1922-1932; F R Leavis, 1948-1953; Thomas Mann, 1929; Christoph Meckl, 1962; J R R Tolkien, 1955;
Correspondence with UK/US based academics: correspondents include F W Bateson, 1956; Jethro Bithell, 1951-1957; Lord David Cecil, 1955; W E Collinson, 1944-1968; David Duckworth, 1972-1989; H G Fiedler, 1936-1944; Stanley Goodman, 1941-1942; G P Gooch, 1946-1963; Brian Keith-Smith, 1966-1982; Sir John Kingman, 1985-1988; Victor Lange, 1951-1973; Eudo C Mason, 1951-1963; Estelle Morgan, 1953-1987; Irene Morris, 1955-1957; Roy Pascal, 1948-1978; Ronald Peacock, 1945-1959; F P Pickering, 1937-1958; Siegbert and Helga Prawer, 1952-1987; Edna Purdie, 1953-1964; Hans S Reiss, 1964-1989; Hermann Salinger, 1963-1966; Paul and Vivian Salmon; David Scrase, 1964-1989; Ernst Stahl, 1963-1969; Ellisabeth and F J Stopp, 1946-1973; John Joseph Stoudt, 1945-1963; H M Waidson, 1960-1978; L A Willoughby, 1952-1977; Roy A Wisbey, 1980-1988; W E Yuill, 1967-1978; E H Zeydel, 1942-1961;
Correspondence with German/Austrian/Swiss based academics: correspondents include Ernst Alker, 1952-1972; Felix Braun, 1942-1948; Hans Egon Holthusen, 1950-1961; Heinz Kindermann, 1949-1974; Frans Koch, 1946-1957; Manfred Lurker, 1968-1972; Horst Oppel, 1946-1985; Arthur Pfeiffer, 1953-1957; Hans Pyritz, 1933-1956; Kurt Schäfer, 1982-1986;
Correspondence with other European based academics: correspondents include Jan Aler, 1946-1959 and Erik Lunding, 1953-1969;
Correspondence with individual academics, Hans Bähr, Roger Loomis, Eirwen and Idris Parry, Friedrich Heinz and the Humboldt Gesellschaft;
War diaries of Max Closs;
Correspondence with L P Hartley, 1955-1972, and letters between Closs and publishers on the publication of the correspondence;
Corrspondence, photos and papers on Theodor Däubler, 1930-1947 and undated;
Correspondence and articles relating to Herman Pongs, 1946-1978;
Notes, articles and reviews by Closs on German literature, 1915-1990;
Papers relating to Bristol University, including correspondence and papers on award of Honorary D.Litt, 1987;
Correspondence and papers on the Bristol/Hannover Link 1947-1987, particularly 40th anniversary celebrations, 1987;
Correspondence with publishers on royalty payments, 1949-1983;

Robert Preibsch papers, 1899-1934, including correspondence, notes on German literature and palaeography, correspondence about the Priebsch/Closs Collection;

Hannah Closs papers 1934-1952, including correspondence, reviews and articles, writings on art, reviews of her work, obituaries and tributes;

Elizabth Closs-Traugott papers, 1951-1988, including correspondence, notes for lectures, articles and reviews, and press cuttings;

Acquired Papers:
Medieval manuscripts: Das Leiden Christi, mss booklet describing a vision by a nun of the Passion of Christ [15th century], Pseudo-Clemens Romanus, early 9th century west German fragment; Heinrich Seuse: Buch der ewigen Weisheit six loose fragments [14th century], Predigten, by German wandering preacher, in Latin, c 1450; wooden cover with pressed calf leather, bearing arms of Pope Paul III Farinesi;
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century material: Hexenprozesse three folio booklets - original records of witchcraft trials of Catharina Stroblin, 1617; Appolonia Nueberin, 1623, bill to cover costs of difficulties caused by and rewards offered for executed magical persons during the years 1617, 1628, 1629 by Hans Schölern; title deed to land and farm sold by Nette, servant of Graf Dietrich von Plesse to a nunnery, Low German, 1516;
Autograph letters and mss including poems Bittschrift by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, [undated], and Friedrich von Bodenstadt [undated]; letters from Wilhelm von Humboldt [c 1799], Theodor Storm, 1867, Friedrich and Caroline de la Motte Fourque, 1814, 1927, Eduard Devrient, 1839, August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben, 1864, Friedrich Schlegrl, [undated], Ludolf Wienbarg, 1839, Christina G Rosetti, 1865, James Martineau - letter to J S Mill on the University of London, 1841, Stefan Zweig, 1909, Henriette Hendel-Schütz, 1807, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, 1856.

Copy of a summary of the case against Seventh Day Adventists Reformists at a special court in Mannheim, Hesse, Germany, 1937. Includes a history of the origins of the church during World War One; short biographical accounts of some of its members; and list of defendants and their legal representatives. Under the names of each of the accused are listed the particular charges. Robert Eduard Rupprecht is listed first as leader of the Mannheim branch of the organisation.

Personal papers of Erich Arp mainly concerning his membership of political and student organisations; Military Government Court indictments of Geissler and Arp and notes relating to indictments, 31 May 1945; Enclosures including reports regarding the history of Nazi support and ant-Nazi activity in Elmshorn; pamphlets produced at the end of the war by the Antifaschistisches Deutsches Kampf Komitee, Hamburg.

Manuscript volume containing transcripts of documents relating to the Court of Wards, [1620], namely a selection of decrees from 1553 made by John Hare, headed 'Le Court des Gards', dated [12 Jul] 1581; reports of cases of the Court of Wards, dated 1605-1610; 'Instructions for the Master of our Wards and Liveryes', [by James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough, dated [Dec, 1618]; an account [by William Rastell] of procedure in the Court of Wards, with a table of fees and a table of contents, dated [1622].

Manuscript volume containing an Order of the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 15 Jul 1740, fixing allowances for the conveyance of rogues and vagabonds. It is addressed to the Rev John Ingram [of Little Wolford, Warwickshire].

A Minute Book, 1766-92 of the Water Court of the Manor and Hundred of Faversham.

Five items dating from 1471-1476 and 1547 from the Veere Magistracy concerning the payment of monies. Manuscripts 4-7 are concerned with the parties John van Zantgaten and John Belt; manuscript 8 concerns a Scottish Conservator, John Moffat, and the Councillors of Veere.

Copy of a Court Roll containing a grant to John Emyford, clerk, of 5 pieces of arable land of the lord's demesne, formerly in the farm of Thomas Dowe and recently in the farm of Gregory Brandon, by the annual farm of 10d. for each acre annually. The roll also includes livery of seisin to John Emyford, clerk, at the same court. The annual rent is 4s.9d. The document is dated 'Thursday after 6 October, temp. Henry [IV?]', probably [1400-1425].

Copy of a Court Baron roll, containing a surrender by William Draper of all his messuages, lands, tenements, etc., to the uses of his will. Signed by Edmund Littler, deputy steward of the manor, and dated before 17 August 1719.

Copy of Court Roll made at the Court Baron of Sir John Brokett (Brockett), Lord of the Manor of Westington, containing a surrender by John Clerke (by the hands of John Cony and William Clerke, customary tenants) of a copyhold property and the admission of John Adams, his heir, for a fine of 16s. The property consists of 3 acres known as Grene Croft. Signed by Thomas Walkenden, steward.

Copy of a Court Roll made at the Court Baron of Sir John Brokett (Brockett), Lord of the Manor of Westington, containing a Surrender of copyhold by Richard Adams, customary tenant, of a tenement with croft adjacent containing one acre, another close containing about three acres, also three acres of arable land lying in Fynceley Churche Fylde, to the use of John Adams, his elder son. Also contains the Admission of John Adams for an annual rent of 7s.9d.

Printed warrant, completed in manuscript and dated 28 May 1751, directed to the constable of Thornham Magna (Great Thornham), Suffolk, to produce Ann Lincoln, single woman, before E. Frere, Justice of the Peace to answer charges brought against her by Thomas Mottram of 'keeling false and short yarn'. There is a note of conviction 'but the punishment was respited on account of sickness'. Signed by E.Frere.

Manuscript justification written by Admiral John Forbes of his attitude in refusing to sign the warrant for the execution of Admiral Byng on a charge of neglect of duty in the face of the French fleet off Minorca in 1756. Signed 'J.F.' 16 February 1757.

Manuscript volume of extracts from the record of the Court of Queen's (and King's) Bench, and also from the Court of Common Pleas, for proceedings from the 15th century to the reign of Elizabeth, probably compiled c1590-1600. The extracts include pleas, posteas and memoranda of the 15th and 16th centuries, with marginal notes describing the subjects of the pleas, and perhaps acted as a lawyer's precedent book. References to the original court rolls are sometimes given.

Transcript, probably made in the late 17th century, of the allegations made by Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, against his wife for adultery before the Court of Arches, under 35 articles. Thomas Exton is given as the Dean of Arches. One page is blank except for: 'this side was skipt by the transcribers oversight'.

Legal commonplace book, [1708-1732], containing miscellaneous memoranda, mainly relating to ecclesiastical courts, including the following:

1. Tables of fees, including those payable to officials in the archdeaconry of Leicester (c 1708); visitation fees; 'Fees due to the Clerk of the Peace and other Officers at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace'; fees taken by Proctors at Norwich and Leicester and by officials of the archdeaconry of Sudbury; lists of stationery required for legal transactions, available at 'Mr. Moley's near the Cross in Bury St Edmunds'; and 'Mr. Nelsons account of artificers servants & labourers wages etc', giving 61 occupations.
2. List of deaneries in Norfolk and Suffolk giving the churches in each, and the apparitors of each deanery, with a 'Table of fees where the court proceeds of its own accord', and a note of activities of Mr. Clagett in 1732.

Manuscript fragments used to strengthen a book-binding, as follows:

1. Leaf containing part of scholastic commentary on Psalm 101, 2-5. The exposition is broken up into paragraphs. The manuscript was written in England in the 14th century.
2. Letters, dated 1695, issued by the Greffiers of the Court of the Small Seals for Contracts, Paris, recounting proceedings before the notaries Jean Herrard and Charles Gaugnard which involve Pierre Rémy and others, Master-Tailors of Paris. With a printed heading.

Court Leet Roll of the Manor of Keninghale, 1521-1547, presumably Kenninghall, Norfolk.

Research papers [1940s] of John Fage on the development of Southern Rhodesia (presumably for his PhD), largely covering the period from the 1890s to the 1930s, comprising notes, largely manuscript but including some typescripts, of primary and secondary sources including official sources, among them British parliamentary papers, Colonial Office correspondence, records of the Executive and Legislative Councils of Southern Rhodesia and its High Court, also including a bibliography. The subjects include pre-history, geography and geology, colonial administration, the British South Africa Company, economics, indigenous affairs, labour, and land tenure.

Typescript papers, 1930-1931, on the court case Rex v C Diedericks and others, concerning alleged unrest between Europeans and coloured people and a supposed meeting by the Plaatjes in the coloured township of Bulawayo, Swellendam, South Africa, including police witness statements, and correspondence between the police and the magistrate relating to alleged inconsistencies between the statements.

Records, 1902-1977 and undated, of and accumulated by the Restatement of African Law Project (RALP), School of Oriental and African Studies, comprising papers of RALP relating to administration, including minutes; and research material, such as notes, publications, theses, and other collected papers, on tribes and places including Basutoland (Lesotho), Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia and Zambia, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Tanzania, and Uganda, relating to customs, aspects of law including succession, slavery, marriage and divorce, land tenure, legal systems, including customary law, legislation, courts, and particular legal cases.