Mostrando 17509 resultados

Records of the parish of Saint Andrew, Hoxton, including registers of baptisms, marriages, confirmations, banns, church services and preachers; papers relating to the benefice; faculties and plans for alterations to the church fabric; financial accounts; and Easter Vestry and Church Meeting minute book.

Records of the parish of Saint Bartholomew, Dalston Lane, Dalston, comprising registers of baptisms; registers of marriages; registers of banns; register of confirmations; registers of church services; and a preachers' book.

Records of the parish of Saint John the Baptist, New North Road, Hoxton, including registers of baptisms, marriages and burials; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; Churchwardens' financial accounts; registers of church services and preachers; photographs and prints.

Records of the parish of Saint Mary, Britannia Walk, Hoxton, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; registers of church services; and parish magazine.

Records of the parish of Saint Paul, Broke Road, Haggerston, including registers of baptisms and marriages; church services registers; Parochial Church Council minutes and electoral roll.

Records of the parish of Saint Stephen, Goldsmith's Row, Haggerston, including registers of baptisms and marriages; fundraising appeal pamphlets; printed hymn sheets; and notices.

Records of the parish of Saint Agnes, Kennington Park, Southwark, including registers of baptisms and marriages; church services registers; financial records; Parochial Church Council minutes; records of the Guild of the Ascension and the Burial Guild; parish magazines.

Records of the parish of Saint Jude, St George's Road, Southwark, including registers of baptisms, banns and marriages; church services registers; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; financial records including Churchwarden's accounts; papers relating to the maintenance of the church building; maps of parish boundaries; photographs; parish magazines and orders of service.

Records relating to the parish of Saint Paul, Westminster Bridge Road, Southwark, including registers of baptisms, marriages and church services.

Records of the Pembroke College Mission, Barlow Street, Walworth, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; church services registers; and minutes of the Parochial Church Council and other committees.

Records of the church of Saint Peter, Sumner Street, Southwark, comprising registers of baptisms and marriages.

Records of the parish of Saint Stephen, Manciple Street, Southwark, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; registers of church services; Parochial Church Council minutes; records relating to the parish National School; and administrative records.

Records of the parish of Saint Augustine, Settle Street, Stepney, comprising registers of baptisms and register of marriages.

Records of the parish of Christ Church, Commercial Street, Spitalfields, including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials; preachers' books; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; financial accounts; legal documents (such as deeds, leases and conveyances) relating to parish property; papers relating to the maintenance of the church fabric; records relating to church personnel; correspondence and working papers of the incumbents; records of the parish school and parish charities; papers relating to parish boundaries and the benefice; parish newsletters and printed items. Also papers of the Overseers of the Poor.

The collection includes a large amount of material relating to the restoration of the church building by the Friends of Christ Church, including minutes, administrative papers, plans and reports; and a set of papers relating to the work of the Spitalfields Crypt Trust including minutes, press cuttings and photographs.

Records of the parish of Saint Jude, Commercial Street, Whitechapel, including registers of baptisms and marriages; faculties and architect's reports relating to work on the church; and mortgages.

Records of the parish of Saint Mary, Whitechapel High Street, including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials; administrative and financial records; papers relating to parish charities and poor relief; tithe collectors' books; sections and elevations of the church building.

Records of the parish of Saint Mary, Cable Street, Stepney, including registers of baptisms, banns and marriages; church services registers; financial accounts; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minute books.

Records of the parish of Saint Paul, Bow Common, including registers of baptisms, marriages and church services.

Records of the parish of Saint Paul, The Highway, Shadwell; including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials; church services registers; administrative papers and correspondence; citations and faculties; and admission and discharge registers for Shadwell Workhouse.

Records of the parish of Saint Peter, Cephas Street, Mile End Old Town, including registers of baptisms and marriages; photographs; and a register of church services.

Records of the parish of Holy Trinity, Morgan Street, Mile End Old Town, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; registers of church services and minutes of the Parochial Church Council.

Records of the parish of Saint Olave, Woodberry Down, Stoke Newington, comprising register of baptisms; registers of marriages; register of confirmations and register of banns.

Records of the parish of All Saints, Brudenell Road, Tooting Graveney, comprising plans and drawings of a proposed new church, vicarage and parish hall.

Records of the parish of Saint Andrew, Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, including registers of baptisms, marriages and confirmations; church services registers; orders of service; papers relating to the consecration of the church; papers relating to parish boundaries, the benefice and glebe lands; papers relating to the construction of the church and faculties; minutes of the Vestry, Parochial Church Council and Advisory Church Council; minutes of church societies and clubs; parish magazines; notes on parish history.

Records of the parish of Saint Andrew, Guildersfield Road, Lower Streatham, including registers of baptisms and marriages; preachers' books; church services registers; minutes of the Committee for building a new church in Lower Streatham; financial records; plans of the church; photographs; parish magazines.

Records of the parish of Saint John the Evangelist, Clapham Road, Clapham, including registers of baptisms and marriages; administrative papers; Churchwardens' vouchers; financial records; and parish magazines.

Records of the parish of Saint James, Park Hill, Clapham Park, including registers of baptisms, marriages, burials and banns; registers of church services and preachers; orders of service; faculties and other papers relating to the maintenance of the church building; financial accounts; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; Young Men's Society minutes; parish magazines; and sermons.

Records of the parish of Saint Margaret, Putney Park Lane, Putney, including registers of baptisms, marriages, and banns; church services registers; papers relating to construction and maintenance works at the church and church hall; financial records; Parochial Church Council minutes, orders and correspondence; electoral rolls and parish magazines.

Records of the parish of Holy Trinity, Trinity Road, Upper Tooting, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; registers of church services; papers relating to the maintenance of the church; papers relating to the vicarage; financial records; and papers relating to parish societies.

Churchwarden's financial accounts for the church of Saint Clement Danes, Strand, Westminster.

Records of the parish of Saint John, Wellington Street, Woolwich, including registers of baptisms and marriages; Parochial Church Council minutes; and administrative papers.

Records of the parish of Saint Michael and All Angels, Borgard Road, Woolwich, comprising registers of baptisms and marriages.

Records of the parish of Saint Margaret, Vicarage Road, Plumstead, including registers of baptisms, marriages and burials; altered apportionments of tithe rent charges; certificates of redemption of tithe rent charges; Parochial Church Council minutes; papers relating to the maintenance of the church building; and papers relating to parish charities.

Records of the parish of Saint Mary Magdalene, Church Street, Woolwich, including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials; Vestry minutes; Churchwardens' accounts; Overseers' accounts; registers of church services; financial records; papers of parish charities; Parochial Church Council minutes; parish magazines; and scrapbooks.

Registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials for the parish of Saint Nicholas, High Street, Plumstead.

Records of the parish of Saint Paul, Hector Street, Plumstead, including registers of baptisms and marriages; registers of church services; and minutes of the Vestry and Parochial Church Council.

Registers of baptisms for the Royal Arsenal and Dockyard Chapel, Woolwich.

Records of the parish of Saint Thomas, Maryon Road, Charlton, including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; papers of church societies; papers relating to parish boundaries; faculties; and papers relating to parish schools.

Records of Hendon Magistrates' Court, 1873-1992 and Harrow (Wealdstone) Magistrates' Court, 1889-1934. Records of Hendon Magistrates' Court include: court registers (Hendon, Edgware and Harrow Courts); registers of juvenile, income tax and matrimonial cases; court minute books; licensing registers and bail forms. Records of Harrow (Wealdstone) Magistrates' Court include: court registers; Justices' Quarterly Meeting minute books and petitions.

Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate. Court minute books or notebooks are rough notes of the proceedings recording the gist of the evidence given.

Domestic / matrimonial cases: A married woman under the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act 1895 and subsequent Acts could go to a magistrates' court and apply for orders which in certain circumstances would enable her to separate from her husband, have custody of any children and receive maintenance from him. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1844 a mother expecting a bastard child or who had given birth to one could obtain a maintenance order against the putative father.

Records of Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, 1975-1999, including court registers; domestic proceedings; licensing and protection orders; rates registers; probation orders; adoption cases and custodianship cases.

Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate. Court minute books or notebooks are rough notes of the proceedings recording the gist of the evidence given.

Domestic proceedings: A married woman under the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act 1895 and subsequent Acts could go to a magistrates' court and apply for orders which in certain circumstances would enable her to separate from her husband, have custody of any children and receive maintenance from him. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1844 a mother expecting a bastard child or who had given birth to one could obtain a maintenance order against the putative father.

Records of Kensington Petty Sessional Division, 1890-1973, including court registers; registers of offences under the Education Acts; registers of offences under Weights, Food and Drugs regulations; minutes and registers relating to licensing; indexes of off-licensed premises; Justices signing-in books; court files; and records of the North-Western Sub-Committee of County of London Licensing Planning Committee.

Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate. Court minute books or notebooks are rough notes of the proceedings recording the gist of the evidence given.

This collection contains records of South Mimms Magistrates Court, 1880-1923 and 1929-1941, and consists of Court Registers. Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate.

Records of Saint Pancras Petty Sessional Division, 1823-1956, comprising court minute books, court registers and licensing registers. Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate. Court minute books or notebooks are rough notes of the proceedings recording the gist of the evidence given.

Records of the Thames Magistrates Court, 1804-1971, including court registers; clerk's letter books and papers; and wreck enquiry notes. Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate.

Collection of conveyances and other legal papers received from the British Records Association. Please note that cataloguing is still underway in some sections of this catalogue.

Q/UL/A1 Saint John's Street, Saint Sepulchre, London 1628- 1752;
Q/UL/A2 The Kynaston (Southouse) family 1656- 1835;
Q/UL/A3 Crane Court, Fleet Street, London 1667-1734;
Q/UL/A4 Parish of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch 1685-1725;
Q/UL/A5 Hedge Lane, Saint Martins in the fields 1690-1802;
Q/UL/A6 Parish of Saint George's, Hanover Square (Grosvenor Street section) 1722-1883;
Q/UL/A7 Parish of Saint George's, Hanover Square (Hereford Street section) 1777-1883;

Q/UL/C1 Leases, wills etc. 1663-1887;
Q/UL/C2 Leases, wills etc 1771-1789;
Q/UL/C3 Leases, wills etc. 1790-1795;
Q/UL/C4 Leases, wills etc 1795-1800;
Q/UL/C5 Leases, wills etc 1801-1908;
Q/UL/C6 Attwood family with independent London and Lincoln records 1673-1840;
Q/UL/C7 Hammond and Douglas 1674-1821;
Q/UL/C8 The Peache Family 1820-1893;
Q/UL/C9 Miscellaneous documents 1843-1913;

Q/UL/D1 Deeds 1606-1835;
Q/UL/D2 The James Family 1671-1857;
Q/UL/D3 Deeds 1229-1804;
Q/UL/D4 Will 1882;
Q/UL/D5 Defeasance and Lease 1645- 1676;
Q/UL/D6 Property records 1601-1873;
Q/UL/D7 Property records 1665- 1865;

Q/UL/E1 The Rayley Family 1604-1844;

Q/UL/F1 Clapham in relation to the Atkins family 1631-1776;
Q/UL/F2 Documents re Whitbread's, the brewing family 1695-1855;
Q/UL/F3 Whitbread (the brewing family) deeds 1803-1855;
Q/UL/F4 Samuel Whitbread (the brewing family) 1734-1840;
Q/UL/F5 The manor of Canlowes or Cantlers 1714-1769;
Q/UL/F6 The Family of Robert Pratt 1739-1864;
Q/UL/F7 Margaret Street and Oxford Road (Oxford Street) 1739-1825;
Q/UL/F8 Philip lane, St. Alphage (St Mary Aldermanbury) 1745-1831;
Q/UL/F9 The affairs of John Watt 1756-1848;
Q/UL/F10 Documents relating to the Peache family 1759- 1878;
Q/UL/F11 Peache family property records 1841-1878;
Q/UL/F12 The Maynard family, including Spencer road, Clapham 1779-1861;
Q/UL/F13 Parish of St Marylebone (various) 1794-1878;
Q/UL/F14 Grosvenor Place (records no longer in collection) 1801-1875;
Q/UL/F15 Thomas Hasker 1805- 1824;
Q/UL/F16 Eastcheap 1810-1833;
Q/UL/F17 Marquis of Headfort 1811-1819;
Q/UL/F18 St. Giles's, Camberwell and district 1812-1863;
Q/UL/F19 The affairs of John Robertson Bell and WM Wilkinson 1816-1820;

Q/UL/G1 West Smithfield 1818-1862;
Q/UL/G2 Clapton and surrounding area 1820-1829;
Q/UL/G3 Stepney 1824-1867;
Q/UL/G4 Anti-Gallican and Star 1838-1856;
Q/UL/G5 Cheapside 1836-1877;
Q/UL/G6 John Britten 1840-1878;
Q/UL/G7 The Hodgkinson 1843-1866;
Q/UL/G8 Southwark 1851-1887;
Q/UL/G9 The Parish of Lewisham 1854-1890;
Q/UL/G10 Messrs. Wilson and successors, Cheapside (File no longer in collection) 1854-1858;
Q/UL/G11 Rotherhithe 1855-1861;
Q/UL/G12 Miscellaneous documents 1693-1738;
Q/UL/G13 Miscellaneous documents 1752-1827;
Q/UL/G14 Miscellaneous documents 1777-1799;
Q/UL/G15 Miscellaneous documents 1801-1841;
Q/UL/G16 Miscellaneous documents 1820-1836;
Q/UL/G17 Miscellaneous documents 1836-1852;
Q/UL/G18 Miscellaneous documents 1846-1862;
Q/UL/G19 Miscellaneous documents 1852-1867;
Q/UL/G20 Miscellaneous documents 1856-1865;
Q/UL/G21 Miscellaneous documents 1866-1885;

Q/UL/H1 Deeds 1667- 1924;

Q/UL/J1 Miscellaneous deeds 1714-1767;
Q/UL/J2 Miscellaneous deeds 1772- 1779;
Q/UL/J3 Miscellaneous deeds 1780-1789;
Q/UL/J4 Miscellaneous deeds 1790-1799;
Q/UL/J5 Miscellaneous deeds 1800-1809;
Q/UL/J6 Miscellaneous deeds 1810-1819;
Q/UL/J7 Miscellaneous deeds 1820- 1829;
Q/UL/J8 Miscellaneous deeds 1824-1845;
Q/UL/J9 Miscellaneous deeds 1830-1853;
Q/UL/J10 Miscellaneous deeds 1837-1839;
Q/UL/J11 Miscellaneous deeds 1840- 1861;
Q/UL/J12 Miscellaneous deeds 1844- 1849;
Q/UL/J13 Miscellaneous deeds 1850-1859;
Q/UL/J14 Miscellaneous deeds 1860-1879;
Q/UL/J15 Miscellaneous deeds 1870-1885;
Q/UL/J16 Miscellaneous deeds 1880-1919;

Q/UL/K1 Leases, Deeds and Grants 1710- 1900;

Q/UL/L1 Assignments, Convenience, Deeds and Leases 1667-1894;

Q/UL/M1 Bargain Sales, Leases, Deeds and other property records 1630-1866;

Q/UL/N1/1-2 Bread St, Nicholas Olaf 1600-1605;
Q/UL/N1/3-13 The Hat and Feather, Birchin Lane, St. Michaels 1670-1748;
Q/UL/N1/14-17 1 Birchin Lane 1845-1859;
Q/UL/N1/18-27 Upper Fuzzy Field, St. Georges, Hanover Square 1732-1804;
Q/UL/N1/28-29 18 Laurence Pountney Lane 1797- 1803;
Q/UL/N1/30-36 20 Adam St., Adelphi 1811-1865;
Q/UL/N1/37- 43 21 Grosvenor St. 1815-1864;
Q/UL/N1/44-47 Trafalgar House, Walham Green 1854-1871;
Q/UL/N1/48-63 Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith 1869-1869;
Q/UL/N1/64-65 Mortgages from Clara Elizabeth, Albert and Rosina Pitter 1891-1891;
Q/UL/N1/66-88 Miscellaneous documents 1610-1893;
Q/UL/N1/89-90 Miscellaneous documents 1623-1735;
Q/UL/N1/90-202 Indenture of apprenticeship and other documents 1750-1879;

Q/UL/O1 The Sebright Collection 1605-1777.

Collection of documents removed from a partly Grangerized copy of Old and New London compiled by Edward Walford, comprising: narrative of the Walcheren expedition to the Netherlands, 1809; receipt for purchase of Consolidated £3% Annuities by Isaac Noquet; letter to Edward Walford from C. H. Bowden, Chaplain's House, Guy's Hospital, S.E., noting Guy's capacity in beds, its income, numbers of inpatients and outpatients; letter to Edward Walford from Eliza [Carver] of Dulwich College, asking him to tea before a concert; newspaper cutting concerning the opening of the first block of buildings of the Victoria Dwellings Association at Battersea Park.

NB - To 'grangerize' a volume is to add or interleave clippings or cuttings from other sources to the pages.

Papers of the Land Tax Commissioners including minutes, assessments, registers of assessments, redemption certificates, reports on cases determined by judges, and Ordnance Survey plans showing land tax areas.

Papers of the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace relating to administration, 1713-1883. Records relate to the House of Correction, Tothill Fields (also known as Westminster Bridewell and the Westminster House of Correction), including reports, letter book and minute books of the Visiting Justices; papers relating to the Governor of the House of Correction and other staff, including bonds, financial accounts and petitions; bills for maintenance and repair works; inventories; reports; returns of the number of prisoners; lists of prisoners; regulations; warrants and orders; correspondence and plans of the building.

Also minute book of the Committee of Accounts for City and Liberty of Westminster, 1839-1844.

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 of the Justices of the Peace for the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1687-1887. WJP/C contains the original Commissions of the Peace issued to the Justices of the Peace; WJP/L are lists of the justices in those commissions; WJP/D contains names of justices who had paid subscriptions for dinners held at the Sessions House; WJP/O contains a record of oaths taken by justices upon their appointment to the commission; and WJP/R is a record of the qualifications needed by justices in order to be eligible for appointment

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.