Showing 181 results

This archive relates mainly to the management of the coffee, coconut and cinnamon estates of A. S. Daniell and his son S. W. Daniell in Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]. The estates were called Gomera Tennai, New Gomera, Olooambelam, Imbulgaswaddie and Katooloya Tennei. The archive consists mainly of returns and reports from the local managers, Darley Butler and Company of Colombo, Ceylon, and of correspondence, accounts and legal papers. It also includes some family papers, comprising copies of wills and marriage settlements, accounts, bills and receipts, and a letter. Additional records of Daniell and Company, of separate provenance, are catalogued as Mss 11464-11465a.

A collection of local Acts of Parliament relating to Middlesex and Westminster, concerning building permission (including building bridges over the Thames at Richmond, Staines and Ealing); the powers of Justices of the Peace; the administration of the Militia; street maintenance; enclosures; and legacies, especially the disposition of estates and land after death.

Court roll of the manor of Aldbury, Hertfordshire.

Records of the Parish of All Saints, Laleham, including registers of baptisms, marriages, burials, banns of marriage and church services; papers relating to glebe lands, benefices and tithes; Churchwarden's accounts; faculties and other papers relating to the maintenance of the church building, fittings and churchyard; Vestry minute books; Parochial Church Council cash books; papers relating to parish charities; papers relating to Laleham School; financial accounts of the Overseers of the Poor; enclosure awards and maps; and some correspondence.

Records of the Allen and Cooper families of Finchley; including family pedigrees; grant of arms; wills; marriage settlements; copies from parish registers; papers relating to family finances; papers relating to property owned by the families; insurance policies; letters; historical research; surveys; papers relating to enclosure; legal papers including Chancery proceedings; and copies from court rolls.

Records of the Ampthill Square Garden Committee, comprising minutes and byelaws, an account book, deeds and papers relating to property at 24 Ampthill Square and 11 Stratford Place, bills and petitions against the London and North Western Railway Company, a few reports and a plan of the Square in 1884.

Deeds and other papers, 1721-1923, relating to the estates of the Andrews and Weall families; including title deeds and other documents relating to the Andrews' estate in Pershore, Worcestershire (comprising various premises), 1744-1910, including references to various other individuals (Ref: ACC/1058/1-77); and records relating to the administration of the trust funds and estate of Margaret Andrews (Ref: ACC/1058/78-302), comprising title deeds and other documents relating to the Pinner estate (comprising various premises), 1721-1881, including references to various other individuals (Ref: ACC/1058/78-176), and records relating to the administration of trust funds, 1855-1923, comprising accounts of the trustees, correspondence and conveyances of the estate to property developers (Ref: ACC/1058/177-302).

The trustees' correspondence throws light on the state of farming and agriculture in Middlesex during the 1880s. The papers also include records relating to Margaret Andrews' litigation against her trustees.

Also papers of Dr James Andrews, 1852-1919, including insurance policies and conveyance of premises at Hampstead (Ref: ACC/1058/303-318).

Records of the Paget family relating to the manors of West Drayton, Dawley, Harlington and Harmondsworth, and properties owned by the family in London, Westminster, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey. The papers include court rolls and books; court papers; customs; estate and financial management; court fines and estreats; wages; rentals; tenancy lists; surveys, valuations and inventories; maps and plans; enclosure records; tithe records; sales particulars; correspondence and muniments of title.

Also papers relating to household management such as bills, receipts, inventories, valuations, insurance and correspondence; genealogies and pedigrees; business papers; records relating to appointments and commissions; personal financial accounts; diaries and legal papers.

Subject files of the Association of District Councils (ADC), comprising:

• the Council of the ADC's Reviews of the Structure of the ADC, 1987-1989, 1993;
• files of the Environmental Health committee, on AIDS, 1990-1995, Nuclear Power and Nuclear Issues, 1990-1995, and Genetic Manipulation, 1990-1992;
• files of the Housing committee, on Homelessness, 1991-1995;
• files of the Planning committee, on Gypsies, 1990-1995;
• files of the Selection committee, on the Rights of Way Review Committee, 1992-1995, and Common Land, 1990-1992.

Papers relating to property owned by the Bacon family, including copy of Act of Parliament to partition real estate devised by will of John Bacon of Friern Barnet containing an inventory of lands in question; notes of judgements in cases of debt brought against member of the Bacon family and accounts of debts and insolvency of Bacon family; legal opinion of liability of estates to creditors; agreement and conveyance for land in Muswell Hill.

Records of William Bagshaw relating to two properties in which he had an interest, 42 Craven Street, Strand and 3 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, and to a grave in Highgate Cemetery he purchased. One document shows him acting as a trustee. Two apprenticeship indentures have no obvious link with the rest of the documents, and may have come from another source.

Records of John Barton relating to the trust of Thomas Woodrouffe Smith. Apart from property in Essex, Surrey, Norfolk and the City of London, T. W. Smith was the owner and lord of the Manor of Teddington, and the bulk of the material in this deposit relates to that manor, including a series of court rolls. Throughout the Middle Ages the manor was the property of Westminster Abbey, being granted to Henry VIII in exchange for other lands in 1536, who then made it part of the Honour of Hampton Court. In 1603 it was granted to John Hill {1246/019} and its subsequent ownership can be seen from the deeds in this deposit {1246/019-082}. Between 1802 and 1863 John Barton's trustees sold the manor and demesne lands off in parcels, which heralded the beginning of Teddington's urbanisation. This and a previous deposit of manor court books {see ACC/0363} came from the solicitors who had acted for the trustees in the 1860's.

Legal documents, acquired by the solicitor's office in the course of their work, relating to the Manor of Stanwell, including: abstract of title for the Manor of Stanwell, parties: Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland and John, Earl of Dunmore, 1576-1725; abstract of title for lands in the parish of Stanwell, parties: Richard Willshaw and Lord Dunmore, 1677-1726; abstract of title for arable lands in the common fields of Stanmore, parties: Richard Blunt and the Earl of Dunmore, 1714-1737; abstract of tithe for copyhold lands in Stanwell, some belonging to the Earl of Dunmore, 1712-1780; and memorial of release for lands in the parish of Stanwell, 1736.

Also deed of company to establish a bank, to be called the 'Middlesex and Surrey Bank' at Staines, 1810; marriage settlement for lands in Staines, Highgate, Hornsey and Shenley Bury (Hertfordshire), 1844; copy of probate of will, regarding a house at Stamford Hill belonging to Thomas Gudgeon and copy of information at the Exchequer relating to a prosecution for evasion of stamp duty on bottles of soda water, 1813.

Records of the Beauclerk family relating to property in Hanworth, Feltham, Hounslow, Hampton, Isleworth, Heston, Westminster, Chelsea, Brompton, and Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Cheshire. The records include rentals and tenancy accounts; title deeds; property transactions; extracts from court rolls; bonds; legal opinions and leases.

Papers of the Berkeley family including plans of family estates in St George Hanover Square, Cranford, Harlington, and Hillingdon; and pedigree of the Earls of Berkeley and the Barony of Fitzhardinge.

Papers relating to the Berkeley family estates in Middlesex and London. Please note that the original records in this collection are now held at the archives in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire and only microfilm copies can be viewed at LMA.

The documents relate to the Manors of Cranford, Harlington, East Bedfont, and Heston and to property in Harlington and Saint James's Park. They include Court rolls and books, rentals, financial accounts and other papers.

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 Bethnal Green Poor Lands Trust including deeds of title; appointments of new trustees; leases and counterpart leases; minutes of the trustees; orders of the Charity Commissioners; accounts; correspondence and case papers; records of pensioners and printed copies of the 1690 foundation deed.

Deeds and legal documents, 1765-1909, relating to property in Great Stanmore, including papers relating to the Great House (later known as Hill House) and Charles Fortnum, antiquarian.

Confirmation by Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, of premises in South Mimms purchased by Henry Frowic, citizen of London, from Arnulf de Maundevil; together with right of common for Frowic's animals, to include 40 she-goats and 2 he-goats, in de Bohun's park at Enfield, 1250.

Papers collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising the marriage settlement and related documents of John Powell of Clapton House, Hackney, and his bride Frances Irby, daughter of Reverend Paul Irby of Cottisbrooke, Northants, 1850-1908; lease for 1 Lancaster Avenue, Enfield, 1909, and agreement of Randal, Earl of Berkeley to sell part of the Cranford Park Estate in Cranford, Harlington and Hayes, 1931.

Records relating to Southwark Guildable Manor, comprising summons to attend court leet as juror and photocopy of explanation of history and functions of courts leet provided by Borough Market Trustees for new jurors, 1984.

Records relating to property owned by the Irby family, barons Boston, in Shepperton, Sunbury, Barnes, Chertsey, Hillingdon and Hanover Square. The records include title deeds, legal documents, orders and inventories.

Records relating to the family of Boyle, Earls of Burlington and Cork, and of the family of Fairfax, Barons Fairfax of Cameron. Papers include notes by Sir Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, on the rise of his family (copy of a document of 1632); commissions of Henry, Lord Fairfax as Colonel of the Regiment of Foot, West Riding, Yorkshire, 1679 and 1685; appointment of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, as Deputy Lieutenant for West Riding and York, 1700; papers of Richard, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, including records of the management of his estates in Ireland and Burlington Gardens, London, legal papers, and correspondence, 1724-25.

Documents acquired by the solicitors in the course of their work, including copies of court rolls for the manor of 'Stebunheath alias Stepney', 1800-1811; particulars and conditions of sale for various premises in Ashford and Stanwell, Paddington, Rotherhithe, Deptford, Whitechapel, Saint George's-in-the-East, Wapping, Hampstead, Westminster, and Feltham, 1855-1895; and abstract of title for property in Ealing, 1870 [abstract of title: a summary of prior ownership drawn up by solicitors showing how title to the land devolved to the party currently possessing it].

Records of the de Burgh family relating to their estates in Hillingdon, Harmondsworth and West Drayton, including leases, releases, mortgages, letters, agreements and tax certificates. Also court rolls (courts baron) for the Manor of Colham and the Manor of West Drayton.

Papers, 1610-1887, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising legal documents relating to property in Westminster, Uxendon, Preston, Kenton and Wembley, including Preston Farm and Uxendon Manor House.

Papers, 1707-1760, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising copies of court rolls of the Manor of Colham.

Records of the Byng family relating to their estates, including Wrotham Park and surrounding lands, Barnet; and properties in South Mimms; Potters Bar; Westminster; Berkshire and Hertfordshire. The collection includes some family papers including marriage settlements and wills.

Records of the Canons Park Estate Company Limited, 1640-1929, including printed copy of the abstract of title of the Canons Park Estate Co to "all that capital messuage or mansion house called "Canons" with the park gardens, pleasure grounds, lodges, stables and outhouses, buildings, lands and hereditaments thereto belonging situate in the parishes of Little Stanmore and Great Stanmore", 1860-1898; lease of Canons Manor by Sir Robert Stone, 1640; various assignments of term and conveyances; letter from James Drake of Canons Park to the Parish Overseers suggesting that 100 poor children of the parish of Little Stanmore should be employed in the lace making industry, 1813; report on local charities by Committee appointed by Great Stanmore Parish Council to Sir John Fitzgerald, Chairman of Great Stanmore Parish Council, 1929; legal documents and accounts relating to land in Wirksworth, Stafford, Derbyshire and Lincoln.

The records comprise transcripts by Frederick Teague Cansick of monumental inscriptions in churchyards and burial grounds in Saint Andrew Holborn, Saint Giles in the Fields, All Hallows Bread Street, All Hallows London Wall, Christchurch Newgate Street, Saint Benet Paul's Wharf, Saint Botolph Aldersgate, Saint Mary Aldermary, Saint Mary Woolnoth, Saint Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, Saint Mary Queenhithe, Saint Sepulchre, Saint James Pentonville Road, All Saints Edmonton and All Hallows Tottenham.

Papers relating to the Warren House estate in Great Stanmore, including deeds, covenants, leases, assignments, conveyances, extracts from wills, grants and agreements.

This collection refers to estates in the Isle of Dogs (Poplar) and Woodford, owned by the Mellish, Glengall and Charteris families. The records consists of the title deeds to the properties, leases of the properties, and financial and legal records arising from the administration of trusts to provide income from the properties for members of the Charteris family, chiefly Lady Margaret Charteris and Edmund Butler Charteris.

Records of the manor of Manor of Chipping Barnet and East Barnet, Hertfordshire. They include minutes, court rolls and rentals.

Records of the parish of Christ Church, Barnet, including registers of baptisms, marriages, banns of marriage, and confirmations; registers of church services; working papers of the incumbent; Vestry and Parochial Church Council minutes; financial records; papers of the Sunday School; magazines, publications, newspaper cuttings, historical notes and photographs; papers relating to tithes, glebes and terriers; papers relating to the maintenance of church buildings and fittings, including faculties, correspondence, plans, specifications and architect's reports; and plans of the churchyard.

Records of the parish of Christ Church, Notting Hill, including registers of baptisms, marriages and banns; church services registers; curates' licences; papers relating to parish boundaries; papers relating to the income of the parish including the glebe, pew rents and the benefice; papers relating to church buildings including the vicarage; minute books of the Parochial Church Council; and financial accounts.

Records relating to estates owned by Christs Hospital in East Bedfont, including letters, reports, leases, deeds and valuations.

Records of the Church Commissioners, 1814-1907, including a glebe exchange award, Ruislip, with map [a glebe is a portion of land assigned to a clergyman as part of his benefice]; documents relating to altered apportionments of corn rents, Ruislip; plans of the Parish of Enfield and the Parish of Edmonton; architect's drawings of houses and shops-cum-residences on Hornsey Clebe Estate; "Plan of Land near Harrow on the Hill, adjoining the Station on the London and North Western Railway, showing the proposed arrangement of the Sites for Villas, the Roads, etc." and plan of the District of the Hornsey Local Board.

Registers and day books of burials in consecrated or church ground and unconsecrated or chapel ground, 1841-1952, showing name, abode, when buried, age, place of burial, when and by whom buried, private vault or grave, purchased monuments and where placed (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilms X64/1-41); fee books, 1902-1966, including remarks, registrar, sub-district, date of certificate, digger, stone, bill number, name of deceased, age, time, depth, received by, minister, undertaker, secretary's signature, price, description of graves, square position (not always), size of coffin, undertaker's commission, amount; registers of private graves, 1841-1941, showing number of graves, description of place of burial, date and consideration of grant, names and addresses of purchasers, name and description of person interred, year and number (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilms X64/42-46); registers of public graves, 1900-1965, showing number, date, name, age and time of burial (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilm X64/47); register of private grave transfers, 1938-1966, showing transfer number, date, grave number, transfer from/to, address and remarks; correspondence relating to private graves; incumbents' account book, divided parish by parish, 1922-1966, and plans of the graves.

Also deeds and legal papers, 1841-1898; report to Directors by Committee of Proprietors appointed by an Extraordinary Court, to investigate expenditure and general state of the Company's affairs, 1843; report to Directors by Henry George Haywood on proposals for draining the cemetery, 1857; correspondence relating to staffing, sewers and the East London Eastern Extension Railway, 1849-1871; bills, 1841-1897; specification for sewers and roads, with sections, 1884; plans of cemetery including proposed southern extension, 1800s; impression in red wax of seal of Company, 1841; legal records, 1844-1942.

Records of the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, 1852-2000. Mainly administrative records including the Registers of Private (Purchased) Graves 1856-1949 (each volume is indexed). Some people purchased graves as they were needed, and in these cases, the date of burial corresponds fairly closely with the date of purchase of the grave. However, other people purchased a grave decades before they died, so the date of burial is not always enough to enable the registers to be searched. It is often useful to refer to the burial registers first (still held by the Cemetery), to obtain the grave number and grant number, which can then be used to locate the relevant Register of Private (Purchased) Graves in CLRO. These registers record who purchased each grave and when, who was interred in it (name, age and date of burial, for each person buried in that particular grave), and the numbers of the grave, grave grant, square, plot and register entry.

Also Cremation Registers from the date of the first cremation to 1943 (later registers remain at the Cemetery); registers of niches and of grants of niches in the Columbarium, 1930-1948; registers of monuments, 1870-1948, arranged in grave number order, and giving the name of the purchaser of the grave, together with very brief details of memorial stones; financial records relating to the cemetery, cremation and minister's fees, 1856-1997; inventory of the plant, fixtures, fittings, office furniture, stores and vehicles at the cemetery, 1960; cemetery ledgers, 1856-1931; general administrative reports relating to the establishment of the cemetery, 1853-1873 and crematorium 1899-1905; histories, leaflets, guides with tables of charges 1858-1936; photographs of the cemetery from [1929] to 1997 showing the grounds, monuments and the interior of chapels and an extensive series of plans including the site at Little Ilford 1853-1856; contract plans for the cemetery, catacombs and chapels 1854-1876; later plans of extensions to the cemetery and alterations to the chapel; crematorium 1903-1905 and new crematorium, 1967 and lodges, houses, mausoleums, memorial and memorial gardens. A portfolio of Haywood's earliest designs and ideas for cemetery buildings, mostly undated but believed to be 1853 to 1854 is also available.

Papers, 1813-1881, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, including extracts from court rolls, mortgages and conveyances relating to properties in South Mimms, Limehouse, Somers Town, and Tottenham.

Records of the Clitherow family, including account books of merchant James Clitherow, 1642-1682, (ref ACC/1360/435-440) giving details of his investment in voyages to the East Indies and elsewhere, his loans to relatives and others, and the deposits of money which he held on their account, as well as his purchase of Boston Manor, New Brentford, in 1670 and other lands.

Papers relating to properties acquired by Christopher Clitherow, including the 1696 exchange of the manors of Nether and Upper Bilsington in Kent with Thomas Rider for Pinners Hall and other property in Austin Friars in the City of London (see ACC/1360/017-019 and ACC/1360/153/1-2); the 1720 sale of the Langham estate (see ACC/1360/444) and a 1723 detailed description and valuation of Boston Manor and other property (ACC/1360/444). Also included are Christopher Clitherow's personal financial accounts.

Papers of James Clitherow {III} relating to the bequest of Martha Heddin of property in Twickenham, Isleworth and Heston. A substantial proportion of the Clitherow papers relate to his activities on behalf of others, together with those of his son Colonel James Clitherow, and also of a few trusts administered by his father, James {II}, grandfather, Christopher, brother Christopher, and nephew, General John Clitherow. For James Clitherow's accounts of the complex Kemeys trust see ACC/1360/666 and ACC/1360/628.

Papers of Colonel James Clitherow {IV} including title deeds of Sir Thomas Ingram's Almshouses in Isleworth (ref ACC/1360/656/1-18), of which Colonel Clitherow was treasurer, being largely responsible for raising a subscription for their repair in 1816. They also include extensive correspondence, accounts, vouchers, and other papers relating to the Royal Westminster Regiment of the Middlesex Militia 1796-1826 (ref ACC/1360/736-778) of which James Clitherow {IV} was Colonel.

Papers of the Reverend William James Stracey-Clitherow. His account books, diary, correspondence and papers relate mainly to affairs in Norfolk, where he was Vicar of Buxton and Rector of Skeyton and Oxnead from 1855 to 1888, as well as managing both his own and his brother's property in Norfolk.

Amongst the Clitherow papers are the letters and telegrams sent by Thomas Gurney to his mother and stepfather while he was serving overseas in the South African War 1901-1902 (ACC/1360/555/1-173) and in the 1st World War 1917-1919 (ACC/1360/556/1-37).

Correspondence and papers of John Bourchier Stracey-Clitherow relating to the management of the Boston Manor estate, including road widening and building schemes, sale of land, and the development of Clitherow Avenue (ACC/1360/523-527).

An indenture , 1602, of a bargain and sale between Henry Newgate of Hampton, Middlesex and George Cole, of Petersham, Surrey.

Minutes and presented papers of meetings of the Middlesex County Council, 1889-1965. Also minutes and presented papers of Middlesex County Council Committees, as follows:

Aerodromes and Development Committee

Agriculture Committee

Air Raid Precautions Committee

Asylums Committee

Buildings Committee

Children's Committee

Civil Defence Committee

Coordinating Committee

Costs and Policy Review Committee

Diseases of Animals Committee

Drainage Committee

Education Committee

Emergency Committee

Establishment Committee

Estates Committee

Finance Committee

Fire Brigade Committee

General Purposes Committee

Highways Committee

Housing Committee

Industrial Schools Committee

Land Committee

Licensing Committee

Light Railways Committee

Local Government Committee

Luncheon Club Committee

Maternity Committee

Office Accommodation Committee

Parliamentary Committee

Planning Committee

Public Health Committee

Rates Committee

Rivers Committee

Selection Committee

Small Dwellings Committee

Small Holdings Committee

Staff Committee

Standing Orders Committee

Supplies Committee

Taxation Committee

Valuation Committee

War Committee

Welfare Committee

Papers relating to the Ministry of Agriculture's Departmental Committee of Inquiry into Statutory Smallholdings, 1964-1967, collected by Michael Wise, including papers relating to the appointment of the Committee; papers circulated to members of the Committee by the Secretary; papers prepared by Committee members; written and oral evidence submitted to the Committee by a variety of organisations and individuals; papers written by the Committee commenting on evidence submitted to them; papers relating to the Committee's visits to local authority and Land Settlement Association smallholdings estates around England and Wales; maps and slides relating to the Committee's investigations; copies of legislation relating to smallholdings; pamphlets and other publications relating to smallholdings; press cuttings relating to the Committee's reports. Most of the papers are either carbon or typescript copies, rather than original documents.

Subjects covered include the origins of smallholdings policy; smallholdings legislation; the financial position of smallholdings authorities; the management costs of smallholdings estates; the social and economic position of smallholders; the geographical distribution of smallholdings estates.

Records of the Connop family of Enfield, chiefly title deeds to property that members of the family acquired. This was situated for the most part in Enfield and its neighbouring parishes in Hertfordshire and Essex, Hatfield, Waltham, Cheshunt and Chingford, and was consolidated by the first Newell Connop and his sons.

Much of the material is in original bundles, each consisting of the deeds for one property; many of these bundles conclude with a conveyance to Newell, and those that do not, pass by inheritance or marriage into the family. For that property which is not conveyed either to the Connops or any of their relations, one can only assume that later deeds have not been kept with the earlier ones.

In another way also, the collection is incomplete; in his History and Antiquities of Enfield Robinson states that at the time he was writing (1823) Newell Connop held the Manors of Durrants and Suffolks. There is nothing in the collection at all relating to Suffolks, and although there is a schedule of the deeds for Durrants, drawn up in 1832 (ACC/0801/1126), there are no actual deeds. Nor are there any for Grapes Farm, stated by Robinson to be the main manor farm.

Deeds do exist however for the small manor of Elsings or Norris' farm, which Newell bought in 1804 (ACC/0801/0283-0305). There is also a survey of all Newell Connop's land in Enfield taken in 1804, which unfortunately does not now include a map, and a book of maps each beautifully drawn and coloured of his Essex estates 1803-1814 (ACC/0801/1045-1046). One of the most interesting items among the Enfield deeds is a sales particular for the Forty Hall and Manor of Worcester estate of Eliab Breton in 1787 which includes as Lot 22 the old royal palace of Elizabeth, noting that it stands in a good position for building and the palace when demolished would provide much building material. (ACC/0801/0043).

The collection also includes property transactions, sale particulars and related papers, family papers and wills.

Letter from Layton Cooke of 69 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, [London] to Lord Sheffield, 20 Jan 1829. Containing a report on the state of the farms on his estate in Sussex.

Copy [in an unidentified hand].

Letter from Layton Cooke of 69 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, [London] to Lord Sheffield, 5 Jan 1829. Relating to his estate, with a cash account.

Autograph, with signature.

The collection is of family papers belonging to Isabella, Lady Cooper, her children and grandchildren. The papers include documents detailing Lady Cooper's inheritance and assignments of its stock to her husband and children.There is a collection of title deeds for Isleworth Estate, together with leases of various parts of it, tradesmen's vouchers, accounts and particulars of its eventual sale (1855-78). There are also some 17th century title deeds to property in Hidden, Hungerford, as well as later deeds, accounts, rentals and leases.

Among the personal papers are a group concerning the settlement made on the marriage of William Honywood, Lady Cooper's grandson, with Barbara Whyte, and a group of financial papers chiefly on the subject of loans and securities, the same is true of the papers belonging to William's sisters Elizabeth and Caroline. There are also papers dealing with a mortgage he held from Sir John Shelley on property in Maresfield and Fletching in Sussex and as an executor of his grandmother's will he was forced into lengthy proceedings against the Ware family of Cheltenham for a long outstanding mortgage debt owed to Lady Cooper.

The last group of family papers relates to Elizabeth, Lady Cooper's younger surviving daughter, who married, secondly, the Reverend Edward Henry Dawkins. It includes their marriage settlement, and a number of his financial papers. The most interesting part of the whole collection relates to the sugar plantation of Dukinfield Hall, Jamaica (1719-1877). There are title deeds for a particularly tortuous descent, yearly accounts of crops, letters from the Jamaica agents and inventories of stock, which include slaves and give their names, ages, country of origin, occupation and state of health. There is also the will of Robert Dukinfield (1755), the original owner of the plantation, which makes provision for his negre mistress and their children out of his other property. The family name has a variety of spellings, Dukinfield being the one most frequently applied to the estate, although the main branch of the family comes from Duckenfield, Chester.

There are also a few papers concerned with three plantations on the Island of Grenada, which Lady Cooper also inherited (1773-1867).

Papers of John William Couchman and Harold Seymour Couchman, surveyors, agents to the lords of the manors of Tottenham and Edmonton and civil engineers, 1789-1938. The majority of the papers are those of John William Couchman who was a civil engineer (in particular, apparently, a waterworks expert) and a surveyor and valuer, but a few later ones relate to his successor, Harold Seymour Couchman.

John William Couchman acted as surveyor and agent to the lords of the manors of Tottenham and Edmonton. Most of the manorial documents are valuations for enfranchisement of copyhold property. These cover the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and are arranged alphabetically under the names of the copyholders. There is also, however, a survey of Tottenham manor of circa 1830 and two rentals of quit and waste rents for Tottenham and one for Edmonton, together with correspondence with the local urban district councils over their purchase of manorial waste.

The remainder of the collection consists of documents concerning property of the Sperling family and of others for whom Couchman acted as agent; his own papers relating to various engineering projects - notably that to provide a drinking water supply for Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, papers concerning the Tithe rent charges for Tottenham (for which he acted as valuer), various sales particulars including one of 1789 for Bruce Castle and Mount Pleasant, and two albums of photographs taken at the end of the last century which are of considerable interest.