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 the Holland family relating to leasehold premises, 21 Shaftesbury Terrace, Warwick Road, Kensington (re-named and re-numbered 139 Warwick Road in 1890).

Records of the Lethbridge family relating to their estates in Southwark and the City of London, including the Manor of Paris Garden.

Records relating to the Goldsmiths Company and the Lane Clarke family, including correspondence; legal papers; deeds; schedules; copies of baptism and burial certificates.

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.

Records of the Maryon-Wilson family relating to their estates and property holdings. Papers relating to the Manor of Charlton include rentals, correspondence, agreements, court rolls, deeds, leases, legal papers, papers relating to the Woolwich ferry and the Thames Steam Boat Company, plans of the estate, tithes and papers relating to the Charlton churches of St Luke, St Thomas and St Paul, photographs of Charlton House, and papers relating to the Blackheath regiment.

Papers relating to the Manor of Hampstead include court rolls and minutes, admissions and enfranchisements, licence books, plans and surveys, leases, papers relating to the Hampstead Heath Act, and family papers.

The collection includes a small number of documents relating to the family estates in Sussex and Essex.

Records of the Maxse family relating to property in Marylebone, Hanover Square, Westminster and Kensington.

Records relating to properties owned by the Bonney and Nevinson families in St James, Westminster; St George Hanover Square; and Marylebone.

The remaining documents do not appear to be connected with the main group. However, since the series of deeds for the property in St James Westminster, at least, are clearly incomplete, it may be that the two groups are related, though the link is not now apparent.

Papers of the Nokes family, mostly relating to property in the City of London, Newington and Shoreditch, but also copies of certificates (baptisms, marriages, deaths) and copies of wills and probates.

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).

Records of the Spencer-Philip family; primarily papers relating to property transactions, including extracts from court rolls, abstracts of title, leases, plans and rents, for premises in the Manor of Stepney (Whitechapel, Stepney and Mile End) and in Essex. Also building leases and agreements relating to the King David's Fort Estate, St George's in the East, and papers and plans concerning construction of London and Blackwall railway through that estate; an Act of Parliament relating to roads in St Leonard Shoreditch; and family certificates (baptisms, marriages, burials). The collection includes a manorial custumal for the Manor of Stepney, 1587.

Records of the Paine family relating to properties owned by the family in Deptford and Forest Hill, with some family papers including certificates and letters.

Records of the Tyrwhitt-Drake family of Amersham including financial transactions; papers relating to property transactions including abstracts of title, correspondence, bonds, leases, tithes, repair estimates, tradesmen's bills and inventories; family papers including wills, bequests, annuities, funeral records, legal papers and opinions of counsel. Properties mentioned are in diverse locations across London, primarily Fetter Lane in Holborn, Deptford, Chelsea, and Grosvenor Square and South Audley Street in Westminster.

Papers of the Way family relating to their London property in Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Peckham, Camberwell, and Deptford.

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

Commonplace book compiled by Lizzie Alldridge. A commonplace book is a scrapbook in which reference notes or matters to be remembered are collected.

Records of the Angerstein family of Woodlands, Blackheath, and some papers of the Nettleshipp family (Mary Ann Nettleshipp was married to William Angerstein). The personal section consists mainly of settlement deeds and appointments, and other probate and trust matters. There is also some business correspondence, and a few birth, marriage and burial certificates and family pedigrees. In the estate section, the records are divided into three subjects. These are deeds; sale and purchase papers; and management or administration of the estates. The premises are located in Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and Middlesex.

Personal correspondence of John Ansell, Chief Clerk of the Middlesex Deeds Registry, including letters from Lord Truro and papers relating to the administration and management of the Middlesex Deeds Registry.

This collection of nineteenth-century papers relating to the Arnold family comprises bills for schooling, apprenticeship indentures, and printed material including notice of attack on Mr Arnold by a footpad, with details of reward, and religious circulars.

Personal papers of Canon Samuel Augustus Barnett, social reformer. The papers comprise correspondence, sermons and lecture notes, and miscellanea. The bulk of the correspondence consists of weekly letters from the Canon to his brother, Francis G. Barnett and, after the latter's death, to his widow and her daughter and sons. For the years before 1883 there are no letters at all, and before 1889 there are fewer than for the later years of the correspondence. Normally the Canon wrote every Saturday, but there are frequent periods when there was no correspondence, when the Canon was in residence at Bristol during the summers of 1893-1906, and when the two families were holidaying together. There are also large groups of letters written by the Canon to his mother and family in the form of travel journals during his trips to Egypt in 1879-1880 and round the world in 1890-1891.

There are very few in-letters. The letters to F G Barnett are almost always four octavo pages in length. They were bundled in one or two year periods by Dame Henrietta when preparing her biography of her husband. On several letters there are editorial instructions, deletions and emendations by Dame Henrietta. These were made in pencil and were, at some subsequent period, erased. Within each bundle Dame Henrietta also numbered the letters. Her numbering has not been indicated in the list, nor has it been followed, as several of the letters were in fact misplaced.

There is a series of bound sermon notebooks and miscellaneous lecture notes amongst these papers. Although the sermon notes are basically complete for the St. Jude's period, 1875-1888, the lecture notes are only a fraction of the Canon's output.

Some miscellaneous documents and in-letters were kept by the Canon for their intrinsic importance, e.g. formal documents relating to his benefice at St. Jude's, and these have survived. There are, in addition, miscellaneous photographs, mostly of the Canon, but also of his wife and of his family.

These papers will be of interest to historians for the information they give on Canon Barnett's life, and for the frequent and lengthy discussions of the political, social and intellectual life of the day. They are enhanced in value by the fact that Dame Henrietta was avowedly unable to do them more than scant justice in her life of the Canon (see Canon Barnett: his life, work and friends vol I, p.377), and that the records of Toynbee Hall have been decimated by war damage and destruction.

Personal papers of Maude Beaton, including bills for Maude's education, school reports, and circulars relating to Maude's further education at South West London College and the College of Preceptors.

Personal papers of James Beal, local government reformer. The collection comprises correspondence with and concerning James Beal. Except where stated to the contrary, the letters refer to governmental matters: those in F/BL/12 refer to the presentation made to James Beal for his services to Local Government. The presentation volume includes press cuttings, invitations, menus and similar printed ephemera.

Papers of the Burtt family of London, including financial accounts; marriage and death certificates; wills and probates; and letters.

Records of the Calvert family of London, including papers relating to properties in Brixton, Kent, Tottenham Court Road and the City of London; genealogical notes on the family; and papers relating to the clerical career of William Calvert, rector of St Antholin with St John the Baptist, City of London.

Records of the Chatterly family, including apprenticeship certificate as waterman and lighterman, admissions to the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, and bill.

Papers of the Steedman family and related families the Faulconers and Crisps, including bills, apprenticeship indenture, certificates, marriage settlement, pedigrees, sacrament certificates and a history of the firm of John Steedman and Company, Walworth.

Personal papers of Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, Lord Dickinson of Painwick. These papers reflect Dickinson's interests as a London County Councillor, an MP and a peer, and also his involvement in the London Liberal Federation, of which he was Chairman 1896-1918, the World Alliance for promoting International Friendship through the Churches and the League of Nations Union.

Personal papers of painter Andrew Brown Donaldson and his wife Agnes Emily Twining. The main series comprises diaries written jointly by Andrew and Agnes Donaldson. They start on the day of their wedding in June 1872, and end with Andrew's death in 1919, Agnes having died in 1918. The diaries provide a fascinating insight into middle class life in Victorian and Edwardian London, being mainly concerned with domestic matters, with occasional references to external events such as the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, and World War One.

The plays and poems appear mainly to have been written by Donaldson for his children. Many of the plays were performed by the family during Christmas and new year festivities.

The collection also contains a small amount of material relating to the Donaldson's third child, Leonard. He pursued a career in the Royal Navy and was ultimately made an admiral.

Records of the Gambier family, comprising correspondence and administrative papers relating to the parish of Saint Mary le Strand, Westminster.

Records of Sir David Gammans, MP for Hornsey. The records consist of press cuttings stuck into four series of scrapbooks, with the occasional invitation card, menu or photograph included, and a small group of files containing election addresses, typescript articles, and correspondence.

Letters to William Pettit Griffith, architect, of 9 St John's Square, Clerkenwell, dated October 1840 and October 1845.

Records of Maud Kitto, school teacher, mainly lesson notebooks and testimonials.

Records of the Legge family, earls of Dartmouth, including letters to the Countess of Dartmouth (Lady Frances Legg?) from her children and family members, 1809-1836; letters from Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, and her household, 1828-1856 (Lady Caroline Legg was lady-in-waiting to the Duchess); general family letters, 1820-1856; diaries and travel diaries (Italy and Germany) of Lady Caroline Legg, 1815-1836; papers of Lt Col Edward Legge including correspondence, travel diaries (Switzerland, Crimea, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Germany, France, Italy), 1853-1877; military notes, army diary and papers concerning service in the Coldstream Guards, 1855-1875, note books and memoranda books, undated; papers taken from Afghan commander Ayub Khan's camp at Kandahar, 1880.

The collection also includes notes on the history of the Legge family, some letters and scrap-books relating to other members of the family; and other papers relating to Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, including letters to her from Queen Victoria, Leopold King of the Belgians, and the Duke of Wellington, 1839-1841.

The collection comprises letters to James Bowden Lovelace in Malaga, Spain, from his wife Mary.

Papers of Sir Willoughby Maycock relating to his career at the Foreign Office, including letters and cuttings.

Records of philanthropist John MacGregor relating to his charitable work, including letters; scrapbook of pamphlets, newspaper cuttings, hymn sheets, and posters, mainly relating to the Shoe Black Society, the Ragged Schools and general missionary work; album of press cuttings; album of obituary notices for MacGregor; printed ephemera for various charities and sports clubs, including pamphlets and articles by MacGregor.

Papers of the Marks family, including apprenticeship indenture as a coach smith and birth, baptism and marriage certificates.

Papers of the Peachey family, consisting of official and family correspondence and papers, financial records, legal papers, and artefacts.

Household financial account books of the Dowager Marchioness of Reading, for London and country residences including 65 Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, London and Twyford Lodge and Cumberland House, Sussex. Also photographs of 65 Rutland Gate, London and Twyford Lodge; and portraits of Lord and Lady Erleigh.

This collection consists of scrapbooks of newscuttings, notices, posters and so on documenting the career of Sir George Haynes, Radford, MP.

Records of the Rivington family, booksellers, 1759-1840, including marriage settlements, agreements, leases, wills, probates and deeds.

Personal papers of Robert W Ramsey, including diaries (some with glued in event programmes, invitations and newspaper cuttings); commonplace books and household financial accounts; articles by Ramsey on historical and literary subjects; poems and sketches; Ramsey family pedigree, 1688-1904; research on the Cromwell family; and general correspondence.

Papers of Canon John Otter Stephens, predominantly relating to All Saints, Tooting, including newspaper cuttings; notices; orders; letters; notes and orders of service. The papers relate to events including the laying of the foundation stone, the consecration of the church, the history of the church, the new organ and the retirement of Reverend Stephens.

Papers of the Thrift family of Clapham, including confirmation card, certificate stating that Annie Thrift had passed examinations in Religious Knowledge, and parish magazine of St Peter, Clapham containing death notice of Mrs Mary Thrift.

Papers of the Timms family of West Dulwich, comprising confirmation card; Church of England Temperance Society (West Dulwich Branch) membership card; and pen and ink drawings by a pupil of JG Timms.

Album of photographs, sketches and newspaper cuttings relating to Capt. JB Wyndham Drake's family, friends, and regiment.

The collection comprises diaries of William Hugh Burgess, a fifteen-year old boy from a family of Huguenot descent, who lived in Marylebone in the late eighteenth-century. They are rare examples of historical diaries written by a child.

In what became part of his daily routine from January 1788 until October 1790, William wrote about himself and his everyday life, simply recording what he did and what he saw.

Diaries of Herbert M Willmott, covering his work in India, 1921-1923; his retirement including travels in France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Germany, Belgium and Austria, 1923-1939; and life in war-time Kensington, 1939-1947.

Records of the West family. This collection comprises papers, 1811-1911, many dating from the 1840s to the 1870s, including material relating to cotton presses, engines, pumps, etc, 1816-1891; printed reports of West's Patent Press Company Ltd, 1873-1911; papers, 1824-1870, largely relating to domestic and manufacturing premises in St Pancras, including notices of railway companies relating to intended lines; correspondence and various other family papers (accounts, bills, diaries, notes, drawings, probate papers, etc), 1811-1878, including material relating to voyages and time spent in India (including Bombay) by family members, also including material relating to the estate of Robert Stephen Kitson, and material relating to attendance of family members at King's College School, King's College London, and London University; letters patent and specification for improvements in working railway signals, 1863; bundle of letters from Mr W Notter (box-office keeper in Covent Garden), 1825-1839, 1853-1855.

Memoirs of Dr Peter Kingsford, pupil at the Ethelburga Street School, Battersea.