Various.

The Gascherie and Gashry families were related by the marriage of Suzanne Gascherie, daughter of Estienne and Suzanne Gascherie to Francois Gashry, a parfumier, at the church of St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London on 10 December 1696. Gashry appears to be an anglicised form of Gasherie, and it is possible that the two families are related but their connection is not apparent from the documents in this collection.

Francois and Suzanne Gashry had 12 children. The eldest, Susanne Gashry (Gascherie) returned to La Rochelle and died there in 1762 (see ACC/2079/A1). Her sister, Madeleine Gashry (Gascherie) brought the law suit to claim inheritance of lands in La Rochelle against more distant relatives, the Bonneau family (see ACC/2079/A1). Documents relating to the Gashry family were produced to prove Madeline's title to the lands, as a direct descendant of Estienne Gascherie through her mother Suzanne Gascherie, wife of Francois Gashry (see ACC/2079/A1) and to show that Gashry and Gascherie were variant spellings of the same name. As these documents refer principally to the Gascherie branch of the family they have been put with other documents relating to the legal case.

Francois and Suzanne Gashry's son Francis Gashry was a commissioner of the Navy in 1741 and Treasurer and Paymaster of His Majesty's Ordnance in 1751 (ACC/2079/B1/004). He married Martha ,whose will survives (ACC/2079/B1/007) and died in 1762 (ACC/2079/B1/002-003). A daughter, Margaret Gashry married Abraham Ogier in 1767 and her will also survives (ACC/2079/B2/001). Another daughter, Mary Martha married Henry Henrott, thus making the connection with the Hanrott family (see ACC/2079/C).

The Hanrott family is another Huguenot family. Jonas Hanrot came to England from Sedan. The Hanrott family name is a corruption of the original Henreau and is found in various forms including Henrott and Hanrot. Jonas Hanrot married Marie Anne Bocquet (Bauquer, Boque) in 1688 and their son Henry Hanrott married Marie Marthe Gascherie in 1724. They had two sons and a daughter. One of their sons, Francis Hanrott, (ACC/2079/C1/001) had seven children, including Francis Gashry Hanrott (ACC/2079/C2/001) and Philip Augustus Hanrott (ACC/2079/C3). Philip Augustus Hanrott was apprenticed as a solicitor's clerk to the firm of Dunn Lancaster and Dunn (see ACC/2079/D) and later formed his own firms, Hanrott and Metcalfe and Hanrott and Son (see ACC/2079/E,F). He married Caroline Cory and had several children including Henry Augustus Hanrott (ACC/2079/C5) with whom he had the solicitor's partnership, and Philip Augustus Hanrott Jnr. (ACC/2079/C6). Henry Augustus married his cousin Louisa Cory and had two sons, Howard Augustus, and Robert Cory (ACC/2079/C7) who married Julia Hanson and had several children, including Conrad Hanrott (ACC/2079/C8).

Philip Augustus Hanrott was articled to the firm of Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn in 1795 (ACC/2079/C3/001). The papers in this group relate to cases dealt with by Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn, and retained by P A Hanrott. The Penn papers (ACC/2079/D/003) include the Cremorne papers which do not appear to have a clear connection with the solicitor's firm, but which may have been kept with other Penn papers as the Penns were related to the Cremornes by marriage.

Philip Augustus Hanrott formed his own solicitors firm after leaving Dunn, Lancaster and Dunn. The first partnership was with a Mr Metcalfe and it broke up around 1837 (see ACC/2079/E6/005). The second partnership was with his son Henry Augustus Hanrott, and there seems also to have been a partnership with Charles Cory, Henry's brother-in-law. The last partnership was dissolved on Henry's death in 1852, although the settlement of accounts took until 1857 (see ACC/2079/E6/008).

The Archbishop of York held extensive estates in Battersea, Penge and Wandsworth partly derived from the Bridge Court Estate. Hanrott and Metcalfe acted as stewards for the Archbishop, collecting rents etc. In 1813 and 1837 the Archbishop of York applied for Acts of Parliament to allow him to sell off the Battersea and Wandsworth estates, to keep the revenue in trust for purchasing similar estates near the home estates of Bishopthorpe in Yorkshire (see ACC/2079/F1/008-012). Hanrott and Metcalfe were involved in valuing the land, calculating fines and arranging the sale of the estates to the tenants. The Archbishop also purchased a London house in 1809.