British Legal Records Collection consists of seventeen documents written on parchment paper ranging in date from 1801 to 1914.
These items were purchased by the donor as a mixed lot at auction, and are unrelated. Many refer to leases for a "messuage"
- a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. The documents were registered at the Middlesex Deeds Registry
and the London Land Registry.
A customary format for written record of property transactions developed in medieval England and became formally standardized
by the 17th century. First written in Latin, all deeds after 1733 were composed in English. Each conveyance included an abstract,
title deeds, supplementary documents providing proof, such as wills, certificates marriage settlements, contracts, auctioneer's
papers, or other evidence. After 1840, a plan of the property was also included. Many deeds include seals, varying from elaborate
pendant seals encased in a box, known as a skippet, to simple wafer seals. The absence of seals on a document may indicate
that it was never executed, however, many seals have been lost or removed over time. A herring-bone pattern of cuts across
a document indicates that it has been canceled, and is no longer valid. Stamps also appear on some deeds. The practice of
using stamps as a form of regulating tax was first introduced in 1694. During the 18th and first third of the 19th century,
stamp taxes were administered by the Board of Stamps, which became the Board of Stamps and Taxes and then the Board of Inland
Revenue.
Following an act of Parliament in 1925, only thirty years of previous documentation was required to prove title to a property,
and subsequently, many older documents were not retained.
This collection consists of seventeen documents written on parchment paper ranging in date from 1801 to 1914. These items
were purchased by the donor as a mixed lot at auction, and are unrelated. Many refer to leases for a "messuage" - a dwelling
house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. The documents were registered at the Middlesex Deeds Registry and the
London Land Registry.
Folder 1: Lease for a Year from Mr. James Waller and Others to Mr. Thomas Orchard,
December 7, 1801
Folder 2: Conveyance of an Estate at Yatton in the County of Somerset from the Right
Honorable John Earl Poulett and John Viscount Hinton and their Trustees to Mr. Robert
Gregory, October 11, 1816
Folder 3: Settlement on the Marriage of William John Agg, Esq. with Miss Mary Morland,
December 24, 1829
Folder 4: Conveyance of Two Sixths Parts of "Crosses" Estate at Rivington in the County
of Lancaster from Mr. James Ashworth and Another to Mr. Thomas Anderton,
December 15, 1848
Folder 5: Lease of House and Premises No. 3 Harwich Place,
Peckham, Rye Common, Surrey from Mr. James Pett to Mr. William Tagg,February 24, 1854
Folder 6: Transfer of a Mortgage for Securing Payment of the Sum of 1750 British Pounds
and Interest thereon from Mr. Edward Gosnell to Mr. Edward Abraham Roumieu, September 16, 1861
Folder 7: Lease of a Messuage and Premises No. 9 Wellbeck Street from the Trustees of the
Will of the Most Noble William Henry Cavendish Scott Duke of Portland to Christopher Eales, Esq.,
August 26, 1886
Folder 8: Lease of Sutton Lodge, Turnham Green, Middlesex from George Spencer Ridgway,
Esq. to Thomas Lambert, Esq., February 8, 1869
Folder 9: Lease of Premises Situate and Being in Docuras Building King Henrys Walk, Balls Pond Road from Thomas Docura, Esq. to Messrs.
Jenkinson and Doubleday, September 1, 1880
Folder 10: Assignment of a Leasehold Messuage and Premises No. 112 Harley Street, Saint Marylebone in the County of Middlesex from Isaac
Braithwaite, Esq. and Others to Henry Ruscoe, Esq., January 6, 1883
Folder 11: Lease of a Messuage and Premises No. 15 Upper Marlyebone Street from the Right Honorable Thomas Evelyn Baron Howard de Walden
and Seaford to Mr. Richard Powell, November 11, 1904
Folder 12: Lease of a Messuage and Premises No. 20 Castle Street East from the Right Honorable Thomas Evelyn Baron Howard de Walden and
Seaford to Mr. George Paxton, April 14, 1904
Folder 13: Lease of a Messuage and Premises No. 250 in Oxford Street and Known as "The Scotch Stores" from the Right Honorable Thomas
Evelyn Baron Howard de Walden and Seaford to Mr. Henry Finch,May 2, 1907
Folder 14: Surrender of No. 23 Princes Street from Mr. W. A. Poole to the Right Honorable Thomas Evelyn Baron Howard de Walden and Seaford,August
11, 1909
Folder 15: Surrender of the Leasehold Premises No. 72 Harley Street from Herbert Tilley Esq. MD and the Right Honorable Thomas Evelyn
Baron Howard de Walden and Seaford,April 27, 1910
Folder 16: Surrender of the Leasehold Premises No. 28 Devonshire Place from A. H. Evans, Esq. to the Right Honorable Thomas Evelyn Baron
Howard de Walden and Seaford,October 1, 1914
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