ESTATE

The Cymru Estate in Dimbula was established in 1870. The invaluable ‘History of Ceylon Tea’ website only has data regarding the estate up to the year 1929. The present item provides a mass of statistical information for the years 1964 to 1972. It is entirely in manuscript, in several hands, and comprises 73pp, 16mo, written with portrait orientation in a 12.5 x 8 cm ruled notebook (with 69pp in blue and red ink at the front, and the other four pages in pencil at the back). In rough black cloth, with brown patterned endpapers, and cloth pencil-holder.

All 18 items are in very good condition, with slight signs of age and wear. Items One and Eighteen are letters (Eighteen being a ‘triplicate’), the other sixteen items are accounts, with items Five to Eighteen relating to the firm of the New York merchant Lewis Simond. Items Seven, Nine and Twelve are copies (i.e. written out afresh but containing the same text) of Items Six, Eight and Eleven. ONE: Henry Hough (overseer of the Bounty Hall estate, Jamaica) to ‘William Fairclough / Green Park’: Autograph Letter Signed.

See the entries on Tonyn and Paterson in the Oxford DNB, the latter stating of the recipient of this letter: ‘On 28 December 1799 he married, at St Pancras chapel, London, Jane Ellen Yeats (1771/2–1846), daughter of David Yeats, formerly registrar of East Florida, and sister of his first cousin, the physician Grant David Yeats.’ Paterson’s mother was a Tonyn, and he was also related to the Marchmont family, the Earl having been his early patron. The present item is 3pp, 4to, and a bifolium.

The two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB show that they were well matched: Ellice was known for his ‘extravagant lifestyle’, building at Invergarry ‘a house which was renowned for its comfort’; and Delane ‘was welcomed as a delightful companion.' 6pp, 12mo. Headed ‘Private’, addressed to ‘My dear Delane’, and signed ‘E. Ellice’. On bifolium and single leaf, both with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges of blank reverse. Folded for postage. He was ‘delighted’ to see Delane’s ‘onslaught on the Scotch Education Bill.

Full title: 'By Direction of Dominion Student's [sic] Hall Trust. | Particulars, Plans and Conditions of Sale of | The Freehold Foundling Estate Bloomsbury, W.C.1 | producing a Gross Income of about £112,000 per ann. increasing in the near future to about £118000 per ann. and comprising Ground Rents, Rack Rents and Tenancies secured on Shops, offices, private hotels, flats, institutional hostels and other residential properties. Cleared building sites. Vacant possession of Lot 118, viz.

15pp., folio. Stapled. In light-green printed wraps. With black and white photographic frontispiece illustration of 'West Dereham Abbey'; and coloured 50 x 76 cm. fold-out 'Plan of Estates at West Dereham, Norfolk, for Sale by Auction by Salter, Simpson & Sons in comnjunction with Messrs. Bidwell 1894', by 'Alger & Son, Litho. Diss'. Aged, worn and creased, with rusted staples, and map with closed tear and fraying to its outer edge. Containing descriptions of the twenty-five lots into which the estate is divided for the purposes of the sale ('The Estate, containing 1170a. 2r.

1p., 4to. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Watermark reads: 'T & F H | 1861'. (The document must date from between this year and the end of the Duke's minority in 1868; and Arundel is not named on it, its connection with this place is confirmed by the presence of land agent Captain E. H. Mostyn..) Neatly printed in two columns within a border. Thirteen toasts, from 'The Queen' to 'The Law Agents and the Stewards of Manors'. The toast to the Queen followed by 'God Save the Queen', each of the other twelve toasts followed by a 'Glee'.

The two volumes in matching green cloth quarter-bindings, with marbled covers (one set green and the other brown). Both affected by damp at the head, and in worn bindings, but in acceptable overall condition, with text entirely legible. Two interesting and informative documents of local and social history. ONE (Almshouses Charity): 64pp., tall 8vo. In manuscript on cover: 'ALMSHOUSES CHARITY ACCOUNTS'. Among the signatories are two Rectors of Baldock, W. J. Skilton and John D. Nairne, and T. Rigby Kewley, Thomas G. Simpson and Frederick Archdale.

The Countess of Clarendon had inherited the Mesopotamia Estate from her previous husband John Foster Barham (1799-1838), who had died a certified lunatic year before her marriage to the Earl. The Estate had been in the hands of the Barham family for more than a century. The four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. All four with notes by the recipients. ONE: Letter signed by George J. Nicholson of the London soliticitors Vizard & Leman, in secretarial hand, to Messrs Thomson Hankey & Co. Lincolns Inn Fields; 7 July 1845 ('Mesopotamia Estate'). 1p., 4to.

The two items are in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Accompanying the two items is the envelope in which they were contained, docketted: 'Letters. | Duckinfield [sic] Hall Estate | { | Meylersfield Estate & Friendship Estate Trust'. Both items are signed 'Cyril Gurney | H. A. Trotter | L. M. Harvey'. ONE (Duckenfield Hall Estate letter): 1p., 4to.

The three items form a letter of 4pp., foolscap 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf: 'Bill loading | Messrs. Hankeys Plummer & Wilson | Mincing Lane | London | Lady Kathe Barham'. Docketed '97 Robert Locke | 10 | 28 July 1837 | Received 20 September [1837]'. The bill of loading covers the whole of the first page, with two columns of closely written items, ranging from '2300 yds Osnabury 8lbs do thread' to quinine, opium and '1 Box Hydrometer proof Bubbles from 15 to 30'.

14pp., small 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in ruled notebook, in worn black morocco binding, with marbled endpapers, and the following stamped in gilt on the front cover: 'The Right Honble John Manners | Earl of Hardwicke deceased | Inventory of Heirlooms'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. The document reads as follows, with the autograph additions by Harrison in square brackets: 'WHITECHAPEL ESTATE, | THE PROPERTY OF | WILLIAM HEATHER MEDOWS, ESQ. | SIR, | I beg to acquaint you that I shall attend at the "Magpie," 12, New Street, Bishopsgate Street, to receive Rents on [Thursday] next, the [8th.] Instant, from Ten till One o'clock, when I have to request you will pay the Rent due by you at [Christmas] last amounting to £ [-. s17./7] | I am, SIR | Your obedient Servant, [G. C. Harrison] | Receiver.

2pp., 12mo; with the reverse folding out to make 1p., landscape 8vo, with the words 'CORONATION, 1911.' printed in red. The text begins on the first page beneath the firms letterhead: 'HOUSES LET OR SOLD. | RENTS COLLECTED IN ANY DISTRICT. | WEEKLY PROPERTIES MANAGED. | REPAIRS ECONOMICALLY EXECUTED. | DISTRAINTS LEVIED. | [...]'. The text of the announcement is headed, in red: 'SEATS TO VIEW . . . | THE CORONATION PROCESSION.' The first page reads: 'We have pleasure in submitting prices of Seats which we have To Let at | 41, KING WILLIAM STREET, E.C., | to view the Procession on June 23rd.

Brochure: 4pp., 4to. Bifolium, printed in green and brown on yellow paper. With four photographs of children. Fair, on lightly-worn paper, with vertical crease to second leaf. Requesting help for 'Houses Workshops Farms': 'Are they not human beings like us? | Do they not all have similar rights? | Do they not deserve to live a life filled with work, duty and pleasure?' Mimeographed typed appeal: 3pp., 4to. On two leaves of paper stapled together by a corner. Headed 'The Botton Hall Estate, Danby, Whitby, North East Yorkshire'.

236 pp, 8vo. In sturdily-bound landscape account book by Drake, Driver & Leaver of London, with black leather half-binding, green cloth boards, and marbled endpapers. Stamped in gilt on front board: 'INVENTORY. | G. KNIGHT & SON. | AUCTIONEER & VALUERS | HOUSE & ESTATE AGENTS | MIDHURST.' Good, on aged paper, in lightly-worn binding. Lined lengthwise across each two pages (like an oversized reporter's or policeman's notebook), each opening carrying a stamped number, and with the text on openings 1 to 119 of the 251 in the account book.

4to, 3 pp. In a bifolium. 52 lines of neatly-written text. Clear and complete. Very good on lightly-aged and creased paper. Part of the second leaf has been cut away on the breaking open of the letter, and is now under the seal, with no loss of text. The seal is cracked, with a light imprint of Boucher's monogram beneath a jester's head. The letter concerns the enclosure of the Langtoft Estate and 'Mr. Bankes', who 'never had any Legal Right to interfere in the Business'.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-one lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Docketed 'William Burrit [sic] & Hawes | Charles Palmer | Mar 15 & May 52 Recd'. Reminding Barret (or Burrit) of a letter written by Palmer from America two or three years previously, which he answered on behalf of the Heir at Law Society.

8vo: 6 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper. For Wilson 'the most important aspect of the question' is 'the conversion of unsound country to sound country [...] It is a recent discovery, and, while ten or fifteen years ago one would have wiped the proposal before the House right off the slate, on the ground that the land is unsuitable for closer settlement, one to-day welcomes it.' Red-ink 1 cm accession stamp of the Webster Collection on reverse of blank final leaf, numbered 4188. No copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat.

8vo: 12 pp. Very good, in original blue cloth account book of twelve leaves, with title on label on front board. Label of Waterlow & Sons inside front cover. The entries spread across six sets of two facing pages, all ruled with red printed lines and in boxes and with the following seven categories printed at the head: 'No. on Plan'; 'DESCRIPTION.'; 'State of Cul[ivatio]n.'; 'Value per Acre'; 'Statute | A. R. P. [i.e. acreage]'; 'Value. | £ s.

Two unbound bifoliums stapled together. Eight pages, on four leaves each roughly seventeen inches by eleven wide. A corrected proof, stamped at head of first page 'PROOF NO.' A frail survival of a significant document in London topographical history. Aged and worn, with several closed tears. A few manuscript emendations, notes and additions in different hands. For example, concerning a right of way, 'Messrs. Debenham can ascertain this from Mr. Pinder Simpson 20 Old Burlington St. W. the Collector'.

One page. Roughly nine inches by four. Aged and creased, with one small closed tear and one spike hole (neither affecting text, which is clear and complete). An attractive document, embossed with a government one shilling stamp, and bearing the Westminster coat of arms, supported by two dogs, engraved by Warrington, 27 Strand, in top left-hand corner. Reads (MS additions in square brackets): '[Imp: Hopkinson] | Grosvenor Estate Office, | 9, Davies Street, Grosvenor Square | Received the [March 30th] 184[9] of [Richard Jones Esqr.