Catalogue description PAINE AND BRETTEL [SOLICITORS]

These records, deposited by Messrs. Paine and Brettell of Chertsey, Surrey, solicitors, relate mainly to the purchase of Hanworth Park Estate by Henry Edwards Paine and Richard Brettell from the trustees of the will of Henry Perkins, the bibliophile, in October 1873, and the subsequent resale of the estate in smaller lots from then until 1882.

The deposit was composed of a number of bundles of deeds, draft deeds, correspondence and memoranda, and a large map. Except for the items comprising the third section of maps, sales particulars and miscellaneous items, originally two bundles and two loose items, the original bundles have been retained.

The composition of the bundles in the first section, entitled Deeds, is of deeds, draft deeds and correspondence arranged largely by transaction in the sale of the Estate to Messrs. Paine and Brettell, and the resale to each subsequent purchaser. Thus, numbers 29 to 91 deal largely with matters arising from H.E.Paine and R.Brettell's purchase of the Estate and Manor of Hanworth, the mortgage raised on the same, the admission to and enfranchisement of copyholds held of the Manor of Colkennington otherwise Kempton, and the assignment of a right of water from Isleworth Mill River.

The first two bundles comprise documents which relate to the purchase of the Manor and Estate by James Ramsey Cuthbert from the Duke of St. Albans in 1810, and the sale of them by his son Frederick to Henry Perkins in 1828. On the death of Henry Perkins in 1855 the estate passed to his son Algernon as life tenant. He died without issue, so that in accordance with the Provisions of Henry Perkins' will the estate was sold by the trustees in 1873.

It had been the intention of Henry Paine and Richard Brettell to resell their purchase immediately as a whole, but they finally decided to split the part of the estate they had bought, - lots 1, 4 and 5 (see ACC/1023/117 and 382) - into 19 lots which were first offered for sale in June 1874 (see ACC/1023/399-404). They retained lot 3, the Manor of Hanworth. The sale of the estate took eight years, although auctions and sales were frequently arranged, and on occasions the price finally agreed on, was well below that originally asked. In April 1880, Richard Brettell conveyed his interest in Hanworth Park to Henry Paine in exchange for Paine's interest in lands jointly owned elsewhere, and in November of the same year the mortgage on the Estate was repaid.

The first and Largest purchaser was Alfred Lafone, who bought Hanworth Park House and surrounding land in the Park in 1874. Charles Pfander started purchasing land from the estate also in 1874, and James Scarlett bought "Queen Elizabeth's Gardens" in 1875. Many documents relate to the abortive negotiations for a sale to Jacobs Bradwell of Feltham in 1875. In 1878 Jasper Boswell bought 33 acres near the church yard opposite the land of Alfred Lafone, and in the next year Alfred Pullin Newman and his partner, William Hatch, bought much of the land Newman had leased with his brother since 1875. The final sale represented in this collection was in 1882, to Sidney Smith of Feltham, although correspondence relating to the estate continues until 1901.

The section headed Estate papers includes those bundles which are largely composed of bills, receipts, accounts, correspondence and memoranda relating to the administration of Hanworth Park Estate while owned by Messrs. Paine and Brettell. The division of the estate brought problems of road repair and maintenance, and fencing, which are well represented amongst the correspondence, and in these and other administrative matters Messrs. Paine and Brettell were involved as arbiters and advisers.

See also ACC/1023/870

Paine and Brettel, solicitors

• Hanworth Park Estate, Hanworth, Middlesex

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