Catalogue description Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Pleadings before 1714, Bridges

The records in this series consist of pleadings in equity cases initiated in the court of Chancery.

They often comprise the plaintiff's bill of complaint only, but the defendant's answer and other documents in the process, including the plaintiffs's replication to the answer, are also filed in many cases. Over 3,000 schedules of account can also be found.

Matters in dispute include inheritance, lands, trusts, mortgages, debts and marriage settlements.

The series is searchable by name, place and subject, thanks to the work of the Friends of The National Archives in inputting the descriptions from printed calendar (the work of A J Gregory) published between 1913 and 1916 as Chancery Proceedings:Bridges Division. Document type, the names of extra defendants (in the format [unknown] Bloggs), and some improved dates have been added from OBS 1/394-398. This work was completed in 2013.

In addition, the opportunity was taken to add four codes to help researchers identify causes brought by different types of litigant, as follows:

• By gender: SFP for sole female plaintiff, and JFP for joint female plaintiffs - where the bill was filed in the name of females only. [Sole here does not imply femme sole, although many female litigants were widows or spinsters]. This is not completely to be trusted, as it omits a widow acting for infant sons but includes a widow acting for infant daughters.
• By corporate body: CBP brings up monastic houses, colleges, London companies etc.
• By unincorporate body - a group acting in a joint interest: UBP will produce churchwardens, parishioners, copyholders, manorial tenants, inhabitants etc.

These codes (SFP, JFP, CBP, UBP) can of course be used with other search terms.

For the related bill books arranged alphabetically under the plaintiffs’ names see: IND 1/2136 – IND 1/2151; Cause Books can be found in IND 1/4127 - IND 1/4131