Catalogue description BRUNDRETT & CO OF 10 KINGS BENCH WALK, SOLICITORS: CLIENTS' PAPERS

AMS6417/1 Trustees of the will of Col John By of Shernfold in Frant, 1818-1866

AMS6417/2 John William Baker of Bexhill, Battle and Sevenoaks, 1887-1897

AMS6417/3 Susan Bonham of Brighton, 1829-1863

AMS6417/4 Elizabeth Dorothy Dorrill Burnell of Brighton, 1845-1859

AMS6417/5 Harriet Catherine Cock otherwise Neville, 1808-1898

AMS6417/6 The Rev John Alton Hatchard of St Leonards, 1863-1896

AMS6417/7 Sarah Johnson of St Leonards, Pinner and St Albans, 1866-1885

AMS6417/8 Violet Edith Kelly of Hastings - Kelly v Wilson, 1909-1910

AMS6417/9 Major Frank Kirkman Loyd of Chester and Hove, 1888-1889

AMS6417/10 Emma Eliza Mason of Brighton, 1877

AMS6417/11 Henry Phillips of Brighton, 1828-1894

AMS6417/12 Trustees of Thomas Brewster Seabrook's marriage settlement, 1834-1874

AMS6417/13 Ann Taylor of Cliffe, Lewes and Brighton, 1867-1869

AMS6417/14 Uncertain clients, 1825-1859

Documents relating to Lord Erskine's Will Trust, 1879, part of ACC 564/8, have been transferred to WSRO where they form Add Mss 28134-28145, 28753

Documents given 14 Jul 1959 (ACC 332, BRA 1106), 31 Aug 1972 (ACC 1521, BRA 1678), 19 Nov 1974 (ACC 1793, BRA 1678), 23 Apr 1979 (ACC 2409 part, BRA 1678), 23 Jul 1987 (ACC 4870, BRA 1678)

The papers listed as AMS6417 have been sent to East Sussex Record Office over the course of almost 30 years by the British Records Association

The BRA dispersed the archive of the successor firms to Brundrett & Co according to perceived associations with particular counties; as a result, the history of the firm itself can only be pieced together from casual references to partnerships

The first active partner that can be discerned is Jonathan Brundrett. In the course of negotiating with one of his clients to accept her son into articles, Brundrett wrote a particularly informative letter (AMS6417/12/4) about his own experiences in the firm and those of his partner, John Randall. Having been admitted as an attorney, Brundrett served 20 years before made a partner; his principle died in the second year of the partnership and Brundrett succeeded him as head. John Randall was admitted into partnership in about 1832, having been in the firm 24 years; in 1836 they employed two clerks

The firm went under the style Brundrett & Spinks in 1828, but a split occurred in September 1833 when William Simmons and Thomas Cowper Brown were taken into partnership. Jonathan Brundrett, described by one of his clients as 'the most worthy and best of men', died on 4 May 1841. He had been a lecturer at the Law Society in 1837 and had friends in Brighton, which perhaps accounts for the strength of the firm's business there

After the death of William Simmons in 1854 the style reverted to Brundrett & Randall, but by 1859 Alexander Martin had been taken into partnership; he retired in 1872. John Randall died in November 1864 and was succeeded by John Williams Randall. Charles Albert Govett, of 5 Mitre Court in 1864, was a partner by 1876 and the firm's style remained Brundrett, Randall and Govett until at least 1894, and Brundrett, Whitmore & Randall in 1908

By 1972 Brundretts had been taken over by Edgley & Co, which was itself absorbed by Lawrence Graham & Co of 8 New Square, Lincolns Inn, some years later

In the list which follows, the firm is referred to as Brundretts throughout