IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/081
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: FAREBROTHER, ELLIS AND COMPANY
Date(s): 1667-1987
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 227 production units.
Name of creator(s): Farebrother, Ellis and Co | chartered surveyors
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The origins of the firm are obscure, but trade directories suggest it was in existence by 1805 when Charles Farebrother, auctioneer, was acting from premises at 16, Old Bond Street. In 1827, the style was changed to Farebrother, Wilson and Lye. In 1836 the partnership was renamed Farebrother and Lye. In 1845 it became Farebrother, Clark and Lye. It reformed as Farebrother, Clark and Co in 1867, and as Farebrother, Ellis, Clark and Co in 1877. In 1898 it was renamed Farebrother, Ellis and Co, a style it retained until 1980 when it became known simply as Farebrother, chartered surveyors.The firm has had premises at: 16 Old Bond Street 1805; Beaufort Buildings 1806-24; 6 Wellington Street 1825-6; Lancaster Place 1827-84; 29 Fleet Street 1885-1986; and 7/9 Bream's Buildings 1987- .
From the mid 19th century the firm appears to have specialised in the collection of fee farm rents, small annual sums payable by the owners or occupiers of particular properties scattered throughout England and parts of Wales. These rents had originally been payable to the Crown, but had been sold into private ownership in the 17th century. Farebrothers acted for a great many of the owners of these rents, arranging the collection of payments all over England and not just in the London area. In addition, the firm inherited a number of 17th and 18th century fee farm rentals (Mss 22367-87 and 33848-9). It seems that many of these records were received in the form of slender gatherings relating to the estates of a few rent-owners in one or two counties at a time, and that Farebrothers had them bound together as large volumes, and annotated and indexed, to suit their own requirements (for example, Ms 33848).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Farebrother, Ellis and Company, chartered surveyors. Records relate mostly to the fee farm rent business. The rentals are generally very detailed, giving the names of the landlords of the fee farm rents and of successive tenants (ie owners) and occupiers of each property, together with a description of the property, its reference number and the amount of rent payable.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English and Latin.
System of arrangement:
Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section.
Conditions governing access:
Access by appointment only. Please contact staff.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The records were presented to the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library by the firm in 1987, 1998 and 2002. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Publication note:
For a history of the firm see John Butland Smith, Farebrother: a property business over two hundred years, 1799-1999 (Stamford, 1999), held in the Guildhall Library Printed Books Section.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.