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Drapers' Company

Trust Documents of the Worshipful Company of Drapers


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 2154 Trust Documents

Held at: Drapers' Company

Title: Trust Documents of the Worshipful Company of Drapers

Date(s): 1286-present

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: 53 shelf metres.

Name of creator(s): The Worshipful Company of Drapers

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Drapers' Company has always had a concern for the relief of the poor, as early as 1371 its ordinances stress the role of the fraternity in helping members in misfortune. Numerous bequests, gifts and trusts have been left to the Company for charitable purposes. Initially lands left to the Company tended to be designated for the provision of a chantry for the deceased benefactor. During the 16th century, the endowments were mainly for provision for the poor - either freemen of the Company or poor in the City of London. A number of almshouses were also founded at this time

The Company's involvement with education originated in the medieval apprenticeship scheme. It was formalized after 1551 when exhibitions were awarded to scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. The Company became involved with the establishment and management of thirteen schools. Later it founded and financed technical schools, university departments, libraries and laboratories and in conjunction with other Livery Companies, established the City and Guilds of London Institute.

Bequests and endowments which formed the basis of the Trusts came from Thomas Howell, d. 1537/8; John Walter; Francis Bancroft; Samuel Harwar, 1693-1694; Theophilus Royley, d.1656; William Lambarde, 1536-1601, founder of Queen Elizabeth College; Henry Dixon, and Henry Dixon, jnr d.1680; John Kendrick; Thomas Russell, d.1593; John Rainey, d 1633; William Dummer, d.c.1589; Samuel Pennoyer, d 1654; John Pemel; Sir William Boreman; Sir Samuel Starling; John Stock; Henry Colbron; Christopher Clarke, d.1672; Sir Thomas Cullum; Sir Ambrose Crowley; Henry Lucas; William Calley, d.1515; Robert Buck; John Edmanson, d.1696; Sir John Jolles, d.1621; Jonathan Granger; Thomas Soley, d.1881; and Sir Thomas Adams.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Charitable Trusts of the Drapers' Company containing leases, agreements, certificates, bonds, petitions, bills, accounts, letters, rolls, including:

papers concerning Howell's Trust (founded 1540), relating to Thomas Howell and the establishment of the Trust, 1537-1619; property at Dowgate, London, 1619-1902; property in Austin Friars, 1709-1890; property in Bread Street, London, 1849-1933; property in Allhallows, Kent, 1690-; administration of the Trust, Welsh orphans' kinship certificates and Howell's School Denbigh, lands and school records;

papers concerning the Walters' Trust, bequeathed 1656, relating to property in Harlington, Bedfordshire; property in Drapers' Street in St. Mary Newington, London; property in Lombard Street and Cornhill in St. Mary Woolnoth, London; property in Beech Street and Beech Lane in St. Giles Cripplegate, London; property in Lonsdale Square, St. George's Terrace and Upper Barnsbury Street (formerly Gossey Field) in Islington; The Almshouses; property in Lime Street in St. Dionysius Backchurch, London; property in Cock Alley and Wood Street in St. Peter in Westcheap, London; personal and miscellaneous papers of John Walter;

papers concerning Bancroft's Trust, bequeathed 1727, relating to the foundation of an almshouse and school for boys, and Rent Charge on House in Honey Lane, 1433/4-1748; Mile End and Woodford, Essex (matters connected with the property and management of the school), 1655-1954; property in Clopton Hall, alias South Hall, in the parish of Dunmow, Essex 1285/6-1942; property in Woodham Ferris, Essex, 1768-1920; property in Chiswick, London, 1663-1881; property in Hadleigh, Suffolk, 1540/1-1937; Nos. 273, 274, 276 and 277 High Holborn, in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, 1577/8-1920; Yorkshire Fee Farm Rents, 1649-1920; The Manor of Appley, Appley Grange, Lincolnshire and the Manors of Westbury and Sellars, Gloucestershire and other lands in Gloucester and Hereford, 1620-1742/3; Lands in Huntingdonshire settled on the marriage of George Bond with Elizabeth, daughter of John Bancroft, in 1689, 1661-1691; property in Gracechurch Street, London, 1661-1876; the moiety of a house in the Poultry, London; property in Poultry, London, 1668-1876; property in Prittlewell, Essex, 1721-1938; Personal papers of Francis Bancroft and other miscellaneous papers, 1614/5-1891; property in St. Gregory, Paul's Chain, London1727-1901; property in St. Stephen, Coleman Street, London; property in St. Mary Aldermay, Cannon Street and College Hill, London, 1852-1909. papers concerning Harwar's Trust [1703/4] for the establishment of almshouses, relating to lands purchased by Harwar's executors for support of the charity and known as Hawks and Beetle's Farm in Kent, 1365-1926; the Shoreditch Almshouses, 1703-1822; accounts, 1705-1718; and additional documents, 1833-1844;

papers concerning Royley's Trust relating its administration, 1486-1954;

Papers concerning Queen Elizabeth College (founded 1574) relating to Brenchley Manor, Cryal's Farm, Chelmill Farm, Curtis Farm, Beltring Farm, Pinden End Farm and Brattles messuage, Kent, 1546-1920; property in Greenwich, Kidbrook and Charlton, Kent, 1634-1960; Queen Elizabeth College, East Greenwich, 1607-1937; additional manuscripts, 1577-1967; ordinances and account books, 1578-1864;

papers concerning Henry Dixon's Trust [1695] relating to the manors of Bennington and Munden, Herts, 1539-1926; the manor of Enfield, Middlesex, 1474-1959; property in Poultry, 1578-1878; property in Finchley, 1640-1646; Henry Dixon's account books, 1634-1695; personal papers of Henry Dixon jnr, 1650-1695; the administration of the trust, 1697-1889;

papers concerning Kendrick's Trust [1624] relating to property in Fleet Street and Fetter Lane, 1622-1901; administration of the trust, 1624-1903;

papers concerning Russell's Trust [1593] relating to property in All Hallows, Barking, St Edmund the King, and St Leonard, Shoreditch, 1311-1935; administration of the trust, 1603-1936; pensioners roll and receipt books, 1840-1879; Barton School, 1593-1609;

papers concerning Rainey's Trust [1633] relating to its administration, 1546-1940;

papers concerning Dummer's Trust [1574] relating to its administration, 1302-1898;

papers concerning Pennoyer's Trust [1654] relating to property, 1651-1877, and trust administration, 1728-1955;

papers concerning Pemmel's Trust [1681] relating to its administration, 1681-1898;

papers concerning Boreman's Trust [1684-5] relating to general matters of the estates and the trust, 1684-1927; the school or to the foundationers at Greenwich Hospital School, 1689-1897; Greenwich properties, 1653-1934; property in Otford, Kent, 1889; property in Pulham, Norfolk, 1656-1927; property in Bockingfield, Kent, 1660-1939; the Nautical School, 1659-1939;

Papers concerning the Advowson of the Rectory of St. Michael, Cornhill, and the Lectureship there endowed by John Rainey (Rayny or Ranie), 1501-2002; Wrench family papers, 1760-1950;

papers concerning Starling's Trust [1673] relating to its administration, 1675-1785;

papers concerning Stock's Trust [1780] relating its administration, 1780-1870;

papers concerning Colbron's Trust [1672] relating its administration, [1523]-1949;

papers concerning Clark's Trust [1672] relating its administration, 1584-1921;

papers concerning Callum's Trust [1662] relating its administration, 1543-1892, 1985;

papers concerning Crowley's Trust [1713] relating its administration, 1713-1760;

papers concerning Lucas Hospital, Wokingham [1663] relating to the site of the Hospital and estates in Flitton, Pulloxhil, Harlington and Higham Gobion, Bedfordshire, 1418-1954; administration of the hospital, 1663-1939;

papers concerning Calley's Trust [1515] relating to its administration, 1719-1945;

papers concerning Buck's Trust [1620] relating to its administration, 1487-1939;

papers concerning Edmanson's Trust [1696] relating to property in Queenhithe, 1400-1731; property in Wapping, 1673-1741; property in Betts St, 1664-; property in Box, 1578-;

papers concerning Jolles' Trust [1621] relating to property in Mark Lane, 1515-1891; school at Bow Lane, 1606-1891; general administration of the Trust, 1620-1918;

papers concerning Grainger's Trust [1769] relating to its administration, 1769-1860;

papers concerning Soley's Trust [1879] relating to its administration, 1879-1918;

papers concerning Adam's Trust [1668] relating to its administration, 1663-1939;

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Arranged as listed above, and in chronological order within sections for each Trust.

Conditions governing access:

By appointment only. Contact the Archivist, Drapers' Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DQ.
Material less than 30 years old is available at the discretion of the Master and Wardens. Some material is subject to the regulations of the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies available subject to the condition of originals

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Boyds Roll -unpublished index if information on Company individual members extracted from the archive and compiled by Percival Boyd, 1935 (71 vols); Unpublished handlist of Trust documents, compiled by A K Sierz, 1980, (6 vols).

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Created and held in situ by the Company.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Additional manuscripts relating to William Lambarde and Queen Elizabeth College, were purchased in 1958. The Lambarde papers were bequeathed to the Company in 1976. Wrench Family papers relating to St Michael's Cornhill, were given by Dr F A Wrench in 1950.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

The Worshipful Company of Drapers Trust Documents is a subfonds of the collection of the Worshipful Company of Drapers.

Publication note:

The History of the Worshipful Company of the Drapers of London, 5 vols, Rev A H Johnson, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1914-1922; A history of the Drapers' Company, Penelope Hunting, Westerham Press Ltd, 1989; The triple crowns, a narrative history of the Drapers' Company, 1364-1964, Tom Girton, Hutchinson & Co, London, 1964;

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Sources: Historical Manuscripts Commission's On-Line National Register of Archives; A history of the Drapers' Company, Penelope Hunting, Westerham Press Ltd, 1989. Compiled by Alison Field as part of the London Signpost Survey Project

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: October 2003


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Charities | Charitable organisations | Associations | Organizations
Nonprofit organizations

Personal names
Bancroft | Francis
Boreman | Sir | William
Buck | Robert
Calley | William | d.1515
Callum | Sir | Thomas
Clarke | Christopher | d.1672
Colbron | Henry Colbron
Crowley | Sir | Ambrose
Dixon | Henry jnr | d.1680
Dummer | William | died c.1589
Edmanson | John | d.1696
Grangers | Jonathan
Harwar | Samuel | 1693-1694
Howell | Thomas | d. 1537/8
Jolles | Sir | John | d.1621
Kendrick | John
Lambarde | William | 1536-1601
Lucas | Henry
Pemel | John
Pennoyer | Samuel | d.1654
Rainey | John | d.1633
Royley | Theophilus | d.1656
Russell | Thomas | d.1593
Soley | Thomas | d.1881
Starling | Sir | Samuel
Stock | John
Walter | John

Corporate names
Queen Elizabeth College
Worshipful Company of Drapers | 1361

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe