Howard de Walden Estates

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 2942
Held at	: Howard de Walden Estates   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.hdwe.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Howard de Walden Estates
Date(s)	: 1724-2003
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: Approximately 375 linear metres and 15 plan cabinets
Name of creator(s)	: Edward Harley | 1689-1741 | 2nd Earl of Oxford Henrietta Cavendish Harley | nee Holles | 1694-1755 | wife of 2nd Earl of Oxford Margaret Cavendish Bentinck | nee Harley | 1715-1785 | wife of 2nd Duke of Portland William Bentinck | 1709-1762 | 2nd Duke of Portland William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck | 1738-1809 | 3rd Duke of Portland William Henry Cavendish-Scott Bentinck | 1768-1854 | 4th Duke of Portland William John Cavendish-Scott Bentinck | 1800-1879 | 5th Duke of Portland Lucy Joan Ellis nee Scott-Bentinck | 1907-1899 | wife of 6th Baron Howard de Walden Frederick George Ellis | 1830-1899 | 7th Baron Howard de Walden Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis | 1880-1946 | 8th Baron Howard de Walden General Real Estates Investment and Trust Limited (GREIT) | 1918-1953 Howard de Walden Estates Limited | 1953 - (incorporated in 1963)

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Howard de Walden Estate dates from 1715 when Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, began the development of Cavendish Square and the streets around it. This land had previously formed part of the Marylebone Estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. It had passed from Margaret Holles, nee Cavendish, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, to her daughter Henrietta Cavendish Harley. At the death of Henrietta's husband, Edward Harley, in 1741, this new Harley Estate passed to his only daughter, Margaret Cavendish Harley, who in 1734 had married William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland. It was subsequently known as the Portland Estate, and was handed down to successive Dukes of Portland. In 1879, the 5th Duke of Portland died without issue and his estates were divided between his sisters, (according to the terms of the 4th Duke's will), and his cousin, who succeeded him as the sixth Duke. The Portland Estate eventually passed to the last surviving sister, Lucy Joan Ellis, who was the widow of the 6th Lord Howard de Walden, and has remained in this family since then.

The Estate's first business trust, General Real Estates Investment and Trust Limited (GREIT), was formed in 1918, changing its name to Howard de Walden Estates Limited (HDWEL) in 1953.
The company was incorporated in its present form in 1963, but the estate is still owned by the family.

During the twentieth century two major portions of the Estate were sold: in 1914 Portland Town, an area east of St John's Wood High Street around 60 acres in extent, and in 1925 another 40 acres, much of it along Oxford Street, south of Cavendish Square and east of Great Portland Street.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Howard de Walden Estates Limited (and its predecessors) comprising:

minutes of General Real Estates Investment and Trust Limited (GREIT), 1919-1953; minutes of the Advisory Board, 1913-1919; Directors' attendance books, 1919-1953; minutes of Howard de Walden Estates Limited (HDWEL) 1953-1965; minutes of the Advisory Board, 1960-1966; attendance books, 1952-1955;

financial records of GREIT including ledgers, 1920-1949; financial journals, 1919-1952; cash books, 1919-1943; petty cash books, 1920-1951; fees book 1913-1950; Register of members and share ledger, with details of mortgages and debentures, 1916-1953; share certificates, 1919-1955; correspondence relating to shares; Register of directors' holding interests, 1948;
financial records of HDWEL including balance sheets and accounts 1953-1963; ledger, 1953-1963; financial journal 1953-1963; cash books, 1953-1963;

records relating to leases including lease book, 1799; registers of leases, 1921-1961; register of settled property, 1922-1951; particulars of assignment of lease 1912-1990; lease receipt book, 1941;

lease plan books and reference plans, c.1800-1960; block plans, c.1920-1940;

Terms of Contract series, 1812-1962; Ground Plan series, 1812-1967; indexes to terms of contract and ground plans, c 1900;

Particulars of licences granted, 1864-1967; Contract books, 1907-1947; GREIT Settled Estate contract books, 1912-1963; Contract register, 1909-1962; Register of seals, 1933-1946; Plans approved, 1924-1958;

maps and plans of the Estate including Survey of Marybone and Barrow Hills in the County of Middlesex, 1708; plan of estate in the parish of St Marylebone belonging to His Grace the Duke of Portland, also of an estate held by lease under the Crown of England situate in the parishes of St Marylebone and St Pancras, 1789; sheets from first editions of Richard Horwood's Survey of London and its environs, 1793-1794; copies of 36 block plans (now deposited at Westminster City archive), c.1805-1870 covering the current estate; manuscript plan of two plots of land in Wigmore St, c.1840; manuscript plan of Estate in Portland Town, the 'Primrose Hill Estate', 1843; plan and elevation of 2-24 Mansfield St, c1850; elevation of 12-19 Devonshire St, 1870; section and elevation of the Oxford Market by Charles Fowler, 106 Gower St, c.1880; Ordnance Survey maps of the Estate, 1894-1896; plan showing extent of the Estate south of Marylebone Rd, c.1910; plan of extent of Estate in Portland Town, c.1910; plans entitled 'Howard de Walden Estate Land Duties' showing different categories of leases, 'Howard de Walden Estate Land Duties' showing 999 year leases, 'Howard de Walden Estate' showing mortgaged properties, 'Howard de Walden Settlement' showing central portion of Estate, c1915; plan of estate in Portland Town, c.1912; plan of Estate, c.1920;
and collection of 13,000 drawings relating to the estate c1890-present;

Title deeds including deeds relating to: Four pieces of ground north of Cavendish Square, 1724, 1749; Devonshire Place and adjoining area, 1791, [1810], 1866; 23 Aybrook Street and adjoining area, 1939, 1916; 7 Devonshire Place, 1789-1870; Great Portland Street and adjoining area, 1919; 11 (formerly 8) Mansfield Street, 1860-1900; 278-288 Oxford Street, 16-28 Holles Street and 6 Cavendish Buildings, 1921; 17 Upper Harley Street, 1865; 14 Westmoreland Street and 49 Little Woodstock Mews, 1905-1929; [7] George Street, York Buildings, St Martin-in-the-Fields, 1764-1788;

other Estate records including Survey of the Marylebone Estate, 1737; Local Acts of Parliament 1770-1831; Certificates for redemption of Land Tax on the Estate, 1851; Marriage settlement, 1912; Index to deeds and other Estate documents, c.1920;
news cuttings relating to the Estate, 1922-1925; news cuttings mainly on leasehold enfranchisement, c1929-1939;
memos, accounts and reports relating to the reorganisation of the Estate, c 1920-1964; correspondence and reports on the reorganisation of the Howard de Walden Estates Ltd, 1963-1964; papers relating to the Cavendish Square car park, c.1960-1966; Scottish Life Assurance Co: Group Policies for Pension Fund, 1969, 1975; weekly rent collection books, 1984-1988, 1990-1995;

photographs including images of 23 Queen Anne Street, c.1880, 1935, 1937, 1965 (31 photographs); Bedford Lemere photographs of the Estate and properties no longer on the estate, 1908-1917, and related correspondence, 2002; miscellaneous photographs, including the Oxford Market, 1875, 16-17 Holles Street, c.1903, Cavendish Square car park, 1968-1973, and Survey of the Howard de Walden Estate, c1981-1986 (3000 negatives and contact prints).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

By appointment only. Contact The Archivist, Howard de Walden Estate, 23 Queen Anne St, London W1G 9DL.
Archives are available to bona fide researchers subject to the consent of the Estate. Records less than 30 years old are closed.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying or photography for the purposes of research or private study are permitted by arrangement with the Archivist.
Reproduction of any material from the Archive requires the written agreement of the Estate.

Finding aids:

Howard de Walden Estates Limited, catalogue of the Estate's archives, 2003, unpublished catalogue; database listings of drawings and plans and terms of contracts and ground plans.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Some records weeded from the Estate archive in the early 1960s, found their way to the Westminster City Archives via the Business Archives Council and Marylebone Library. A collection of 84 block plans of the former Estate, 1797-1870, were deposited by the Estate on permanent loan at Westminster City Archives, Jan 2002.

For location of earlier records of the Estate see 3.5.3 Related Collections

Immediate source of acquisition:

Most of the twentieth century records have been generated and retained in situ by the Estate.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Family and estate papers of the Scott-Ellis family, Barons Howard de Walden: St Marylebone, 18th-20th cent : (Ref: 449), held at the City of Westminster Archives Centre; Lucy Joan Ellis, (1807-1899) nee Scott-Bentinck, wife of 6th Baron Howard De Walden, letters to Miss EM Copley 1827-1848, (Ref: GRE-G5) held at Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections: Palace Green Section;
Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, London deeds and estate papers, 16th cent-19th cent (Ref: DD P) held at the Nottinghamshire Archives, Nottingham;
Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, London (St Marylebone and Soho) deeds and estate papers, 18th cent-20th cent, (Ref: Portland (London)), held at Nottingham University Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections;
Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, St Marylebone (London) abstract and copy rental 1710 and report 1759, with summary of rentals 1712-1737 (Ref: O/341) held at London Metropolitan Archives;
Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, London estate rentals and letter book, 1720-1754 (Ref: Add MSS 18237-66), Harley family legal and financial papers, early 18th cent (Ref: Add MSS 18237-66), Harley, Cavendish, Holles and Vere family papers and miscellaneous papers, including cartularies of Hants religious houses, 12th cent-18th cent (Ref: Add MSS 70001-70523; Add Ch 76671-76767), Cavendish, Holles and Harley family papers, including Welbeck Abbey cartulary and charters14th cent-18th cent (Ref: Harleian MSS 2262-4, 5070, 7344-51, 7405-7500A, B, etc), further Harley family papers1688-1719 (Ref: Add MS 40621), Harleian Library catalogues, c.1708-1761 (Ref: Add MSS 45699-711) held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections;
Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland, St Marylebone (London) deeds 1765-1882 (Ref: BRA 1208), miscellaneous London plans, particulars and papers of John White, agent of the Portland estate, 1771-1833 (Ref: D/Wh), miscellaneous London plans, 1795-1872 (Ref: Acc 2273), held at City of Westminster Archives Centre.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: British Archives, a guide to archive resources in the United Kingdom, J Foster and J Sheppard (eds), Palgrave Publishers Ltd, Basingstoke; Howard de Walden Estate Limited, Catalogue of the Estate's archives, R Bowden, 2003, unpublished catalogue; 'The Portland papers', Dr Richard Olney, Archives, Vol 19, No 82 Oct 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:
July 2003