CONNOP FAMILY

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/0801
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: CONNOP FAMILY
Date(s)	: 1516-1929
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 4.77 linear metres (1225 documents).
Name of creator(s)	: Connop | family | of Enfield

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Connop family is a large one, but the dominant figure in the collection is the first Newell Connop. His date of birth is unknown; his father, Richard Connop, married the daughter of George Newell (hence Newell's unusual Christian name) evidently a man of some substance, since Newell and his sister Susanna inherited 12 houses in the Mile End Road through their mother (ACC/0801/0951). Newell himself married in 1775, Sarah the daughter and heiress of John Woodham, a wealthy distiller whose business, with which Newell also seems to have connections, was in Shadwell, but who owned substantial lands in the Enfield area.

Newell and Sarah had eight children; none of their three daughters Sarah, Emma and Ann married, and of their sons, John the eldest went into the Church, and married Katherine Stewart the god-daughter and heiress of Stephen Wilson. She inherited from him Bradfield Hall and other property in Berkshire, and in Hatfield, Herts, which in due course descended to their only child Emma Wilson Connop (ACC/0801/1054-1080). Richard and Henry both entered the army and were successful, Richard becoming a general and Henry a lieutenant-colonel; the former as far as we know never married but Henry had three children by his marriage to Mary Lucas.

Newell junior had no children, but Woodham, the last brother, and his wife Emily Burgess had 2 sons and 5 daughters, the eldest son William Woodham becoming the senior member of the next generation. His brother, the third Newell, married Ann Yarde Ball whose marriage settlement and related papers form part of the collection (ACC/0801/1140-0055) and had 10 children, including boys with the names Richard, Henry, Woodham and Newell. This repetition of family names does not always make it very easy to disentangle the generations. As mentioned before, a certain amount of Connop land found its way into their hands through marriage or inheritance; thus Newell's uncle John Connop married Elizabeth Bridges, niece and heir of John Dell; his namesake, Newell's son married Stephen Wilson's heiress, and John's brother Woodham married Emily Burgess whom one must assume to be John Burgess' heir, since the Burgess property is not sold to the Connops. In 1830, before his death Newell transferred a good deal of his property to his children, the deeds forming a group in collection (ACC/0801/1081-1125). His own affairs form the preceding group, much concerned with his property, but also including the affairs of people whose executor he was (ACC/0801/0950-1053). The last group concerns the miscellaneous affairs of his children and grand-children (ACC/0801/1126-1225).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Connop family of Enfield, chiefly title deeds to property that members of the family acquired. This was situated for the most part in Enfield and its neighbouring parishes in Hertfordshire and Essex, Hatfield, Waltham, Cheshunt and Chingford, and was consolidated by the first Newell Connop and his sons.

Much of the material is in original bundles, each consisting of the deeds for one property; many of these bundles conclude with a conveyance to Newell, and those that do not, pass by inheritance or marriage into the family. For that property which is not conveyed either to the Connops or any of their relations, one can only assume that later deeds have not been kept with the earlier ones.

In another way also, the collection is incomplete; in his History and Antiquities of Enfield Robinson states that at the time he was writing (1823) Newell Connop held the Manors of Durrants and Suffolks. There is nothing in the collection at all relating to Suffolks, and although there is a schedule of the deeds for Durrants, drawn up in 1832 (ACC/0801/1126), there are no actual deeds. Nor are there any for Grapes Farm, stated by Robinson to be the main manor farm.

Deeds do exist however for the small manor of Elsings or Norris' farm, which Newell bought in 1804 (ACC/0801/0283-0305). There is also a survey of all Newell Connop's land in Enfield taken in 1804, which unfortunately does not now include a map, and a book of maps each beautifully drawn and coloured of his Essex estates 1803-1814 (ACC/0801/1045-1046). One of the most interesting items among the Enfield deeds is a sales particular for the Forty Hall and Manor of Worcester estate of Eliab Breton in 1787 which includes as Lot 22 the old royal palace of Elizabeth, noting that it stands in a good position for building and the palace when demolished would provide much building material. (ACC/0801/0043).

The collection also includes property transactions, sale particulars and related papers, family papers and wills.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

ACC/0801-1: Property in Enfield;
ACC/0801-2: Property in Hatfield;
ACC/0801-3: Property in Chingford;
ACC/0801-4: Property in Ashampstead and Aldworth;
ACC/0801-5: Property in Shadwell;
ACC/0801-6: Property in Presteigne, Radnorshire;
ACC/0801-7: Miscellaneous property;
ACC/0801-8: Affairs of Newell Connop;
ACC/0801-9: Affairs of Revd John Connop and family;
ACC/0801-10: Newell's transfer of property to his children.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

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:

Certain documents (ACC/0801/0367-0371, 949 & 927-8) were found stray among the deeds deposited by the same solicitors, Messrs. Pennington & Sons, which now form ACC/0969.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Records deposited in October 1962.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

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:
Records prepared May to September 2011.