Ledgers of Edwin Boxall (1826-1907), solicitor, Brighton and scrapbooks of William...

Edwin Boxall (1826-1907), solicitor, was one of the younger sons of William Boxall of Brighton (1789-1863) and his wife Lucy Ann Boxall of Grand Parade, Brighton, and was baptised at St Nicholas, Brighton on 3 March 1826. On 25 December 1809 his father had married Hannah Mockford at Lewes St Thomas Cliffe, and it was as a widower that he married Lucy Ann, the only daughter of William Pierce of Lewes, at Falmer on 4 August 1813. On the licence for his first marriage he was described as a builder of Brighton, but by 1813 no occupation is listed. He was possibly the William Boxall of 7 Bond Street, cabinet-maker, to whom a poor Hartfield child was apprenticed in 1827 (PAR 360/24/1/8/18): property in this area was purchased by Brighton Corporation from Edwin Boxall's trustees in 1960 (R/C 4/141). According to the family's entry in Burke's Peerage, William Boxall was a Deputy Lieutenant of the county, and High Constable of Brighton in 1824. For a dispute of that year concerning Boxall's plans to develop part of the site of the Castle Hotel, see Antony Dale, Brighton Town anad Brighton People (Phillimore, 1976) 135-6. In around 1851 Edwin Boxall started his business which was run from premises at 50 Ship Street, Brighton. By 1862 the office had moved to 63 Ship Street, Brighton, where Boxall was in partnership with Ernest H Kempe; EB had taken up residence at 10 Western Cottages (situated at 81 Western Road, leading into Sillwood Street) with his wife Betsy. By 1881 the couple had moved to 10 Sillwood Road, Brighton (the firm's premises remained at Ship Street). EB died at Henfield, West Sussex on 30 July 1907 leaving £163, 922 in his will which was proved by his three nephews, the sons of his brother, William Percival Boxall: William Percival Gratwicke Boxall (see below); Sir Charles Gervaise Boxall (born at Delves House, Ringmer 31 August 1852, educated at Brighton College, member of War Office Committee for the creation of the Territorial Army, died 6 March 1914: ODNB), Sir Alleyne Alfred Boxall, Bart (born in Belle Vue Hall, Brighton 11 October 1855, educated at Eton and University College Oxford, AAB was created Baron Boxall in 1900; a peerage in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha for having helped the duke out of a financial embarrasement. Although Boxall had no connection with Germany, the title was created in the duke's own country, instead of the United Kingdom, as the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, advised against granting Boxall a British honour due to the nature of the case. Queen Victoria, the mother of the duke, allowed Boxall to use the title in Britain but he later voluntary relinquished it during World War I as it was considered an 'enemy title'. As a compensation, he was awarded the baronetcy in 1919. On Boxall's death in 1927, the baronetcy passed to his son, Alleyene Percival Boxall but the title became extinct upon the latter's death, without male heirs, in 1945). William Percival Boxall (c1813-1898) was also born in Brighton (baptised 4 November 1814 when his parents, William and Lucy Ann, were living at Sussex Place) and was enumerated in the 1861 census as a 'Land and House Proprietor'. WPB lived at 'Belle Vue' on Eastern Road with his wife Caroline and their six children. His obituary in the 'Sussex Express ' (20 Sep 1893 p3) mentions that he also owned property in Cowfold, West Sussex and refers to his involvement with the Sussex County Hospital, of which he was a govenor for over 63 years and a founder and chairman of the Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children. He was also a staunch Conservative and had been a leading figure in Parliamentary contests since the middle of the nineteenth century. William Percival Gratwicke Boxall (1849-1931) was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and graduated in 1871; he was awarded his MA in 1874. In 1873 he was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn and married Marie Franklyn in 1885. WPGB was made King's Council in 1902 at which time he was living at 36 Carlyle Square, London with his wife and two step-daughters, Maude and Sybil Cowper. He was appointed Recorder of Rye in 1905 until he was transferred to Brighton in 1911 where he held the postion until 1928. On the same day in 1908 he became a Justice of the Peace and was elected Deputy-Chairman of West Sussex Quarter Sessions. WPGB died at his home at 15 First Avenue, Hove and his funeral took place at St Peter's, Brighton and Brighton Borough Cemetary on 16 December 1931. The solicitor's practice founded by Edwin Boxall survived as Boxall and Kempe at 61/63 Ship Street until beyond 1980, but by 1988 had been absorbed by Donne, Mileham and Haddock.

<p>For documents deriving from the practice of Boxall and Kempe, salvaged from the offices of Donnne, Mileham and Haddock in about 1990, and including papers of the Boxall family, see ACC 7697; for the day-book of D E Burtenshaw Ltd, Builders and Decorators, Brighton, for work undertaken on behalf of Boxall and Kempe, 1940-1965, see AMS 5998/14.</p>

The vendor is a collector and has no links with the Boxall family