Records of Procter and Birkbeck, estate agents, Lancaster

This collection contains business records of Procter and Birkbeck and personal papers of H. T. Procter.

Business records of Procter and Birkbeck

DDPC 1 General records

DDPC 1/1 financial records

DDPC 1/2 fees ledgers

DDPC 1/3 day books

DDPC 1/4 letter books

DDPC 1/5 other general records

DDPC 2 Land and estate agency records

DDPC 2/1 estates' accounts ledgers

DDPC 2/2 Ashton Hall estate

DDPC 2/3 Crookhey estate

DDPC 2/4 Ellel Grange estate

DDPC 2/5 Heysham estates of Richard Smalley

DDPC 2/6 Heysham tithe (Revd. S C Voules)

DDPC 2/7 Quernmore, Fell End Farm

DDPC 2/8 Robert Hall Estate (Gerard family)

DDPC 2/9 Estates of Thomas Fitzherbert-Brockholes in Claughton and elsewhere

DDPC 3 Auctioneers and valuers records

DDPC 3/1 general

DDPC 3/2 sales particulars

DDPC 3/3 fire insurance assessments

DDPC 4 Surveying records

DDPC 4/1 surveys

DDPC 4/2 plans

DDPC 5 Miscellaneous

Personal papers of H T Procter

DDPC 6 Papers concerning the estate of Thomas Loft

DDPC 7 Tay Bridge papers

DDPC 8 Letter book

Deposited by Messrs Procter, Birkbeck and Batty, 8 June 1966 (acc. 2066)

Additional deposit, 10 March 1970 (acc. 2601)

Additional deposit by Mr D M Brownsord, 30 August 1990 (acc. 6765)

Accession 2066 comprises DDPC 1/1/1 - 1/1/2, 1/2/1 - 1/2/2, 1/3/1 - 1/3/5, 1/4/1 - 1/4/6, 1/5/1 - 1/5/4; 2/1/1, 2/2/1 - 2/2/5, 2/3/1 - 2/3/4, 2/4/1 - 2/4/5, 2/5/1 - 2/5/7, 2/6/1 - 2/6/3, 2/7/1 - 2/7/15, 2/8/1 - 2/8/4, 2/9/1 - 2/9/13; 3/1/1 - 3/1/2, 3/1/4, 3/2/1 - 3/2/43, 3/3/1 - 3/3/2; 4/1/1 - 4/1/25, 4/2/1 - 4/2/66; 5/1 - 5/20; and 7/1 - 7/8

Accession 2601 comprises DDPC 6/1 - 6/13

Accession 6765 comprises DDPC 1/1/3 - 1/1/4, 1/2/3 - 1/2/9, 1/4/7 - 1/4/8; 2/1/2 - 2/1/7, 2/4/6 - 2/4/11; 3/1/3; and 8/1

These records relate to Procter and Birkbeck and its predecessors, Procter and Birkbeck having evolved from the business created largely by Robert Lawson and John Roper in the late nineteenth century.

Procter and Birkbeck's letterheads claim that the firm was established in 1841(But see the list of charges at DDPC 1/2/2, where the date of establishment is given as 1854): if so, this probably refers to the land surveying business of John Lawson mentioned in Lancaster trade directories as being at 34 Cable Street in 1848; it became McKie and Lawson by 1851 (But see DDCL 2232/38, a printed business notice of McKie and Lawson dated 1847), and Robert Lawson by 1866. The address had changed to 28 Cable Street by 1881. It is not clear whether John Roper amalgamated a business of his own with Robert Lawson's or merely joined the latter's firm, but the two were in partnership by 1889, working from 32 Market Street (later Market Square), Lancaster (See DDPC 1/1/2). A London office, at 74 Victoria Street, was operated at some stage of the firm's existence, presumably largely for the sale of land and estates. Branch offices were also established in Morecambe and at Lake Road, Windermere.

Probate records show that Robert Lawson of Lancaster, land surveyor and land agent, died in 1896. From 1 October 1896, with the addition of a new partner, Herbert Tatham Procter, the firm was known as Lawson, Roper and Procter (See Day Book, DDPC 1/4/3). The firm appears to have gone through incarnations as Roper and Procter and as Roper, Procter, and Harris (See Letter book, DDPC 1/3/2, which suggests that Roper, Procter and Harris lasted from 1 Jan. 1901 to between 1903 and 1907. No further information on the new partner, A M Harris, has been found) before, in January 1913, it became known as Procter and Birkbeck (T E Birkbeck having been with the firm since at least 1900).

The main partners during the period covered by the majority of the records in this collection were thus:

Robert Lawson, who died on 2 January 1896;

John Simpson Roper, who lived at Olive House, 20 Regent St, Lancaster, and later at Oubeck, Galgate; he died on 10 May 1907 (H T Procter was one of the executors named in his will). He was probably related to the Lancaster writer William Oliver Roper (1856-1908) of Beechfield, Yealand Conyers, for whom the firm acted as land agent;

Herbert Tatham Procter, who lived at St Michaels Well (or Bolton Lodge), Bolton-le-Sands, and later at Newfields, Bay Horse, where he died on 11 November 1944;

Thomas Edmund Birkbeck, who lived at Brentwood, Caton; his address at his death on 9 July 1956 was Woodlands, Burton, Westmorland.

It seems likely that, after the death of H T Procter and T E Birkbeck, their sons continued the business: their respective wills name their executors as Herbert Secretan Procter, Maurice Boyd Birkbeck and Thomas Anthony Birkbeck, all estate agents. The firm's ledgers show that M B and T A Birkbeck at least had joined the firm by 1956.

The firm later became Procter, Birkbeck and Batty, and by 1982 it was known as Procter's. Amalgamated into Entwistle Green in 1984, it was sold as part of that partnership to Black Horse agencies in 1987.

The main purpose of the business in all its incarnations was as land and estate agents and surveyors; at various times, they were also described as auctioneers and valuers, architects, insurance agents, and civil engineers. The cataloguing arrangement of the collection of records reflects this diversity of interests, though obviously there are areas of overlap: surveys and plans, for example, may have been drawn up in connection with the firm's management of a particular estate, but have not here been allocated to that estate collection unless the connection is beyond doubt.

Unless otherwise stated, the records relate to the main descent of the business from Robert Lawson through Lawson and Roper to Procter and Birkbeck: the majority of the records date from the establishment of the partnership of Lawson and Roper in 1889 to the 1950s. Many of the records which predate the partnership probably came into the firm's possession through their estate management services. Some personal and business records of H T Procter are included in the collection.

Duplicate material and ephemera has been weeded out.

For a further deposit from the firm see DDX 431/84; a plan by McKie and Lawson of the River Lune, 1851, is at NWW 1/2/6. Deeds of the firm's property at 32 Market Square are at DDX 1284/4.