ARCHIVE OF PAINE AND BRETTELL OF CHERTSEY IN SURREY, SOLICITORS

PAB

ARCHIVE OF PAINE AND BRETTELL OF CHERTSEY IN SURREY, SOLICITORS

1585-1883

The Collection comprises mainly the title deeds, and connected documents, of properties in Rye and surrounding parishes in Sussex and Kent, which had been acquired gradually over the preceding century by the Lamb family and which belonged to the Rev George Augustus Lamb as heir of his father Thomas Phillipps Lamb, after 1820, all of which he mortgaged. [Presumably other properties in the area were held by the family, but, not being mortgaged, they do not appear in this collection.] The title deeds have been arranged by properties, but the mortgages, where properties are not treated individually, have been arranged chronologically

The wills and other documents which are in no way connected with the main body of these transactions have been grouped together, and thus, information of general family interest can be obtained from this section, and the link between the Grebell and Lamb families can be readily studied

Contents

TITLE DEEDS AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS

RYE

PAB/1 - 3 House in Middle Street Ward; 1698-1720

PAB/4 - 12 Various properties 1695-1756

PAB/13 - 29 Corner House in Middle Street [present Mermaid Street]; 1664-1780

PAB/30 - 39 House in Middle Street, and House in Longer Street [present High Street]; 1750-1792

PAB/40 - 51 House in Middle Street Ward, near the Churchyard; 1774-1810

PAB/52 - 57 House in Middle Street Ward, Butcher's Shop in Middle Street Ward, and House in Longer Street; 1740-1814

PAB/58 - 97 House in Middle Street. 1696 - 1847

PAB/98 Various properties. 1585 [as in Rye MSS. 135/14]

PAB/99 Land in Watchbell Street; 1738-1777

VARIOUS SUSSEX PARISHES

PAB/100 Advowson of East Guldeford; 1718

PAB/101 - 103 Pavis Garden, Playden; 1717-1771

PAB/104 - 107 Seer's Farm, Beckley; 1789

PAB/108 - 124 Three parcels of land in Westfield, Brede and Beckley; 1743-1793

PAB/125 - 127 4½a land in Westfield; 1741-1742

PAB/128 - 130 Randolls Farm, Westfield; 1727-1754

PAB/131 - 133 Spray's Estate, Westfield; 1755

PAB/134 - 185 Two farms in Westfield; 1709-1784

PAB/186 - 197 Copyhold of the Manor of Crowham, Westfield; 1641-1791

PAB/198 - 201 Westfield Forge Farm; 1796

PAB/202 - 219 Brassetts, and Brassetts Wood, Westfield; 1639-1738

PAB/220 - 222 1½a leasehold at Westfield; 1804-1808

PAB/223 Thomas Lamb as trustee of the marriage settlement of Thomas Kemp, 1804

KENT

PAB/224 - 230 26a marshland in Brenzett; 1731-1756

PAB/231 - 238 14a marshland in Brenzett; 1735 - 1787

PAB/239 - 240 27a land in Brenzett and Brookland; 1797-1798

PAB/241 - 262 MORTGAGES RAISED ON THE LAMB FAMILY ESTATES

PAB/263 - 290 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS CONNECTED WITH THE LAMB FAMILY MORTGAGES

PAB/291 - 297 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS CONCERNING GREBELL AND LAMB PROPERTIES

WILLS AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS

PAB/298 - 303 Grebell family wills, abstract of title, and a settlement; 1680-1724

PAB/304 - 309 Lamb family wills, and release of legacy; 1756-1834

PAB/310 - 324 Wills and papers of persons connected with the Grebell and Lamb families; 1711-1783

PAB/325 Sale particulars; 1881 - 1883

<span class="wrapper"><p>See also papers relating to Sussex in the firms deposit in the Surrey History Centre</p> <p>6200/ADD/Box 34 Conveyance of the impropriate tithe rent charge of Udimore, Sussex, by Thomas Langford to HE Paine, 1882; part of sale particulars including tithes, nd; accounts of tithes, 1887, 1888, 1896; reconveyance of extraordinary tithes of Billinghurst Farm, 1897; also correspondence and circulars concerning Udimore Church Restoration Fund, election to the Rye Union Board of Guardians, Rye and District Benefit Nursing Association report, 1902 [Bundle 2]</p> <p>1882-1902</p> <p>Conveyance of tithe rent charges of Chertsey 1906 and Udimore by HE Paine to Sarah Fladgate [Bundle 3]</p> <p>6200/ADD/Box 43 Papers relating to Udimore tithe and the manors of Brede and Udimore. Including: Sale particulars of residential and sporting estate and marsh lands in Udimore, Brede, Icklesham, Guestling, Playden and East Guldeford, Sussex, and Brookland and Brenzett, Kent, including tithe of Udimore and manors of Udimore and Brede, 1881; sale particulars of Chitcomb in Brede, Udimore and Ewhurst, Sussex, 1897; accounts of tithe collected and letters from agent in Udimore concerning administration of manors of Udimore and Brede and explaining the difficulties of collecting tithe from farmers in financial trouble, 1880s-1890s</p> <p>Certificate and map and also accounts and correspondence relating to the Extraordinary Tithe Redemption Act, 1886 and Tithe Act 1891</p> <p>Assessment of hop gardens in the parish of Udimore, 1884-1886</p> <p>Correspondence concerning taxation of tithe right; correspondence and printed circulars relating to Udimore parish matters (the impropriators of the tithe have responsibility for the chancel of the church), including Rye Union statement, 1890, vicar's statement, 1902, church restoration fund account, 1903</p> <p>c.1881-1903</p> <p>6200/ADD/Box 18, Box 39, Box 47, Box 56, Box 57 Client deeds, correspondence, executorship accounts and sale particulars relating to the estates of the Revs George Augustus (including probate of will) and Thomas Davis Lamb. Including premises formerly including Banquetting Room, 1 Mermaid Street and the Cinque Ports Hotel, Rye, Sussex, premises in Westfield Playden, Sussex [Box 18, Bundle 1-2; Box 39, Bundle 1; Box 47, Bundle 5]; also correspondence relating to the Rother Valley Railway, 1895 [Box 39, Bundle 1] lease of Saltmarshlands, Rye, 1772 [Box 56] tithe of the Rectory of Iden and the United Rectories of Playden and Guldeford, East and West Hills, Hastings, sale particulars of estates in Rye, Playden, Iden, Peasmarsh, Beckley and Northiam, Sussex and Newenden, Kent, including manor of Kechenour, 1885; trustees' accounts, 1860s-1870s [Box 57]</p> <p>1772-1895</p></span>

English

3 Sub-fonds

Records are open for consultation unless otherwise indicated

These documents were deposited by the firm in June 1964 (ACC 619)

They relate almost exclusively to the Grebbell and Lamb families of Rye, further documents relating to which were among a much larger group of documents deposited at the Surrey History Centre between 1993 and 1995 (SHS 6200 and 6200/ADD). A list of records relating to Sussex among that deposit appears as 'Related' in the information at the start of this catalogue. Both SHC lists are available on the Access to Archives website

The sales particulars listed as PAB/325 formed part of that deposit, and were donated by Surrey History Centre on 12 July 1999 (ACC 7940)

The history of the firm

A full account of the origins of Messrs Paine and Brettell of Chertsey appears in the introduction to the Surrey History Centre list

This introduction to ESRO PAB seeks to explain the presence in the archive of a firm of Surrey solicitors of a major group of papers relating to the Lamb family, who controlled the politics of the borough of Rye in East Sussex from the beginning of the 18th century until the reforms of 1832. It concludes with a brief essay, written in 1966, on the history of the Lamb family

Henry Edward Paine (1812-1883) was born at Rye in 1812, the son of Henry Paine and his wife Rebecca; he died at Rye on 13 May 1883 as a result of a carriage accident at Lydd about a year previously. By 1832 Paine was clerk to David Manser of Watchbell Street, Rye, solicitor and property developer (for whom see ESRO AMS 6454/27-40), by 1832. Although he never qualified as a solicitor, Paine acted as clerk to the Rye Board of Guardians and the Hastings and Rye Highway Board, the Superintendent Registrar of the Rye District and as secretary to the Rye, East Sussex and Kent Building Society and the Rye Cattle Market Company. In the words of the obituary in the Sussex Express of 15 May 1883, 'he discharged his multifarious duties in a most able manner, and he was regarded as an authority on highway and Poor Law matters'

His son Henry Edwards Paine (1835-1918), born at Beckley on 3 May and baptised at Rye on 21 August 1835, was a solicitor's clerk in Rye by 1851. In 1866 he joined Henry G Grazebrook as partner in a firm at Chertsey in Surrey which had been in existence since before 1802. Grazebrook died in 1868 and in about 1870 Paine was joined by Richard Brettell, born in Worcestershire in about 1847. The firm, styled Paine and Brettell, undertook very much the same business as had been conducted by Paine's father in Rye. In the 1913 edition of Kelly's Directory of Surrey, H E Paine is described as 'solicitor, commissioner for oaths and perpetual commissioner, clerk to guardians and assessment committees of Chertsey union, vestry clerk of Chertsey and Weybridge, clerk to the commissioners of taxes, clerk to Chertsey Rural and Chertsey, Walton on Thames, Weybridge and Windlesham Urban District Councils, Joint Hospital Committee, and superintendent registrar of births, deaths and marriages for Chertsey district'. The firm also acted as solicitors to the Chertsey Building Society

In their private capacities, H E Paine and Richard Brettell acquired the lordships of several manors. By 1868 they were lords of Corhams manor in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire (Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies D148) and between 1872 and 1874 acquired the manor of Hanworth in Middlesex (London Metropolitan Archives ACC 681). In 1881 they purchased the lordship of the manor of Udimore near Rye: for the particulars of the sale, see PAB/235/1. Paine and Brettell derived a considerable income from enfranchising the manorial tenements

It is clear from the archive that Paine carried with him to Chertsey the business of the Lamb family, and it seems likely that he was involved in a professional capacity in the estate of the Revd George Augustus Lamb, DD (1782-1864), the last political patron of the borough, at the time of his removal to Surrey

The Grebell and Lamb families

(Information which appeared as footnotes in the paper catalogue is given here in square brackets.)

The first Grebell to be made a freeman of Rye was Allen Grebell I, 11th October 1582. It appears that his son Allen II was made a freeman in 1613, and his son Allen III in 1659, by birthright. [Holloway. 'History of Rye' pp 239, 581] His son Thomas was allowed the vote in the 1690 election, while Jeremiah, brother of Thomas, was admitted freeman in 1700. In 1714 Allen IV, son of Thomas, was admitted, and in 1754 Allen V was also made a freeman, both these admissions being by birthright. [Holloway. 'History of Rye' p. 239]

The offices of Mayor and Jurat in Rye were frequently filled by members of this family in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Allen Grebell II was Mayor in 1631, 1644, and 1645 ["A New History of Rye" pp 157-163 by L A Vidler.] and was several times a jurat [See Records of Rye Corporation, RYE 99/22, 112/10, 113/2 and PAB/113/3.] His son Allen III who died c. 1680 does not appear to have held the office of Mayor, but the position was held ten times. [Viz. in 1699, 1705-7, 1711, 1713, 1717, 1719 & 1721. L A Vidler, 'A New History of Rye'] by his eldest surviving son Thomas before his death c. 1723. Thomas' brother Jeremiah who died in 1719 while holding the office of Mayor had also been Mayor in 1715 and Jurat in 1703. [See RYE 113/627] The period next ensuing, between 1723 and 1743 when Allen Grebell IV was murdered, saw the office of Mayor filled almost exclusively by Allen Grebell IV and his brother in law James Lamb. Thereafter the Lamb family dominated the Corporation and the name of Grebell, though carried on by Allen V, [Became Town Clerk in 1753. L A Vidler, 'A New History of Rye', p 163.] second son of Allen IV, fades into the background

It is apparent from the catalogue below that the Grebells owned a considerable amount of land in and around Rye, but while a proportion of it passed to Allen Grebell V and his heirs, [See PAB/302, 303] a great amount came into the hands of James Lamb and his heirs by the wills of Thomas and Martha Grebell, proved respectively in 1724 and 1727 [See PAB/300, 301.]. It is not know where James Lamb came from before his marriage to Martha Grebell, daughter of Thomas Grebell, but the Parish of St Andrew, Holborn, in Middlesex, has been suggested because he was buried there. [L A Vidler, 'A New History of Rye', p 101.] His will, [PAB/304] proved in 1756, gives no indication of his having a landed interest elsewhere than in the Rye area

After the murder of Allen Grebell IV on the 16th March 1743, committed in mistake for James Lamb, [See LA Vidler, 'A New History of Rye' pp 96-7 for a full account.] the latter was returned Mayor a further five times before his death, while two of his sons, Thomas and James, were also beginning to assume the office. Their mayoralties, followed by that of Thomas Phillipps Lamb, and then of Thomas Davis Lamb, William Phillips Lamb and George Augustus Lamb, and finally, of William Pitt Lamb, [See pedigree for the descent of the family.] placed Rye virtually in the hands of this one family for nearly a hundred years, until 1832, for out of the eight other persons who were occasionally Mayors during this time, four were relations of the Lambs

The eighteenth century dominance of the Corporation by these families was by no means detrimental to the town. Both the Grebells and the Lambs were merchants by trade, and the jurats were then predominantly business men, with the result that the economic prosperity of the town was fostered, and flourished. [LA Vidler, 'A New History of Rye' p 93.] The family's preeminence is reflected by the fact that George I visited them at Lamb House in West Street, when he was driven into Rye Bay in a storm. [LA Vidler, 'A New History of Rye' p 92.] This event, and the gift which the King left to Lamb's son, George, are recorded in this collection. [PAB/286, 304.] Later members of the family were generous benefactors to the town. In 1775 the Church Bells were recast, and two new ones provided at the personal expense of Thomas Lamb, [LA Vidler, 'A New History of Rye' p 108.] who also in 1784 rebuilt the Almshouses. [LA Vidler, 'A New History of Rye' p 111.] Two of the Lambs were Members of Parliament for Rye, namely Thomas Davis Lamb in 1801 and Thomas Phillipps Lamb in 1812

But by the early nineteenth century the Lamb family influence was beginning to wane, and resentment against them was deomonstrated by the 1825 mayoral elections in which the opponents of the existing regime elected John Meryon as Mayor, in outright defiance of the Revd William Dodson, the non-resident candidate for the Lamb party. [Holloway, 'History of Rye', p 245 Sqq.] Finally, the 1832 Parliamentary reform stimulated enough opposition to exclude the Lambs entirely from any future office in Rye

The nineteenth century also saw a financial decline in the family, orginated by the over-ambitious will, proved in 1820, of Thomas Phillipps Lamb, [PAB/308.] who to all appearances had led a fashionable and expensive life at his house, Mountsfield Lodge, near Rye. In order to meet the financial requirements of the will, his son and executor the Revd George Augustus Lamb, D D, was obliged to undertake the extensive mortgages recorded in this collection. [PAB/241-262.] Moreover, William Pitt Lamb, eldest son of The Rev George Augustus Lamb, proved himself unequal to economic management of property, a sphere in which the family had previously excelled. While corresponding with John Dodson on constituency matters relating to Rye, Dr George Augustus Lamb frequently bewails his ill-luck and speaks of his financial problems as due to 'the imprudence of my own family! [See E S R O/MOB/1-39, 1644-1697 especially 1648-50, where the mortgages of this collection are discussed.] However, although a considerable part of the family estate was thus jeopardised and mortgages to the sum of £21,500 were raised, there is no doubt that Dr Lamb worked conscientiously to save the family heritage. [See PAB/260. This is the last of the Mortgage transactions of this collection and shows how Dr Lamb had been gradually reducing the debt.]