Archive of Winkworths of Hove, auctioneers, estate agents, surveyors and valuers

Valuation and inventory books of Winkworths, auctioneers, surveyors, valuers and estate agents, Hove

Donated by T Kirby and Partners, 188 Church Street, Hove, per Hove Reference Library on 7 September 1982 (ACC 2898)

Born in Egham, Surrey, Edward Henry Winkworth moved to Brighton in 1881, at the age of 24. According to Page's Brighton Directory for 1881, the firm 'Winkworths House and Estate Agents' was established at 22 Preston Street, Brighton. An early advertisement for Winkworths in Page's Directory of Brighton, 1882, maintains that the business specialised in 'Residential lettings, sound freehold investments and a few remunerative boarding and lodging houses'. As stated by the Brighton Herald of August 1905, Edward H Winkworth's branch in Brighton also worked in close association with his brother's, Mr H St John Winkworth, business in Curzon Street, Mayfair.

In August 1905, the Brighton Herald reported the sudden death of Mr Edward H Winkworth, at the age of 49. While it is uncertain who took over as proprietor of the business, Mrs E Winkworth remained the owner of 22 Preston Street. As listed in the 1910 Finance Act valuation (IRV/1/29), Mrs E Winkworth's tenants at 22, 23 Preston Street and 5 Little Preston Street were Arthur Laws, Charles Martin Edward, Ethel Clarke and Charles Tisdale. It is possible that any of these tenants ran the business in the period after Edward H Winkworth's death. In 1910, the firm acquired the premises of Jenner and Parker, House and Estate Agents, at 188 Church Road, Hove. In 1911 Pike's Directory of Brighton records Winkworths as additionally 'Fellow of the Auctioneers Institute' (F.A.I.). By 1949, Winkworths F A I was under the direction of Harry Duffield and in addition to lettings concentrated further in the sale of private hotels and boarding houses. Winkworths F A I closed down between 1975 and 1980. .

The archive comprises valuation books. The firm seems to have ordered batches of valuation books from stationers, with serial numbers and/or letters embossed on the spines. The series into which the books have been arranged are based on their physical appearance, with attention paid to the numbers or letters on the spines, the front covers, the endpapers and the stationer's labels, some of which are dated. Eleven series have been identified in this way. Five valuation books which do not appear physically similar enough to assimilate into any of those series have been placed in a final series (AMS6508/12). There are many breaks in the serial numbering, presumably because books have not survived. There is a main sequence of numbered books, the first surviving volume being no. 25 and the last no. 599, which is split into nine series, broadly chronological. One series carries letters, another numbers followed by the letter A. The valuations in the books are often not dated, but most volumes contained at least one dated entry. Most books appear to have been filled up within a year or two, but some had further valuations entered after a lapse of 70 or more years. Several batches of valuation books might be in use at once, with the effect that the covering dates of series overlap. Opening dates inferred from a book's number and dates in neighbouring volumes are given in [square brackets]. .

The valuer frequently abbreviated street names; these have been extended silently, unless the correct name is in doubt. The town or village was rarely given but has been added in [square brackets].

T M, February 2004