29 September 1704: Deeds, conveyances, and wills in the West Riding must henceforth be publicly registered in Wakefield to be considered valid
William Nelson. 1707. The office and authority of a justice of peace, 2nd Ed. London: Charles Harper. Get it:
.Unedited excerpt
If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.
This part of Yorkshire is the chiefest place in the north of England for woollen manufacture, and most of the traders in wool there are freeholders; but because there was no register, they found it difficult to borrow money on land securities, which though really good, yet did not satisfy the lenders, therefore a law was made for a public register to be kept at Wakefield, in which a memorandum of all deeds and wills, were to be registered at the election of the party, and those which were not registered should be accounted fraudulent.
Comment
Comment
Titles of this act, the succeeding one in 1707, also applicable to the West Riding, and similar legislation passed for the North and East Ridings, taken from the consolidating act of 1884:
- 2 & 3 Anne, c. 4. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, and wills that shall be made of any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the west riding of the county of York after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and four.
- 6 Anne, c. 20. An Act for inrollments of bargains and sales within the west riding of the county of York in the register office there lately provided, and for making the said register more effectual.
- 6 Anne, c. 62. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, wills, and other incumbrances that shall be made of or that may affect any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the east riding of the county of York or the town and county of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and eight, and for the rendring the register in the west riding more complete.
- 8 Geo. II. c. 6. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, wills, and other incumbrances that shall be made of or that may affect any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the north riding of the county of York after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six.
(HMG 1884)
The act apparently says that Wakefield was chosen as “the nearest market town to the centre or middle of the said West Riding” (Wakefield Town Council 1864).
The West Riding Registry of Deeds was not the oldest, “the Bedford Level registry … having been established after the Bedford Level Corporation charter of 1637 and the act of parliament of 1649, and recognised as a registry, if not before, at any rate in 1663, when the governor and company were constituted commissioners of sewers for the Level.”
Elections were held, and “competition for the appointment was very keen, for the registrar took all fees after paying the modest administrative expenses, which were very small in proportion to the gross receipts,” although, election expenses may have approached or exceeded income.
In 1817 it is reported that “a considerable part of the hall was literally crowded with beauty and fashion, which contributed not a little to enliven and adorn the scene.” In 1842,
During the whole of the morning of the first day, the officers had experienced great difficulty in resisting the pressure of votes endeavouring to reach the poll-booths, and at about half-past two the force became so great as to break down the barriers which had been erected, and the body of voters borne along by those behind were driven forward to the tables, which were upset and broken in all directions. The election was now carried on amid a scene of violence seldom surpassed (Tate 1944).
I haven’t yet read Jean Howell’s Deeds registration in England: a complete failure? (Howell 1999/07).
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Tags
Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.
- Anne I (1665-1714) (1), from 1702 Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and then, from the Acts of Union in 1707, of Great Britain and Ireland W/G ·
- Conveyancing (1) W/G ·
- Deeds registration (3) W/G ·
- East Riding of Yorkshire (67) W/G ·
- 📌Kingston upon Hull (74) W/G ·
- Land (economics) (1) W/G ·
- Land management (2) W/G ·
- North Riding of Yorkshire (51) W/G ·
- Northallerton (6) W/G ·
- 📌Wakefield (37), cathedral city on the River Calder in the West Riding/West Yorkshire W/G ·
- West Riding of Yorkshire (150) W/G ·
- Will and testament (12) W/G ·
- Woollen (21) W/G ·
Comment
Comment
Titles of this act, the succeeding one in 1707, also applicable to the West Riding, and similar legislation passed for the North and East Ridings, taken from the consolidating act of 1884:
- 2 & 3 Anne, c. 4. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, and wills that shall be made of any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the west riding of the county of York after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and four.
- 6 Anne, c. 20. An Act for inrollments of bargains and sales within the west riding of the county of York in the register office there lately provided, and for making the said register more effectual.
- 6 Anne, c. 62. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, wills, and other incumbrances that shall be made of or that may affect any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the east riding of the county of York or the town and county of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and eight, and for the rendring the register in the west riding more complete.
- 8 Geo. II. c. 6. An Act for the publick registring of all deeds, conveyances, wills, and other incumbrances that shall be made of or that may affect any honors, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the north riding of the county of York after the nine-and-twentieth day of September one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six.
(HMG 1884)
The act apparently says that Wakefield was chosen as “the nearest market town to the centre or middle of the said West Riding” (Wakefield Town Council 1864).
The West Riding Registry of Deeds was not the oldest, “the Bedford Level registry … having been established after the Bedford Level Corporation charter of 1637 and the act of parliament of 1649, and recognised as a registry, if not before, at any rate in 1663, when the governor and company were constituted commissioners of sewers for the Level.”
Elections were held, and “competition for the appointment was very keen, for the registrar took all fees after paying the modest administrative expenses, which were very small in proportion to the gross receipts,” although, election expenses may have approached or exceeded income.
In 1817 it is reported that “a considerable part of the hall was literally crowded with beauty and fashion, which contributed not a little to enliven and adorn the scene.” In 1842,
During the whole of the morning of the first day, the officers had experienced great difficulty in resisting the pressure of votes endeavouring to reach the poll-booths, and at about half-past two the force became so great as to break down the barriers which had been erected, and the body of voters borne along by those behind were driven forward to the tables, which were upset and broken in all directions. The election was now carried on amid a scene of violence seldom surpassed (Tate 1944).
I haven’t yet read Jean Howell’s Deeds registration in England: a complete failure? (Howell 1999/07).
Something to say? Get in touch
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1 July 1840: The opening of the Hull and Selby Railway terminates the threat to Hull’s port from Goole, Scarborough and Bridlington
17 May 1823: “Doncaster fertiliser manufacturers imported more than a million bushels of skeletons from Waterloo and other Napoleonic battlefields in 1822”
Comment
Comment
Re this wave of unofficial strikes:
Major-General Sir Noel Holmes, chairman of the north-eastern division of the National Coal Board, in a statement yesterday on the strike at Grimethorpe Colliery, said that 140 coal-face workers, out of 2,682 employed at the pit, were not doing a fair day’s work. A committee representing management and workmen had decided that the stint for the 140 workers should be increased by 2ft., but they refused to accept its findings and came out on strike. The other coal-face workers came out in sympathy. “As much as I dislike mentioning this fact,” said Sir Noel Holmes, “it is only right to recall that at Grimethorpe since January 1, 1947, and before the present strike, there have been 26 sectional unofficial stoppages, which have lost 33,000 tons of coal to the nation. The present stoppage up to date represents a further loss of more than 40,000 tons.” (Times 1947/08/27)
Holmes’s Wikipedia article curiously doesn’t mention this phase of his career.
I’m guessing that the Welsh ex-Puritan authoritarian Communist Arthur Horner is the voice of the NUM in the above – see e.g. the Times for 9 September.
Interesting comments on the wartime coal boards by T.S. Charlton, colliery manager at Cortonwood:
The management of the collieries is in the hands of men trained primarily in management of mines and miners. They have a working knowledge of all the machinery available and how best it can be used, but the details of this side are left to the mechanical and electrical engineer. Labour costs are two-thirds of production costs, and therefore the handling and the best use of men are of the greatest importance to managers. Why it should have been decided that labour leaders should be good labour directors is, apart from the political issue, difficult to understand, unless it is on the old adage of “poacher turned gamekeeper.” Unless and until the production director has control of his labour side, I can see little hope of his schemes proving effective.
The miners have put forward suggestions to improve output, but they appear to do no more than improve the position of the miner. Can it be said that any suggestion already put forward by the men has put up the output figure? Why should it be assumed the men’s side of the pit production committees should be able to improve output in any way? Their training, inclinations, and very job depend upon their obtaining the best for their electors rather than for production.
(Charlton 1943/12/01)
Charlton was clearly a clever and capable man – it would be good to know more about him.
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