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The Refuge Assurance Company was founded in 1858 by James Proctor and George Robins in Dukinfield, Cheshire. It soon grew to become the major insurance company based in the North West and in 1890 Proctor employed the nationally celebrated architect, Alfred Waterhouse to design a new headquarters building in Manchester. Alfred’s son, Paul, joined him in practice in 1891 and together they completed the building design. The archive as it complements and supplements existing records within our drawings and manuscripts collections, in particular that for two past RIBA Presidents, Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905) and his son, Paul Waterhouse (1861-1924).

Written up by Harvey whilst a student at Queens’ College (1824-7), this book provides an eyewitness account of the aftermath of what was perhaps the most important event in the history of enslavement, the revolution of 1791-1804 that occurred in Haiti.  There, for the first time in history, a violent uprising of enslaved people had brought about the establishment of a new nation state, thereby offering a stark warning to all those who continued to profit from slavery and heralding the possibility of an end to the slave trade.

Lord Provost's Visitors’ Book for the City and Royal Burgh of Perth, 1945-51, with related scrapbook, that belonged to Lord Provost John Ure Primrose (1901-1985) who was Provost of the City and Royal Burgh of Perth from 1945 to 1951. Initial concerns about how the collection came to public auction have been alleviated through discussion with Perth’s present Lord Provost who informed us that it was past practice for Lord Provosts to retain these quasi-official records as a memento of their service.

Hensall is a village lying at the very extremity of North Yorkshire, approximately eight miles from Selby, and south of the River Aire.  Although not a separate ecclesiastical parish until 1855 and created a civil parish only in1866, it can trace its roots back to the Domesday Book in which it is named as Edeshale.

The manuscripts consist of two rolls written in Latin: one of 16 stitched vellum membranes and the other of 5 stitched vellum membranes, each measuring 60 to 80 centimetres in length and 28 centimetres wide. The larger roll comprises the record of 47 courts held between the years 1600 and 1623, with four further courts for 1626, 1633, 1635 and 1639 on the smaller roll. They give a fascinating insight into the structure of land holdings in the manor.

Chronicle of Fortingall, long out of public sight and yet of the greatest significance for the study of Highland history, was our most exciting manuscript acquisition of the year. The purchase of the Chronicle received wide attention in the media and met with a positive, often heartfelt response from many members of the public. Originating in an area and period from which few informal documents survive, the Chronicle is a rare and important witness to the cultural and political outlook of educated bilingual Gaelic speakers in the mainland Highlands of Scotland.  The manuscript was written between ca. 1550 and 1579 by a circle of scribes based in Fortingall, Highland Perthshire; the scribes belonged to a family of MacGregors whose members regularly served as priests in the Fortingall area. 

Richard Ford (1796-1858) was an English writer, collector and amateur artist. In 1830 he visited Spain and over the next three years in the country he made over 500 drawings, one of the most complete pictorial records of Spanish cities and their monuments before the advent of photography. From 1836 Ford contributed a number of lengthy reviews to the Quarterly Review, several of them on Spanish subjects. This led the publisher John Murray to invite Ford to write the Hand-book for Travellers in Spain (including an account of the pictures in the Prado that runs to over 17,000 words). When the book finally appeared in 1845, it was an immediate success and was followed a year later by Ford’s Gatherings from Spain. The collection of papers and books was assembled by a recognised Ford scholar who has published on this subject.

The auction listing stated the account books were of the firm Arnold Tuff & Grimwade. However, after delivery of the books, inspection and research, the collection of accounts books are in fact from the solicitor’s firm when they were in a variety of different partnerships models. The earliest date we have tracked the firm to is 1849, when they were Essell, Hayward & Essell. After many changes of name, the firm had become Arnold, Tuff & Grimwade by 1928. The account books provide an interesting overview of professional activities of a local, and long-standing firm, as well as an insight into the economic, social, and ecclesiastical networks of the 19th and 20th century in the Medway area.

Robin P Jenkins, Senior Archivist, writes:  Despite the restrictions enforced during the coronavirus pandemic, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office (LLRO) was able – through the generous support of the Friends of the National Libraries - to purchase a small bu

The volume’s title page describes it as ‘A booke of Receipts of all the Quitt rents, Heriotts, Aliena[c]ions, Reliefs, Amercements and other P[er]quisites belonging to the Mannour of Sundridge in the County of Kent’. The manor of Sundridge or Sundrish comprised the whole of the parish of Sundridge, most of the parish of Chiddingstone and part of the parish of Hever, and covered nearly 8,000 acres in all. The volume has sections for Sundridge Upland and Sundridge Weald which were separate manors by 15th century.

The earliest accounts, for 10 October 1677, record the collection of rents and estreats from tenants in the Weald. The last page in the volume, also relating to Weald, has the date 20 November 1714, but the book’s arrangement is not strictly chronological and the latest entry dates from 16 March 1717/18.

This late 15th century Latin Bible published in Strasbourg by the prolific printer Johann Reinhard Grüninger. This copy contains signs of English ownership from the 16th century onwards, and perhaps was present in England from its publication, providing vital evidence for the import trade of books into England during this period. The volume was subsequently owned by George Kenyon of Peel Hall Lancashire and then by descent through the Kenyon family until its sale, as part of a selection of early English books from the Gredington Library, at Christie’s in July 2021.