Sue Wood, Head of Archives, writes: Dickson, Archer & Thorp were important Northumberland solicitors. The practice was established in 1817 taking over the earlier Alnwick practices. It continued until the death of the last partner in 2005. At this point there existed an unbroken series of business records and clients’ papers dating back to the date of establishment and including records of the predecessor practices, making the collection a unique resource. The collection is significant in that we are unaware of the mass survival of records of another extant solicitor’s collection that charts the history of a 200-year old practice from establishment to closure; the wide client base of the practice – from probate cases of families of relatively modest means to dealing with the business of many county families and the Duke of Northumberland and the involvement of practice partners in the governance of the county and more locally in the governance of Alnwick. Immediately after the death of the last partner the majority of records were dispersed. Northumberland Archives has undertaken much work to trace records of the practice and negotiate transfer to our care. This latest purchase is an important addition to the records already held by the service.
The grant has allowed us to purchase two further lots of material to add to the records that were purchased in 2016 (with FNL help), 2018, 2019 (with FNL help) and 2020. The first lot is records of the office of Dickson, Archer & Thorp – letter books, day books, ledgers, account books, cash books, bill books, stamp office ledgers, solicitor's presentations and summaries, case books and other related material. The second lot is a series of County Rate Valuations, 1830-1869 [with] 1864-69, Assessment Committee Returns and Returns and Valuations for Special Properties, 1874. The records add greatly to our understanding of the administration of the practice and the influence of the partners in the governance of Alnwick town.
The first image is of a sample page from the letter book of the predecessor practice of Messrs. Wren & Airey, April 1791-March 1799, (ref: B/DAT/1/5/409). The page is typical in that it references county families that Northumberland Archives holds papers of – Clavering, Ellison & Portland. The series of letter books supplement later volumes that had been previously acquired.
The second image is of a sample page from the Alnwick Stamp Office ledger, 1830-1835 (ref: B/DAT/9/5/2). The Stamp Office was responsible for collecting Stamp Duty payable on a range of goods and services. This page records details of licences issued to vendors of patent medicines and to pawnbrokers in 1830. Names and places of residence are listed together with details of details of the duty owed. In the case of the vendors of medicines, occupations of some vendors are listed. The ledgers and other records that came out of the Dickson, Archer & Thorp office are the only provincial Stamp Office records held by Northumberland Archives.
