Original legal manuscript · East London · 5 April 1892
London, 1892 — A Victorian Property Inheritance Recorded in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Hackney
James de la Mare · Homerton · Manor of Hackney (Lords Hold)
Catalogue details
Description
Original manuscript copyhold admission recording James de la Mare’s inheritance in Homerton, East London, 5 April 1892. A documented survival of London’s manorial property system.
- Object
- Original manuscript copyhold admission / extract of manorial court rolls
- Date
- 5 April 1892
- Manor
- Manor of Hackney, commonly called Lords Hold
- Location
- Homerton, East London, then Middlesex
- Principal name
- James de la Mare
- Family names
- Mary de la Mare; Elizabeth de la Mare, referenced in the inheritance
- Legal subject
- Admission to copyhold property following death and testamentary succession
- Customary annual quit rent
- One shilling, as stated in the manuscript
- Admission fine
- One pound, as stated in the manuscript
- Handwriting
- Formal nineteenth-century manuscript, decorative title and ruled borders
- Support
- Paper; historical folds and handling marks
- Dimensions
- Measurements gladly provided on request
- Extent
- Further details available on request
- Steward/signature
- Signature present. Individual signer attribution remains unverified
- Condition
- Please consult the photographs for condition. Additional photographs are available on request.
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Historical context & sources
A piece of manorial London
London, 1892. Victorian development had transformed much of the city, yet customary property rights still survived in manorial records. This original document records the admission of James de la Mare to property associated with the Manor of Hackney (Lords Hold) after the death of Mary de la Mare and under provisions involving the will of Elizabeth de la Mare. It is a tangible example of the old copyhold system persisting in a modern metropolis.
The de la Mare inheritance
The manuscript names the de la Mare family and includes customary obligations of a one-shilling yearly quit rent and a one-pound fine for entry to the property. Earlier research associates the transaction with Homerton property, potentially 127–129 High Street, but that address must be checked against the complete record and court books before being presented as a definitive identification.
A possible link to early rugby
Ernest Constantine Cheston (1848–1918), known as an early England international rugby player, is associated with Hackney manorial administration in historical records. His possible relationship to this particular document is an avenue for research, not a proven autograph attribution: the steward’s signature shown here is not securely identified as his.
