Reference
HF42
Title
Papers of the Lindsell family of Fairfield & Holme, Biggleswade.
Date free text
1800-1947
Production date
From: 1800 To: 1947
Admin/biog history
Robert Lindsell (1790-1856) was a Solicitor in Biggleswade with Edward Argles. This partnership was the precursor of Hooper & Fletcher. On Robert's death it was natural that his family should continue to use what had been their father's firm.
Robert married Frances, the daughter of Samuel Wells II in 1816. Samuel owned the Biggleswade Brewery & Bank and on his death in 1831, they passed to Robert & his co son in law William Hogg (see HF 45). Robert Lindsell did the firm's legal work and Hooper continued to do so after he took over the partnership's work in 1856. (HF40 & 41)
Further Reading
Introduction to the Greene King (Biggleswade) Catalogue (Green Binder GK in Searchroom.)
For the Barber Lindsells, cousins of the Lindsells of Fairfield and who lived at Broom in Southill see HF44.
Scope and Content
Deeds
HF 42/1-7 are the deeds etc for the purchases of a medium sized landed estate in Biggleswade & elsewhere. The estate centred on Fairfield House, Shortmead House and Holme in Biggleswade but included the Harlington Grange Estate. HF 42/8/1-3 are concerned with the sale of Shortmead House, following the death of Henry Martin Lindsell in 1925.
Personal Papers
HF 42/9-23 are the personal papers of Robert, his two sons Robert Henry (1818-1891) & Charles Samuel (1825-1909), his grandsons, especially Arthur Knox & Henry Martin Lindsell and his great grandchildren. Wills & Executors's papers are also included.
Highlights include an Inventory of Fairfield House of 1891 and documents relating to Charles Samuel's Mastership of the Cambridgeshire Hunt in the 1880s. Undoubtedly the most colourful of the family was Charles Frederick Lindsell (1853-1929). Beset by debt in the Army in India, he was made bankrupt in 1905, being discharged in 1916. From 1912-1929 he lived in Southern Rhodesia, [Zimbabwe]. Included among these papers is a list of his Creditors. His elder brother, Henry Martin Lindsell(1846-1925) was the Civil Servant who is credited with drafting the 1902 Education Act. Unfortunately, there is no mention of this important work in these documents.
Chatteris Brewery, Cambridgeshire
HF 42/24 are deeds etc relating to the Chatteris Brewery, which was set up by Thomas Lindsell, Robert's brother. On his death in 1854 he left it to his two nephews, Robert Henry & Charles Samuel Lindsell. The Brewery was kept distinct from the much larger Biggleswade Brewery. The deeds show that the tied houses of the Chatteris Brewery were exclusively in Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire. Further deeds & papers have been deposited in the Norfolk & Norwich Record Office.
Level of description
series