Z1803

Luton deeds

Purchased at auction on 26th January 2023 as lot 4 of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works, Forum Auctions, 4 Ingate Place, London, SW8 3NS.

Believed to have been sent by J S Leigh of Luton Hoo to William E Knobel, a London solicitor, as part of a large number of documents found by Leigh when he purchased Luton Hoo. Knobel sorted the material into reigns and made a report back to Leigh in 1858. It may be that those in this accession, which mostly relate to the reign of Henry VI were then sent to someone else. The rest of the documents being either returned to Luton Hoo or to the surveyor used by Leigh - see LHE and DW catalogues for further details. It is not known why Leigh used Knobel (1802-1873) to examine the documents and write the report. Apart from one case that made the newspapers Knobel seems to have been a fairly run of the mill solicitor living in St Marylebone in 1851 (with his wife and six children), in business in Whitehaall in 1854, and dying on the 27th February 1873 leaving effects of under £450.

TOCATawaiting cataloguing

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