Estate of John Bushell: Correspondence, 1883-1884

This collection contains papers from the legal practice of J.M. Shugar and A.W. Vaisey, solicitors. Their firm was located in Tring, Hertfordshire, in south central England. The collection documents work from 1850 to 1914, although these papers relate mostly to the period 1875-1900.

The Shugar and Vaisey practice was mainly property and probate law. The bulk of the material in this collection consists of conveyances, enfranchisements, indentures, title abstracts, wills, and related correspondence. The papers relate to Tring, Tring Manor (of which Vaisey was steward), Pendley Manor (of which Shugar was steward), and area towns such as Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead.

The papers (approximately 6 linear feet in 11 boxes) are arranged alphabetically by the names of the principals involved in a particular matter. The collection was acquired in bundles with little or no descriptive information, so the titles on folders were assigned after perusal of the documents in each bundle. A glance at the alphabetical listing below reveals the major idiosyncrasy of this collection: the bulk of the material relates to persons or institutions whose names begin with the letters A through D. Thus it appears that a considerable amount of other material has either been lost or exists elsewhere.

It is worth mentioning that the folder in Box 2, titled: "Bedford v. Berkhampstead Rural District Council: Records and Leases" includes a draft claim on behalf of Rebecca Bedford. This was drawn on the back of an unrelated but useful document, the voters list for western Hertfordshire in 1893, which provides addresses for voters, many of whom appear elsewhere in the records. Vaisey himself is among those listed. Researchers will notice the various spellings of Berkhamsted given in the documents; apparently, its spelling was not yet standardized.