Catalogue description SOMERS COCKS FAMILY OF REIGATE PRIORY: ESTATE RECORDS, INCLUDING MANORS OF REIGATE AND REIGATE PRIORY, AND BURGAGE TENEMENTS IN REIGATE, 1400-1911, AND PAPERS OF JOHN LORD SOMERS (1651-1716), LORD CHANCELLOR

The documents listed comprise the archive of the manors of Reigate and Reigate Priory; deeds of most of the former burgage tenements in the borough; other deeds and documents relating to the estates of the Somers-Cocks family; a small quantity of documents relating to parliamentary elections prior to the 1832 Reform Act; and a significant group of papers of John Lord Somers (1651-1716), a dominant Whig politician under William III and Queen Anne, who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor between 1693 and 1700, and of his immediate family and descendants.

The records of the manor of Reigate include four conveyances of the Earl of Nottingham's moiety and later conveyances and settlements (371/1/-); four overlapping series of court rolls (rolls, 1532-1706; indexed volumes, 1571-1675 and 1767-84; unbound copies, 1663-1749; and drafts, 1707-17); three surveys, 1623-1700, and a rental, 1717; and bundles of court papers (371/2/-).

The records of the manor of Reigate Priory (371/3/-) include conveyances, 1719-1825, two court rolls, 1572-93, and 1784-1811, and a rental, 1807.

The burgage deeds (371/4/- to 371/8/-) relate to most of the tenements recognized by Bryant. For many of them the sequence begins in the late 17th century, for one (Bryant no.203) in the early 15th. May original deed bundles were found intact, or could be reconstructed. The state of the polls (371/13/3) includes deed bundle numbers of Lord Somers' properties, and these were found on the documents. The order of the numbers appears to be haphazard, bearing no relation for example to the geographical position of the properties, though adjacent numbers sometimes indicate properties bought in one transaction. There may have been a plan of the borough on which these numbers were shown, but it has not come to light.

Among these deeds, of particular interest are a lease, release and bond of 1740 (371/6/34a-c) which bear three applied seals showing Dr Henry Sacheverell (1674-1724), the notorious Tory high churchman who was tried in 1710, a church and Queen Anne. Two of the parties, William Goulding and William Glassbrooke, were hop factors from St Saviours Southwark, the parish of which Sacheverell was elected chaplain in 1709; in the parish the brewers and allied tradesmen were noted for high church leanings (see Geoffrey Holmes, The Trial of Doctor Sacheverell (London, 1973): Holmes describes the brisk trade in pictures and other souvenirs of the Doctor at the height of his notoriety).

Also included in the deposit is a group of records relating to estate administration in general and other properties and interests of the Somers, Cocks and Yorke families, in Reigate and elsewhere (371/9/- to 371/12/-). These include the deed of settlement by which the vicar of Reigate, Andrew Cranston, transferred to trustees (including John Lord Somers) the parish library which he founded in 1701 (371/11/1), with an attached catalogue of the library's contents.

371/13/- includes papers of John Lord Somers relating to Treasury records, 1699, strays from the main body of his papers in 371/14/-; it also includes papers relating to the parliamentary election dispute of 1785-6.

For an introduction to the papers of John Lord Somers (371/14/-) see the introduction to that section of the catalogue.

The main sections of the list are deeds of the manors and of the estate as a whole, manorial records, and deeds of individual burgage tenements (see summary for more detailed analysis). The burgage tenements fall into distinct groups, and the deeds are listed accordingly: those belonging to John Lord Somers (371/4/-), acquired by Sir Joseph Jekyll and his wife (371/5/-), by the Yorke family (371/6/-), and the Cocks family (371/8/-) and jointly by both (371/7/-). The sections are subdivided as seems most appropriate in each case. Somers' properties are listed by street row in the deeds partitioning his estate, and partitioned accordingly. The listing of the deeds of the individual burgages for the most part reflects this. Documents in the other sections are grouped according to the individual who bought the burgages, in chronological order of purchase. The numbers given to each tenement by Bryant in his survey are given in square brackets thus [B6].

A list of old bundle numbers, with the new reference numbers of the document is available on the deposit file.

Documents relating to non-burgage property, estate administration and politics are listed after these sections (371/9/- to 371/13/-) and the list ends with the personal and political papers of John Lords Somers and the Cocks family (371/14/-), for the arrangement of which see the introduction to that section.

371/1/ Title to manors of Reigate and Reigate Priory, and estate, including burgage tenements

371/2/ Manorial records: Reigate

371/3/ Manorial records: Reigate Priory

371/4/ Burgage tenements acquired by John Lord Somers, partitioned on his death

371/5/ Burgage tenements and other property of Sir Joseph Jekyll, sold by the devisees of his will

371/6/ Burgage tenements and other property of Philip Earl of Hardwicke and other members of the Yorke family

371/7/ Property bought jointly by Philip Earl of Hardwicke and John Cocks

371/8/ Burgage tenements and other property bought by the Cocks family

371/9/ Non-burgage property bought by the Cocks family (freehold and copyhold)

371/10/ Estate administration

371/11/ Miscellaneous: Reigate and elsewhere in Surrey

371/12/ Miscellaneous: non-Surrey

371/13/ Political and parliamentary

371/14/ Political and private correspondence and papers of John Lord Somers and of the Cocks family

Further records of the manor of Reigate from 1619, including some deeds and papers of the Somers Cocks family, deposited by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, are held as 3537/-.

For William Bryant's survey of burgage tenements, 1786, see SHC 445/1; later copies are also held in the Minet Library, Lambeth. A copy of the plan (not entirely accurate) which accompanied the survey is held as SHC 445/3 and a further copy is at the Minet Library. Papers of Bryant, including relating to Reigate elections, are held as SHC 2164/-. Research papers of Wilfrid Hooper relating to the history of Reigate and including transcripts of some of the manorial records and of the papers of Lord Somers, are held as SHC2277/-.

Deeds relating to one of the burgage tenements [Bryant no.65], deposited by a descendant of one of the owners, Thomas Tickell, are held as SHS 322/-. SHS 176/5/- comprises a group of papers relating to the election of 1831. A court roll for the manor of Reigate, 1685-96, is held in the Public Record Office. Hertfordshire Record Office holds some records of the Yorke family's Reigate estates and parliamentary matters (ref D/E Cd). The surviving papers of the first Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, are among the Hardwicke papers in the British Library (Add Mss 35, 349, 278). The Cambridgeshire Record Office holds some rentals and other documents relating to Reigate Priory.

Somers family of Reigate Priory, Surrey

Cocks family of Reigate Priory, Surrey

There are no access restrictions.

Deposited by Reigate Borough Council in 1965.

• Reigate, Surrey

The manor of Reigate, which had belonged to the Mowbray Dukes of Norfolk, was divided in the 1480s between the four co-heirs of Anne Mowbray, the last of the line. By the mid-sixteenth century the four shares had become two moieties - one held by Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, later Earl of Nottingham, the other by the Earl of Derby. The Derby share passed by various sales to William, Viscount Monson, whose wife, the widow of Charles, Earl of Nottingham, had a life interest in the other half. He was one of the judges at the trial of Charles I, and his property after confiscation was acquired by James Duke of York, later James II. The third Earl of Nottingham sold his half to John Goodwyn in 1643, and James II bought it in 1686.

The whole manor remained in the hands of the Crown until 1697, when William III granted it to Sir Joseph Jekyll in trust for Sir John Somers, the Lord Chancellor, later Lord Somers, his brother in law. Somers' heirs were his two sisters, Lady Jekyll and Mary, wife of Charles Cocks. Lady Jekyll was the survivor, and was succeeded by her eldest nephew, James Cocks, MP. The manor descended in his family until the present century. The barony was revived for James' nephew Charles Cocks in 1784, and the second baron, John, was created Earl Somers in 1821. The third Earl's grandson, Mr Henry Charles Somers Augustus Somerset, sold his Reigate property in 1921 and gave the manorial rights to the Borough Council.

The manor and estate of Reigate Priory were acquired by the Howard family after the dissolution, and descended to Elizabeth Countess of Peterborough, granddaughter of Charles Earl of Nottingham. It was purchased from her son's trustees in 1703 by Sir John Parsons, Lord Mayor of London, descended in his family until 1766, and after various sales was acquired by Lord Somers in 1808. Mr Somers Somerset sold the estate in 1921 and Reigate Borough eventually bought it in 1945 (information from VCH Surrey III and W Hooper Reigate: its story through the ages (1945) in which fuller accounts will be found).

The Burgage Tenements

The burgage tenements were the houses within the borough of Reigate which carried a qualification to vote. A considerable number (47 out of over 200) were bought by John Lord Somers or others acting for him (see 371/1/8). Richard Adney, his secretary, was one of those most active on his behalf. After Somers' death the burgate tenements were divided as was the rest of his estate, the Jekyll share descending to the Cocks family after Lady Jekyll died in 1745. In addition Sir Joseph bought several more burgages, which were sold in 1753 by the devisees of his will. Some were bought by John Cocks, the rest by the Hon Charles Yorke on behalf of his father Philip Earl of Hardwicke. Hardwicke married Margaret Cocks, niece of Lord Somers, and these two families gradually bought up almost all the burgage tenements during the eighteenth century. Their influence was great enough for all elections after 1722 to be uncontested, each family nominating one of the two MPs.

Before the 1832 Reform Act the approval of claims to vote lay in the hands of the bailiff of the manor of Reigate, who was traditionally the returning officer. In 1786 when there was a threat of a contest at the next election, it became necessary to ascertain which properties carried the franchise and thus how many votes each side could expect. The Hardwicke agent, William Bryant junior, undertook this on behalf of his employer, compiling a list of all the alleged burgages, tracing their ownership and voting record, and examining their claims to vote. In this list the numbers given to each tenement by Bryant are given in square brackets thus [B6]. Lord Somers opposed this operation, sending a circular letter to his tenants instructing them to refuse admittance to anyone wishing to survey their property (371/13/2). A bitter court case resulted from this (see 371/13/4-8). Besides Bryant's survey (see SHC 445/1) there is a contemporary 'state of the polls', a list of the burgages with names of tenants and voters and voting record (371/13/3).

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