Cole Lamb & Brooks

Letters from the Past
Jere Bunny of Newbury, to Lamb Cole & Brooks, 1825

Eunice Shanahan

This letter from Jere Bunny of Newbury is addressed to Messrs Cole, Lamb and Brookes, Basingstoke, Hants. It has a stepped NEWBURY 58 mileage mark in black, two manuscript charge marks 8 crossed out and replaced with 9 the ninepence covered a distance of between 80 and 120 miles, which was 58 Newbury to London and then 45 miles from London to Basingstoke, and a poorly applied London Morning Duty receiving date stamp of JA 11 1825.

The letter concerns inheritance, and it is possibly of more interest to family historians, than postal historians, particularly anyone researching the Batchelor or Rumbold connections in the 18th century in England. It is also interesting to note the first paragraph about the marriage between John Batchelor and Mary Rumbold, because registration of Marriages, births and deaths did not become required until 1837. Of course Parish records were kept, and had been kept for centuries, and Parish registers could always be checked for relevant events.

Gentm.
Vincents to myself
As to that part of the Estate derived from Batchelor. I think it is by no means improbable that the marriage between John Batchelor & Mary Rumbold never took place. If it did take place it was limited between the 18th of Decr 14 Geo 2nd (1741) and the 18th of March next. The reason of my drawing this inference is that the mortgage from John Batchelor to Geo Bourliffe is dated the 4th of June 1743 only two years afterwards and is for 1400 £ and that a person would scarcely lend so large a sum on the Estate, if the entail had existed. In the agreement between Mr Marretts father & Tho. Winter the exception to the title is the equity of redemption, without any allusion or reference whatever to an entail.

(Here there are three and a half lines which were written and have then been blocked out by the writer with scribbles, some of the words are still legible, see this illustration.

The letter then continues..)

I think some further enquiries respecting the Batchelor family made with circumspection might further elucidate this part of the Title. If on such further enquiries being made it shd turn out that the marriage did not take effect or that having been solemnized there was no issue of such marriage, the principle part of the difficulty would at once be got rid of.
Considering the above to be a material subject of enquiry on the title I have replied to your letter thereon immediately.
With respect to the other matters of enquiry I will give them a further consideration, I have no wish to put the Vendor to one farthing of unnecessary expense, but I rely on your furnishing me with such further information on those other matters as you can readily procure. Indeed I presume that some satisfactory explanations on those points were obtained on Mr Haggell‘s advance of his money.
Requesting the favor of your earliest attention & reply
I remain Gentm
Yr Mo. Ob. St
Jere Bunny
Newbury Jany 10 1825.

There is a further sentence as a post script.

A gentleman is in treaty for the whole of the premises advertised to be sold at Andover. I therefore cannot give you the prices of the cottages you mention.

Note: concerning the writer of the letter Mr Bunny, I posted a request onto the Berkshire list and received an e-mail which gave me the following information

Quote

The name BUNNY seems to occur several times in the Pigot's 1844 directory. As well as Edward BUNNY, the magistrate, living at Speen there is a Mrs. BUNNY listed under gentry living at London Road, Newbury, perhaps Edward's widowed mother! Also listed under Attorneys at Northbrook Street, Newbury is Jere BUNNY and under Bankers Bunny & Slocock at Bridge. (A possible link with the Rector of Shaw?).
Under Surgeons there is Joseph BUNNY also in Northbrook Street.
It seems as though the BUNNY family were well represented in professional life of Newbury in the 1830/1840 period. I hope you will find these details interesting.

Unquote

Regarding the addressee, on 6/7/2019 google search brought up this information quote Lamb Brooks have been providing legal services in Basingstoke and North Hampshire for over 200 years. Today, our firm has 6 partners and 65 staff dedicated to providing a comprehensive range of legal services. The history of Lamb Brooks dates back to the 1700’s when Mr James Brooks and Mr George Lamb founded the firm, predominantly advising farming families in the Basingstoke area. The firm continues to grow and now provides a wide range of legal services to individuals, families and businesses in North Hampshire and across the UK. … e-mail sent to Lamb Brooks 6/7/19 to ask if they would like a copy for their archives.

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