No 12 Sydney Buildings

Abstract of Title prepared in 1884

No 12 as it is today

An Abstract of Title prepared in 1884 throws light on the history of the plot of land on which the house was built. The first document it refers to was dated May 1844 and seems to reflect a tidying-up exercise necessitated by the death, two years earlier, of William Harry 3rd Earl of Darlington and 1st Duke of Cleveland.

May 1844: Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux (2nd Duke of Cleveland), William John Frederick Powlett (his younger brother), and two lawyers (trustees for the 1st Duke’s estate) conveyed to John Pinch junior and William Pinch the plot of land on which No 10 already stood and Nos 12 to 16 were to be built. The houses were to be built at John Pinch’s expense, were subject to various restrictions and to a dead rent of £1 12s 6d per year.

May 1845: John Pinch borrowed £800 at 4.5% p.a. from Harry Hayman, gent., and William Urban Buée of Slough, surgeon, against the security of any and all buildings on the plot.

May 1847: John Pinch borrowed a further £300 from the same two on the same security, the money apparently coming from trust funds of William Buée’s late wife Elizabeth.

March 1849: Harry Hayman died. His right to repayment by John Pinch seems to have died with him or been left to his co-creditor.

January 1851: John Pinch died without repaying either loan and while still owing “a considerable amount of interest”. His house at 21 Henrietta Street and the premises known as Bathwick Tavern were put up for sale by public auction. The former was sold to Thomas Parry for £455 while the latter was “bought in”.

"After the sale the said William Buée entered into the receipt of the rent and profits of the said Bathwick Tavern, which have not been sufficient to pay the interest from time to time becoming due on the balance of the mortgage money”.

In 1853 William Buée made all income from the Tavern and the plot generally over to his three daughters Amelia, Margaret and Catherine. The first two died in 1879 and 1880 respectively, and their interests in the plot and its buildings seem to have passed to the remaining daughter Catherine. Meanwhile, in 1877, Bathwick Tavern lost its licence and seems to have become tenantless for a while.

June 1881: Catherine Buée sold the land on which today’s Nos 12-16 were built to Richard Martin of Abbey View Villa, fishmonger, for £530. Martin also had to pay an annual dead rent of £1 12s 6d required by the 1844 indenture.

Martin sub-divided the land, built a terrace of five houses on it, and by the end of 1884 had sold them all off.

Ownership of today’s No 12, originally Guindy Lodge, has passed as follows:

December 1884 to Emily Louise Trotter for £570

October 1923 to Reginald Pearson for £650

January 1930 to Emilie Constance Clarke for £850

May 1943 to Major General Percy CB CMG DSO Commings as a Bequest

April 1948 to William Winsor for £2,425

May 1951 to Hugh Bridgeman for £3,250

September 1953 to Marjorie Hix for £2,790

December 1959 to Geoffrey Tucker for £3,150

March 1967 to Jeremy & Phyllida Hemming for £4,500

April 1970 to Mark Rutherford for £7,500

January 1998 to Christopher & Jacqueline Morrissey for £292,000

Chris Morrissey

June 2009

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