| Content Description | The initial involvement of the Portland family at Aldrington was through the advance (in the 1870s and 1880s) of money on mortgage to Gallard and Williams, two of the original developers of an estate variously described as located at West Hove and West Brighton. The developers borrowed more money from the Portland trustees; Gallard went bankrupt, Williams was in arrears, and the mortgages were foreclosed in the late 1880s. Thus an investment which went wrong added a small estate in a new part of the country.
The money advanced by the 6th Duke of Portland and his trustees was, as to the £30000 lent to Gallard, a sum settled on the Duke's half-brothers and sisters. Later (see Pl F10/1/2 series) the 6th Duke (through the 5th Duke's will trust) bought back this interest and unified the two Portland holdings at Aldrington.
Except for this background, the material here has much in common with that of the same period in other sections: bundles of deeds and related papers for sales, leases/tenancies, and purchases, some litigation, roads and sewers, etc. The estate was developed for housing, in co-operation (at least sometimes) with the adjacent owners (who were successors to the partners of Gallard and Williams). It was always intended to be sold off piecemeal, and this policy persisted from the 1890s to the 1920s.
The material is divided into nine sections. Pl E14/1 contains rent accounts, vouchers and other estate management material; Pl E14/2 relates to the mortgages and their foreclosure (litigation); Pl E14/3 contains bundles of deeds and correspondence relating to purchases, leases and (overwhelmingly) sales of the estate; Pl E14/4 has material relating to roads, sewers, rights of way and related litigation; Pl E14/5 concerns local government, public utilities (including a non-statutory water undertaking), and the promotion of related bills and Acts; Pl E14/6 deals with other litigation; Pl E14/7 covers miscellaneous loose plans; Pl E14/8 is general correspondence (chronological), plus some bundles of miscellaneous correspondence; Pl E14/9 is a small miscellaneous section. |