Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/248

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [n s. vn. MAR. 29, 1913.

In 1585 a deed was drawn up by Henry Smythe, son and heir of Henry Smythe, citizen and mercer of London, by that time dead. By this deed Henry Smythe (with Jane his wife) sold to Robert Lee, citizen and merchant taylor of London, a capital messuage, &c., in the parish of St. Mary Hill, London, previously belonging to Richard, Earl of Kent, deceased, and after- wards in the tenure of Smythe, deceased, then of Raphaell Van do Powtt ; also six tenements, then severed into five tene- ments, on the back of the great messuage in Love Lane, then in the tenure of Lewes Reynolds, Anthony Carlier, Hanse Adrian- son, Joyce Ottegher, and Aungell Gabriell. Robert Lee paid 62/. 13s. annual rent for the above.

Sir Robert Lee died in 1607, and by post mortem he was seised of several tenements in Fenchurch Street, Murfyns Alley, and others. He left issue Henry Lee, his son and heir, aged then 27 years.

Sir Henry Lee died 1621, possessing messuages in Cheapside, in the parish of St. Vedast, and in Fenchurch Street. He left John Lee, his son and heir, aged 13.

In 1665 Sir John Lee demised a messuage jn Fenchurch Street to Daniel Pratt in the parish of St. Gabriel Fenchurch, then in the Pratts' tenure, for twenty-one years. Pratt died leaving a widow 1 Jane, to whom Sir John Lee gave a lease for forty years in addition to the original twenty-one years' lease, but she had to rebuild the premises and pay 20s. for all the term, unless Sir John repaid her and rebuilt the premises himself.

In December, 1669, Sir John Lee, Knt., demised, in pursuance of a decree of the Court of Judicature made in February, 1667, to Cornelia de Vischer, widow and executrix of William de Vischer, deceased, two tofts in St. Mary Hill, whereon two messuages formerly stood, and which, by law or order of the Lord Mayor, is not ordered to be left unbuilt and used for enlarging the street called St. Mary Hill, and all such other ground and soil which before the Fire to same messuages belonged, And then was in the tenure of William Vischer, with all such lights, ways, &c., as at any time since 10 October, 1642, were belonging to any other of his tenements. The above was let to Cornelia Vischer for fifty -four years at a yearly rental of 201.

Sir John Lee, in 1671, left by will to his daughters Katherine, Elizabeth, and Caro- lina all his manors, messuages, &c., in .Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, and the City of London. In 1674 Katherine Lee, the Hon.

George Fielding and his wife Elizabeth (formerly Elizabeth Lee), and Caroline, the three coheirs of Sir John Lee, with Thomas Lee, Esq., brother to Sir John Lee, combined to grant to Thomas Persehouse, merchant, a toft of ground, whereon before the Fire stood a messuage in the tenure of Nicholas Corsellis, in Love Lane in St. Mary Hill ; and another toft, where before the Fire was a messuage tenanted by Peter Lupert and John Somerland, in the same lane, adjoining the messuage in the tenure of John Hyliffe, and on the other side Thomas Crafton.

This lease was for seventy-two years at 181. 10s. quarterly, payment to the coheirs being made. Persehouse covenants to build two or more tenements on the premises.

' Six years after (1680) George Darey, Esq., and Katherine his wife (one of the coheiresses who had married since the last deed was drawn up) sold a share in the property for 1,000. to Richard Croft, citizen and gold- smith of London, and Francis Singleton, citizen and goldsmith, also of London. For one messuage, late in the tenure of Thomas Persehouse, merchant, the deed recites how that some part of the land had been granted in 1673 to Humphrey Gros- venor.

Furthermore, the Dareys and Richard Croft apparently agreed with George Smith, doctor of physic, that a portion of the premises should be mortgaged ; and again in 1684 there Was another deed about this same property.

Thomas Lee, by a second codicil to his will in 1682, left legacies to his three nieces ; apparently Sir John Lee had mortgaged some property to his brother.

Also in 1682 George Fielding and his wife mortgaged a third of the premises to Sir William Lytton, Knt., naming the messuage in the tenure of Cornelia Vischer and also Thomas Persehouse.

In 1685 there was a re-mortgage to Edmund Bols Worth, a perfumer.

Another mortgage had been given in 1680 by George Smith to Richard SnoW, Esq. ; in a further deed of 1685 John Newton, tenant, is mentioned.

In 1686 Bolsworth and John Lilly sold the premises for 2,934/. 3s. 4d. to Francis Tyssen, naming the premises in Fenchurch Street in the tenure of Jane Pratt, and stating that John Newton had built there two messuages, one being tenanted by Francis Martin, the other by a man named Salmon.