One of the aims of the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust is to improve and promote access to documents held within Northumberland Archives. Projects have been funded to list collections as well as adding descriptive content to existing collections. This additional information is added to our catalogue making the content available and searchable via the Online Catalogue on the Northumberland Archives website either at home or in the search rooms. The current cataloguing project focuses on a collection of deeds relating to lands owned by members of the Clayton family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
During the nineteenth century the names of women appear in deeds less frequently than men. One deed in the Clayton collection stands out because of the female parties involved and the story the document tells. On 21 May 1873 John Clayton bought land at Layside in the township of Henshaw. Two of the five parties involved were women; Margaret Bell of Brownrigg, Henshaw and Hannah Laing of Hill House, Henshaw.
As is common with deeds, the first section details previous conveyances, wills etc. as a way of explaining the history of the ownership of the property (buildings, land etc). In 1869 Edward Laing conveyed land to Margaret Bell subject to her receiving a payment of £200 plus interest. If the payment was defaulted upon, Margaret had the right to sell the lands at either a public auction or by private contract. When the sum was not forthcoming, Margaret “with approval of her husband” decided to sell the mortgaged property at a public auction held at the Sun Inn, Haltwhistle. John Coats was the highest bidder and declared the purchaser of the premises at a price of £750, with £75 being paid to Margaret Bell as a deposit.
The second women mentioned in the deed is Hannah Laing, she was entitled to ‘dower out of the same hereditaments’ that is she had rights to the property that she was able to inherit. Hannah is recorded as being the wife of Edward Laing, and therefore has not inherited those rights at the time of the conveyance. Edward Laing is an agricultural labourer, which also makes this deed interesting, the naming of a labourer in a legal document. Is this the same Edward Laing that was party to the original 1869 transaction? It is difficult to answer with absolute certainty, but it may explain why Hannah has rights to the property.
As part of the sale to John Clayton, Hannah agreed to release her rights to the hereditaments. The price paid was £750, with £675 going to Margaret Bell and her husband Robert and £75 to John Coats (this indicates that he had paid only the deposit following the purchase at the Sun Inn). Hannah Laing did not benefit financially. The conveyance deed is signed by both women.
Accompanying the document is a certificate relating to the Deeds by Married Women Act, whereby both Margaret and Hannah were examined to ensure that they “freely and voluntarily consented” to the sale. Through modern eyes this appears demeaning; there is no such certificate to confirm that the men had the same understanding. Was it intended to confirm that the women were not placed under any duress to agree to something? The interviews were held apart from their respective husbands. Regardless of the intention behind the certificate, the fact that it remains with the conveyance is unusual.
Details of the documents can be seen via the online catalogue using Ref.No. ZCY/4/13* (the * will return the details of both individual documents) or at the Woodhorn Search Room.