The collection is a miscellany of printed and manuscript memoranda relating to events andinstitutions in the City of London. They refer to a period shortly after the Great Fire of London in1666 and include several mentions of the devastation caused by the fire. The manuscripts in thecollection appear to be fragments, sometimes chance survivals of parish administration, orcontemporary ephemera. Most of the printed memoranda would probably have widely available.
The principal category of manuscript papers relates to the church and parish of St Mildred,Poultry and includes poll tax returns for precincts around St Mildred, 1689 (MS 532/11); petitionsby the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of St Mildred to the Lord Mayor and Justices of thePeace concerning the poor of the parish, 1691 (MS 532/12 and 29); note concerning payment for workdone in the church, 1680 (MS 532/16); minutes of a meeting of the vestry ordering relief to be paidto some parishioners, 1680 (MS 532/24); signed agreement concerning the care of a child in theparish, 1674 (MS 532/25) memorandum about money due to the minister and the poor, 1679 (MS532/27).
Other miscellaneous manuscript papers may relate to St Mildred, Poultry but are not recorded assuch. These include the report of an unidentified vestry meeting concerning the appointment ofchurch assistants, undated (MS 532/1); accounts of a junior churchwardenship of an unidentifiedparish (MS 532/2); receipt for rent on a house in St Giles Cripplegate parish, 1693 (MS 532/13);tithe tax returns for an unidentified parish, undated (MS 532/15); invitation to dine with theGentlemen Volunteers and the 'five gentlemen who printed the Kentish Petition', undated (MS 532/17);accounts for an unidentified parish, 1675 (MS 532/20); burial accounts, 1681-1682 (MS 532/21);petitions for poor relief, undated (MS 532/22, 26); memorandum concerning an Act for the relief ofthe poor, 1693 (MS 532/23).
Miscellaneous printed items include references to apparitions seen at Old Bailey Sessions Houseand Tower Hill, 1680-1681 (MS 532/3-5); organs and prayers in church, 1692 (MS 532/6); allegedabuses committed in an election in Dowgate and Aldersgate, undated (MS 532/7); support for erectinga French protestant church in St. Martins Orgars, undated (MS 532/8); the treatment by Jews ofchildren who convert to Protestantism, undated (MS 532/9); a widows fund to be set up by the MercersCompany, 1698 (MS 532/10); Charter-house hospital, 1687 (MS 532/30); burial forms for St Gileswithout Cripplegate, undated (MS 532/31-32); and an appeal for donations to Sion College, 1687-1688(MS 532/33-35).