BRAY FAMILY OF SHERE: MANORIAL AND ESTATE RECORDS AND FAMILY PAPERS, INCLUDING OF WILLIAM BRAY (1736-1832), ANTIQUARIAN; RECORDS OF THE GODSCHALL FAMILY OF ALBURY; AND PAPERS OF THE NICHOLAS FAMILY OF WEST HORSLEY

The core and bulk of this collection are the deeds, manorial records and administrative papers of their estate. This archive also includes a substantial deposit of the voluminous papers of William Bray (1736-1832) the historian of Surrey, a source for the history of the whole of Surrey (discussed below). A few volumes and papers relating to the business of the firm Bray and Warren have strayed into the collection, including letter books from the last years of William Bray's life, when he was living wholly in Shere (G85/16/2-8) and similar volumes from the end of his grandson Reginald's life (G85/29/1-2). Family and estate records of the Godschalls of Weston House in Albury (G85/14-15/-), must have come into the hands of the Brays when Mrs Samuel Man Godschall (d.1823), widow of the last of the family, devised her estate to her nephew Edward Bray (see G85/26/1/43). Of note among these records is an account of a journey through the Holy Land, 1678 (G85/15/1). In addition are further records (G85/5/-) of Sir Edward Nicholas of West Horsley, secretary to King Charles I, for which provenance is complex and uncertain: see the introduction to G52/- for discussion of this important archive.

Works and collected papers of William Bray

Large quantities of William Bray's drafts, working notes, copy documents, contemporary printed material and collected original documents were bound by him into volumes, probably during the 1820s. This deposit includes 10 of these volumes (under the references G85/2/- and G85/41/-), some now disbound, as well as loose papers of like material (G85/3/-, G85/5/1/-, G85/17/-). Several similar volumes, together with Richard Symms Collections for the History of Surrey, and Sir Nicholas Stoughton's MSS, were deposited by Bray in the British Museum Library in 1820, Add MSS 6167-6178. Bray arranged for further volume compilations on behalf of the More Molyneux family of Loseley House, of 'historical' correspondence and some other papers from the Loseley Manuscripts (16th to early 18th cent): those volumes which survive (with some alterations) are now held under the reference 6729/-.

The volume compilations demonstrate Bray's exhaustive historical investigations, and his interest in contemporary events and developments (modern transport undertakings such as the Surrey Iron Railway, turnpikes and canals; the organisation of the militia; and local societies: for some of which Bray's appears the only surviving evidence). Included are some of Bray's questionnaires (G85/2/6) sent to acquaintances with local knowledge in the course of completing the History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, and various contributions attributed to correspondents. However, the majority of volumes, despite two implied series 'Notes of old records' and 'collections from old deeds' are not the product of a methodical arrangement of his materials, either thematic or topographical. A small but significant proportion of Bray's papers (aside from his contemporary printed collections) are original archive documents which he appears to have acquired in the course of his studies. For example, several documents which are clearly Loseley manuscripts are to be found in the bound volumes, as well as a series from a bundle marked 'given…by Mr Molyneux', (G85/4/1-15). Other documents appear to have originated from the Onslow family archives, eg 1/71-79 (it also appears that some of these British Library volumes in fact belonged to Richard, Lord Onslow); others come from the Evelyn family (inter alia the intermediary source of the Nicholas papers: see introduction to G85/5/- below). Further examples are to be found within the Bray estates series, including deeds - the earliest in the archive - relating to Walesby, Lincs (G85/13/1-8) and records of Godley Hundred court (G85/12/1-2).

The following is a detailed summary of the contents:

G85/1/ JOURNALS OF WILLIAM BRAY 1756-1832
The first two years are entered in a large roughly bound book of plain paper, each succeeding year in a leather-bound pocket diary. 1807 is missing and there are two volumes for 1809 (one an office diary) and for 1826 (one in the hand of Reginald Bray senior). The first book is a true diary, with a discursive entry for each day, in shorthand towards the end; after the early 1760s the daily entries become increasingly laconic and concerned almost entirely with where he was and what he was doing, while personal and family events are noted at the beginning of each volume. He keeps accounts on blank pages, and enters wages, tree-planting, books and pictures bought, the weather, inoculation of children (G85/1/10), etc. For extracts from the diaries, see F E Bray's article in Surrey Archaeological Collections volume XLVI (1938) pp 26-58.

G85/ WILLIAM BRAY: WORKS AND COLLECTED RECORDS 1534-1832
The documents in this group are records which were originally compiled in 10 volumes by William Bray towards the end of his life. Some were later disbound. Aside from drafts of works probably intended for publication, they comprise notes and sometimes transcriptions from original sources, and also of information from individuals, together with printed papers of his own time including Surrey sale particulars, and some original mss. Among them are notes on documents in private hands which he was allowed to examine, and there are details not incorporated in his printed works. The following list does not include a description of every item in all the volumes. Titles in inverted commas are those on the spines of the books.

G85/2/1/ COLLECTED SALE PARTICULARS RELATING TO ESTATES IN SURREY 1756-1831 Bray's collected sale particulars were bound together into two volumes with the titles 'Surrey Estates without plans' and 'Surrey Estates with plans' (although a small number of the particulars in each did not in fact fit the title criterion, as noted in the descriptions below). The volumes were subsequently disbound.

G85/ BOUND VOLUMES OF RESEARCH NOTES, COLLECTED ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, AND TRAVEL JOURNALS c.1547-1825

G85/2/2/ 'COLLECTIONS FROM OLD DEEDS' c.1547-c.1825

G85/2/3/ HISTORY OF THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD 1639-c.1801

G85/2/4/ MR MIDDLETON'S LAMBETH AND OTHER COUNTY PAPERS 15th cent-1828 Documents in this group comprise the contents of a volume entitled by Bray 'Mr Middleton's Lambeth and other County papers', and its loose enclosures. The volume was disbound but some of the following items remain stitched together. The collections in the volume relate inter alia to rivers, canal undertakings, turnpikes and bridges and Surrey Iron Railway; also to militia and admiralty business. Given that documents which clearly belonged to Bray were included in the volume, only the Lambeth documents may be assumed to have been given by John Middleton, a correspondent of Bray's who receives many acknowledgements in the Lambeth chapter of the History and Antiquities but does not appear to have published any work on the parish. Further work by Middleton appears in G85/2/6 ff56-57. Original documents include items originally belonging to Richard, Lord Onslow. The volume contained a document described as a circular letter appointing William Bray as officer of local militia, 28 Sep 1801, but this is now missing. The following list details all documents from the volume, both copy and original

G85/ VOLUME OF TRAVEL JOURNALS 1756-1818
For other accounts of Bray's travels, see G85/3/5.

G85/ VOLUMES ENTITLED BY BRAY 'RECORDS ETC' c.1534-1828
Bray compiled three volumes entitled 'Records etc', which now have the references G85/2/8 G85/41/1 and G85/2/6 (the volume listed here). The character of the volumes is similar to that of G85/2/2-4: they contain copies and summaries of records relating to Surrey, with some original records included. They are to a large extent a number of individual paper books bound together, each of these having its own pagination and in some cases index; in consequence some papers bear at least 2 sets of numbers. Among the sources used in these volumes are the Chapter House, Westminster; medieval deeds belonging to Mr Tanworth of Lee in Bramley; public records in the Tower; Lansdown and Cotton and Additional MSS in the British Museum; Rawlinson MSS in the Bodleian Library; Canterbury Cathedral Library; Loseley MSS; Library of St Thomas's Hospital.

G85/ STUDY OF DOMESDAY BOOK early 19th cent

G85/ SCRAPBOOK OF NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS AND PRINTED WORKS c.1763-1794

G85/3/ WILLIAM BRAY: LOOSE PAPERS AND COLLECTED DOCUMENTS RELATING TO HIS RESEARCH, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1635-1830; REGINALD BRAY'S OFFICE DIARY, 1878; 1635-1878
The documents is this group include material of a similar character to the material bound into volumes as described above, G85/2/- (including original documents -/-/8-9), as well as some correspondence relating to the Bray estates and business.

G85/4/ LOSELEY MANUSCRIPTS, MANY RELATING TO THE BRAY FAMILY, GIVEN TO WILLIAM BRAY c.1550-c.1605
This group comprises documents found together, several of which are marked 'given to Mr W Bray by Mr Molyneux'. The majority of the records relate to the Bray family and their estates during the 16th century, which is presumably why James More Molyneux presented them to William Bray. (The documents are not a discrete group from the Loseley archive, however, which includes other records of the Brays and Edward's role as JP.) For microfilm copies of the records in this group, see Zg/109/1/24. Other Loseley manuscripts collected by Bray are to be found in the bound volumes G85/2/- and G85/41/-, and G85/17/4, G85/21/9.

G85/21/ COLLECTED ROYAL GRANTS AND SOME DETACHED GREAT SEALS 1267-1852

G85/5/ THE NICHOLAS FAMILY OF WEST HORSLEY: HISTORICAL NOTES AND COLLECTED ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE INCLUDING POLITICAL PAPERS 1641-c.1829

G85/5/1/ LISTS OF DOCUMENTS INCLUDING ROYAL LETTERS, MADE BY OR FOR WILLIAM BRAY, WITH NOTES c.1800-1829
The lists in this group possibly all describe Nicholas family documents sent to Wotton by William Bray.

G85/5/2/ LETTERS AND PAPERS OF SIR EDWARD NICHOLAS (1593-1669), SECRETARY OF STATE TO CHARLES I AND CHARLES II 1641-1668
Collected records of the Nicholas family in the Bray archive, including correspondence between the King and Sir Edward Nicholas in 1641, when the King was in Scotland and Nicholas was Keeper of the Signet in London, are divided between this group and G52/2/19/1-182. These records are known to have originated in the library at West Horsley as they can be identified (as 'No. 9 EE') in a schedule of papers there, BL Egerton MS 2526 (for copy of this schedule, see G52/7/9). William Bray's use of these records is not fully known. The text of only one of the letters in either group (-/26) is among the Nicholas letters printed in the fourth volume of William Bray's edition of John Evelyn's Diary (Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn FRS...to which is subjoined the Private Correspondence between King Charles I and Sir Edward Nicholas, and between Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Sir Richard Browne. Edited from the original MSS at Wotton by William Bray Esq FAS) and none are included in the Camden Society's volumes of Nicholas Papers. The most likely explanation for the provenance of those here described is that they are the remains of a group at one time in the possession of William Man Godschall of Weston House, Albury, and which perhaps came to him (shortly before or after the death of William Nicholas in 1749) in the same way as the papers seen there by Thomas Birch in the winter of 1750-51 got to Wotton House. It is known that in 1782 Godschall sent to the editor of the 3rd volume of the Clarendon State Papers a group of letters from Sir Edward Hyde to Sir Edward Nicholas, which must have been among Sir Edward Nicholas's papers (Nicholas Papers ed G F Warner, Vol I, p iii, Camden Society, 1886). We also know that Reginald Bray senior found Nicholas papers at Weston House (see G52/7/9), presumably in 1823 when clearing the estate of Mrs Samuel Godschall. Some of these, he says, were returned to West Horsley, and 'my grandfather [ie William Bray] kept a few not knowing where to send them'. For introduction to the history of the Nicholas family and further discussion of the provenance of surviving documents, see introductions to G52/- and 1287/-. Sir Edward Nicholas appears to have used two hands: a neat fair copy hand (as in G85/5/2/8, 14 and 23), and, for his own drafts and annotations, a much abbreviated hand mixed with varying amounts of shorthand, evidently written very fast, and difficult to read. As far as possible all dates are given in new style as regards the year, and English style (ten days earlier than the Continent) for the day.

G85/ MANORIAL ESTATES IN SHERE, EWHURST AND CRANLEIGH 1288-1932
Records of the individual Shere manors are listed first, followed by records relating to the management of more than one of these manors during the tenure of the Brays: these fill some gaps in the other series.

G85/6/ MANOR OF SHERE VACHERY AND CRANLEIGH 1461-1920
The manor of Shere Vachery, otherwise Shere Vachery and Cranleigh, was granted to Sir Reginald Bray in c.1486. For copies of feoffment of the manor, 1244, see G85/4/1 and G85/22/1. For other records of the court, see G85/10/-. See G54/2/4 for presentments, 1832-68.

G85/7/ MANOR OF GOMSHALL NETLEY 15TH CENT-1925
The manor comprised land in the parishes of Shere, Cranleigh and Ewhurst. The abbey of Netley, Hampshire, owned the manor from the 13th century. It was leased by the abbey to John and Thomasina Redforde for 70 years in 1502, and the reversion of the manor was granted by Henry VIII to Sir Edward Bray following the suppression of the abbey. See G85/10/- for additional court records.

G85/8/ MANOR OF GOMSHALL TOWERHILL, OTHERWISE WOODHATCH 1287-1931
The manor comprised land in the parishes of Shere, Ewhurst and Cranleigh. It was held by the abbey of St Mary Graces, Towerhill, from the abbey's foundation in 1376, until its dissolution in 1539. The manor was then granted to Sir Edward Walsingham, who conveyed it to Sir Edward Bray in 1551. For legal dispute concerning the manor, c.1491, see G85/18/1, and for additional court records, see G85/10/-.

G85/9/ MANOR OF SHERE EBOR 1464-1910
The manor comprised land in the parish of Shere. Shere Ebor was conveyed to Sir Edward Bray by William and Joan Fitz William in 1548. Sir Edward's son Edward sold it in 1609 to William Risbridger, and it remained in the tenure of the Risbridger family until it was purchased by William Bray in 1771.

G85/ BRAY ESTATES: RECORDS OF THE MANAGEMENT OF SHERE MANORS 1603-1926 This group comprises records of the management of more than one of the Bray manors.

G85/ MANOR OF CONEYHURST 1518-1890
The manor comprised land in Ewhurst and was probably originally a part of the manor of Somersbury. Sir Edward Bray purchased Coneyhurst from Ambrose Wolley in 1553, but the manor appears to have been sold for the repayment of a mortgage by 1593. The manor was re-incorporated into the Bray estates in 1876, when it was conveyed to Reginald Bray by Thomas Wood, whose family had held the manor since 1695 (see G85/13/760). For quit rentals 1820, 1833 and 1846 and correspondence 1800-1879 see G85/16/27, and for enfranchisement papers see G85/13/725; see also G85/16/28 and 29.

G85/12/ GODLEY HUNDRED: COURT RECORDS 1418-1509
The hundred court, held by Chertsey Abbey, and after the Dissolution held with the manor of Chertsey Beomond, was never in the possession of the Bray family. The records were probably acquired rather than inherited by William Bray, who refers to a hundred court roll of Jun 1446 'which belonged to Le Neve' in The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, Vol III p220.

G85/13/ BRAY ESTATE AND COLLECTED DEEDS 12TH CENT-1939
This group comprises the majority of title deeds in the deposit, mostly arranged in chronological order. Deeds which do not relate to the Bray estates have been included, for example, a group of early deeds relating to Walesby, Lincolnshire, and a deed relating to Sir Thomas Cawarden, which is possibly a stray from the Loseley MSS. Subseries headings, for the most part artificial, have been added for convenience.

G85/13/ BRAY ESTATE AND COLLECTED DEEDS 12TH CENT-1915

G85/22/ BRAY ESTATE: ADDITIONAL DEEDS 1244-1486

G85/24/ COTTAGES IN SHERE AND PEASLAKE, ESTATES OF THE SPOTTISWOODE FAMILY: DEEDS AND PAPERS 1732-1939
The Spottiswoode family cottages in Shere and Peaslake were left to Sir RM Bray in 1912 by Miss Augusta Spottiswoode, his cousin through the Longmans, his mother's family.

G85/ GODSCHALL FAMILY OF WESTON HOUSE, ALBURY: RECORDS 1638-c.1830
The Godschall family were related to the Brays by marriage, and the documents in this and other groups presumably derive from the inheritance of Edward Bray, nephew of the wife of Samuel Man Godschall. Sir Robert Godschall (otherwise Godscall) purchased the manor of Weston Gomshall in 1729, and held it until his death in 1742. William Man inherited the manor by marriage and assumed the Godschall name in 1752 (see -/7 below). He died in 1802 and was succeeded by the Rev Samuel Man Godschall. Samuel's wife left her estate to Edward Bray on her death in 1823. For other records of the Godschall family estate, see Zg/91, copy maps of the manor of Weston Gomshall, and G85/19/23, book of reference to Zg/91/2. For records and an introduction describing the descent of the manor of Weston Gomshall, see 1322/-. A volume of deeds relating to the Duncombe (otherwise Duncumb) family, previous owners of Weston, is held as G85/40.

G85/14/ RECORDS, MAINLY OF THE GODSCHALL ESTATES, INCLUDING THE MANOR OF WESTON GOMSHALL 1638-1822

G85/15/ GODSCHALL FAMILY OF WESTON HOUSE, ALBURY: FAMILY PAPERS 1678-c.1830 For other family papers, see G52/1/2, diary of William Man Godschall, 1801-1802; 3624/17/1-59, minor personal papers of William Man Godschall, 1761-1802, and 1419/-, notes on the family history of the Godschall and Godschall Johnsons, 1533-1961. The group includes the passport of Edward Bray, who inherited the Godschall papers. Letters to William Mann Godschall, 1775-1787, concerning an edition of John Evelyn's Sylva and the papers of Sir Isaac Newton, are held at the British Library in the Evelyn archive, presumably passed on to the Evelyn family through a Bray connection. See 1974/43 for a poem on 'Weston' addressed to Miss Godschall.

G85/ BRAY ESTATES ADMINISTRATION c.1491-1959

G85/16/ BRAY ESTATE ACCOUNTS AND LETTER BOOKS, BRAY AND WARREN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE AND ESTATE PAPERS 1672-1907
This group comprises in the main minor records relating to estate and business management, including manorial administration. It includes records of management of wood and sale of timber, turf cutting and other practices on the estate.

G85/ LEGAL CASE PAPERS c.1491-1927

G85/19/ MAPS AND PLANS 1726-c.1920

G85/20/ INVOLVEMENT OF THE BRAY FAMILY IN SHERE PARISH AND COUNTY BUSINESS 1522-1847

G85/25/ BRAY ESTATE DEEDS 1759-1932

G85/26/ BRAY ESTATE RECORDS ARRANGED BY RA BRAY 1761-1941
The following series comprises records understood to have been amassed and arranged during the management of the Bray estates by RA Bray, c.1900-1950. Records collected by subject and given a title by RA Bray appear first, followed by other material, which mainly relates to manorial administration; some items do not therefore appear in numerical order.

G85/ ESTATE ACCOUNTS 1801-1945

G85/ BRAY ESTATE CORRESPONDENCE 1803-1948
See also G85/27/31-33 and G85/16/26 (correspondence c.1838-1878)

G85/ RA BRAY'S 'GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE' FILES c.1803-1948
In-letters and papers removed from the binding cases in which they were kept by R A Bray, those relating to the years before 1904 apparently arranged by him at that time, when he took over the management of his father's estate. The contents of each are arranged alphabetically, according to an index, and include, particularly in the earliest bundles, copies of answers, bills, extracts from leases, inventories and other relevant papers occasionally up to 100 years older. Correspondents include tenants, local authorities, Surrey Constabulary, tradesmen, local landowners and neighbours. Though almost entirely concerned with the management of the estate and Hurtwood Water Company, some letters refer to local, personal and family matters. From 1915 on RA Bray's answers are to be found in the letter books (G85/37/1-17), and this chronological series is to be supplemented with the subject folders G85/29/4-11 and G85/29/27-30. After 1923, some answers from R A Bray are included with the letters. After 1924 the binding cases have no title, only the date. Only the more unusual or interesting items are noted in the following list.

G85/37/ ESTATE CORRESPONDENCE: LETTER BOOKS 1915-1948
Copy letters by RA Bray, concerned chiefly with management of Shere Manor Estate, and Hurtwood Water Company, and also (1 and 2) of Abinger Hall Estate for Lord Farrer. Some local matters also. Indexed by correspondents

G85/ MISCELLANEOUS ESTATE PAPERS 1798-c.1937

G85/ BRAY FAMILY AND OTHER PAPERS 1426-1959

G85/23/ FAMILY MEMOIR AND PEDIGREE 20TH CENT

G85/32/ PROBATE AND SUCCESSION 1790-1870

G85/17/ BRAY AND MATHISON FAMILY PROBATE AND OTHER PAPERS, 1870-1907; AND COLLECTED DOCUMENTS 15TH CENT

G85/17/ TESTAMENTARY AFFAIRS OF THE REV W C MATHISON AND HIS WIFE MARY 1870-1875
Mary (b. 1837), the daughter of Reginald Bray senior, married the Rev W C Mathison, Rector of Dickleburgh, Norfolk, on 1 Jul 1868. He died 11 Oct 1870 and she died 13 May 1874 at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. RM Bray acted as an executor. For a volume of Mary's accounts, 1868-1873, see G85/33/3.

G85/33/ FAMILY PAPERS 1842-1925

G85/ COLLECTED BRAY AND DUNCOMB FAMILY PAPERS c.1539-1803
Items G85/39/2-7 were found enclosed in volume G85/39/1.

G85/42/ REGINALD ARTHUR BRAY (1869-1950): WRITINGS ON EDUCATION AND LAND OWNERSHIP EARLY 20TH CENT
See main introduction for a discussion of RA Bray's life and career. See also G85/31/7 for his essay on the development of land in the Shere area.

The Shere Manor estate

The Bray estates in Surrey were first accumulated during the early 16th century. The manor of Shere Vachery and Cranleigh was granted by Henry VII to Sir Reginald Bray (d.1503), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Privy Councillor, who came from Worcestershire and was concerned in the building of St George's Chapel, Windsor (for his estates, see G85/13/146); Sir Edward (d.1558) bought other manors, including Shere Ebor, Coneyhurst, Gomshall Towerhill and Gomshall Netley, comprising land principally in the parishes of Shere, Ewhurst and Cranleigh. The estate included most of the houses in the villages of Shere and Gomshall, with Gomshall mill, and farms from the North Downs almost to the Sussex border. There are a considerable number of documents from the fifteenth century onwards that relate to the wastes of the manors: 'a thousand acres in the Churt' (G85/18/1), the area of heathy land on the greensand now called the Hurtwood (now reckoned 2,000 acres) which rises to Pitch Hill [Coneyhurst Hill] (843 feet) above Ewhurst. Grants of small plots on which to build cottages nibbled into it from the early 17th century, particularly at places along the roads to the south where the hamlets of Felday and Peaslake developed. The waste was valued not only for pasture, and turbary, but as a source of ironstone (Lady Jane Bray, widow of Sir Edward, had a furnace in Coneyhurst Hill supplying her forge at Vachery Pond, G85/4/4; see also G85/13/204-208), oak timber and building materials. Many detailed eighteenth and nineteenth century vouchers record sales of building and road stone, timber, turf, gravel and clay. William Bray planted large numbers of fir trees, and later forestry would became an increasing preoccupation of the estate. By 1740 when the estate was inherited by George Bray, elder brother of William Bray, it had been reduced to three manors (Shere Vachery and Cranleigh, Gomshall Netley and Gomshall Towerhill) with their tracts of waste, Towerhill and Cold Kitchen Farms [Cole Kitchen], and Gomshall Mill with Horton Mead (see G85/26/1/43 for William Bray's account). Even before he succeeded to his brother George's estate in 1803 William Bray had helped with its management (G85/27/1, G85/16/30, G85/16/9 and 10), and he himself bought back much which had been sold by the family during the preceding century and a half (eg the manor of Shere Ebor in 1772, see G85/13/293). From 1828 a series of settlements vested the estate in trustees, usually solicitors from the family firm Bray and Warren, later Warrens (see particularly G85/13/801-841).

William Bray

Although he had a house in Shere for most of his life, William Bray, a younger son, pursued a busy professional life in London as a solicitor, as a Clerk to the Board of Green Cloth, 1761-1810 (see G85/2/3), and as Treasurer to Smith's Charity and to the Society of Antiquaries (G85/3/4/1-2 and 22). After serving his articles with John Martyr in Guildford (the first volume of his diary G85/1/1 gives a vivid picture of life in the town in 1756-7) William Bray went into practice as a solicitor in London, until 1774 in partnership with his friend Abel Jenkins. He did not hold office in the county, except, after 1808, as a JP, but his position as steward of many Surrey manors gave him unrivalled opportunities for first hand topographical study as well as for studying court records, an essential part of his research for the great three volume work The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey (1804-1814) which he took over from the Rev Owen Manning (d.1801). He said himself that 'from an early part of his life he had attended to the History of his native soil' (History vol I, Preface, p vi), and it is evident from the dates on the research notes which were bound into volumes towards the end of his life (G85/2/3, p 30) that in the 1760s he was already collecting all kinds of material relating to the history of Surrey.

Amazingly studious and industrious, Bray had a ready pen. Verses are scattered through his youthful papers; he published one volume of travels in Great Britain (Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire, 1777, anon; 1783 by William Bray), and the material for others is here (G85/2/5 and G85/3/5); among uncompleted projects for which drafts exist are an explanatory study of Domesday Book (G85/2/7) and an historical account of the Royal Household (G85/2/3). Bray also contributed many articles to the Gentleman's Magazine and Archaeologia, and was the first to bring the diaries of John Evelyn to public notice (1818-1827): for further discussion of Bray's published work, see the introduction to Z/300.

Reginald Bray

When William's only son to survive infancy, Edward, died in 1814, Edward's second son Reginald gave up reading for the Bar and took his father's place with his grandfather; this Reginald (called by the family R Bray senior, a practice followed here), became an expert in manorial law (pamphlets by him are in G52/4/-). The firm of solicitors became Bray and Warren after Augustus Warren, already a partner, married Reginald's sister Henrietta in 1818 (and built a house in Shere), while the connection between the two families became even closer when the grand-daughter of R Bray senior married Augustus Warren's grandson Bertram (Miss Rachel Warren, the depositor of many of these documents, was their daughter.)

R A Bray

R Bray senior (whose elder brother Edward died in 1866) lived to a great age, and when he died in 1879 his son Reginald More Bray was well established in a career at the Bar, becoming later a County Court and then a High Court Judge; he apparently left much of the running of the estate first to agents of his trustees, and then to his eldest son Reginald Arthur (1869-1950). R A Bray, a socialist with an interest in education who had worked in Lambeth and Camberwell, and served on the LCC Education Committee, took over day to day management of the estates in 1904; it is fully documented, from that date to his death, in letter files and letter books (G85/29, 37, 38), as well as in account books of various types. R A Bray was responsible for the summoning of the last manor courts for the four Shere manors, held at the White Horse in Shere in 1910 (G85/42/5), and was concerned that all should be done in due form. He also managed the water company started by his father in Shere in the early 1890s, which became the Hurtwood Water Company and supplied a far wider area than Shere village (sold to the Guildford and Godalming Water Board in 1952), as well as Lord Farrer's small estate in Abinger.

A member of Guildford Rural District Council and for many years chairman of Shere Parish Council and a JP, his letters are concerned with very many aspects of the business of village and county, and even some national issues, such as gypsies. He was involved in several enterprises that brought town children into the country, and a draft of his book The Town Child is among his papers (G85/42/4). R A Bray's papers include a discussion of the future of the Shere area (G85/31/7) and a radical solution to the problems facing landowners (G85/42/5).

20th century successors to the estate

R A Bray was a bachelor and was succeeded by his brother Sir Jocelyn, the depositor of the older records in this collection. The 1976 deposits of 19th and 20th century papers were made by Mrs Handa Bray, grand-daughter and heiress of Sir Jocelyn (d.1964).

The original arrangement G85/1-42/- reflected the various provenances and the extended period over which the records were deposited: the list was compiled in three parts as cited in the provenance note, each containing, for example, family papers (G85/17/-, G85/23/- and G85/33/-), large interrelated groups of manorial and estate records, and antiquarian papers of William Bray (including G85/2-5 and G85/41). The present list has involved some re-arrangement of groups in an attempt to re-unite the principal series; this has involved a loss of numeric sequencing. In most cases documents within groups have not been re-arranged (the exception being the restoration of chronological series of manorial records, as noted at the beginning of the relevant groups). Many of the series G85/16/-42/- cannot be seen as functional groupings, and are assumed to reflect groupings deposited at one time, or groupings within containers.

There are no access restrictions.

Deposited by Sir Jocelyn Bray in 1951 with additions by Warrens, the firm of solicitors who were related to the Brays, between 1952 and 1969 (G85/1-21); by Miss Rachel Warren between 1954 and 1975 (G85/22-24) and in 1982 (G85/1/77); and by Mrs Handa Bray in 1976 (G85/25-42).

An item level description of the archive is available on the Surrey History Centre online catalogue

Bray archives: G52/-, deposited by RA Bray in 1925 comprises Bray estate records, papers of William Bray, Godschall family papers and Nicholas family papers, which are essentially part of the same archive described in the present deposit. See also 1500/- for correspondence, family settlements and deeds, 1760-1942, and 1656/- for family pedigree and family and estate material, 1789-1951. See 1283/- for account of quit rents for manors of Gomshall Towerhill, Gomshall Netley and Shere Ebor.

G54/- and the related deposit 1974/-, deposited by Warrens, solicitors, include material relating to the Bray estates (court books and steward's papers for the manors of Gomshall Netley, 1761-1815, Gomshall Towerhill, 1761-1870, and Shere Vachery and Cranleigh, 1832-1868; stewards' papers for the manors of Shere Ebor and Weston Gomshall) and relating to William Bray's stewardship duties and interests (records of the Evelyn family's Wotton Estate and the More Molyneux family's Loseley estate).

Bray and Warrens, solicitors: letter books of Bray and Warrens, 1785-1872, are deposited in the London Metropolitan Archives.

William Bray: for manuscript volumes of Owen Manning's materials for the history of Surrey with additions by Bray, see 1917/-. Bray's study of the Loseley MSS is evident in his endorsements on many of the documents; notes, a working index and bound volume of publications on the MSS have remained among the Loseley records, refs LM/- and 6729/-. Similarly, notes and correspondence with William Upcott, publisher of Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn are held among the Evelyn archives at the British Library. Correspondence with John and John Bowyer Nichols, printers, is held at Yale University Library: copies of these are held as Z/300/- and Z/357/-. Further antiquarian collections by William Bray are held at the British Library Add MSS 6167-6178, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A letter concerning Lindsay's history of Southwark is held as G21/14. Records relating to William Bray's work as a solicitor include 6710/-, 878/-, and Zs/301/-.

William Bray printed an account of his family up to the date at which he was writing: The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, vol I (1804), pp 514-519. Most of the sources he used are included in the present deposit. One correction to the family tree is made by F E Bray in his selections from William Bray's journals in Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol. 46 (1938) p 26.

For a brief biography of William Bray, see New Dictionary of National Biography (OUP).