From Leche to Jodrell (17th century)
HOW BELPER PASSED FROM THE LECHE FAMILY TO THE JODRELL FAMILY, 1655-1694
Between 1655 and 1694 the Manor of Belper was subject to a trust, a mortgage, a disputed will, a Chancery decree and a court-approved sale; at various times the people holding its courts, holding its legal title and owning it beneficially were not the same. This page explains how ownership passed from the Leche family to Paul Jodrell over that period and why Jodrell is counted as lord only from 1686. The sequence starts in 1655, a few years after the death of Sir Edward Leche, with his son William Leche having inherited the lordship of the Manor of Belper
The 1655/6 trust term
By deed of 1 February 1655/6, William Leche (later Sir William) demised his Kent and Derbyshire estates, including the manor of Beaureper, Belper Park, Bradley Lawn and the Millholme fulling mill, to four trustees for 99 years from his death. The trustees were Sir John Evelyn, Richard Chaworth, Robert Cole and Ambrose Phillips, a barrister of Gray's Inn. The term secured his wife's jointure and his children's portions (DRO D1404/60, images 40-41). The freehold of the manor did not pass from Sir William though.
The Keck mortgage
By lease and release of 14 March 1671/2, Sir William mortgaged the manor of Belper and Belper Park in fee simple to Anthony Keck of the Inner Temple for £500, redeemable on payment of £515 on 15 March 1672/3. The deed values the manor and park at £70 a year. Ambrose Phillips and George Combes were among the witnesses. Sir William repaid only after the due date and took no reconveyance, so the legal estate stayed with Keck (DRO D1404/60, image 72).
The Phillips security
On 2 December 1672 Sir William conveyed his Derbyshire manors, Belper included and subject to Keck's mortgage, to Ambrose Phillips the father, Ambrose Phillips the son and Paul Jodrell. This was security for their suretyship of his £1,000 debt to Roger Gillingham, and against the Crown fee-farm rent out of Duffield. It's the earliest known interest of Jodrell in Belper (DRO D1404/60, images 43-45).
Sir William's death, the disputed will (1674-1675) and the Chancery decree
Sir William Leche died in June 1674, leaving, as the pleadings put it, "no considerable personal estate". His provision for his family depended on two instruments:
1) The 1655/6 deed, which created a 99-year trust term over his Kent and Derbyshire estates, Belper included. It took effect from his death, to provide a jointure for his wife and portions for his children.
2) His will of 28 August 1673, which empowered his overseers to sell the Derbyshire manors to pay his younger children's legacies.
His eldest son and heir, Edward Leche, challenged both. He claimed that his father had made no such deed or will, or that if he had, he was only tenant in tail of the Derbyshire freehold and so couldn't bind it. On that basis Edward entered the estates and took the rents.
His father's widow, Lady Jane Leche, and the younger children brought a suit in Chancery against him, together with the overseers, the trustees and the administrator, George Combes. The plaintiffs were Thomazin, William, Jane and six other daughters. The trustees were represented by Ambrose Phillips, father and son, and Paul Jodrell.
By decree of Monday 22 February 1674/5, the court found for the plaintiffs:
1) the 1655/6 deed was "a good deed", and the trust term stood
2) Lady Leche was to enjoy Squerryes manor house and an annuity of £80, charged on all the lands in the deed
3) Edward was to account for the rents he had taken since his father's death
4) the trustees and overseers were to join in selling the manors, but only to a purchaser approved by a Master in Chancery
Why it matters for Belper: the decree shut Edward out of the Derbyshire estate. That's why he took no part in its later sale. It also confirmed the trust term, under which Ambrose Phillips and then Paul Jodrell held the Belper courts from 1676. And it laid down the procedure that led, eleven years later, to the Master's approval of Jodrell as purchaser in 1686.
Sources: DRO D779/T/484 (copy of case and judgment); recited in DRO D1404/60, images 57-58 (1686).
Under the term, the manor courts were held in the name of Ambrose Phillips the elder from 1676, and from 24 October 1678 in the name of Paul Jodrell, as his executor. Neither was the lord of the manor at that time, but both were entitled to hold court.
The fee-farm rents
The Crown had reserved perpetual fee-farm rents when it sold the manors in 1628. Belper's was £29 6s 5½d a year, and the six manors' together £138 4s 2¾d. The reversion of these rents was sold by the Crown in 1672 and bought by Ambrose Phillips in 1675 for £1,100. Jodrell bought them in 1683 for £1,400 (DRO D1404/60, images 49 and 51).
The court-approved sale, 1686
Master Sir William Beversham reported on 7 June 1686, allowing Jodrell as purchaser for £2,050. He matched a rival bid because he already held the fee-farm rents and wished to "make the estate entire". The report directed that on payment Jodrell should hold the residue of the 99-year term "discharged of the said trust" as to the premises purchased (DRO D1404/60, images 53-54). The court confirmed the report on 3 July 1686 and ordered £1,650 paid to William Leche and £400 to Rose Leche towards their legacies (image 54). By lease and release of 4–5 July 1686, the Leche family and the overseers conveyed the manors to Michael Rolles and Thomas Turner in trust for the only benefit of Paul Jodrell (DRO D1404/60 image 57). Bradley Lawn, devised to Philip Leche, was excepted. From 5 July 1686 Jodrell was the beneficial owner of Belper.
The 1691 confirmation
By bargain and sale of 29 June 1691, enrolled in Chancery on 7 November 1691, John Leche and the overseers, carrying out the 1686 covenant, again conveyed the six manors to Rolles and Turner "to the use of" themselves. The deed again included Belper Park and the Millholme fulling mill and excepted Bradley Lawn (DRO D1404/60, images 63-64). For the other manors this vested the legal estate in the trustees. At Belper, the legal estate was still with Keck.
Legal title to Belper, 1694
By lease of 7 August 1694, Sir Anthony Keck put Rolles and Turner into possession (DRO D1404/60, image 73). By release of 8 August 1694, to which Jodrell was a party, he released his whole estate to them "in trust nevertheless for the said Paul Jodrell, his heirs and assigns" (image 75). No use was declared to the trustees, so the Statute of Uses executed the trust, and from 8 August 1694 Jodrell owned Belper in law as well as in equity. To explain further: under the 1535 Statute of Uses, the usual outcome was that unless there was a 'use upon use' clause in favour of the trustees upon a conveyance, legal title actually resides with the beneficial owner; such a clause is missing from the 1694 deeds and whilst one is present in the 1686 and 1691 deeds, at those points legal title was already with Keck and therefore did not operate in favour of Rolles and Turner. This was a passive trust with no active duties given to the two trustees. The Statute Of Uses only executes the trust to Jodrell in this case once the legal title is conveyed to Rolles and Turner in 1694, whereupon the beneficial owner Jodrell simultaneously takes legal title.
Outstanding interests fell away
By 1694 there were no outstanding or competing interests standing against Jodrell:
1) the 99-year term had been discharged as to the purchased premises in 1686
2) the fee-farm rents were his own
3) the 1672 security was held by Jodrell himself, as one of the surviving grantees
