Chancery Court Proceedings on the Estate of David Ivall (1795-1850)

David Ivall (1795-1850) ran a successful coach making business. His will left his house (14 Blomfield Road, Maida Hill) and its contents to his wife Martha until her death or remarriage. Thereafter it went to his eldest surviving son (David James Ivall) subject to him paying £1,500 to be divided between the other surviving children. David’s children were left £1,000 each when they reached 21 years. His wife received the income from the rest of his estate until her death or remarriage. Thereafter the rest of the estate was to be divided equally between his children. The estate duty record gives the value of David Ivall’s estate as £35,000 which equates to about £25 million now, estimated in relation to average earnings. The executors of the will were David’s widow Martha Ivall, William James (Martha’s brother) and George Jones.

It seems that David‘s five youngest children were not satisfied with the way that the estate was being administered. They turned to the Court of Chancery, which dealt with civil cases. Its procedure involved the gathering of written pleadings and evidence. The following claim was filed :

1851 No 68 In Chancery, Vice Chancellor Kindersley

Between  :

Martha Ivall, James Bainbrigge Ivall, Emma Ivall, Kate Bainbrigge Ivall and Albert Ivall all of them infants, under the age of twenty one years by Henry Hannam Cort, their next friend, Plaintiffs

and

Martha Ivall widow, William James, George Jones and David James Ivall, Defendants

The Claim of Martha Ivall, James Bainbrigge Ivall, Emma Ivall, Kate Bainbrigge Ivall and Albert Ivall all of them infants under the age of twenty one years by Henry Hannam Cort of York Street, Portman Square in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon, their next friend the above named Plaintiffs the said several infants Plaintiffs by the said Henry Hannam Cort state, That they are five of the residuary legatees under the Will dated the thirteenth day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty three of David Ivall late of Tottenham Court Road in the Parish of Saint Pancras and County of Middlesex and of No 14 Bloomfield Road, Maida Hill in the said County of Middlesex, Coach Maker deceased who died on the eighth day of June one thousand eight hundred and fifty and that the above named Defendants Martha Ivall widow, William James and George Jones are the executors of the said David Ivall deceased and that the said Martha Ivall widow, William James and George Jones have not accounted for or invested the shares of the residuary personal Estate of the said testator to which the said Martha Ivall, James Bainbrigge Ivall, Emma Ivall, Kate Bainbrigge Ivall and Albert Ivall are respectively entitled the said several infant Plaintiffs therefore by the said Henry Hannam Cort claim to have the personal estate of the said David Ivall administered in this Court and to have their Costs of this Suit and for that purpose that all proper directions may be given and accounts taken.

26^th November 1851

(Henry H Cort appears in the 1861 census, aged 55, a General Practitioner, living at 23 Acacia Rd, Marylebone).

The court accepted the plaintiffs’ request to administer David Ivall’s estate and this led to a series of court reports, petitions, decrees and orders (I have found 19 in total) over the next 6 years. They are in the National Archives at Kew.

In many Chancery suits the presiding judge would ask a Chancery Master (a court official) to investigate the evidence (including sworn statements from the parties) and report back to the court. Master Senior prepared a report dated 11 February 1853, which summarised the position. There were debts totalling £7,598 due from creditors to the estate. David James Ivall and Martha James Brisco Ivall had reached 21 and had not yet been paid the £1,000 due to each of them.

Martha Ivall (the wife of David Ivall) died intestate on 13 June 1853 aged 57. Letters of administration for her estate were granted to David James Ivall, her son. He and Anne Caroline Kingston were appointed as the guardians of James, Emma, Kate and Albert Ivall who were under the age of 21. The sum of £100 pa each for the maintenance and education of James, Emma and Kate was approved with £80 pa for Albert.

On 7 July 1854, the court gave permission for Emma, Kate and Albert to visit their brother David “for a period of one month at his residence in Dieppe in the Empire of France, their sister the Plaintiff Martha James Brisco Ivall by her solicitor undertaking to accompany and take charge of them and their Guardian Anne Caroline Kingston, the wife of William Wykeham Kingston, by her Solicitor undertaking that the said Infants shall return within one calendar month from this time.”

The Court approved the apprenticeship of Albert Ivall to James Rock of Hastings, Coach Builder, for 5 years from 26 January 1855 (Albert’s sixteenth birthday). James Rock was paid £250 and Albert’s wages were set at 6s per week in the first year, 7s in the second, 8s in the third, 10s in the fourth and 12s in the fifth. The amount that his guardians were allocated to spend on Albert’s maintenance and education was increased to £130 pa.

David’s six children each received about £5,000 when they reached the age of 21. This was a substantial sum then. Their biographies show that some of them such as David James Ivall, continued to be wealthy throughout their lives whereas James and Albert Ivall were later declared bankrupt.

Ivall and Large, coach and harness makers

David Ivall (1795 - 1850) built up a thriving coach making business in London (David was the younger brother of Thomas Ivall, my great great great grandfather). After David’s death in 1850 Martha Ivall, his wife, became the proprietor of the business. The following advert appeared in The Times dated 17 May 1851

CARRIAGES – The WIDOW of the late DAVID IVALL, in returning thanks for the patronage received since his decease, begs most respectfully to assure the nobility and gentry that the business is conducted in the same manner and upon the same principles as heretofore, and respectfully invites them to an inspection of the extensive and modern assortment of well manufactured CARRIAGES, which are either for SALE or JOB, with the option to purchase, at the old-established manufactory, 158 Tottenham-court-road.

Similar adverts appeared on 19 September 1851 and 17 August 1852 in The Times.

Martha Ivall died in 1853. After his mother’s death, James Ivall (1832-96), who had served an apprenticeship as a coachmaker, formed a partnership with William Collins Large to run the coachmaking business at 158 Tottenham Court Road. Ivall and Large are listed at this address in the London Post Office Directories of 1855 to 1858.

On 16 February 1856 this advert was in The Times

“CARRIAGES” – Final closing of the executorship of the late David Ivall, and in order to ensure a speedy accomplishment of the same, the remaining STOCK of well-manufactured CARRIAGES are now on SALE at very reduced prices at the manufactory, 158 Tottenham-court-road, London, where orders and repairs are executed as heretofore by the present firm, Messrs IVALL and LARGE, Mr Ivall being the son and successor.

David James Ivall (1830-73), the elder brother of James, joined the partnership of Ivall and Large in about 1858.

William Collins Large was born in 1818 in Middlesex. The 1861 census shows William C Large aged 43 and gives his occupation as a coachbuilder employing 45 men and 3 boys. He was living at 10 Stamford Villas Fulham with his wife Juliana (42) and children Matilda (19), Emily (14), William (12) and Edgar (3) and one servant. The 1871 census shows the family living in Camberwell with two servants. In 1881 they were living at 345 Clapham Road, Lambeth and had three servants. William’s son Edgar (aged 22) is listed as a coachbuilder, like his father. 

The London Gazette of 4^th April 1862 contains the following item announcing the departure of James Ivall from the Ivall and Large partnership :

Notice is hereby given, that the partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned, in the business of Coach and Harness Makers, carried on at No 125 Piccadilly and No 56 South Audley Street, both in the county of Middlesex, under the style or firm of Ivall and Large, hath been dissolved, as from 31^st day of March last, so far as respects James Ivall, by mutual consent. As witness our hands this 1^st day of April 1862. David James Ivall, William Collins Large, James Ivall.

The Lloyds Weekly Newspaper printed this report on 13 November 1862 :

A third fire took place in the premises of Messrs. Ivall and Large, coach-builders, 56, South Audley Street, Grosvenor Square. The workshops were destroyed by fire and part of the roof was burned off.

Rate Books for 1868 to 1873 show that Ivall and Large occupied premises at 1 Princes Buildings, Victoria Street, Westminster. They also paid rates from 1870 to 1873 for a property in Upper Tachbrook Street, Westminster.

As well as coaches for normal use, Ivall and Large made carriages for ceremonial occasions. The London City Press (30 September 1871) describes one of these :
The state carriage of Mr. Sheriff Young is modern light, handsome chariot, painted a rich light blue body, carriage part and wheels vermilion, relieved with blue and white. The carriage is lined with rich white silk. The seat cloth is white, with blue fringe and silk hangers to correspond; there are handsome silver lamps, snake loops, and heraldic ornaments. Messrs. Ivall and Large, Victoria Street, are the builders.

The will of David James Ivall, dated 30^th January 1873 describes him as “of Victoria Street, Westminster, Coachbuilder”. He died later that year, thus ending the Ivall family’s connection with the firm (although the Ivall name was retained for continuity). William Collins Large continued to run the firm, forming a new partnership with William Alfred Parton in 1874.

An advert for Ivall and Large, Carriage and Harness Manufacturers published in the 1879 edition of Burke’s Landed Gentry.

The following item appeared in the London Gazette dated 8 February 1887:

Notice is hereby given that the Partnership which has for some time past been carried on by William Collins Large and William Alfred Parton, under the firm of Ivall and Large, at 390 and 392 Oxford Street, 10 to 13 Bird Street and 125 Gloucester Rd, South Kensington, in the business of Coach Builders and Harness Makers, was dissolved on Feb 5^th 1887. Wm C Large, W Alf Parton.

The National Archive at Kew has Company Records for Ivall, Large, Dodson and Co. An attempt was made to form this company in 1892 by the merger of Ivall and Large, coach builders with Alexander Dodson, omnibus builder. The nominal capital of the new company was to be £30,000 arising from the offer 3,000 shares of £10 each. The directors of the new company were to be William Collins Large, coachbuilder, Charles John Jones, a director of Blundell, London, Copper and Brass Work, Ltd, William Alfred Large, architect and Edgar Charles Large, carriage builder. Alexander Dodson was to be the manager of the Dodson works and Edgar Charles Large the manager of Ivall and Large. The Certificate of Incorporation was dated 20 September 1892. However, there is a letter in the file dated 2 June 1894 to the Companies Registration Office saying “….we beg to say that as no capital was subscribed, this Company (ie Ivall, Large and Dodson) was never started and in consequence both businesses were sold by auction last year.” Elsewhere in the file it says that the firm of Ivall and Large was bought by Holland and Holland, 479 Oxford Street.

In Old Sydney Town, Somersby, NSW, Australia there is an example of a barouche coach made in 1897 by Ivall and Large for the Maharajah of Mysore in India. It is used as transport for weddings. A photo of the coach is shown below.

 The London Post Office and Business Directories have the following entries which show the changing address of the business over the years :

Year	Entry
1841	David Ivall & Co, coach and harness makers, 158 Tottenham Court Rd
1851	David Ivall, coach and harness makers, 158 Tottenham Court Rd and 18 Cardington St, Hampstead Rd
1852	Martha Ivall (Mrs), coach and harness maker, 158 Tottenham Court Rd and 18 Cardington St, Hampstead Rd
1855	Martha Ivall (Mrs), coach and harness maker, 18 Cardington St, Hampstead Rd Ivall and Large, coach and harness makers, 158 Tottenham Court Rd
1856	Ivall and Large, coach and harness makers, 158 Tottenham Court Rd
1862	Ivall and Large, coach and harness maker, 56 South Audley St and 125 Piccadilly
1871	Ivall and Large, carriage and harness maker, Victoria St, Westminster
1882	Ivall and Large, carriage builders, Victoria St, Westminster
1884	Ivall and Large, carriage builders, 390 and 392 Oxford St, 10-13 Bird St, Oxford St & Cobrg Row
1892	Ivall and Large, carriage builders, 390 and 392 Oxford St, manufacturing 10,11,12 &13 Bird St, Oxford St
1902	Ivall and Large, carriage builders, 479 to 483 Oxford St
1912	Ivall and Large, carriage builders, 479 to 483 Oxford St

The last record of Ivall and Large is in 1912 (they are not listed in the 1913 directory).

Ann Maria Cheek / Howe nee Ivall (1865-1946)

The subject of this biography was a great grand-daughter of Charles Ivall (1779-1832), who was a brother of my ancestor Thomas Ivall (1781-1835). This posting is based on information supplied by Ann Maria’s great grand-daughter, Mary Harrison.

Ann(ie) Maria Ivall was born on 6 April 1865 in Basingstoke, the fourth of seven children of Henry Charles Ivall and his wife Mary Ann (nee Palmer). In 1871 they were living in Winton Road, Basingstoke. The family consisted of Henry (43, a carpenter and joiner), his wife Mary Ann (36) and their children Ellen Louisa (12), Alice Emma (8), Ann Maria (6), Henry Charles (3).

By 1881 the family had moved to Church Street, Dorking and Annie was a servant at West Lees Farm, Logmore nearby. She went to Leyton in the East End of London where she married Benjamin James Cheek on 12th May 1887 at Leyton Parish Church. Annie was 22, he was 26.  Benjamin, who was born in Great Dunmow in Essex, had moved to the East End looking for gardening work. He had a troubled childhood, his father was a parish clerk and a cabinet maker (like her own father) but Benjamin's father became a drunk and seemed to be suffering from a mental disorder. It was reported in the local paper that he had threatened to kill Benjamin.  He ended up in a lunatic asylum as did Benjamin's sister. By the time Annie and Benjamin were married both his parents had died.

Annie and Benjamin's first child was born on 12 June 1888. She was called Florence Annie Melita (known as Flo), their address then was 1 Sidney Terrace, Park Road, Leyton.  It wasn't long before they were on the move, as was to be the pattern for their life together. Benjamin had put an advert in the Times on 7 August 1890 looking for work. It shows his address then as The Lodge, Sheppey Court on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. A family story has it that, as an under gardener, he would get the sack first when times were tough. The next move was to Lichfield in Staffordshire where the 1891 census shows they lived at the Friary Cottage and where their son George Henry was born in Q2 1891. Within four years the owner of the Friary died and they moved to Calne in Wiltshire where their daughter Nellie Beatrice was born on 5 October 1894 (at The Green, Calne) and Mary’s grandfather Alfred William Reginald was born on 17 May 1898 (at London Road, Calne). Benjamin worked for Miss Gabriel who was a well-known local benefactor. During this time Annie and Benjamin lost their son George. He was found drowned in the River Marden (which runs through Calne), coincidentally the same year 1899 as David and William Crouch (Louisa Ivall's sons), who also died in a drowning accident. A report in the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette dated June 1^st 1899 said that Benjamin had sent his son to the river. Benjamin vehemently refuted this in a response in the following week's newspaper.

Miss Gabriel died in 1900 and Benjamin and Annie were on the move again, this time to Hampshire - 120 Clayhall Road, Alverstoke (near Gosport). The 1901 census shows Benjamin (40, a gardener, domestic), his wife Annie (35) and their children Florence (12), Nellie (6) and Alfred (2) at this address. This stay didn't last long either. Mary has a piece of paper that is thought to list of the places where they lived - there were several on the Isle of Wight mentioned. Happiness did not come to Annie’s family as Benjamin died of phthisis (TB) aged 45 on 25 May 1906. Their address then was 33 Cecil Avenue, Shirley.

In the 1911 census Annie (aged 45) and her children Nellie (16) and Alfred (12, known as Reg) were living at 51 Francis Avenue, Southsea. Annie ran her home as a boarding house. Flo had two rooms there, having just married Robert West. Annie moved again several more times. Mary understands that her grandfather Reg had rickets and was often hungry. He told Mary's mother that he was brought up by his elder sister Flo.

On September 27th 1914, Annie married Walter Thomas Howe at All Saints Church, Leyton. He was aged 51, a widower and  a postman from Walthamstow in East London - perhaps he worked with William Frank Ivall (also a postman), Annie's brother. She was aged 49. The address on their marriage certificate was shown as 127 Skeltons Lane Leyton.

Annie Maria (56) and Walter Thomas Howe (58) were living at 150 Guildford Road, Fratton, Portsmouth on the 1921 census. Annie's occupation was described as Home Duties and Walter was shown as a retired Postman. They were occupying one room at the property.

Annie and Walter Howe eventually settled in Southsea, Hampshire. The national register compiled in 1939 shows Annie and Walter (a retired postman) living at 18 Graham Road, Southsea.

Annie and Walter at their home in Graham Road, Southsea

Annie passed down a pedigree that showed she was related to the Wests who had set up a charitable trust for the poor and Christ’s Hospital school. We don't know whether she availed herself of any benefits from that. She also passed on the story that she was related to the Palmers of biscuit fame, but this is unconfirmed.

Annie Maria Howe with her grand-daughter Joyce West, c 1935

Annie’s house was damaged by bombing during WW2 and so she moved back to Alverstoke. Walter her second husband died in 1941 aged 78 and Annie died aged 80 on 9 January 1946. Probate records show that her final address was 27 Village Road, Alverstoke and that administration of her estate (£809 3s 7d) was granted to Florence West, her daughter. Walter and Annie are buried in Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea (plot B, row 22, grave 19). There is no marker on the grave.