Henry Cort

		Henry Cort Inventor - Creator of puddled iron - Father of iron trade
		This page is part of a website based on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort. The creator and owner of the site was Eric Alexander who passed away. The site is now hosted by Hans Weebers Please contact me with any comments or queries.

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HENRY CORT'S HERTFORDSHIRE PROPERTY

9 and 10 May 1763: Draft lease and release, Henry Trott of Standon, farrier, to Henry Cort of Crutched Friars, gent., farm in Colliers End for the sum of £825.

From Henry Cort: The Great Finer, quoting Hertfordshire Record Office A903.

What prompts Henry Cort to buy this farm in Hertfordshire is not established.

The Mott/Singer book suggests it is connected with Henry Cort's "sister Jane Cort of Standing in Herefordshire, spinster" mentioned in the will of Jane Cort of Lancaster. Only two errors in place names!

We can be pretty sure that Cort has no intention of farming it himself. There are tenant farmers who pay him rent. It's an investment.

The next entry is on the occasion of Cort's second wedding,

16 March 1768: Copy marriage settlement: Elizabeth Haysham of London, spinster, and Henry Cort of Crutched Friars, London, gent.

Hertfordshire document quoted in Mott/Singer, Henry Cort: The Great Finer.

The date of the bride's move from Gosport to London has not been revealed, but the record of the marriage ceremony places her in the parish of St Thomas The Apostle (close to Mansion House Station).

The Mott/Singer book quotes the bride's portion of the settlement (£3000) and the groom's (£2000 and the Standon property), but does not mention that these items are vested in a trust for the benefit of the bride and any children "of both their bodies".

Trustees are named as William Attwick of Gosport and John Becher "of Shut End in the county of Staffordshire". John and Ann Becher are among the witnesses, showing that they have come to London for the wedding.

Because the property is held in trust, it cannot be taken to settle any of Henry's personal or business debts after his business collapses.

The family can still draw on the income it generates.

The next documents in the series are dated 1802, after Cort's death.

This document goes on to register the widow's legal entitlement to the property.

To this court cometh Coningsby Cort Gentleman bearing a Deed of Settlement dated the sixteenth day of March 1768 and Elizabeth Cort widow.

From Hertfordshire record A910, dated 9 July 1802

The next record is of a sale by auction on 11 August 1809. The successful bidder is Daniel Giles of Youngsbury (parish of Standon).

Documents at the PRO establish that the Giles family has a big role in the City of London, with a family vault in a church in Bishopsgate.

On 12 August Giles and Coningsby draw up an agreement of sale.

The next document is undated, but we get some idea from its reference to the youngest daughter, born 21 February 1790.

Catherine Cort a Minor at the time the accompanying agreement was entered into is now of age.

From Instructions for conveyance of the property.

Please also to prepare Deed of Conveyance with as much expedition as convenient.

Instruction from Daniel Giles to his agent Thomas Nicholson.

Giles's instructions also tell that Henry Bell Cort's share of the property has passed to his five-year-old daughter Frances.

And a further revelation.

Wm Attwick one of the Trustees in the Settlement of 1768 is still living.

From Instructions for conveyance of the property.

William Attwick's will reveals that he dies around the end of September 1812.

A document dated 31 January 1810 authorises "Assignees of Kirkpatrick & Cort" to act on behalf of the bankrupt Richard Cort.

In May documents appear giving the assent of members of the family, and showing where they reside.

But Frances Cort is still too young to give a valid signature.

Giles is appointed one of her trustees until she becomes twenty-one. In April 1827 she is able to release her share of the property.

Meanwhile he has a spell as county sheriff.

He still has to wait until Christmas Eve 1831 before his full entitlement is legally accepted.

This series of documents features in the "Giles-Puller collection", donated to the county record office by one of his descendants.

Related pages

Life of Henry Cort

Henry Cort's children and descendants

Illness of Henry Cort's eldest son

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
If you use/copy information from this site, please include a link to the page where you found the information.