MRP: Chancery Cases

Mid-C17th Chancery cases

This page provides a listing of selected Court of Chancery cases relevant to an understanding of Oxenden family commercial ventures and family (Aylmer, Dallison, Oxenden, Piers, Stanley) litigation over domestic issues involving the Court of Chancery

Litigation involving Thomas Stanley, father-in-law of Elizabeth's son Maximilian Dallison

C 9/240/194 f. 1

C 10/14/38 f. 1
C 10/14/38 f. 2

C 22/968/8 f. 1
C 22/968/8 f. 2

Litigation involving Sir James Oxenden, father of Elizabeth Dallison

C22/955/10 f. 1
C22/955/10 f. 2
C22/955/10 f. 3

Litigation involving Sir Thomas Piers, brother-in-law of Elizabeth Dallison

Litigation involving Edward Kelke, lawyer friend of Elizabeth Dallison

Edward Kelke was a Kent born Gray's Inn lawyer and friend of both Elizabeth dallison and George Oxenden. Kelke appointed Elizabeth Dallison his sole executrix. His will was contested, leading to a Chancery suit between Elizabeth and a number of Kelke's cousins.

C 9/242/63
C 9/242/65

C 9/243/65 f. 1 Needs to be completed

C 9/243/66 Dallison v. Skipper and Smith, 1666
C 9/243/66 f. 1
C 9/243/66 f. 2
C 9/243/66 f. 3
C 9/243/66 f. 4

C 22/52/40 f. 1
C 22/52/40 f. 2
C 22/52/40 f. 3

Litigation involving Robert Raworth

Robert Raworth, a Kent born Gray's Inn lawyer, acted for Elizabeth Dallison, George Oxenden, and some other family members. Raworth is a co-defendant in a Chancery suit brought by XXX having lent £200 to XXXX to top up a loan of £1500 from XXX.

C6/133/9 f. 1
C6/133/9 f. 2
C6/133/9 f. 3

Litigation involving Captain/Sir William Ryder

Captain, later Sir, William Ryder was an active London based merchant from at least the 1640s till his death in 1670. Prior to that he appears to have been a sea captain, working Mediterranean routes. He was involved in a significant number of Chancery cases over varied issues, some of which are listed here.

Firstly, a suit was brought by Sir Richard Ford and John Buckworth against Sir William Ryder and William Cutler, the four men having been equal partners in a joint stock formed in 1664 for the importation of iron and copper from Stockholm, Sweden, for use in the Guinea trade. At issue were loans to the joint stock from William Ryder's former servant, Richard Bayly, who was now his son-in-law, and from the London goldsmith, John Colvile. The payment and indeed the existence of the loans were disputed (C5/53/26 ff. 1-3).

See C 5/54/40 Ford v. Cutler 1668 (which has not yet been imaged by this project). This document is likely to relate to C5/53/26 ff. 1-3.

See also C 6/597/21 Short title: Cutler v Colvel. First plaintiff: Cutler. Defendants: Colvel. Document type: bill only. [1649-1714] (not yet imaged by this project). It is possible that this document relates to C5/53/26 ff. 1-3

Secondly, a suit was brought by James Modyford and number of of London merchants and executors of deceased London merchants, who were part owners of the Thomas and William. These part owners and fellow plaintiffs included William Ryder, the merchants Jonathan Dawes and John Robinson, and the London goldsmith, John Portman. The suit relates to events in 1652. At dispute was the behaviour of Sarah Greaves, widow of the now deceased ship's captain, John Jefferson, and the Treasurer of the Navy, Richard Hutchinson. The Bill of Complaint alleges that the then Sarah Jefferson had concealed the ship's account books, and, together with the Treasurer, had conspired to withhold moneys due to the part owners of the ship (C 6/151Pt2/28 ff. 1-2).

Thirdly, a suit was brought about bills of exchange which had been drawn in 1649 on William Ryder's name in Amsterdam. The bills were drawn at the request of Thomas Marsham, a now deceased London merchant, whose name had been damaged by involvement in the royalist camp. The satisfaction of the bills by Marsham through forgiveness of debt by another London merchant, William Gomeldon, was disputed by Marsham's executors (C10/58/29, ff. 1-32).

Fourthly, a suit was brought in 1661 by the English East India Company against a number of part owners of the Royal James and Henry, which had been chartered in 1660 by the plaintiffs. The suit concerned illegal trade goods, which allegedly had been loaded on board the ship at the Downs, prior to the Royal James and Henry sailing for Madras. Defendants were Sir George Smith, Sir William Rider, Edward Wood and Maurice Thompson (C10/99/70 f. 1) and John Park, Edward Wood's former servant (C10/99/66 f. 1).

Fifthly, a suit was brought in 1668 by a former partner of Sir William Ryder, the London merchant William Cutler. At issue was the performance and distribution of provision of a partnership of Ryder, Cutler and George Cocke. The partnership had been formed to fulfill a series of important naval contracts for the importation of hemp, tar and pitch from the Baltic, which ran between 1662 and ?1665. Edward Backwell, a leading London goldsmith, was subsequently brought into an altered partnership (C10/155/38 ff. 1-3). The bill of complaint was stated in C5/53/26 f. 1, to which an answer and disclaimer was made by Ryder's servant, Samuell Heron, in C5/53/26 f. 2, and an answer by Ryder and Cocke in C5/53/26 f. 3.

See also C 10/155/38 (not yet imaged for this project), which is likely to relate to C10/155/38 ff. 1-3. The short title of this document is "Cutlere v. Ryder, knight, Cocke, Backwell & Herne: Middx." and is dated 1669

See also C 5/53/78 Sowton v. Cutler: Middlesex, 1669, and C 6/218/65 Sowton v Cutler. Plaintiffs: Samuel Sowton. Defendants: Thomas Cutler and David Clarke. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: bill, two answers, three schedules. 1676. Both documents are likely to relate to C10/155/38 ff. 1-3, directly or indirectly. Samuell Sowton was one of the Stockholm based correspondents used by the partnership of Ryder, Cutler and Cocke. Thomas Cutler was the son of William Cutler, and was also a correspondent in Stockholm (his appointment is mentioned in C10/155/38 f. 1). However, Thomas Cutler is not mentioned in William Cutler's will.

C5/53/26 f. 1
C5/53/26 f. 2
C5/53/26 f. 3

C 6/151Pt2/28 f. 1
C 6/151Pt2/28 f. 2
C 6/151Pt2/28 f. 3

C10/58/29 f. 1
C10/58/29 f. 2

C10/99/66 f. 1
C10/99/70 f. 1

C10/155/38 f. 1
C10/155/38 f. 2
C10/155/38 f. 3

Litigation involving English East India Company

C10/99/64 f. 1
C10/99/65 f. 1
C10/99/67 f. 1
C10/99/68 f. 1

Litigation involving merchant subscribers to SVJS, but not directly related to SVJS or to the Oxenden family

C 10/74/1 Roger Andrewes, John Connis, William Pennoyer, Francis Dashwood and Edward Crispe v Frederick Skinner: money matters, Middx. 1664
C 10/19/66 Robert Levett v Jacob Searle, Nicholas Gould, Robert Abdy, William Williams, Andrew Rickards, Nathan Wright and others: money matters, Middlesex. Bill and answer. 1653

Oxenden vs Dallison litigation following Elizabeth Dallison's death

C 9/40/48 f. 1
C 9/40/48 f. 2
C 9/40/48 f. 3
C 9/40/48 f. 4
C 9/40/48 f. 5

C 9/40/57 ff. 1-2
C 9/40/57 ff. 3-4
C 9/40/57 f. 5
C 9/40/57 f. 6
C 9/40/57 f. 7

C 9/49/48 f. 1
C 9/49/48 f. 2

Litigation involving Henry Oxinden of Barham and Denne family

C22/969/42

Loyal Merchant litigation

C10/488/141

SVJS & KF litigation

Thirty separately indexed Chancery documents have been identified in the National Archives which are related to Sir George Oxenden’s ventures in 1655-1659. A significant number are indexed under titles which are not obviously linked to Sir George Oxenden. The documents fall into four series, of which C9 and C10 are the dominant ones, with thirteen records in the C9 category and fifteen records in the C10 category. There is one record in C5 and one record in C22.

C5

C5/58/51

C9

C9/28/10
C9/29/37
C9/30/96
C9/47/10
C9/59/10
C9/232/127
C9/243/71
C9/243/130
C9/229/52
C9/236/131
C9/243/13X
C9/405/357
C9/409/92

C10

C10/60/30 f. 1
C10/60/30 f. 2
C10/60/30 f. 3
C10/60/30 f. 4
C10/65/99
C10/82/2
C10/87/49
C10/90/73
C10/106/142
C10/109/102
C10/158/94
C10/172/61
C10/173/72
C10/469/40
C10/470/103
C10/471/114
C10/477/19
C10/492/28

C22

C22/1036/34

Chancery case listing by archival category

Fuller details of the documents are listed below, with links to images, transcriptions, and/or summaries of the documents

C 3/429/50 Short title: Stone v Dalison. 1640-1642

C 9/40/57 Oxenden v. Dallison and Stanley 1668
File(C 9_40_58 Oxenden v. Dallison, 1668)
C 9/49/48 Dalison v. Oxenden, 1667
C 9/240/194 Stanley v. Walsall 1650
C 9/242/63 Dallison v. Skepper 1658
C 9/243/66 Dallison v. Skipper and Smith 1666

C 10/14/38 William Cane v Barnabas Walsall and Thomas Stanley: Rochester, Kent 1651
C 10/19/66 Robert Levett v Jacob Searle, Nicholas Gould, Robert Abdy, William Williams, Andrew Rickards, Nathan Wright and others: money matters, Middlesex. Bill and answer 1653
C 10/57/109 Gore, Woodward and Meggs v. East India company, Governor & c. and others 1652
C 10/74/1 Roger Andrewes, John Connis, William Pennoyer, Francis Dashwood and Edward Crispe v Frederick Skinner: money matters, Middx. 1664

C 22/58/39 Dalyson v. Oxinden. Between 1558 and 1714
C 22/968/8 Cane v. Stanley Between 1558 and 1714

C 142/483/82 Dallyson, Maximilian, knight: Kent 8 Charles I
C 142/623/52 Dallyson, William: Kent 20 Charles I.

Chancery case listing by document date

Fuller details of the documents are listed below, with links to images, transcriptions, and/or summaries of the documents.

Legal issues by case

- Concealment of assets as a failed commercial man (C 10/14/38, C 22/968/8)
- Contesting a will as unnatural (C 9/243/66)
- Power and title over an estate (C 9/49/48, C 9/40/57)
- Unauthorised sale of goods and attempt to recover goods (C 10/19/66)
- Concealment and/or theft of deeds (C10/12/128)