mortgage of share in estate 1853

[samatk]

my ancestor MICHAEL PHILLIPS (1818-1899) of Tottenham, mortgaged his share in his late father EDWARD's estate for the sum of £150.  Sum to be repaid with interest in a year's time (it was).  The other parties to the mortgage were JOHN PHILLIPS the trustee of Edward's estate and RICHARD SMITH the YOUNGER Gentleman of Hoborn.

What I cannot find out is why Michael took out this mortgage. There appears to be no associated house purchase and he had been married for nine years by 1853. There is no mention of the reason for the mortgage in the document itself.  Is there any way of tracking down what the mortgage was for?  And also details of Richard Smith the Younger...

[suttontrust]

The likeliest answer is just that he needed the money.  It was, in effect, a loan, and I doubt you'll ever know what it was for unless some other document turns up.

[cati]

As Tottenham was in the London Borough of Middlesex you may find some related deeds in the Middlesex Deeds Registry - see http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/76365D2C-B83C-461E-91A9-C5FBA8D26963/0/infono7.pdf

If the mortage deed gives the name of the solicitor who drew it up it is just possible that the firm may have some old records, or let you know where old records were deposited.

I'd agree with suttontrust though: a mortgage was originally a way of raising money, not necessarily to buy a property.

Cati

[samatk]

thanks for that...will have a look...

[Dave Francis]

Hi

Just to clarify a couple of points...

The term 'mortgage' doesn't necessarily mean that any house purchase was involved. It simply means that Michael obtained a loan on security of his interest in his (presumably late) father's estate. As indicated by Suttontrust, this could have been for any number of reasons - e.g. clearing existing debts, a temporary liquidity problem, wanting to invest in a new business venture etc etc. The amount involved would have been around £10K to £20K in today's money.

John Phillips (trustee) would have been involved because he held legal title to Edward's estate (which was presumably held in trust at the time) and would have to consent to the mortgage. Richard Smith the Younger would have been involved as the person who made the loan.

The Indenture itself is the 'mortgage deed' so there are unlikely to be any other formal documents to tell you why Richard borrowed the money.

Dave

[cati]

Sorry, hadn't made myself clear: what I meant was, although the Deeds Registry won't contain any details about why the property was mortgaged or what the money was used for, there may be details of other mortgages or transactions on the property.

Cati