DICKENS (CHARLES) Indenture, signed twice ('Charles Dickens'), once at foot of first sheet and again on reverse, being a 'Conveyance of a Freehold Messuage and Hereditaments in Grove Road, Wanstead, Essex', between George Horatio Wilkinson of the first part, Charles Dickens 'of Gadshill Place by Rochester in the County of Kent Esquire', Malcolm Douglas Crosbie and George Frederick Hudson of the second part, Edward James Willmott of the third part and David Thomas Morgan [mistakenly called Daniel Thomas Morgan throughout according to a memorandum] of the fourth part, regarding a plot of land situated in the Grove Estate ('on the south side of the new road called Grove Road lately made by the said George Horatio Wilkinson... Twelve thousand four hundred and eighty seven square feet or thereabouts... and a messuage of villa residence recently erected on part of said piece or parcel of land [number and name of property left blank]...'), including a ground plan of the site on the second leaf; transferring to Morgan the property provided he maintain it as a private residence and not offer 'annoyance nuisance or damage of the said Charles Dickens... or tenants of their or any of their adjoining properties', with schedule, on three sides of vellum, dockets, receipts for monies owed and titles on the reverse of the first leaf, three blue paper duty stamps, red wax seals, usual minor dust-staining and creasing, especially where folded and filed, each c.590 x 700mm. and smaller, G.F. Hudson, Matthews & Co., Solicitors, 23 Bucklersbury, London, 26 March 1867 Footnotes: DICKENS' PROPERTY IN WANSTEAD. Dickens has signed this indenture twice; in blue ink, without flourishes, at the foot, and again on the reverse of the first sheet, also in blue ink but with his usual flourished underlining, the second in receipt of £350 from David [or Daniel as he is referred to here] Thomas Morgan. The document concerns the sale of land with a villa in Grove Road, Wanstead, although the number or name of the property has not been inserted. From the 'Schedule referred to in the above written Indenture', Dickens first acquired an interest in this property on 12 November 1860 and, from the terms of the lease, that he owned further land in the area. This is borne out by a similar indenture sold in these rooms, 24 March 2009, lot 133, dating from 1869-69, regarding property at no.16 Grove Road, and another sold on 17 December 2020, lot 43, regarding no.30 Grove Road, also dated 1868-69. The other parties to this transaction were either builders or speculative developers: Edward Wilmott, an architect, was also developing houses in Westward Ho! (see the town's History Group website); while Wilkinson is recorded as a timber merchant residing in Shoreditch near Wanstead, and was busy in the 1860's developing property in Hackney in partnership with Marmaduke Matthews, an auctioneer (see Victoria County History Middlesex, Vol.10, 'Hackney: Homerton and Hackney Wick', edited by T.F.T. Barker, 1995, pp.51-50). Crosbie, Dickens's fellow mortgagee, is recorded as inheriting and selling property in Grove Street, Hackney, in 1840 (Access to Archives, Hackney Archives Department, small collections, M220 and 221). None of these characters feature in the records of Dickens's life, neither is it his usual solicitor who drew up these deeds. The question arises as to why Dickens should have employed Hudson & Co., rather than his friend and usual solicitor Frederic Ouvry, of Farrer Ouvry & Farrer, who not only handled Dickens's separation from his wife, but also his publishing contracts and property affairs (see the Sotheby's catalogue of Dickens's business papers, London, 15 July 1999, lots 160-187). Having purchased Gad's Hill Place in 1856, Dickens sold Tavistock House in September 1860, for 2000 guineas. Three months after this, on 12 November, we find him giving Wilkinson a mortgage for the speculative development in Wanstead. It has been suggested that the property in Grove Road may have been purchased with a view to giving a home to his mistress Ellen (Nelly) Ternan but the ownership of properties in the same road would imply that Dickens was investing in these speculative properties with a more business-led motive in mind. It is thought that Dickens gave readings at the Becontree Archery Assembly Rooms, now the Wanstead Quaker Burial Ground. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing