Duncan
Thanks to Angela for the link to the English Reports site - I thought
they were only available through an expensive subscription to Hein
Online. Good to know they are actually available to everyone.
The case is Gabriel Gillett v William Peppercorne and is about shares in
the Vauxhall Waterworks Co.
There are some useful references in the Times, including an account of
the case 27 and 28 July 1840.
Peppercorne was elected to the committee of the Stock Exchange in 1836
as part of a wholesale purge following a scandal about fraud (Times 5
Mar 1836). In 1841 Gabriel Gillett led an attempt to have him removed
as a director of the Vauxhall Waterworks (Times 23 Nov 1841) as a direct
result of this litigation. There's an interesting account of a case in
1843 (Docter v Vauxhall Waterworks Co, in Common Pleas) that involves
Peppercorne and suggests that grabbing waterworks business was a bit of
a cut throat business (Times, 10 Feb 1843).
A reference to Peppercorne & Co as brokers in the flotation of the
Lincoln, Leeds and York Railway Co in 1845 is presumably to him, and
shows his offices were at 2 Old Broad Street - might be worth tracking
that through directories.
There are also other references to cases that might involve him - Benton
v Peppercorne (Times 27 May 1836), Peppercorne v Peacock (Times, 31 July
and 8 Nov 1841), and some cases in Exchequer - Mapping v Peppercorne and
Gillett v Peppercorne (Times 20 June 1842).
Virtually no coverage that I could find in 19th century British Library
Newspapers apart from Morning Post, 27 July 1840 which adds nothing to
the Times account.
Presumably the Vauxhall Waterworks Co ended up as Southwark and Vauxhall
Water Co, whose records are at London Metropolitan Archives.
Gillett v Peppercorne was a Chancery case so original records would be
at TNA. The 19th century ones are none too well listed although there
has been an ongoing attempt to improve the entries. A search of the
catalogue brings up the bills and answers in C 13/1176/18 and C
13/1211/10 - these will be well worth a look. You presumably know that
there are various guides to Chancery and Exchequer research on the TNA
website which will point you in the direction of more material. I found
myself wondering if the case listed as Gillett v Pepper, was actually a
mistake for Peppercorne - it's at C 13/1275/37.
I gave up listing the other Peppercorn(e) cases on the grounds that I
couldn't be sure they were your man (no forename given) but there are
certainly more cases (e.g. Peppercorne v Peacock C 13/410/4) for the
right period that might be him.
Hope this helps
Regards
Ruth
Ruth Paley
Hon Treasurer
British Association for Local History
|