Bryson Collection: Hill Dickinson, solicitors

The Hill Dickinson & Co. Ltd. collection is part of the larger Bryson family collection (D/B). The Bryson collection was compiled by Joe Bryson who had a varied career history as a soldier, fairground artist and angler. This is a large collection of documents collected by Bryson over a twenty-year period and includes material about Liverpool business, legal records, personal letters and maritime shipping history. Hill Dickinson & Co. Ltd. was a solicitor’s firm operating out of 10 Water Street, Liverpool, and 88 Leadenhall Street, London. By the 1930s they comprised Sir Arthur Norman Hill, Baronet, Geo. M. Magee, Vivian D. Heyne, Wm. Goffey, Martin Hill, Herbert Cecil Sugden, and R.H. Bransbury. Messrs Gregory Rowcliffe & Co. were the London agents. The records cover the period 1828-1946 and consist of financial and legal records, and correspondence. There is not much evidence of an original order due to the manner in which the records were accumulated by Joe Bryson, however, the collection has been organised into records of a similar type such as records pertaining to estate management and records deemed to be personal such as correspondence and those pertaining to family legal matters. In this collection we see Hill Dickinson involved in conveyance of local property and the management of large estates in perpetuity after a client’s death according to their probate. The largest amount of material in this collection pertains to the death of Mrs. Mary Johnstone Elley and the management of her large estate with connections to properties in Scotland through Mr. A.P. Nicol. Records of the taxing master seem to indicate that this included litigation in the ‘Elley & Nicol vs. Elley’ case. It is an involvement which lasted for at least a decade or more according to the records which survive. See the attached list or contact The Archives Centre for a copy of the catalogue. Further material relating to the company can be found in the maritime business section of the Bryson collection, reference D/B/MB. The entire Bryson collection was purchased by the Maritime Museum in 1976 with no specified conditions of use or copyright. Hill Dickinson is available at the reserve store by appointment only.