See also
| Name: | John LUFF |
| Sex: | Male |
| Father: | William LUFF ( -1754) |
| Mother: | - |
| Birth | 1709 | Easebourne |
1. The following notes don't really help with the family history, but are some interesting details about the Midhurst burgage plots. Remember that Midhurst was something of a 'Rotten borough' with a small number of voters, generally those who were owners of the burgage plots in the town. The result was that, at election time, there might be many dodgy deals involving buying and selling of these plots in order to control the votes.
Our guy here, John Luff of Easebourne, Carpenter, seems to be directly involved in one of these deals in 1754, as recorded in the documents COWDRAY/4405 and 4406 at the West Sussex Record Office. These are two indentures, the first dated 1/1/1754 in which Anthony Lord Viscount Montague sells a burgage plot to John Luff for 5 shillings. In the second, dated 2/1/1754, Lord Montague buys back the same plot for £10. Presumably, in the meantime, John Luff cast his vote for Lord Montague's candidate, and made £9/15/- on the deal for his pains.
2. The WSRO catalogues on www.A2A.org.uk record some other transactions regarding burgage plots involving people named Luff. I record them here, but there is no evidence that they concern our family of Luffs.
a) In COWDRAY/4755/29 there is an abstract of the title to a plot owned by a John Luffe of Midhurst, Blacksmith from about 1720 onwards. By 1726 this has passed to his widow Sarah, and by 1761 to his eldest son John. This seems to be a different family entirely.
b) In COWDRAY/4731 we have mention of an Elizabeth Luffe, widow who owns one such plot around 1720. This appears to be the same plot mentioned in (a).
c) In 1749 we have COWDRAY/4775 where 5 'Sham Burghers' of Midhurst - among them a William Luffe - are accused by Sir John Peachey of having fraudulently obtained burgage plots in Midhurst. He claims that he knows them to be 'poor men' who couldn't possibly have been able to buy these plots honestly. Just possibly this Wm Luffe could be the father of the John Luffe on this page, and that he too was in the business of selling his vote. (I haven't read this document to find out if it has any more useful details.)