Biography:
1. William Breeze was appointed as a Junior Clerk at Sheerness on the 26th May 1787. He was promoted there to First Clerk, before being transferred to Waltham Abbey on the 6th February 1805 as the Clerk of the Cheque, with a salary of £150 per annum (Supply 5/229 dated the 1st September 1810). In addition to his salary he was allowed £26 per annum lodging allowance, a coal & candle allowance of £12.10.0d per annum and a gratuity of £50.
2. List of Staff dated the 18th June 1807 confirmed that his annual salary was £150 per annum, and that he was provided with a house - although its location is unkown - that he was given an allowance of £12.10.0d for coal and candles, and a gratuity of £65 (Supply 5/226 dated the 18th June 1807).
3. Supply 5/227 dated the 23rd August 1808 confirmed his salary was £150 per annum, and that he was provided with a house and a coal and candle allowance of £12.10.0d per annum; his grauity, however, was noted as £63.
4. On the 1st September 1810 (Supply 5/228) all of Mr. Breeze's details remained the same, except that his gratuity was given as £80.
5. List of Officers and Other Persons in Employment and their Pay dated the 29th August 1812 (Supply 5/229) stated that Mr. Breeze's date of appointment to the position of Clerk of Survey was the 26th February 1812, and that his salary had increased to £200 per annum. He was still provided with a house, and his allowance of £12.10.0d was the same as previously. Moreover, it was confirmed that the date of his first appointment in the Ordnance was the 26th May 1787.
6. List of Officers and Other Persons Employed dated the 13th February 1814 (Supply 5/230) confirmed his salary at £200 per annum. He then had a £95 gratuity with a house provided, and £12.10.0d per annum coal and candle allowance. A statement "of monies to which the public were entitled to receive credit between the 1st January and the 31st December, 1820, showing the amounts received by the storekeeper" dated the 4th April 1821 (Supply 5/232) recorded that Breeze was living rent-free in a Board of Ordnance house from the 12th September, 1814. He had also been renting some 14 acres of Lammas or half-year land from the Board since the 2nd March 1812at a cost of £1.1.0d per acre. An analysis of a Return of Domestic Properties owned by the Ordnance Board for 1840 (WO44/123) showed that the house was in High Bridge Street, Parcel No. 708, on the 1825 Waltham Abbey Parish Map, while the land was part of Parcel No. 386 in Edmonsea Mead.
7. In a List of Officers and other Persons Employed dated the 25th June 1818 (Supply 5/231), Mr. Breeze was listed as the Clerk of Survey, aged 50, living in Waltham Abbey; he was married and had 4 children. On the 26th May 1787, he was entered as Junior Clerk at Sheerness until his appointment at Waltham Abbey on the 26th February 1812. His salary was given as £200 per annum, with a gratuity of £250, £12.10.0d coal and candle allowance, and he was allowed a house upon the Establishment.
8. According to the Return dated the 19th May 1819 (Supply 5/231) Mr. Breeze was still Clerk of Survey, aged 51, with all the other information given above remaining the same.
9. List of Employees dated the 13th September 1820 (Supply 5/232) updated the above entry with basic details on pay, etc., remaining unchanged.
10 List of Officers and other Persons Employed dated the 9th April 1821 (Supply 5/232) confirmed that Mr. Breeze was still Clerk of Survey, that he was then aged 53, was married with 4 children, and lived in Waltham Abbey. All other information, as indicated in Note 7, remained the same.
11 A statement "of monies to which the public were entitled to receive credit between the 1st January and the 31st December 1821 showing the amounts received by the storekeeper" dated 16th February 1822 (Supply 5/232) recorded that Breeze was still living in rent-free property and was now renting 14 acres of Lammas land at £14.14.0d per annum.
12 Supply 5/232 dated the 6th February 1822 confirmed his salary at £200 per annum, with a gratuity based on service of £250, candle and coal allowance of £12.10.0d in lieu of coal and candles, and a further £13.16.0d in lieu of a Labourer from the 1st July to the 31st December 1821, giving him a total income of £476.6.0d. He had served with the Ordnance for 34 years, was 54 years of age and was married with 4 children. Additional notes on this document state that the position of Clerk of the Survey was abolished on the 31st December 1821 by the Master General and Board's Order dated the 1st August 1821, and that The Clerk of the Survey had 7 acres of grass amongst the Willow plantation cutting, the same at his expense, the supposed value being £15.
13 WO54/536 dated the 16th February 1822, confirmed that the position of Clerk of the Survey was to be abolished on the 31st December 1821 by the Master General and Board's Order dated the 1st August, 1821, and that Breeze had died shortly after (Supply 5/232).
14 Breeze's rent-free accommodation was then lived in by George Lovell, who worked at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield. The house in High Bridge Street was recorded as Plot No. 51 on the Waltham Abbey Town Map. Lovell was also recorded as occupying the same area of Lammas Land, being Parcel No. 386 in Edmonsea Mead; this was Lammas land of the same area that Breeze had rented in 1812 and 1819. In addition, a Return of Domestic Properties dated the 28th May 1840 (WO/133)) confirmed that William Breeze was deceased, and, "the property he had lived in was occupied by G Kivekkm Esq,"
