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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: ValJJJ on Saturday 06 April 24 09:53 BST (UK)
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I've attached part of a will of Thomas Fullerton Warren from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, probate date 7 Jan 1814. He was born in Jamaica but died in London aged 33.
I'm finding it difficult to decipher some of the details of who benefited and from what.
Background: He was a son of Revd Thomas Warren (rector and clerk, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, who died only a few years earlier) who was a plantation and slave owner. T F Warren's sisters Harriet and Mary Ann or Marianne were also born in Jamaica (along with other siblings) but died in London in 1861 and 1859 respectively at Portman Square. 78 and 80 years old. Harriet is on the 1861 census in Portman Square. There is some info on Rev Thomas Warren and Thomas F Warren on the website for the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at UCL ( https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/21466536350 ) where it mentions ownership of Brompton Pen and an estate, Lacovia, in Jamaica, and the contents of T F Warren's will leaving his real and personal estate in Jamaica in trust for his sisters.
I'm more interested in Richard Ryland the uncle as I can't find the relationship between the two. Unless he wasn't strictly an uncle - perhaps a great uncle or another relative?
I can read that T F Warren has bequeathed sums of money to his aunt Mrs Mary Brown and his uncle Richard Ryland of Savage Gardens, London, but I can't decipher the words that appear before 'uncle Richard Ryland Esquire..' or after the words 'five hundred pounds'.
I can see names such as someone's daughter Mrs Emily Ryland, and granddaughter Harriet Fitzgerald of Reverend Thomas Coxton (?) late of Jamaica.
Also a servant James Williams getting an annuity for the rest of his natural life, and his wearing/training (?) apparel and some other items/stipulations that I can't decipher but seems to take up a lot of space!
It then moves on to his four sisters, Elizabeth Sarah Henkell, Dorothy Owen, Harriet Warren (but can't see Mariann - she might be on the next page).
I'll post another snippet from the next page that also mentions Richard Ryland.
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I see “To my much respected friend Richard Ryland
Emily Ryland is Richard’s daughter, she gets his share if he has died.
Harriet Fitzgerald’s £50 is Jamaican currency, so probably a lesser amount that £50 sterling
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The next page looks like Richard Ryland is a friend? Edit: ignore the red dot. Mistakenly added when I snipped.
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It doesn’t say that Richard Ryland was his uncle.
It says
‘……….to my much
respected friend Richard Ryland Esquire of Savage Gardens London
The sum of five hundred pounds…..’
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I see “To my much respected friend Richard Ryland
Emily Ryland is Richard’s daughter, she gets his share if he has died.
Thanks. I misread 'much' as uncle. Misled by the aunt reference beforehand.
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What does it say after Richard Ryland in the second snippet please? Is it another name? This handwriting style makes my eyes swim. :o
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John White of the said Parish of Saint Elizabeth esquire and Charles
Nicholas Palmer of Norburton (?) house near Kingston in the
County of Surrey in England esquire.
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Thanks for that.
Looking further, this will is over several pages and the last page has a note in the margin that expands on the 1858 probate notice I found.
This mentions that the executors didn't administer the will. Richard Ryland and John White are mentioned. Also Charles Nicholas Palmer.
Now a general query - were these wills dictated by someone on their deathbed? The ones I've seen often are dated very close to the death date. Were they then copied into a ledger to include the date the will was proven?
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These are the copies that were entered into a ledger. Written in secretary hand.
I think often they were dictated on their death bed, but not always,
One of “my” wills is in one of these ledgers and when I was further researching him national archives had the actual Will. He had written the whole thing himself and it was MUCH easier to read. But I don’t know how one finds them in the catalogue. (I had paid a researcher to find some other documents for me, and she obtained the Will as well).
I was also contacted by someone, because my guy had written the will for his neighbour. So he may well have done it for others, (he wasn’t a lawyer).
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... To my much
respected Friend Richard Ryland of Savage Gardens London
the sum of Five hundred pounds & in case of his decease I give
& bequeath the same unto his daughter Miss Emily Ryland & ..
...Norburton? House near Kimpton? in
the County of Surry in England Esquire their heirs Ex[ecut]ors Adm[inistrat]ors
and Assigns according to the respective natures & qualities of such
Estates To hold the same upon the Trusts & to & for the several ends
interests & purposes hereinafter mentioned & contained that is to
say upon Trust as soon as conveniently may be after my decease if
they shall think proper to sell & dispose thereof or any part
thereof & convert the same into money either by public auction or
private Contract as my said Trustees or the survivors or Survivor of
them ........shall think best &...
invest the monies ......
Perhaps it suggests they didn't do all of this.
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Thanks MollyC for wading through this - not very exciting reading.
Also thanks JenB and mckha489 for your deciphering and further info.
I wonder why T F Warren singled out Emily Ryland? She was born 1802 so only 12 when he died. There were a lot of siblings with the older ones, male and female, married off, but she did have a younger sisters born 1808 and 1809 who seemed to have missed out.