How much did they get?

[mezentia]

I recently got a copy of a will for a distant ancestor from the National Archives. The reproduction quality isn't very good, and coupled with 1655 quill pen handwriting, I'm having a real problem working out how much the children were bequeathed. I've attached an extract that shows the bequest to two children, Francis and Ellinor Dovey, but for the life of me I can't work out just what they got. Can anyone help, please?

Thanks

David

[trish251]

Hi David

a first glance gave - a thousand pounds - but I could be completely wrong as the longer I look at it the more doubtful I become

Trish

The  Th seems reasonable and the loopy looking l - may be the old style s (f)

[Bee]

a first glance gave - a thousand pounds - but I could be completely wrong as the longer I look at it the more doubtful I become

Thar was also my thought at first glance, second glance I still think it is, but a thousand pounds in 1655 is surely a very large sum of money

Bee

[mezentia]

Thanks Tris, Bee

I don't think it can be a thousand pounds.  There's three others that got the same sums, and £5,000 in those days was a serious amount   

Are there any resources thay anyone knows of where I can get handwriting examples of the period, or sample transcriptions that might help in deciphering wills? I've got half a dozen more to do from the same period, and some are very long 

David

[Koromo]

Your family must have been very wealthy! Funny how it all seems to dissapate in the intervening years!

A couple of links to handwriting examples:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/doc7_popup/alphabet.htm
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/handwriting.html

Cheers
Koromo

[trish251]

It surely would be serious money - could it be a thousand pence? I can only see the p & did assume pounds

Trish

[SooCatt]

It definately looks like an o after the p so I'd say pounds. 

Though I have to say it could just as easily say trouser & pants!   

susan

[mezentia]

Being genetically closer to Pooh than Marvin, it has only just occurred to me to compare the will I've been trying to transcribe with the others I've got.

I've attached an image made from thousand and pounds from another contemporary will.

Following Koromo's links, I've now worked out that wills are written in Secretary script and there are recognised standard forms. So, I think now the bequests were Twelve pence 

Well, he was only a miller ...

I got the images from National Archives, and they're not very high resolution, certainly not good enough to process using noise reduction in PhotoPaint as its leaves a very "jaggy" image that's even harder to read. When I complained the NA did re-scan and send me the last six images I'd requested, but the image quality is still poor. Does anyone know if you can get full colour high res images from the NA?

Thanks for eneryone's help.

David

[Little Nell]

It's definitely not the words thousand pounds.

Can you possibly scan the section so that I can see the whole line as well as those above and below it?  I would like to see the context if possible. 

Looking closer it could be Twelve pence i.e. one shilling!  Yes - definitely twelve pence.  The p is much more open than we would write it now and typical of the time.

Nell