PAGE family of Middlesex 18th/19th centuries (completed)

[yelkcub]

I wonder whether any list member has knowledge of the PAGE family who owned huge estates in Middlesex around Harrow and Uxendon? I believe there may also have been a Page property in or near Rickmansworth.
The death of Henry Page in 1829 was the start of a great deal of litigation and became known as the 'Page millions' case, with several claimants to the fortune, all of whom failed to overturn the probate on Henry Page's will.
The story was that Henry (who lived in St Marylebone in Upper Norton Street) was swindled out of his fortune by rascally lawyers (are there such people?).
I would be interested in any information about this family and their connections.
Best wishes
Ian


Moderator comment: Topic title amended

[yelkcub]

  ... that should of course read '18th and 19th centuries.

[jorose]

In 1829 in the Times, there is the mention of 42, Upper Norton-street, Portland Place - lease and household effects to be sold by direction of the executors of the estate of Henry Page, Esq, deceased.

NY Times seems to have a mention of a lawsuit in 1912 relating to this case! It does not appear to have dragged on - rather, it seems the probate was quickly settled by Henry's lawyer, and the case was only brought up later on, as the London Times entries show.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00E5DE153CE633A25756C2A9629C946396D6CF

Found the related entry in the London Times:
The Times, Tuesday, Feb 27, 1912; pg. 4; Issue 39832; col C
The case was Charlotte Ann Tappenden v. Francis Young. (started Mar 7 1911)
Charlotte was claiming that Henry's next of kin, Richard and John Page, were deceased, and wanted letters of administration, sentence against 'a certain pretended will and codicils', and revocation of probate granted before the burial of said Henry Page, deceased, of said pretended will and codicils.

There was a Mrs Agnes Theodosia Hill, niece of the two presumed deceased (may have been Charlotte's sister). It was claimed that the two presumed deceased returned from the Indian Mutiny, remained home for about a year, but then went to South America, it was believed as soldiers in Brazil. They had corresponded with their sister, Mrs Helen Downs, mother of the applicant, for about three years, before all communication ceased. About 1864, Helen having learnt of her possible claim to the Page estate, she attempted to make contact with them, but to no avail.


The Times, Thursday, Apr 25, 1912; pg. 3; Issue 39882; col C
 - further details.

Henry Page was said to have died between Jun 25, 1829, and Jul 1, 1829, and died intestate and a widower without child or parent, brother or sister, uncle or aunt, niece or nephew, leaving him surviving Ellen Downs, nee Page (wife of John Downs), and Ann Page, his cousins-german, co-heiresses at law and next of kin. Ann Page died in May 1898, intestate, and Ellen in August, 1898, intestate, leaving her lawful daughters Charlotte Ann Tappenden (plaintiff) and Agnes Theodosia Hill as only surviving kin.

Furthermore, that the defendant (Francis Young), was the sole surviving executor of Henry Young, who died on Dec 1, 1869, and who was an executor of an alleged will dated Nov 16 1825, of the deceased, and who on July 1, 1829 (before the burial took place on July 6) obtained a grant of probate of the alleged will and two alleged codicils, said will being unduly influenced by Henry Young, who was Henry Page's solicitor and had no ties to him by blood or marriage.

The estimate of the Page estate's value in 1912 was of the order of 20 to 30 million, although the exact details of where it all was were not known. In 1803, the eldest brother Richard Page had died, and at that time it had been about 40,000 acres at £20 an acre, including all of Kilburn and Wembley and roughly extended from the Marble Arch to Hendon.  (Henry was the youngest of five brothers).

It was claimed that Henry Young had sworn at the time of Henry Page's death that the property was not worth more than £5000, in order to obtain probate.

Another of the brothers is named as William Page, mentioned on a deed in 1818 but it was claimed he actually died in 1814.  There were _two_ William Pages baptised in Harrow in the same year (1755), and the William Page who was brother of Henry apparently died in Marylebone in 1814, but his will was not produced until 1824, when another William Page died. Both Henry Young and a clergyman named Cunningham, who also was present at Henry Page's death and benefited from Henry Page's will, were involved with this 1824 burial.

The case was dismissed by the Judge, primarily due to the fact that Henry Page having died over 80 years ago, and Henry Young over 40 years ago, it was not possible to adequately prove that undue influence had been exerted.

The Times, Friday, Dec 06, 1912; pg. 2; Issue 40075; col F
 - Charlotte Ann Tappenden was in bankruptcy court; mentions that she was widowed 22 years ago, and had 3 sisters. She worked as a cook and was supported by her children and friends.

[yelkcub]

Many thanks, Jorose, for your full and informative reply – this was certainly a very odd case, with all the ingredients of Victorian melodrama. Let me say first of all that I harbour no delusions about acquiring these Page millions. My enquiry is part of an attempt to trace the forebears of an ancestor of mine.
My ancestor was Henry Page (born circa 1785, died Hillingdon 1851). In 1850 four of his sons migrated to Australia. One of them was James Page who became a successful businessman in Adelaide and died in Mitcham, South Australia in 1913.  The community historian of Mitcham was kind enough to send me a bundle of papers relating to James Page, one of which was a press cutting (undated) about one of James Page’s daughters, Laura (Mrs HP Wilson) who intended, according to the reporter, to travel to London to pursue a family tradition that this branch of the Page family were related to the Henry Page who died in 1829. In addition to the tradition, there was ‘a bundle of papers’ which James had brought with him to Australia suggesting that her grandfather Henry Page had a claim on the Page estate. To quote the newspaper article: ‘… the discovery among the papers in the possession of the Adelaide Pages of a letter to their grandfather from the family solicitor in which is the statement, ‘If your father [i.e. Henry Page’s father] had said only two words, it would have settled everything’
Now family traditions are notoriously unreliable, but I would like to find a family tree of the Middlesex Page family to see whether my ancestor was in fact related. At the moment it seems like my best chance to surmount the brick wall hiding Henry Page’s origins.
Best wishes
Ian

[jorose]

Strangely enough, there's a second case relating to the probate of a Henry Page. This one was married - or maybe not! - to a Jane Godden.

Case is mentioned in:
The Times, Tuesday, Dec 17, 1861; pg. 8; Issue 24118; col C
A Thomas Page was the original testator, and his brothers were Richard, Charles Robert, and Henry.  The money left in Thomas' will was to be split among the brothers, and then among any children of the brothers once all three were deceased.

Henry had children with Jane Godden, who were baptised as the children of Henry Page and Jane his wife (apparently the eldest, a daughter, was b. 1810). However, there was no proof of marriage, although Henry and Jane had lived together for forty years as man and wife.  Various relatives were mentioned - Mrs Smith, surviving sister of Jane Godden, also an Aunt Phillis and Aunt Martha who were probably also sisters of Jane (mentioned in a statement by her daughter).  Henry Page had been alive and 'about to make his will' in 1851. (ETA: Brother Richard is also listed as having died childless, so presumably the case was between the children of Henry and the children of Charles Robert).

One of the lawyers is listed as representing 'the children of Henry Page (in England)', which might suggest some were overseas?

Further ETA: Were the two words, perhaps, "I do"? 

[yelkcub]

This second case you have found interests me greatly. In fact, my ancestor Henry Page appears in the 1841 census (living 20 Bury St Westminster) with his wife Jane. In 1851 he lived in London Street, Hillingdon End, a widower. He made his will the same year, 6 July 1851 and died 10 July 1851. On 13 Aug 1851 admon granted to his son Charles George Page.

By 1851 four of his sons were in Australia. Henry Page named each of his daughters in his will: all were married. He does not name his sons, referring simply to ‘such of my sons that shall be living at the time of my decease’. One of his sons, my ancestor Henry William Page, had died aged 29 in 1844. All Henry Page’s children were bequeathed equal shares in his estate.

What interests me in the case you have found:

• The fact that Henry Page was ‘about to make his will’ in 1851
  His wife’s name – Jane – though I have never succeeded in finding details of their marriage.
  The fact that the first child of Henry and Jane, a daughter (also called Jane) was b. 31 May 1810, christened 17 June 1810, St Mary’s, St Marylebone.
  The fact that it is implied that some of Henry Page’s sons were not in England

I did a quick search in the 1851 census of Henry Page (b. 1770 plus or minus 20 years, assuming that since his first child was born 1810 he is unlikely to have been born later than 1790). Only three HPs are shown living in the London area who do not have a living wife. One is a shoemaker, born Essex and living in Shoreditch; another is a ‘private pensioner’ born Exeter, living Greenwich; the third is my ancestor. There is only one wifeless HP living away from the London area, a servant in Wiltshire. I think the Henry Page in the case you found is likely to be my great great great grandfather

Needs checking, but this is an exciting lead!

[jorose]

I think if you could find the will of Thomas Page, mentioning his three brothers, that might clinch it. There might also be original Chancery records in the National Archives which give more details about the lawsuit.

I've sent the newspaper articles for the 1861 case by email.

[Valda]

Perhaps the case was contested on the death of the other brother Charles Robert.

Deaths Sep 1860   
Page  Charles Robert    W. Ham  4a 14

Regards

Valda

[yelkcub]

Many thanks for that Valda. I think I may have found Charles Robert in the 1841 and 1851 census. He is described (if it's the right man - there is no 'Robert' in the census record) as a merchant, born in Oporto, Portugal. He has a son, Henry, possibly named after his brother, my ancestor - Henry is a rice merchant in 1851. Henry's son James, who went to South Australia in 1850 was also a merchant who, in his early twenties, spent a couple of years in Hamburg learning to make his way in commerce. He was apparently a multilinguist, one of whose languages was Portuguese. Could be promising ... if it's the same man as the one whose death record you found
With thanks and best wishes
Ian