Will of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown

[Edward Scott]

I cannot work out the surname, first word, last line of page 4 of his will & would really appreciate any thoughts and/or assistance.

It looks like (to me)

M as in month a few lines above
A - quite clear
R - again quite clear
Then 1 or 2 letters that I cannot decide on
E - again quite clear
S - again quite clear

The missing bit may be an M, but Marmes is a very unusual surname and I am struggling to find anyone around in the 1700/1800's with this name.

All help / ideas / inspiration gratefully received

tks in advance

[anitah1972]

Well, the context is "to each of the three children of Mr. George Ma...es by my wife's sister..."

Google suggests that he married the daughter of his colleague and friend William Kent... which would suggest that he's referencing another son-in-law of William Kent. 

But that didn't get me very far. 

William Kent/Cant appears to have a mistress named Elizabeth Butler, who had a son George (Butler).  I can't seem to find much about his wife or legitimate children at all.

Browns' wife's name, according to a quick Google and some Ancestry poking-around, was Bridget Wayet, who doesn't appear to be any relation to William Kent.... but who does have a number of sisters, none of whom are linked to a husband in the trees I found; the focus is all on Capability.

Don't know if I'm just telling you things you already know or if that's helpful, but now you've got me curious too.

FWIW, I read it first as Mar n i es.  Swapping that would be Marines.   

[PrueM]

Might it be MARMES?

[Siamese Girl]

According to the Dictionary of National Biography  Brown's wife was from Tumby in Lincolnshire. I guess another spelling of her name might be Wait(e).


Carole

[Gardener]

I am not convinced that the first letter is M. I think he uses the same sort of beginning for other letters such as B in "...to my Brother George Brown..." and also R in "Ring" in the fifth line up - that does say ring doesn't it? Anyhow, is it possible that it is another letter which begins with a vertical line?

[cathaldus]

Looks like "Richards" to me!!

Bill

[Roger in Sussex]

I am not convinced that the first letter is M. I think he uses the same sort of beginning for other letters such as B in "...to my Brother George Brown..." and also R in "Ring" in the fifth line up - that does say ring doesn't it? Anyhow, is it possible that it is another letter which begins with a vertical line?

Following that argument, might it be Quarmes ? Must say though, it looks like an M to me.

Roger

[daveb]

Marnes as a name crops up

daveb

[Edward Scott]

Tks everyone & I'll try to add some more (perhaps) relevant information.

Capability married Bridget Wayet, 1 of 6 daughters all baptised in Boston, Lincolnshire. I have 2 without marriages and neither of these link to a possible George ? candidate.

The initial M is identical to the M in month (5 lines above) and also as in Mr (John Wayet) 4 lines above. I could of course be wrong.

The Q shaped twiddly bit appears on quite a few letters, the only consistent theme is that they all seem to be capitalised words in the middle of sentences.

I cannot find any candidates on IGI for marriages or baptism under George Marmes, Marnes but it could be that they are a rare breed in one of the untranscribed parishes.

I also went through Marines and Marnies but couldn't find a marriage to a Wayet / Waite.

I'll have another look tonight and hope that a g&t will open the mind

Edward

What really doesn't help is that 3 of the 4 daughters I have tracked down didn't get married in Boston (despite it being their home town), so Boston PR hunting may well not help here either.