Will of John Wright dated 1674 - when was it proved?

[cordley]

I am struggling to identify an ancestor and have his will.  The details of when the will was proved is in Latin and beyond me - but I assume it has date and executor details.  Can anyone translate this for me, please?

The body of the will is another challenge, but I'll see how I go.

Pam

[Bookbox]

The above-written will was proved at London on the twenty-sixth day of the month of November in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and seventy-four before the Worshipful Richard Lloyd, Doctor of Laws, Surrogate of the Worshipful and Eminent Leoline Jenkins, knight, also Doctor of Laws, Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted, by the oath of John Heaton, the executor named in this Will, to whom administration was granted of all and singular the goods, rights and credits of the said deceased, to well and faithfully administer the same, sworn on the Holy Gospels of God.

[cordley]

Thank you so much.  and as far as I can see he was buried three days before - they didn't hang about!!
Name:   Mr John Wright
Burial Date:   23 Nov 1674
Parish:   St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey

His will (which I have seen through Ancestry) is hard to read. 

The bulk of it is about a significant charitable settlement benefiting St Thomas's Hospital, and the parish of St Mary Magdalen the details of which I have been able to find elsewhere  (known as Wright's Charity in the 1826 Charity Commissioners Report p 343), but on trying to read the will I cannot see if there are any family mentioned.  Obviously I cannot post the will here. 

Can anyone read 1670's writing better than me???  Would be most grateful.

Pam

[Bookbox]

I cannot see if there are any family mentioned.

After a quick run-through, I see several bequests to individuals. But the only family member I can see is my cousen Martha Walker alias Spring (p. 2, 7 lines up).

Sorry I don’t have time right now to do a full transcription, but someone else might.

[PrawnCocktail]

Cousin Martha is all I can see as well. He left the lease of one house to his servants Richard & Sara Scott, and another to Cousin Martha. There's no relationship given to John Heaton, the executor, not even "friend".

[cordley]

Thank you both.  I think I saw that he was a Citizen and Merchant Taylor of London.  Do you know whether the MT records would show him from mid 1600's?  Does Citizen mean any more than that he lived there?

This is a new area for me...

[Bookbox]

In this context, Citizen meant that he was a Freeman of the City of London and had earned his freedom through a City livery company, in this case the Merchant Taylors. He did not necessarily work as a tailor, and he did not necessarily live in the City.

There is plenty of general information online about the London livery companies, for example ...
http://www.londonroll.org/about#background

... and specifically about the Merchant Taylors’ Company.
http://www.merchant-taylors.co.uk/home/about-the-company/

As a Citizen and Merchant Taylor, he should be mentioned in their records (provided they survive for the right dates) -- when he was bound apprentice, and when he was freed, and perhaps also at later dates.

The surviving records of the Company have been deposited at Guildhall Library in London, as described on the .pdf link below.
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/visitor-information/Documents/17-membership-records-of-the-merchant-taylors-company.pdf

The records themselves are not online, and they are not indexed online.

[cordley]

Thank you for the info on Citizens and Merchant Taylors.  I live near Chester which makes visiting difficult, but maybe an Autumn visit to the Guildhall will have to be planned!

I am going to start a new thread on the content of this very interesting will, which I have only partly transcribed in the hopes someone with better eyes than mine might help.

Pam