A family story about a will

[Tricia_2]

Look for a newspaper report on the bequests made by Lord and Lady Coventry.

Thank you. Yes. Good idea. I'll look into that.

There may well have been something, though my gggf would have been long dead by then, so maybe that was why he didn't get his bequest, rather than because he was unable to leave his sick wife. It's possible.

[Tricia_2]

Thank you to all who have helped me with this.

I had never even heard of Lord and Lady Coventry so I doubt that I would ever have known their story without this thread.

I think that there are a number of possibilities, including:

David Neale did help them, and was left a bequest in Lady Coventry's Will, but never received it because he was long dead by the time of her death.

David Neale wasn't forgotten, and was offered a reward (rather than it being in the form of a bequest in Lady Coventry's Will), which may have involved a small parcel of land, which he would have had to sign for at their London solicitors. He refused this offer because he would not leave his dying wife.

David Neale did help them, but the bequest was just a story, either invented or misunderstood.

David Neale lived there at the time, so knew the story and retold it to his family, but was not personally involved.

At least I know more, now. I have read reports of the incident and seen pictures of the people involved. I'm happy with that and very grateful for the help I have received. Thanks again!

[JEB01]

Yours is a lovely family story even if you never get to the bottom of it all.

I think part of the fun of being an amateur genealogist is to look into these “family traditions” to see if there is any possibility that however unlikely they might be true.

My grandmother had relatives on her mother’s side who were landlords of several pubs over the years in the rough docklands areas south of the Thames (and that bit is true).

She told my mother that one of them bought a baby boy over the counter of his pub from a destitute alcoholic woman, possibly for a bottle of gin, called the baby Tom, and brought him up as his own son.

Oddly enough one of these relatives and his wife did have a son called Thomas, so who knows......?

[Tricia_2]

Yours is a lovely family story even if you never get to the bottom of it all.

Thank you.
Yes, I am enjoying it

one of them bought a baby boy over the counter of his pub from a destitute alcoholic woman.

Not that surprising to me. My mother had a 'great aunt', who was, apparently, given to / taken in by the family as a little girl of two or three. She was very well spoken and well-looked after. Nobody seems to know where she came from. Those who did know were, apparently, sworn to secrecy. I have met her daughter but have never been able to find her origins.

[chempat]

Sorry, do not understand.  You have put:

'When she died, she left David Neale a bequest in her will. Apparently, it was quite generous and included land and a mill in Wales. In order to claim it, Alice's father was asked to go to London. This would have been a major journey for him at any time, but, at this particular time, his wife was dying and he would not leave her.'

She must have died whilst he was still alive, but his wife was ill, so the death has to be 1869 at the latest.

Not the Coventry's.

[arthurk]

No, his wife died in 1879. 1869 was when Alice was born:

I knew my great grandmother, even though she was born in 1869, and I remember her well. She died when I was six. (That's her, with me and my mum in the photo.)

Great grandmother Alice and her three younger siblings were orphaned when she was 13. Their mother died first, in 1879, and then their father, in 1883...

Nevertheless, it seems very unlikely that Lady Coventry's last will could have been written as early as 1879. First, according to thepeerage.com she was having children until 1885 and would surely have made sure they were all named in it. (1885 is confirmed by an entry in the GRO index, but I haven't looked for any others.) Second, her executors were two of her children born in 1870 and 1875, so she must have written it at a time when they were known to have the capacity to act.

So if the will is relevant, it must be that it refers to the descendants of David Neale, rather than DN himself.

[chempat]

Sorry, yes, 1879.

Same puzzlement.

Someone died whilst his wife was ill, 1878, 1879 approximately, so he could not travel to London.

The accident to the 'lady' could have happened when David Neale was a young man, so in the 1860's.

[Tricia_2]

Sorry, do not understand.  You have put:

'When she died, she left David Neale a bequest in her will. ....'

She must have died whilst he was still alive, but his wife was ill, so the death has to be 1869 at the latest.

Not the Coventry's.

This was what I was told but, as I said, I was relying on the memory of a woman who was in her 90s when I remember her and who had been a child at the time of the accident.

I learned about the Coventrys from this thread and their story fits - date and place and details. So, as I noted above, it could have been that there was a bequest in the will, but that David died too early to receive it, or it could have been a reward and not a bequest. Or there could be some other explanation

[Tricia_2]

... it seems very unlikely that Lady Coventry's last will could have been written as early as 1879. ...

Yes, that does seem unlikely. I shall be downloading it from the GRO, once it is ready, to have a look. And her husband's.

So if the will is relevant, it must be that it refers to the descendants of David Neale, rather than DN himself.

Could be.
I am just trying to sort out what happened for now

Thank you for your input.