Question re 1887 will - Cardiff

[louisem]

My GGG grandfather William Thomas died 1887 in Cardiff. He was a shipbuilder and left £4500 in his will.
I wondered if that would have included the value of his house ? (which his wife lived in until her death) and also how wealthy was that?
I have searched house prices, average salaries etc but it’s still not very clear to me.
I have read that the average salary then was approx £56 a year which makes his sound rather wealthy if correct.
Does anyone have any more insight?

[BumbleB]

I would suggest that you purchase a copy of the will, which may give further details.

[BumbleB]

I assume this is him!

[BumbleB]

You can purchase a copy of the will for £1.50 from

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

[KGarrad]

There are many currency calculators online.
I used https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1887?amount=4500

That gives a value, for £4500 in 1887, of £630,457.62.

[louisem]

Thank you both. I do have the will but I wasn’t sure whether the value of the house would have been calculated into the sum of the estate listed on the will. He left everything to his wife and then on her death to have been divided between his children. Could she have changed that later if she wanted to?
Also interesting to me is that he said that his daughter’s inheritance was ‘independent of the debts and control of any husband and shall be for their sole and separate use and benefit’ - was that usual?

[louisem]

Thank you for looking for me. I guess  what I am trying to work out is whether the £4500 was more or less just the value of the house. If I thought about a house that size in that part of Cardiff now (it has been demolished so can’t compare exactly) it might cost near to £600,000.

I suppose frankly I just want to know how rich they were 😂

 

There are many currency calculators online.
I used https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1887?amount=4500

That gives a value, for £4500 in 1887, of £630,457.62.

[Bookbox]

My GGG grandfather William Thomas died 1887 in Cardiff. He was a shipbuilder and left £4500 in his will.
I wondered if that would have included the value of his house ?

No, it would not include the value of the house. For a death before 1 January 1898, the valuation given in the grant of probate did not include real estate.

[louisem]

Thank you very much, that seems like quite a lot of money then.

My GGG grandfather William Thomas died 1887 in Cardiff. He was a shipbuilder and left £4500 in his will.
I wondered if that would have included the value of his house ?

No, it would not include the value of the house. For a death before 1 January 1898, the valuation given in the grant of probate did not include real estate.