I am not an expert on the subject of wills. The following is from experience
of them as much as anything else:
* Executors and executrices (correct feminine plural) were normally
beneficiaries, often the residuary legatee; this is much the same today,
though there are now sometimes professional executors (solicitors, trustee
companies etc). Alternatively, they might be a close friend or relative,
particularly if there were infant beneficiaries.
* Older wills often appoint overseers, whose job was presumably to check the
executors accounts. They were normally friends or relatives; it should be
born in mind that most wills were made very shortly before a person died,
and it might be whoever was available.
* Witnesses might include a lawyer or clergyman who drew up the will, or
friends or neighbours. Under the Wills Act 1837, a witness could not
benefit under the will; I suspect that the rules were less strict
previously, and the strict rules of the 1837 Act have been slightly eased by
later statutes. If the will was devising land, three witnesses were needed;
otherwise two was enough.
* I think that the appraisers in inventories were supposed to be neighbours;
they would be appointed by the executor, not the court. I believe there is
occasionally evidence of professional appraisers. The object was to
determine what assets the deceased had left. Where the executor filed a
probate account (which did not usually happen), the total of the inventory
was the 'charge', that is the sum for which the executor had to account,
discharging himself by paying the debts, funeral expenses, legacies and so
on.
Peter King
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Frank Clement-Lorford
Sent: 10 November 2005 23:46
To: Peter Wickham King
Subject:
I don't understand terminating? And people could spell but not in the manner
of today, most writers such as Robert Wynkfielde that witnessed Mary Queen
of Scots execution were consistent with their spelling, Shakespeare was not!
But the appraisers would not be friends of the decease. Surely they would be
working for the ecclesiastical courts who granted probate. I understand the
witnesses and executor or executrixes could be friends.
Frank
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde
1854-1900
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Gerard McSweeney
Sent: 10 November 2005 21:34
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
Any chance of terminating? It's just that people couldn't spell, especially
the friends who did the appraisal, who were not lawyers.
GMcS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Clement-Lorford" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 8:25 PM
> Mary, I am not sure about the area, but he is listed as Mr John Bardolphe.
> His final item was a cow in the Churchyard. The fact that he is called Mr,
> and the cow on the church yard implies he was a member of the clergy and
the
> rest of the property implies a certain amount of wealth.
>
> Frank
>
>
>
> Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde
> 1854-1900
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Mary Carrick
> Sent: 10 November 2005 19:19
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject:
>
> This is just an informed guess but I do know that 'painted cloths'
mentioned
> in
> probate inventories for the Holderness area of Yorkshire about the same
time
> were the 'poor man's tapestries'; as such they were hung on the walls as
> decoration. Do you think that 'staine cloathes' might be a local word for
> the
> same thing. You do not mention the area of the country in which the will
was
> drawn up but have discovered that local terms for everyday items are just
> that
> - local - and can vary within a very small area.
>
> Mary
>
> Quoting Frank Clement-Lorford <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > Hi, in transcribing an itemised will in 1602, items in the parlour
> included
> > 'The staine Cloathes'. Does anyone know what this is, or attempt a
guess?
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards Frank
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > It is a vulgar error to suppose that America was ever discovered. It was
> > merely detected. Oscar Wilde 1854 - 1900.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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