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Will of Charles Keys

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 1830 to 1833
Location: Ramsgate, Kentmap
This page has been accessed 66 times.

This is a fairly complete transcription of the will of Charles Keys, but because of smudging on the original, it was impossible to read a few small parts of it.

Source: National Archives Catalogue Reference: PROB 11/1813/123. Description: Will of Charles Keys, Retired Captain of the Honorable East India Company's Bombay Marine of Ramsgate, Kent. Date: 11 March 1833. Accessed on https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D918945

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"This is the last Will and Testament of me Charles
Keys of providence place in the parish of Ramsgate in the Isle of Thanet in the county
of Kent Esquire a retired captain of the Honorable East Indias Company's Bombay Marine. I
desire to be decently and privately buried (but at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter
appointed) in the Church yard belonging to the parish in which I shall happen to die
unless my said Executors shall have their own satisfactory reason to the contrary. I give
and devise my messuage tenement or dwellinghouse situate at Troomba? in the Island of
Salsette in the East Indies with the Garden Ground Rights members and appurtenances
thereto belonging or appertaining unto and to the use of my dear wife Ann Keys
her heirs and assigns for her and their own absolute use and benefit by way of confirmation
and corroboration of the Grant or donation by deed already made or intended to have been
made by me in favor of my said wife if such grant or donation be operative in law
and if not then by way of original devise I give devise and bequeath unto my said wife
her executors administrators and assigns the sum of ninetten thousand Bombay Rupees now
in the hands of my said Wife for her and their own absolute use and benefit by way of
confirmation and corroboration of the Gift or donation already made or intended to have been
made by me in favor of my said wife of the same rupees if such gift or donation be
operative in law and if not then by way of original bequest I give and devise my ..
messuage tenement called providence place aforesaid with .. buildings ..tions gardens pleasure grounds and
appurtenances thereto belonging and all other my freehold hereditaments in the said parish of
Ramsgate with their appurtenances and also all my household furniture plate linen books pictures
prints china Glass wines liquors and other moveable Effects in about or belonging to the said
messuage or tenement hereditaments and premises unto and to the use of my three daughters Ann
Keys Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Keys their heirs Executors Administrators and assigns according to
the nature tenure and quality thereof respectively absolutely for ever I give and bequeath to my
cousen John Keys of Tenby in South Wales Esquire and       Keys his present amiable wife
a mourning ring each of the value of five pounds as a token of my respect and esteem for them
and I give and bequeath to the poor of the parish of Ramsgate aforesaid the sum of ten
pounds to be applied and distributed in such proportions and in such manner as my Executors
hereinafter appointed shall think proper and I give and bequeath to each of my Executors
hereinafter named a legacy or sum of fifty pounds and I direct the several pecuniary legacies
hereinbefore bequeathed to be paid or retained at the end of six calendar months next after
my decease and I give and bequeath to my several children hereinafter named the several
legacies legacies or portions of lawful British money following namely to my Son Robert
Keys the sum of eight hundred pounds to my Son Frederick Keys the sum of four hundred
pounds To my Son Edward Keys the sum of four hundred pounds to my Son Alexander Keys
the sum of two thousand pounds To my daughter Ann Keys the sum of two thousand and
two hundred pounds To my daughter Elizabeth Keys the sum of two thousand and two
hundred pounds and to my daughter Sarah Keys the sum of two thousand and two
hundred pounds and I direct the several legacies or portions of my said Sons to be paid
to them respectively as and when they shall respectively attain the age of twenty one
years and the several legacies or portions of my said daughters to be paid to them respectively
as and when they shall respectively attain that age or be married and in case any of
my said children being a Son or Sons shall die under the age of twenty one years or any
of my said children being a daughter or daughters shall die under that age without
having been married then I give and bequeath as well the original legacy or portion or legacies or portions
of the child or children so dying as the accruing legacy or portions legacies or portions
or share or shares thereof to which such child or children shall become entitled by virtue
of this cross executory bequest unto the others or other of my said children and if more
than one in equal shares as tenants in common their respective Executors administrators and
assigns and to be paid at the respective periods appointed for payment of his her or their
original legacy or portion legacies or portions and I direct that my trustees and Executors hereinafter
named shall retain or set apart and appropriate the said legacies or portions respectively at
the end of six calendar months next after my decease and shall in the mean time
until payment thereof to my said children respectively lay out and invest the same legacies
or portions in the names or name of my said trustees and Executors or the Survivor
of them their or his Executors administrators
or assigns in or upon any of the public stocks or funds of the United Kingdom or other government ? of the United Kingdom or in or upon
any real securities in the United Kingdom with power to vary and transpose such stocks funds
or securities for any other or others of a like nature as they or he shall from time to time
think fit and I further direct that my said trustees and Executors or the Survivor of them
their or his Executors Administrators and assigns shall during the respective minorities of my
said Sons and the respective minorities and discovertures of my said daughters apply the
dividends Interest and yearly produce of the legacies or portions of such Sons and daughters
respectively or so much of the same dividends as my said trustees and Executors or the
Survivor of them their or his Executors Administrators or assigns shall think expedient
in or towards the maintenance Education and bringing up in life or otherwise for the
benefit of the same Sons and daughters respectively and shall accumulate by means of such
investments as aforesaid the unapplied dividends Interest and yearly produce and add the
accumulations to the respective legacies or portions whence the same shall have arisen
in order that the same may be along with such legacies or portions respectively and I further
direct that it shall be lawful for my said trustees and Executors or the Survivor of them
their or his Executors administrators and assigns in their or his discretion to apply any part
not exceeding one half of the principal or value of the legacy or portion or legacies or portions
of a Son or Sons during his or their minority or minorities and of a daughter of daughters
during her or their minority and
discoverture or respective minorities and discovertures in or towards his her or their advancement or preferment
in the world and I ratify and confirm the provision which I have made for my said
wife and my two younger children the said Alexander Keys and Sarah Keys by means
of the share purchased by me in the first class of the Bengal Marines and General Widow
fund and I give and bequeath all the rest and residue of my monies securities for money
Goods chattels and personal Estate and Effects whatsoever and wheresoever which shall remain
after payment of my just debts and funeral and Testamentary expences and the several
pecuniary legacies hereinbefore bequeathed unto my said trustees and Executors hereinafter
named their Executors administrators and assigns upon trust to convert into money collect
get in and receive the same and to lay out or invest the said monies to arise therefrom
in or upon any of the Government stocks or funds of the United Kingdom or other
Government securities in or upon any real Securities in the United Kingdom in the names
or name of my said trustees and Executors or the Survivor of them their or his Executors
administrators or assigns and from time to time in their or his discretion to vary or
transpose the stocks funds or securities in or upon which such Investment shall be made
either as occasion shall require or as shall be found convenient until the same monies
shall require to be distributed under the trusts hereinafter contained and as to as well the
same trust monies and the stocks funds or securities whereon the same shall be invested
as the yearly dividends Interest or produce thereof In trust for all my children in equal
shares as tenants in common their respective Executors Administrators and assigns and
in case any one or more of my said children being a Son or Sons shall die under the
age of twenty one years or being a daughter or daughters shall die under that age
without having been married then as to as well the original share or shares of the
said trust monies stocks funds or Securities belonging to the child or children respectively
who shall so die as also the share or shares thereof to which the same child or
children respectively may become entitled under this present trust In trust for the others
or other of my said children and if more than one to take as aforesaid his her or
their Executors administrators and assigns and I expressly authorize my said trustees and
Executors or the Survivor of them their or his Executors administrators and assigns to
permit any of the monies which shall at my decease be invested in or upon any
stocks funds or Securities of any description either in the United Kingdom or in the East
Indies or elsewhere to remain so Invested for such period or periods as they or he shall
think expedient and particularly to permit the sum of fifty thousand Succa? Rupees now
invested by me in the Bengal six per Cent remittable Loan of 1822 & 23 to remain so invested
until the period when the existing charter of the East India company would expire and
to postpone (if necessary) until such fund shall become available the actual payment of
such of the legacies or portions hereinbefore bequeathed to my said children as shall
sooner become payable without incurring any responsibility whatsoever by reason thereof
any rule of Equity to the contrary notwithstanding provided always and I hereby
further declare that the receipt or receipts to be given by the trustees or trustee for the
time being of this my will to any person or persons who shall have any of my trust
monies in their his or her hands upon securities or otherwise and shall pay the same
to the said trustees or trustee shall be a sufficient discharge or discharges for so much
money as in such receipt or receipts shall be expressed to be received and that after
taking such receipt or receipts the person or persons aforesaid shall not be obliged to ?
to the application or be answerable or accountable for the misapplication or nonapplication
of the same money or any part thereof provided also and I hereby further declare that
it shall be lawful for the trustees or trustee for the time being of this my will and
for the Executors or Administrators of any surviving trusts from time to time as often
as there may be occasion to appoint any person or persons to supply the place of any
present or future trustee or trustees of this my will who may die or become unwilling
or unable to act in the Execution of the aforesaid trusts before the same shall be fully
performed and that upon every such appointment my said trust monies stocks funds and
securities shall be assigned and transferred so and in such manner as that they may
rest jointly in any new and old trustees or solely in the new trustees as occasion shall
require and the said new trustees shall be entitled to all such powers and authorities
as are hereby given to the trustees hereby appointed provided also that
the trustees hereby appointed and to be appointed in manner aforesaid respectively and their
respective executors or administrators shall in no wise be answerable for the acts or receipts
of each other nor for any loss or damage which may happen in the Execution of the
aforesaid trusts without their own default and that it shall be lawful for the said
trustees respectively and their respective Executors and Administrators to deduct and retain
out of the monies which shall come to their hands under the trusts aforesaid all costs
charges and expences which they may sustain or be put unto in or about the Execution
of the aforesaid trusts and I hereby appoint William Jones of Mornington place Hampstead
Road in the County of Middlesex Gentleman and James Bourne Judge of Ramsgate aforesaid
Gentleman to be trustees and Executors of this my will and also Guardians of my children
during their respective minorities and I hereby expressly direct that the said James
Bourne Judge shall be remunerated for the trouble advice and assistance to the bestowed
by him in or about the Execution of the office of Executor and trustee of this my will
and shall be entitled to make the same charges for his attendances and Services as if
he were professionally employed as Attorney and Solicitor to my Estate (over and above
and in addition to the costs charges and expences which as trustee and Executor he
would be entitled to be allowed and to the legacy hereinbefore bequeathed to him) any rule
of Equity to the Contrary notwithstanding and I hereby revoke all former wills by me
made and declare this writing alone to be and contain my last will and Testament
In witness whereof I the said Charles Keys the Testator have to this my last will
and Testament contained in five sheets of paper set my hand and seal (that is to say)
my hand to the first four sheets and my hand and seal to this last sheet this first
day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty.
Charles Keys SS Signed sealed .. by the said Charles Keys the
Testator as and for his last will and Testament in the presence? of us who at his request
in his presence and in the presence of each other? have hereunto subscribed our names as
witnesses thereto. Thomas Bayly? Grocer? Ramsgate ----- Walter Mongor Butcher Ramsgate
Thos Anth.. Ladd Clerk to Mr Judge? Solicitor Ramsgate
Whereas I Charles Keys of providence place Ramsgate in the county of Kent
Captain in the India ... made and duly executed my last will and Testament
in writing bearing date the first day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and thirty now I do hereby declare this present writing to be a codicil to
my said will and I do direct the same to be annexed thereunto and to be taken as a
part thereof and I do hereby give and bequeath to my daughter Ann Keys in my said
will named the further sum of four? hundred pounds sterling in addition to what I have
given her in my said will and I also hereby give and bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth
Keys in my said will named the further sum of three hundred pounds sterling in addition to what I have given her in my said will and I :also hereby give and bequeath to my youngest daughter Sarah
Keys in my said will named the further sum of three hundred pounds sterling in addition
to what I have given her in my said will and I do hereby ratify and confirm my said
will in all the other particulars thereof In witness whereof I the said Charles Keys have
to this Codicil set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of September in the year of our
Lord one thousand one thousand eight hundred and thirty one (1831). Charles Keys
SS    Signed sealed published and declared by the said Testator Charles Keys as and for a
codicil to be annexed to his last will and Testament and to be taken as part thereof
in the presence of us James Adams Ward -- Mary Ann Peak --
This paper is intended to be the second codicil to the will of
me, Charles Keys of the India Navy now residing at Ramsgate in the county of Kent
My will is dated on or about the first day of November 1830 and the first Codicil is
dated on or about the thirteenth day of September 1831. In the year 1828 shortly before my
departure from the Island and presidency of Bombay for the purpose of joining my
children in England my wife who is? mentioned in my said will entreated me to permit
her to travel into the Interior of the country for two years; my business in England
being then urgent and my affairs there requiring my personal attention forthwith I endeavoured
to dissuade her from such purpose and ..ly and earnestly urged her even on the day
of my embarkation to accompany me to England but she would not alledging that she had
not overcome her dread of the Sea caused by her suffering in the Shipwreck of the Blenden
Hall and Solemnly assuring me that after her proposed travels she would without further
delay undertake the voyage and join me and our children in England within two years
after the day of my Embarkation I implicitly? confiding in such assurance and unwilling as
I always had been since the day of our marriage to appear unkind to her at length
gave her my consent though with the greatest reluctance and with palpable regret she then
intimated the possibility of my death on the voyage to England and persuaded me to
provide for her then so that as she plausibly stated she might have immediate means
of living comfortably and respectably after that event and likewise of Evincing her fondness for
her children by making a testamentary disposition of whatever I might give her in favor
of all of them equally: by such plausible pretexts and promises I was induced to execute
a certain document purporting to be a deed of Gift from me to her of a small Estate:
comprising a house and land at Bombay in the Island of Salsette and also to give her
amongst other things in money and Securities for money the sum of 19,000 Bombay Rupees all which said Gifts
I have since ratified and confirmed by my said will the documents relating to that
property and the money and securities for money together ... with a document
purporting to be her last will and Testament were deposited in the hands of my agents
Messrs. Forbes and Co. of Bombay whom she appointed her agents for the purpose of managing
her property. Within the last six months I have discovered that my said wife has deplorably
deceived and abandoned me and our children and that before I had left India she had
resolved never to return to me: this preamble is written to the end that my Executors
as well as my children may know and justly appreciate my motives for making this Codicil
Now I being advised that the said document purporting to be a deed of gift from me to
my wife is informal? inoperative? and ................................... appointed
any intermediate party ............................. although when I drew? and
executed it I thought it was and intended it to be ................. effectual according to
its apparent purport : and having sufficient [reason?] to believe her? my said wife has
grossly and impardonably deceived me and that she made such will as aforesaid for the
sole purpose of deluding me I hereby declare and ? that my said will or anything
therein contained shall not be considered as ratified or confirmed the said gifts to my wife
or the said documents purporting to be such deed of gift and do hereby give and devise the said
Estate at Salsette mentioned in such document unto my Executors hereinafter named and their
heirs In trust nevertheless and for the sole benefit of all my children now in England & their
heirs as tenants in common and not as joint tenants and whereas I have written to my
said agents at Bombay Messrs Forbes & Co a letter dated the 29 of December 1832 requesting
them to retain on my behalf the said sum of 19,000 rupees .. and the securities for
the same or such part thereof as may be when they receive such .. their hands
custody or controul as agents for my said wife or otherwise and to receipt me for the same
in my account with them and also informing them that I have revoked the power
permission or authority which I gave to her since our marriage as aforesaid to appoint
an agent for the management of such property and to make a will or testamentary
disposition thereof and also desiring them to consider themselves totally incompetent to act as
on her behalf also to retain on my behalf all documents they may possess concerning the
said Estate at Salsette or concerning any part of the property so deposited with them as
aforesaid Now I do hereby give and bequeath the same sum of 19,000 rupees or such part
thereof as my agents aforesaid may possess as aforesaid together with all securities for
the same unto my Executors hereinafter named In trust nevertheless for my children now
in England and I direct and desire that the same be divided among them in equal
shares and portions so that if any one or more of such children shall die before my
decease his her or their share shall pass to his her or their representatives? respectively and
I hereby revoke the appointment of Mr. Judge mentioned in my said will as one of my
executors and nominate substitute and appoint my son Robert also mentioned in my will
as my Executor in the stead of Mr. Judge and I also appoint my Esteemed Friend Commodore
Thomas Beaty of the Indian Navy to be an additional Executor to my said will and codicils
and I desire that they will in conjunction with my friend William Jones (who is also
appointed an Executor in my said will) in all respects execute my said will and codicils
and the trusts thereof and of this codicil as if they the said Thomas Beaty
William Jones and my Son Robert had been originally appropriated Executors in my said will
and I desire that my Executors will attend to a letter of Instructions which I have addressed
to them and which shall be placed together with my will and two codicils and hereby
ratifying and confirming my said will and first codicil except such parts only of my said
will as are revoked or altered by this codicil I declare this paper to be the second codicil
to my will In witness whereof I have hereunto placed my hand and seal this 31st day
of December 1832. Charles Keys SS Signed sealed declared and published by the above
named Testator Charles Keys as the second codicil to his will in the presence of us who
in his presence have hereunder written our names as witnesses to his Execution hereof
James Adams Ward of Ramsgate -- William Henry Ward of Ramsgate
Stephen Miller of Ramsgate




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