Location: Ramsgate, Kent

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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