Will of John Sibthorp (1796)

Date: 1796 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Sibthorp, will

Will of John Sibthorp (bef.1758-abt.1796)
This is a transcription of the register copy of the Will of John Sibthorp, M.D and Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Oxford. It was written in Ashburton on 12 January 1796 and proved at London on 23 February 1796. ^[1][2]

Will of Jane Austen of Chawton, Hampshire, The National Archives. Ref: PROB 11/1596/208, Date: 10 Sep 1817, (accessed [insert date]).

Reference: PROB 11/1271/247

Description: Will of Doctor John Sibthorp, M.D and Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Oxford, Doctor of Physic of Ashburton, Devon

Date: 23 February 1796

Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Transcription conventions:
Spelling, punctuation and line breaks are as per the original document.
Crossings through have been included struck out
Paragraph breaks at change of bequest, and bold text are my own for ease of reading.
Where present, the obsolete letter Thorn has been rendered as th, and ff has been rendered as F.
Abbreviations and breviographs have been expanded in [square brackets]
The image quality was good and the writing very legible.
Non standard spelling as per usual for this time period, which has been transcribed verbatim.

Persons mentioned

• John Sibthorp Testator
• Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford
• a professor of Rural Economy who shall be the Sherardian Professor of Botany
• Humphrey Sibthorp M.D. my Dear Father
• my Brother
• my Sisters
• Sophia Bartlett now living in my service
• John Vixen Tenant
• the Honb.le Thomas Wenman Executor
• John Hawkins Esquire Executor
• Mr Thomas Platt Executor
• Witnesses: Eliza E Brown, Mary Brown Ashburton, Ben Brown

---

Transcription

[Page one] John Sibthorp
Doctor of Physic

Ashburton Jan.^y 12^th 1796
In the Name of God Amen
I John Sibthorp M:D and Regius Professor of Botany in the
University of Oxford do declare this my last Will and Testament

I Give and Devise all my Freehold Estate situate in the Manor
of Sutton in the Parish of Stanton Harcourt in the County of Oxford
now in the Possession of John Vixen as Tenant under a Lease
or agreement of twenty one years to the Chancellor Masters
and Scholars of the University of Oxford for the purpose herein
after mentioned (viz.^t) that the profits or Rents of such Estates
be applied in the following manner first in the publication of a
work for which I have collected the Materials to be entitled
Flora Graeciae which is to Consist of ten Folio Volumes each
Volume to Consist of one hundred Plates also a small Octavo
Edition without Plates entitled Prodromas^(a) Florae Graeciae and

I do request of my Executors to find out and nominate some
person well skilled in Botany and natural History for that purpose
and under whose Direction the Plates may be engraved and
Coloured from the Drawings in a workman like manner and the
Editor is to be Furnished by them with all my Drawings & MS?
Notes which shall be found in my Journals or loose papers
and have before him all my Collections of Dried Plants &
natural History/these two works being Compleated and
Published the Rents of the said Estates to be applied as following
(viz.^t) the Compleat Sum of two hundred pounds to be paid
annually to a professor of rural Economy who shall be the
Sherardian Professor of Botany Conditionally (Viz^t) that he
the said professor shall read in each Term a Publick Lecture
on Rural Economy and shall appropriate some part of his
Garden to the Cultivation of such Plants as are used more
Particularly in Agriculture to the Arts and should he the said
Professor neglect to read either his publick or private Lectures
he is to be mulcted or punished in the said manner as
the Vinerian^(b) Professor of Laws in the said University and it
is expected that the said Professor should not pursue or look
after the Profits arising from the Practice of Physick but Give

[Page two] up his time for the benefit of the publick in the Lecture
of Books and in the Instruction of Students on the subjects
he professes and for Furnishing the said Professor with proper
Books

I Give Devise and Bequeath the Remainder of
the Rent over and above the two hundred pounds to be paid to the
Professor of Rural Economy for the purchase of Books on the
subject of Botany and Rural Economy the Professor making
a list of such Books as he judges most useful and submitting it
to the Garden Committee annually who shall direct the purchase
of what they Judge most proper the said Books to be Carefully
preserved in a Distinct part of the Library for the Professor
of Botany but in Case the said Professor of Botany should not
fulfill the duties expected of him a Publick University
Election may take place and any Graduate who is Master
of Arts or of Superior Degree may be elected by the
University after the Manner of their usual Elections to the
Professorship of Rural Economy provided he has Directed his
attention to the studies of natural History and does not engage
in the Cure of Souls nor in the profits of Medical or legal
practice in which Case it shall be considered as the Forfeiture
of the professorship and a new Election shall take Place And

I do further Give and Bequeath unto the said university all
my Books of Natural History Botany Agriculture and all my
Drawings or Coloured Figures on the same subjects and all my
Dried Plants and Collections of Animals preserved either Dry
or in Spirits to be Deposited in the Library of the Professor of
Botany provided that the said Library be found hereafeter
sufficiently Dry that the Collection be not injured if subject to
Injury to be placed in some Dry Apartment of the House
to be built by the university for their professor of Botany or
placed somewhere, where it shall be Considered by the ??
university as most expedient and

I do Further Give and
Bequeath the sum of one hundred pounds to my Brother and
the same sum to each of my Sisters and the further Sum
of one hundred pounds to Sophia Bartlett now living in my
Service and

I do hereby Constitute and appoint my good
Friends the Honb.le Thomas Wenman Regius professor of
Civil Law John Hawkins Esquire late of Chandos Street
Cavendish Square London and Mr Thomas Platt of
Serjeants Inn Attorney at Law my Executors

And I Give
and Bequeath to each of my three Executors the Sum of
two hundred pounds and now suject to all my Just Debts
and to the several Legacies afore mentioned

I Give
Devise and Bequeath to the use of my Dear Father
Humphrey Sibthorp M.D. all my Estates Real and Personal of
whatever Description they may be to his use and that of
his Heirs Executors and Assignes for ever – John Sibthorp [LS] –
Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the above mentioned
John Sibthorp as and for his last Will and Testament hereby
revoking all other wills in the presence of us who in his
presence and at his request and in the presence of each
other have subscribed our names as Witnesses thereto – Eliza
E Brown – Mary Brown Ashburton – Ben Brown./.

This Will was proved at London the twenty third
Day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and ninety six before the worshipful John Fisher
Doctor of Laws Surrogate of the Right Honourable Sir William
Wynne Knight also Doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commissary
of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by the
Oaths of the Honourable Thomas Wenman and Thomas Platt two
of the Execturos named in the said will to whom Administration
of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the Deceased
was granted having been first sworn duly to Administer Power
reserved of making the like grant to John Hawkings Esquire the other
Executor named in the said Will when he shall apply for the same
Copy of Chief Justice Smith's Will taken from the Original
in his own handwriting at Quebec the 23rd Dec. 1793.

Research Notes

• ^(a) Prodromas (decl. of prodromus). Precursor, "preliminary work which should be followed by a more complete one"^[3]
  The full title of John Sibthorp's posthumous opus was Florae Graecae Prodromus: Sive Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium, Quas In Provinciis Aut Insulis Graeciae

• ^(b) Vinerian Professor of Laws. The Vinerian Professorship of Law was established by Charles Viner through his will of 1755 with a legacy to the University of Oxford.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Will: "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858", database with images, The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Series PROB 11; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1271, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry uk Record 5111 #285263 (accessed 25 February 2023), Will of John Sibthorp, granted probate on 23 Feb 1796. Died about 1796 in Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, England.
2. ↑ Will of John Sibthorp, Oxford,The National Archives PROB 11/1271/247, Date: 23 Feb 1796, (24 Feb 2023 ).
3. ↑ A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin
4. ↑ Vinerian Professorship of English Law