Will of Lewis Buckeridge (bef.1728-bef.1760)
This is a transcription of the register copy of the Will of Lewis Buckeridge of Ware, Hertfordshire. It was written on 16 June 1760 and proved at London on 3 July 1760. [1]
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 and Institutions mentioned
- Lewis Buckeridge Esquire, Testator
- General Nappier, Friend
- Margarett Marbella Acworth (1725-1794), Sister
- Abraham Acworth Esquire, Brother-in-Law
- Mrs Elizabeth Jephson, unmarried partner, mother of his son Lewis William Buckeridge
- William Maskelyne Esquire, Fellow of Trinity College
- Mr Peter Triquet, Friend & Executor
- my Surgeon (see Research Notes)
- John Hare, my Coachman
- all and every other of my Servants who shall have lived with me for the space of one year or upward at the time of my death
- the Honorable George Grimstone Esquire, Executor
- James Windus of Ware, Executor
- Lewis William Buckeridge, Son
- my Sister Acworth's two sons now living
- Academy or School for teaching and promoting true Military Science
Transcription
[page one]
Lewis Buckeridge Esq.r
This is the last Will and Testam.t
of me Lewis Buckeridge of Ware in the County of Hertord Esquire
made this sixteenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and sixty. First my desire is that I may be decently
Intered in the parish church of Ware aforesaid without any pomp
But at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named as concerning
my Estate I give the same in manner following (that is to say) I request
my Honoured Friend General Nappier to accept of Fifty pounds for a
Mourning Ring or any other thing he pleases to choose in Memory
of me which I leave him as a small but sincere token of my grateful
sense of the many services he has done me and all the instances of
his Friendship.
I give to my Sister Acworth and to her Husband
Abraham Acworth Esquire one hundred pounds each and the sum of
Ten pounds apiece for Mourning.
Item I give to Mrs Elizabeth
Jephson now dwelling with me at Ware aforesaid for whom I have
the utmost Regard one hundred pounds for Mourning.
Item I give
to William Maskelyne Esquire Fellow of Trinity College in the
University of Cambridge Ten pounds for Mourning and I desire him
to accept of any ten Volumes of my Library that he shall think fit
to make choice of.
Item I give to my Friend Mr Peter Triquet
my Surgeon the sum of One hundred pounds
I likewise give to
John Hare my Coachman One hundred pounds over and above
his Wages
And I give to all and every other of my Servants who
who shall have lived with me for the space of one year or upward
at the time of my death Twenty five pounds each over and above
their Wages.
Item I give the sum of One hundred pounds
apiece unto such of my Executors hereinafter named as shall
prove this my Will and take on them the Burthen and Execution
thereof and of the Trusts hereby in them reposed as an
acknowledgement for their care and Trouble in and about the
same
And as to all my Real Estate and Hereditaments at
Penrose or elsewhere within the County of Hereford or in the
said County of Hertford and all the rest residue and remainder of
my personal Estate whatsoever and wheresoever and of what
nature kind or quality soever that I shall be Possessed of
Interested in or Intitled unto at the time of my decease I give
devise and bequeath the same and every part thereof unto The
Honorable George Grimstone Esquire the said Peter Triquet
and James Windus of Ware aforesaid Gentleman their Heirs
Executors Administrator and Assigns respectively upon the Trusts
and for the Intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned
expressed and declared of and concerning the same (that is to
say) That they my said Trustees and Executors or the Survivors
or Survivor of them his Heirs Executors Administrators or
Assigns shall and do pay one full Moiety or half part of the
neat Rent and Income of my said real and personal Estates
into the hands of the said Elizabeth Jephson for her own
subsistance and for the Support Maintenance and Education of her
son by me begotten (and now in his Infancy) who was Baptized
and is Registred in the parish church of Fulham by the Name of
Lewis William Buckeridge The Tuition and Guardianship of whom
[page two]
I bequeath to his said Mother and recommend him to her
most affectionate Care And it is my Will that such payment shall
be continued to her for the purposes aforesaid until my said Son
shall attain his age of Twenty one years if she the said Elizabeth
Jephson shall so long continue unmarried and live and reside at
my Dwelling house aforesaid And in case my said Son shall attain
his Age of Twenty one years Then I give and devise all my said
Real Estate and all the Intire rest and residue of my personal
Estate with all the Profits and Increase thereof into and to the
use of the said Lewis William Buckeridge his Heirs and
Assigns for ever and direct my said Trustees or the Survivor
of them his Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns to do
every legal and necessary Act to convey to and Invest the
same in him accordingly
And I do direct that the other
Moiety or half part of the Income of the said Freehold
Estates and Produce and growing Interest and Dividens
of the rest and residue of my said Personal Estate during
the Minority of my said Son shall from time to time be
paid out and Invested in some of the Public Funds or
Government Securities when and as the same shall amount
unto a competent sum for that purpose during my siad
Son's Minority for the Augmentation of his Fortune and
upon his attaining the said Age of Twenty one years to
Transfer and Assign such Securities to him absolutely for his
own use and to pay over all Surplus moneys in the said
Trustees hands not then invested as aforesaid it being my
real Intent and Meaning that in case my said Child shall
live and attain the Age of Twenty one years he shall
absolutely be seized and possessed of and have and enjoy all
my real and personal Estate and every part thereof as
hereafter mentioned to him his Heirs Executors Adm[inistrat]ors
and Assigns for ever
And in case the said Elizabeth Jephson
shall Marry or refuse to dwell and reside in my said
House at Ware then and from thenceforth and in either of
the said cases I will and direct that her Guardianship of
my said Child and the payment of the aforesaid Moiety
for her own and her Child's support shall cease and
determine And from thenceforth I dispose of such
Guardianship and Care of my said Son unto my said
Trustees or the Survivors or Survivor of them during the
Remainder of his Minority and intirely leave to them the
discretionary Care of his Education And I direct that my
said Estate which I have hereinbefore declared to be in Trust to
pay one Moiety of the Income and Produce thereof to the said
Elizabeth Jephson for the purposes in that behalf mentioned shall
be in Trust and Subject and liable to the payment of one neat
and clear fourth part or share only of its Income Interest and
Produce when and as the same shall arise and become due from
time to time unto the said Elizabeth Jephson for her own
support use and Benefit (whether she shall be sole or covert) or
during her natural Life And I direct that her Receipts alone
shall be at all times sufficient discharge for such payments.
[page three]
And my Will further is that the other three fourth parts of
such Rent and Income of my said real and personal Estate
shall be upon Trust for the support Maintenance and Education
of my said Son if necessary and the surplus thereof (if any)
shall be from time to time invested in Government Securities for
the Increase and Augmentation of his Fortune when he shall
attain his Age aforesaid in such manner a above mentioned
In case the said Elizabeth Jephson had continued Guardian and
unmarried during all the said Child's Minority and I do
desire that if the said Elizabeth Jephson shall cease to be
Guardian upon Breach of either of the above Conditions that
on my Son's attaining his said Age that my said Trustees or
the Survivor or his Heirs will take due care to secure to her
the due payment of the aforesaid Income of the said fourth
part of my Estate during her Life in such Proportion as the
same shall produce within two years next before that period
of time and computation to be without any Allowance for
Losses But in case my said son shall happen to die before
under the Age of Twenty one years Then upon Trust that
my said Trustees or the Survivor or Survivors or his Executors
Administrators or Assigns do and shall from thenceforth pay
unto my Dear Sister Margarett Marbella Acworth one
Moiety or neat half part of the said Rent and Profits of
my real Estates and of the Income of the residue of my
personal Estate for and during the term of her natural Life
for my said Sister's sole and separate use exclusive of any
Right Power Control or Intermeddling of her present or any
future husband and her Receipts alone shall be effectual
Discharges for all such Payments notwithstanding her present or
future Coverture And from and after her Death upon Trust
that the said Trustees and Survivors as aforesaid do receive
and take all the Rents and produce and Income aforesaid of
all my said real and personal Estates subject to the Bequests
to the said Elizabeth Jephson To the intent and Purpose that
they shall and may from time to time apply lay out and Invest
the same in such Funds or Securities and in the same manner
as I have before directed with regard to the accumulating
fund during the Minority of my said Son and that together
with the Dividens and Income of such former Fund shall when
and as soon as my said Sister Acworth's two sons now living
shall respectively attain their Age of Twenty one years be
Transferred Assigned and Paid unto each of them equally
three fourth parts to the son first attaining the said Age
together with an equal proportion of the growing Income of
the said Fund until his Brother shall also attain his Age of
Twenty one years and the remaining Moiety to be preserved
and continued at Interest for the Benefit of the other of them
to be paid and transferred in like manner upon his attaining
the same Age And in case either of the said Children shall
happen to die under the said Age of Twenty one years and
and the other of them shall survive to attain that Age Then upon
Trust to Transfer Assign and pay all the Intire accumulated
[page four]
Fund aforesaid to that time together with all Monies then
remaining Uninvested as aforesaid unto such surviving Child as soon
as may be on that Event
And thereupon I also give devise and bequeath
all my real and all other my personal Estate unto such surviving Son
his Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns for ever And in case
both the said Children shall live to attain the said Age of Twenty one
upon Trust from thenceforth to pay unto them equally share and
share alike all the Rent of my real Estate and the Income and
Dividends of all my personal Estate subject nevertheless as aboove
mentioned Together with the income of its Increase as aforesaid for
and during the term of their joint Lives And from and immediately
after the decease of the Child first dying after attaining his
Age I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal
Estates whatsoever and wheresoever Together with all the then
Produce Increase and augmentation thereof unto and to the use
of the Survivor of them and his Heirs Executors Adm[inistrat]ors
and Assigns for ever And in case my said Son and Nephews
shall all die before they have attained their Age of Twenty
one years and after the death of said Sister Acworth
and Elizabeth Jephson In regard I have spent my time from
the earlier part of my Life until the present Hour in
his Majesty's Service by Sea or Land and as I now have
the Honour to bear the Kings Commission in one of his
Royal Regiments of Fast Guards wherein I intend (God
willing) to die I give and bequeath all my personal Estate
whatsoever for and towards erecting and Maintaining an
Academy or School for teaching and promoting true
Military Science in its most Essential Branches And I direct
that the same shall be immediately under the Government
Inspection and Care of the General and other Field Officers
for the time being of his Majestys three Regiments of
Foot Guards or the Major of them And it is my Will
and I hereby expressly direct that such part of my Estate
as is held by virtue of any College or other Lease or Leases
renewable shall be from time to time so long as the Trusts
of this my Will are subsisting be renewed as often as is
usual and proper for the benefit of such person or
persons for whom the same shall be In Trust for the time
being and the Costs and Charges of the Fines and otherwise
shall be defrayed out of the accruing Income of my said
Estates in General And it is my Will and I hereby Charge
my Shares in the Bath Water Works with the Payment of all
the above particular Pecuniary Legacies to my Friends and Servants
so far forth as my Ready money Household good Moveable
effects and money in the Funds shall be deficient to pay the same
And furthermore my Will is that my said Executors and Trustees
shall each of them be answearable for his and their own Acts
and Receipt only and not the one for the other of them And
that they shall not be answearable for any Loss or Miscarriage
by any Securities that may happen in my Estate And also that
they shall retain all their Costs Charges Damages and Expenses
out of the Estate and Effects in them Vested in and by this my
[page five]
Will and the Trust therein contained And I do hereby revoke
all former Wills by me made and declare this to be and contain
my only true last Will and Testament And therefore appoint
the said George Grimstone Peter Triquet and James Windus
Joint Executors In Witness whereof I the said Lewis Buckeridge
have to this my last Will and Testament contained in this and
the three preceding sheets of Paper set my hand and Seal (to
wit) my Hand to the bottom of each of the said three
preceding sheets and my hand and seal to this last sheet
and my Seal at the top of the first of the said sheets where
all the said sheets are fixed together the day and year first
above written. Lewis Buckeridge. The writing contained in
this and the three preceding sheets of Paper was Signed and
Sealed by the above named Lewis Buckeridge and by him
published and declared as and for his last Will and
Testament in the presence of us who have subscribed our
names as Witnesses thereto in his presence and in the presence
of each other. Tho.s Green. Tho.s Woynt, Jef. Feild
This Will was proved at London the third
day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and sixty before the Worshipfull Thomas Beaver
Doctor of Laws Surrogate of the Right Worshipfull Edward
Simpson also Doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commissary
of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by
the Oaths of the Honourable George Grimstone Esquire Peter
Triquett and James Windus the Executors named in the said
Will to whom Administration of all and singular the Goods
Chattels and Credits of the deceased having been first sworn
duly to administer. Exd
Research Notes
The text on the right side of the first page is not entirely visible and it's not clear whether Mr Peter Triquet and the Testator's surgeon are two different people or one and the same.
Sources
- ↑ Will of Lewis Buckeridge of Ware, Hertfordshire
- Reference: PROB 11/857/256
- Description: Will of Lewis Buckeridge of Ware, Hertfordshire
- Date: 3 July 1760
- Held by: The National Archives, Kew