Transcription of the will of Charlotte Smart
I bought copies of the wills of William Lynn and Charlotte Smart from the probate service (£5 each including postage!) and have transcribed them into plain text from the hard-to-read script. This has added punctuation, capitalisation, sentence breaks and paragraph breaks.
Emrys Williams, 10 Jun 2011
This is the last will of me, Charlotte Catherine Smart of Linden in the parish of Eversholt in the county of Bedford, Widow.
I give all my personal property of every description over which I have a disposing power, except my ordinary wearing apparel, to my trustees and executors hereinafter named, upon trust, to convert into money all such parts thereof as shall not consist of money, and, after payment of my debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, to pay the following mentioned legacies and the duties thereon.
That is to say:
To Mrs Duncan Davidson, two hundred pounds, and to her sisters Catherine Hall and Caroline Hall, fifty pounds each.
To Harriet and Stuart Mary, the daughters of the reverend Michael Maxwell Heron, fifty pounds each.
To Cecil Grainger, a nephew of my late husband, fifty pounds.
To my godson, Henry de Berniere Smart, a nephew of my late husband, one thousand pounds.
To John Green of Berrystead in Eversholt, one of my trustees and executors, two hundred pounds.
To Emeline Jones, now in my service, one hundred and fifty pounds.
To William Cryer, my butler, one hundred pounds.
To Isaac Carr, now in my service, fifty pounds.
To Mrs Ellis, formerly my nurse, and to Mrs Hewsom of Eversholt, £25 each.
And to retain one hundred pounds, in trust to expend the same for the erection of a lych gate to the church yard of the parish of Eversholt, or in some other permanent work for the use or in the adornment of the church or church yard as shall be unanimously agreed upon by my trustees or trustee and the rector and churchwardens for the time being of the said parish.
I give my ordinary wearing apparel to the said Emmeline Jones.
And after payment and satisfaction of all the said legacies and the duties thereon, and also other payments and expenses attending the execution of the trusts of this, my will, I direct that the residue shall be paid to the said Henry de Berniere Smart.
But, if I shall not leave sufficient assets to pay my debts, funeral and testamentary expenses and the aforesaid legacies and the duties thereon in full and all other payments and expenses, I direct that all the said legacies shall abate rateably.
I give to the said Henry de Berniere Smart and his heirs all real estate, if any, which I may die beneficially possessed of, or entitled to.
I appoint the said John Green and his son John Thomas Green, of Woburn, the trustees and executors of this, my will. And if the said John Green shall die before me, I give to the said John Thomas Green the legacy which will have lapsed by the death of the said John Green.
I devise to the said John Green and John Thomas Green, and the survivor of them, his heirs, executors and assigns, all estates which may be vested in me upon any trust or by way of mortgage upon the equities and trusts affecting the same respectively.
I direct that the executors and any trustees acting under the trusts of this, my will, shall be intitled to be paid as a solicitor for all time engaged and for all professional services in the execution of the duties of my executor or trustee in the same way as if he were not an executor or trustee.
I revoke all former wills which I have made.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charlotte Catherine Smart, have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of March in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty four.
Signed by the said Charlotte Catherine Smart as and for her last will in the presence of us who in her presence at her request and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.
Charlotte Catherine Smart
Henry Thomas Hall
Charles Herbert
Clerks to Mr Green, solicitor, Woburn.
Proved at Northampton the 16th day of December 1885 by the oath of John Thomas Green (son of John Green), the surviving executor, to whom administration was granted.
The testatrix Charlotte Catherine Smart was late of Eversholt in the county of Bedford, widow, and died on the 19th day of July 1885 at Eversholt aforesaid.
Under £5000 gross
£4500 net
J.T.Green
Solicitor, Woburn.
Notice of proof of will
On the sixteenth day of December 1885, the will of Charlotte Catherine Smart, late of Eversholt in the county of Bedford, widow, deceased, who died on the nineteenth day of July 1885, at Eversholt aforesaid, was proved in Her Majesty’s Court of Justice in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division thereof at Northampton, by the oath of John Thomas Green (son of John Green), of Woburn in the county of Bedford aforesaid, gentleman, the surviving executor named (in the said will), he having been first sworn duly to administer.
Personal estate
under £5000 gross, £4500 net
Resworn, Nov 1888, £4541.18.11
No leaseholds
Extracted by J. T. Green, solicitor, Woburn.