Bequeath
To leave personal (moveable)
property by will.
Chattels
Moveable possessions, for
example, furniture, livestock, clothes and
jewellery.
Cursive hands
A generic term for varieties
of handwriting written at speed, in which the
letters are joined together.
Devise
To leave land by will.
Estate
The collective assets, for
example, property, and liabilities, such as
debts of a person.
Examination
A statement or testimony
that is taken down in writing as evidence.
Executor
A man appointed by a testator,
the person who made the will, to dispose of
his estate in accordance with the wishes expressed
in the will.
George I
King of England 1714-1727.
George I was born on 28 May 1660 in Hanover,
Germany. In 1714, after the death of Queen
Anne, he came to the throne of Great Britain
and Ireland. Although George was only 52nd
in line to the throne, he was the nearest Protestant
heir under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement.
He came to England with little knowledge of
the English language and a lack of understanding
of British affairs, a circumstance that assisted
in the gradual transference of executive power
from the monarch to the ministers and
cabinet. George was divorced from his wife
Sophia Dorothea of Celle with whom he had one
son, the future George II, and one daughter.
He returned regularly to Hanover, dying there
on 11 June 1727. George was originally buried
at Leinesclosskirche but was reinterred in
1957 at Herrenhausen in Hanover.
Inventory
A list of items submitted
by the executor to the ecclesiastical court
which details the deceased's moveable property
(including debts owed to the deceased).
Last Will and Testament
The written document by
which a person disposes of his property after
his death. Originally a will was concerned
with freehold land while a testament was concerned
with personal goods, but for convenience the
two came to be included in one document. Anyone
with possessions to leave could make a will,
with certain exceptions including the following:
- Married women, unless they had
the consent of their husbands. Control of the
property of a woman passed to her husband upon
marriage. A married woman could bequeath both
the personal goods which she had brought into
the marriage and any clothes the husband had
given her, but only with the consent of her
husband, who also had to be the executor of
the will. This situation did not change until
the Married Women's Property Act of 1882.
-
Children (boys under the age of 14, girls under
the age of 12).
There was no obligation to
make a will. The poor with nothing to leave
did not make them while sometimes even the
rich failed to make one. In fact, only a small
number of people made a will before the 19th
century.
Probate
Proving the will. Wills
had to be proved in court - that is, the court
had to be satisfied that the will truly reflected
the last wishes of the deceased. Until the
Court of Probate was established in 1858, ecclesiastical
courts did the proving as wills were also seen
as religious documents, in which the testator
commended his soul to God. (See also Last Will
and Testament.)
Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe is now part
of the London Borough of Southwark, near the
heart of Docklands. It was within the borders
of the county of Surrey until 1889. For centuries
the traditional industry of Rotherhithe was
shipbuilding. The name is believed to have
Saxon origins, from rotha, meaning mariner,
and hythe, meaning landing place. Sir Francis
Drake's Golden Hind set off from here.
Shipwright
A person employed in the
construction of ships.
Tenements
Property often held from
another person, for example, through a lease.
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