Will of John Taylor Esquire of Bath, 19 Apr 1806

I John Taylor of Duke Street in Bath Esq. do make this my last will and testament as follows I desire to be privately buried in a wall’d grave in any one of the country churches near Bath or any other place where I may die and that no settlement be put up over my door and that all my just Debts may be paid as soon as convenient after my Decease which at this time I do not think amount to fifty pounds

Whereas by a certain Indenture or Deed of Settlement of five parts made the ninth day of February 1777 between John Luther of Myles in the County of Essex Esq. now deceased of the first part Jane Luther my wife’s sister now also deceased of the second part my wife Rebecca and myself of the third part Richard Hopkins formerly of Oving Esq. but now deceased of the fourth part and John Fane of Wormley in Oxfordhire Esq. the Reverend Richard Watson now Bishop of Landaff the Right Honourable Charles Dow Camdon now deceased and David Garrick Esq. now also deceased Trustees named and appointed for the now herein mentioned of the fifth part it is wiitnessed that my wife and myself have granted bargains sold released and confined unto the said trustees their heirs and assigns all our undivided half part or that of an undivided moiety of certain Messuages Lands and Hereditaments in the County of Suffolk in trust for the uses therein mentioned and also that the said Trustees and their Survivors and Survivor of them shall stand and be proposed and interested of and in the sum of four thousand six hundred abd forty five pounds stock in the three per cent Consolidated Bank Annuities in trust for the same uses (and which Stock now stands in their names) to wit for my wife and myself and the survivor and whereas by the said Indenture or Deed of Settlement it is further witnessed and declared that after the oath of my wife and myself said Messuages Lands and Hereditaments or the money for which the same shall be sold together with the stock in the funds aforesaid shall be for the use and benefit of our child and children as should be begotten of us after the execution thereof in such manner at such time and under such regulations and ______ as are there mentioned and in case there should be no such Child that then our Moiety of the said individed moiety of the said Messuages Lands and Hereditaments and also our moiety of the aforesaid four thousand six hundred and forty five pounds should be at the disposal of my said wife Rebecca and become subject to such limitation and disposition as is held by any deed or deeds writing or writings or by her last Will and Testament by her respectively signed sealed and delivered in the presence of two or more credible witnesses may order and appoint and that the other moiety should become subject to my disposal and appointment as by ____ thereunto had and will now fully and at large appear

And whereas we have had no children born of us since the Deed of Settlement was made and the several trustees deceased and ___ and we have three sons to wit Charlotte Taylor and Fanny now the wife of Capt Gray all both sons and daughters were born before the Execution thereof and of course are not intitled to any benefit or advantage by or under the same and whereas our Moiety as before set forth will come under the disposition and disposal of my wife

Now I do in recognition of the power to me given by this said Deed of Settlement of ordering the disposition and disposal of my moiety or half part of the aforesaid undivided moiety of the said Messuages Lands and Hereditaments in Suffolk and of our moiety of the Stock in the three per cents aforementioned hereby declare my will and mind to be as follows and force asserting of which I do accordingly give devise and bequeath all my said Moiety in said undivided moiety of the said Messuages Lands and Hereditaments in Suffolk and all my right title and interest therein and thereto and to every part thereof and also my moiety of in and to the said stock of four thousand six hundred and forty five pounds in the 3 per cents aforesaid to the Trustees named and appointed in and by the said Deed of Settlement and to the Survivors and Survivor of them and to the heirs Exors Admons and Asigns of such Survivor in trust to sell dispose of and apply the same in every respect as is set forth in said Deed of Settlementin the same manner as if the said before named children had been born after the Execution thereof and whereas my said wife will become intitled to the Rents and profits of the said undivided moiety of the said Estates in Suffolk and to the dividends arising from the four thousand six hundred and forty five pounds in the 3 per cent ___ and also to the dividends arising from the Stock of the late Mrs Jane Luther her sister and now standing in the three per cents __ Bank Annuities in the name of (Major General) Richard Hopkins nephew of the late Richard Hopkins Esq. ____ as Trustee thereof and also to the Rents and profits arising and to arise from the said Jane Luther’s part of the Estate in Sufflok held also in trust by the said Major General Richard Hopkins for the use of Mrs Taylor my wife as is the said Jane Luther’s last Will and Testament and whereas it will appear by the statement I have left among my memorandums in that said book that the total amount will provide a very ample income therefore I do give devise and bequest all the rest and residue of my Estate Effects and property both Real and Personal of what nature or kind soever and whereever of which I shall be seized or possessed or be intitled to either in part or equity to be Dear Daughter Charlotte Taylor and to her heirs and assigns for ever subject however to the following disposals legacies and payments that is to say

To permit my said wife to reside in my house in Duke Street aforesaid as long as she pays rent for the paying of the Ground rent taxes rates and outgoings for the same and keeping the premises in good and presentable repair

I desire my said Dear Daughter Charlotte her heirs or assigns to pay my son John Taylor one hundred pounds a Year of my said long Annuities during his natural life whensoever the dividends are received in the usual course of public payments but the principal from which the same arises to be reserved in the hands of my said Dear Daughter her Executors or Administrators to be applied after my son Johns’ Death to the use of such Children as he may have in such manner as He or they may think most fit for their respective advantages till they arrive to twenty one years of age and if any of them shall happen to die before that age then the appropriate to such child to be applied for the use of those who may be living but in case they all die during their father’s life the said hundred pounds a year long annuities to be transferred to my said son John for his use and benefit and if he shall die during the lives of all or any of his children then the said hundred pounds a year to be transferred to them in equal shares when they respectively arrive at twenty one years of age and if only one child shall that age then the whole to be transferred for his or her own use and benefit and in case my said son John before the said hundred pounds a Year long annuities is finally transferred to him and all his children shall happen to die before they become intitled to the said principal sum or sums then I desire that twenty five pounds a year may be paid to the widow of my said son John during her natural life

I also desire my said Dear Daughter to transfer to my said son Richard thirty five pounds a year Bank long Annuities for his own use and benefit

I also desire my said Dear Daughter to pay to my son Harry fifty pounds a Year of the said Bank long Annuities during his natural life and to deliver him the assignment of the stock which I bought of him some years ago but I do hereby declare that all this latter part of my will respectively the rest and residue of my Estate Effects and property shall not constrain to effect or extend to any disposition I have made in the forgoing part relative to the Messuagess Lands and Hereditaments in Suffolk or to the four thousand six hundred and forty five pounds ___ in the three per cent ___

And I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint my said Dear Daughter Charlotte Taylor sole Executrix of this my last will and testament contained in one sheet of paper and written in our own hand and revoking all former wills by me made I do hereby declare this to be my last Will and Testament

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal this nineteenth day of April in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and six 1806 several erasures and interlineations having both first made

John Taylor

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the Testator John Taylor as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who in his presence at his request and in the presence of each other have subscribed our names and witnesses

Thomas Sheppard,
James Trinder Woolen Drapers, Bath
Matthew Markam assistant to Sheppard and Trinder

Probate of John Taylor Esquire of Bath, 6 Dec 1806

This Will was proved at London on the sixth day of December in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and six before the Worshipful Charles Cook Doctor of Laws and Surrogate of the Right Honourable Sir William Bryant Knight also Doctor of Laws and Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by the oath of Charlotte Taylor Spinster the Daughter of the Deceased and the Sole Executrix named in the said will to whom admon was granted of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the Deceased she having been first sworn only to administer.