11-0164-509_RichardWinch-clothier_1633
In the name of God Amen; The viiith day of November in the yeare of our Lord God 1629. I Richard Winche of Readinge in the countie of Berks Clothier beinge in health of bodie and of good and perfect mynde and memory thanks be given to God yett knowing that death to all menn is most certain and the tyme and place thereof uncertaine and seeinge as for that it hath pleased God of his greate mercie to bless me with wife and children and given me a competent dwelling house and convenyent meanes for the sustenance of this mortall life; my desire is to settle and to dispose of my said house and the residue of my temporall estate to my wife and children there after my decease so peace may be amongst them to the praise and glory of God; doe therefore declare and make this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following; that is to saye. First I heartily praise Almightie God for his mercies and blessings towards me and humbly and thankfully doe submitt my selfe to the will of God upon whose grace and goodness I doe wholly depend daily expectinge the chargeing of my mortall bodie into Christian buriall and steadfastly believing that of his grace and by and through the only merritte of Jesus christ my Lord and Saviour I have and shall have forgiveness of all my sinnes and resurrection and salvation both of my bodie and soule. ITEM; my will is that all the debte wch I shall owe of right or in conscience to any person or persons shall be truly paid by my Executors hereafter named. ITEM; I demise and give to Judith my wife the use and occupation of my dwellinge house and of all the houses buildinges backsides and gardens thereunto belonginge furnished with all the tables stooles formes bedsteds chaires shelves wood implements and furnace as now it is to have and to hold unto the said Judith my wife for terme of her naturall life. ITEM; I demise and give to Anne my daughter ffortye shillings and to her children ffortie shillings apiece; and for Elizabeth my daughter ffortye shillings and to her children ffortie shillings apiece. ITEM; I demise and give to all my brethren and sisters by my owne mother twentie shillings apiece or gold ringes worth twentie shillings apiece. ITEM I devise and give to my Godson Symon Winche my brother Symon Winche his sonne ffive pounds in money. And to his sonne Richardmy Cozen I give twenty shillings to buy him a ringe. ITEM; I give to all my household servants twenty shillings apiece over and above their wages due. ITEM; I give to the poore people in the Towne of Readinge ffoure pounds in money to be distributed amongst them the day of my burriall viz. to the poore of St Lawrence with twenty shillings; to the poore of St Maries withe ffourtie shillings and to the poore of St Giles with twenty shillings. ITEM; I give to the poore people of the village of Bray fforty shillings. ITEM; my will and meaning is that all the rest and residue of my goodes and chattellls whatsoever (unbequeathed) in convenyent tyme after my decease shall be divided into three equall partes by my Executors herein after named; And of the three partes I devise and give to the said Judith my wife one parte; And of the other two partes I devise and give to and amongst the rest of my children viz. Richard Robert Thomas John James Symon Catherine Judith Ellin and Jane be paid and divided amongst themselves with and pleasure of my Executors to whome I commend and leave the tuition and education of all my said children provided aforesaid and it is my will that all and any of my said sonnes shall have ffifty poundes apiece more than my said daughters; And of this my last will and testament I ordeyne and make my brother Symon Winche, my Cozen James Winche of Warley and my Brother William Kendricke[1] full and whole Executors. And for their love and care of and to my wife and children I give them ffive markes apiece and all their expenses costs and charges in or about the execution and performance of this my will. ITEM; In further testimonie of my thankfull hart to God for all his mercies and favors towards me I doe further devise and freely give in money forty pounds to the Mayor and Burgesses for to be lent unto ffoure young clothiers honest menn for seaven yeares and then some other of the same of the same trade for ever amongst them to helpe them in their trading and every seaven yeares my desire is shall be renewed and delivered to ffoure of them upon good securities. In those two lines on the other side craft I have stroke them out for now finding the trade at this present so bad and the charge of my sonne Richard so great at Oxford I doubt I shall wrong all the rest of my children – Richard Winch[2]
Proved (21/11/1633) by James Winch and William Kendrick executors
[1] John Kendrick of the City of London, Draper, in his will dated 29th December 1624 (apart from being a substantial benefactor to the poor of London and Reading from among nearly £33,000 of specific bequests before leaving the balance to his Executor) commits the sum of £200 as a loan to James Winche for seven years to enable him top build his business and, when repaid, to be provided to other clothiers in the area at £50 each for three years at a time. He also leaves £1,000 to ‘my brother James Winch of [Purley], Berks’.
William Kendrick whose will was proved on 19th March 1634 refers to ‘my loving brother in law James Winche of Greenham in the county of Berks’ and to ‘my sister Judith Winch’
[2] The following is an excerpt from a petition made on behalf of Richard Winch to the King:
To ye Kings Most Excellent Majesty
Humbly complaining claimeth and informeth that you most excellent Majesty your obedient and fa ithful subject Richard Winch of Reading in the County of Berks Clothier guardian of William Winch Richard Winch John Winch George Winch Joan Winch and Judith Winch children of Joan Winch late of Bray in the County of Berks widow deceased That whereas the said Joan Winch deceased in her life time was possessed of diverse goods and chattels that is to say of corn and grain as wheat rye barley peas fetches? Beans and oats part whereof was growing upon the land which the said Joan held in her occupation and part was in the barn house and reeks of the said Joan amounting in all to the value of five hundred pounds at the least And of horses kyne oxen sheep swine and other beast and cattle worth three hundred pounds And of plate rugs jewels brass pewter beds linen and other household stuff and utensils worth two hundred pounds And of ploughs carts harrows harness and other implements of husbandry worth one hundred pounds And of ready money five hundred pounds And of obligations bills of debt and good debt to the value of five hundred pounds all amounting to two thousand one hundred pounds of lawful money of England And the said Joan Winch being so thereof possessed in or about January last fell grievously sick and in her said sickness sent for one William Hawthorne of Binfield in the County of Berks yeoman and one Nathaniel Hawthorne of Cookham in the said County yeoman to confer withthem about the making of her last will and testament and the disposing ofher said goods chattels and p ersonal estate and whereas ye full purposeand intent of ye said Joan Winch was and so she did express to ye said William and Nathaniel that William Winch her eldest son should be sole executor and albeit they did intreat her to bestow upon the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne ten pounds a piece which she utterly refused to grant them and willed and declared that all her said personal estate should be given and left to her said children saving only some small legacies to the children of Robert Winch her late husband then deceased and some other small [legacies] to the poor Yet nevertheless so it is if it may please your most excellent Majesty that ye said William and Nathaniel Hawthorne finding ye said Joan then to be extremely sick and past all hope of recovery and very weak in her understanding and memory by violence of her disease corruptly combined and unlawfully practiced together to procure and obtain to themselves a great part of the goods and chattels of the said Joan And to defraud the said children thereof and in execution of their said purpose and combination the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel persuaded the [said] Joan that it would be fittest for her to name the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel to be her executors for the better help and defence of the said children And the said William Hawthorne took upon him to be the writer of the said last will and testament of the said Joan And after he had written and set down some legacies in certainty to the said children not amounting to half the personal estate of the said Joan or to very little more than half and had left the residue amounting to one thousand pounds thereabouts unbequeathed the said William Hawthorne by the […] appointment and consent of the said Nathaniel Hawthorne and by their mutual combination and confederacy upon the seven and twentieth day of January in the year ofour Lord and saviour Christ One Thousand six hundred and eighteen [1618] and in the sixteenth year of your Highness reign over this Kingdom of England without any directions or appointment of the said Joan Winch now deceased did unlawfully forge corruptly contrive a fraud in th e name of the said Joan a gift and bequest of all the residue of the goods of the said Joan to them the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne and at thesame time did very falsely forgodly unlawfully and corruptly without the direction and appointment of the said Joan insert into the said last will and testament of the said Joan against her knowledge and without herdirection and appointment these words following in the name of the said Joan that is to say “Item all the rest residue of my goods and chattels unbequeathed my debts being paid my funeral discharged and this my last will and testament in all things duly performed I do wholly give andbequeath unto William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne my brothers” After which forgery and corruption done and committed as aforesaid that is tosay either the said day or the next day after the said Joan died and although the time meaning and intent of the said Joan Winch was to give none of the said goods to the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne nor not so much as the said ten pounds a piece before mentioned which they impudently begged of her but that the said children should have them all which the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne have also since confessed Yet in full accomplishment and consummation of their said forgery fraudulent practice and corruption the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne hath since the death of the said Joan proved the said last will and testament of the said Joan in the said forged clause inserted and have published and still do publish the same to be the true and the very last will and testament of the said Joan with the said forged clause inserted as in all other parts also in the said forged clause before particularly recited and by color […] Have claimed and yet claim to possess and […] one thousand pounds worth of goods of the said Joan and albeit that your said subject in a suit against the said William and Nathaniel in the Spiritual Court before ye official of theCounty aforesaid have sufficiently proved that the said clause was inserted without any directions or appointment of the said Joan and that the meaning of the said Joan was that the said Children and not the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne or either of them should have the residue of the said goods and chattels and in the said suit hath had sentence against them to that purpose and that they should not claim or hold the said goods but only to the use and behest of the said children yet the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne do still claim and hold the same as their own proposing utterly to defeat the said children thereof and to that purpose have appealed from the said son to me unto the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury thereby this […] Th e secret of their hearts and intentions albeit they sometimes pretend in words and that they will hand the said goods to the use of the said children yet that they purpose to keep them to their own use by […] Of the forgery and unlawful practice and misdemeanour aforesaid All which forgery practice combination deceit fraud corruption andmisdemeanours […] aforesaid are not only prejudicial to the said children being poor orphans without father or mother but tend also to the ill example and in encouragement of diverse other of your majesties subjects to commit the like if some example exemplary punishment be not inflicted upon the said William and Nathaniel Hawthorne for their said offences May it therefore please your most excellent Majesty to grant to your said subject on the behalf of the said poor orphans your Highnesses gracious writ of subpoena to be directed to the said William Hawthorne and Nathaniel Hawthorne commanding them thereby at a certain day and under a certain pain personally to be and appear before your Highness most honourable Counsel in your Majesties High Court of Star Chamber at Westminster then and there to answer ye promises and to undergo such punishment for ye said offences as to your Highness said Counsel shall seem fit to be inflicted upon such offenders and your said subject and the said poor children at by duty they are bound shall daily pray fory our Majesty in health and happiness long to live and reign
Humphrey Newbury
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