11-0145-618_SirAlexanderChocke_1625
In the name of God Amen, I ALEXANDER CHOCKE of Shalbourne in the County of Berks and Wilts Knight being weak and infirm in health of body but of perfect remembrance and strength of mind (thanks be given to Almighty God for the same) knowing that statutum est omnibus semel mori and daily waiting for my dissolution when it shall please my dear Lord and Master Christ Jesus to call me, do this present day being the four and twentieth of July AD one thousand six hundred and twenty four make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following, viz. First I humbly bequeath and render up my infinitely sinful and corrupted soul into the merciful hands of my dear Redeemer Christ Jesus the Saviour of sinners of all whom I am chief faithfully believing that his most sacred blood shall cleanse me from all my sins knowing also that my great Redeemer liveth and that at the resurrection of the [ ] I shall rise again and shall see my Lord with these unworthy eyes. ITEM; I commit my sinful and polluted body to the earth out of which it was taken to be buried if it may be by my ancestors in the parish church of Avington in the said County of Berks in full and certain hope of a joyful resurrection; for my worldly estate whereas the manor of Kintbury in the said County of Berks is sold unto me by conveyance made to me and divers of my friends in trust to my behalf by Sir John Darell now of East Woodhey in the County of Southampton Baronet for the sum of five and twenty hundred pounds already paid unto him between whom notwithstanding and myself and my friends before mentioned there are covenants for the redemption or buying again of the same if the said Sir John Darell shall pay unto me the like sum of five and twenty hundred pounds at a certain day yet to come; and if in the meantime what shall want of two hundred and fifty pounds in and of the yearly profits of the said manor to be released by me be by the said Sir John Darell at the end of every year till the said time of redemption be expired made up the full sum of two hundred and fifty pounds and also if other covenants and agreements on the part of the said Sir John Darell be well and truly performed according to the tenor of certain writings heretofore made between him and myself and the other persons before mentioned to which I refer myself furthermore whereas of the marriage portion of my now wife being two thousand five hundred pounds there remain fifteen hundred pounds in the hands of my father in law SIR WILLIAM PITT Knight there to be kept until my said wife’s jointure shall be made up by me or my heirs to the clear yearly value of four hundred pounds per annum which is not yet done; also whereas before my purchasing of the said manor in fee I had a lease of the said manor from the said Sir John Darell for the term of ninety-nine years determinable from the date thereof or a time then shortly to come which said lease before the taking of the conveyance in fee I assigned over in trust to my brother in law EDWARD HUNGERFORD and my cousin CHARLES DAVERS Esquires to do therewith as at any time they should be requested by me; since the time of which assignment and before the taking of the said conveyance of inheritance I took an inferior lease from them the said Edward Hungerford and Charles Danvers to myself of the said manor for the term of five years determinable from the date thereof, by virtue of the said leases I stand for the present possessed of the said manor; now inprimis my will and desire is and I request those gents my brother Hungerford and my cousin Danvers before mentioned that immediately after my decease they do assign and pass over to my executors the said lease for ninety-nine years of the said manor so made over to them by me in trust as aforesaid to this only intent and purpose that if the said sum of five and twenty hundred pounds be paid by the said Sir John Darell for the repurchasing again of the said manor at the time and according to the limitations in the said writing of covenants between us mentioned and declared that then the said lease may be delivered up to the said Sir John Darell and for default of such repurchasing as aforesaid that then immediately after such default the said lease be cancelled and made void so that neither my executors nor any other person or persons more have any benefit thereby but that the said lease may be void to all intents and purposes whatsoever and that there may remain no other interest to be derived from me in the said manor but the same that shall be in trust in the hands of those gents joined with me in the conveyance of the said manor and their survivors. ITEM; my will and desire is that if my Father FRANCIS CHOCKE of Yatton in the County of Somerset Esquire or his heirs shall at any time after my decease before the expiration of the said time of redemption of Kintbury settle by good conveyance in law upon my said wife or to her use for term of her life so much land of a good title with a convenient dwelling house upon part thereof as together with it already settled on her and before my decease shall be settled on her shall amount to the said clear yearly value of four hundred pounds per annum according to the tenor of certain indentures to that purpose heretofore made between myself of the one part and my father in law the said Sir William Pitt and others of the other part and according to the true intent and meaning of the same, that then and immediately from the time of the settling of the said so much land in manner aforesaid as well the said sum of fifteen hundred pounds remaining in the hands of my father in law the said Sir William Pitt and all arrears thereof (if any shall be) shall become due and payable to my said father or his heirs as also the said sum of five and twenty hundred pounds to be paid for the redemption of Kintbury when it shall become due and payable; and in case that the said manor be not rebought according to the terms of the aforesaid covenants made between the said Sir John Darell and myself and others then my desire is to those gents joined with me in trust as aforesaid in the conveyance of the said land that shall survive to pass and convey it over unto my said father and his heirs males with the remainder to the right heirs of myself. ITEM; if my said father or his heirs shall not before the said time of redemption of the said manor of Kintbury settle on my said wife or to her use for term of her life so much land of a good title with a convenient dwelling house upon part thereof as together with that already settled on her or to her use and which shall be settled on her or to her use before my decease shall amount to the clear yearly value of four hundred pounds according to the tenor and true meaning of the aforesaid indentures then my will and desire is and in recompense thereof I give and bequeath unto my said wife the said sum of fifteen hundred pounds remaining in her father’s hands and also the sum of one thousand pounds more to be paid unto her at the time of payment of the said five and twenty hundred pounds for the redemption of Kintbury if the same be duly paid at the time limited in the aforesaid covenants and if the said sum of five and twenty hundred pounds be not then duly paid as aforesaid for the repurchasing of the said manor then my desire and request is to those gents named with me in trust in the conveyance of the said land to sell so much thereof as may pay to my said wife the said sum of one thousand pounds. ITEM; notwithstanding my former disposition of the said manor of Kintbury and of the money payable for the redemption thereof in manner as is before declared yet my will and desire is that my debts and legacies be wholly discharged out of the profit and value of the said manor and out of such debts as shall be found due to me upon specialty and not out of any other part of my personal estate except such legacies as I shall give in specie; and therefore and to that end if the said five and twenty hundred pounds for the redemption of the said manor be duly paid my will and desire is that all my debts and legacies be therewith first discharged and the surplus thereof to go to my father; and if the said money be not duly paid as aforesaid that then so much be sold of the said manor as shall be sufficient for that purpose the surplus of the money and residue of the land to go to my father. ITEM; touching the aforesaid sum of two hundred and fifty pounds accruing yearly to me in the respect of the said manor of Kintbury until the said time of the redemption thereof in such manner and form as is before mentioned my will and desire is for the disposing thereof in manner and form viz. that one hundred pounds thereof be yearly paid unto my said wife until she receive the said legacy of one thousand pounds; and if she happen to die before the said time of redemption of the said manor when it should be due to her then the said legacy to be void and the same to go to my father; also that three score pounds more thereof be yearly paid unto my father until the said time of redemption if he live so long; also that twenty pounds thereof be yearly until the same time paid unto my uncle WILLIAM CHOCKE if he shall live so long the residue that shall remain I leave in trust to dispose of for my executors charges. ITEM; I give and bequeath unto my uncle the said William Chocke an annuity of twenty pounds per annum to be conveyed unto him to be issuing out of the said manor of Kintbury if it be not rebought and if it be then to be paid him by my executors to whom for discharge thereof I bequeath two hundred and fifty pounds to remain in their hands during his life and after his decease to be truly paid over and accounted to my father the payment of this annuity not to begin till the payment of the twenty pounds per annum formerly granted him be determined. ITEM; my will and desire is that neither the said Francis Chocke my father nor my uncle the said William Chocke shall have or receive any benefit by this my present will and testament or anything herein contained till such time as they shall have severally released to my executors all former annuities heretofore granted them by me and all debts and promises which they may pretend from me whatsoever. ITEM; my will and desire is and it is my true meaning throughout every of the former articles of this my last will and testament that if my father the said Francis Chocke shall happen to die before he shall receive all such benefit as well of land as money as is herein intended and formerly bequeathed unto him in manner aforesaid that then so much of all the said benefit as well of land as money not having come to my father’s hands before his decease shall redound and come unto and shall be received and kept by my executors in their own hands to the use and benefit of my brother FRANCIS CHOCKE until he shall attain to the full age of twenty years; and if he die in the meantime then to the use and benefit of the next heir male of my father’s body till he come of age and if no issue male of my father survive then my will and desire is that it shall remain in my executors’ hands to be disposed of by them at their discretions in the breeding and marriage of my father’s heirs female. ITEM; I give and bequeath to my father the said Francis Chocke all my leases that I hold any lands houses or tenements by upon condition that within two months after my decease he assign them over to my wife or to her use for the several terms in the said leases contained if she shall so long live and for default of such assignment to be made according to the true meaning hereof I give and bequeath all the said leases to my said wife; I except here both the leases of Kintbury before mentioned. ITEM; I give to my brother the said Francis Chocke all my books seals and pictures. ITEM; I give and bequeath to my cousin the aforesaid SIR JOHN DARELL my grey nag called Millington. ITEM; I give to my cousin RICHARD BROWNE of Dewford gent a silver flagon of wine or ten pounds. ITEM; I give and bequeath to my servant Peter Woolridge for term of his life a tenement in Slanderwicke in the County of Somerset late in the possession of one Palmer sometimes called the [quarr] tenement. ITEM; I give and bequeath to my servant William Davis ten pounds or twenty pounds. ITEM; I give and bequeath to my servant Elizabeth Cooper ten pounds. ITEM; If any of my servants before-named shall depart out of my service before my death then my will is that every such one so departing shall lose their legacy. ITEM; I give to all the rest of my servants which shall be dwelling with me at the time of my death one year’s wages apiece. ITEM; I give and bequeath to the poor of the parish where I shall happen to die forty shillings. To the poor of the parish of Hungerford in the County of Berks five pounds; and to the poor of the parish of Kintbury three pounds six shillings eight pence. ITEM; I give and bequeath unto my Uncle GABRIELL COX the Stewardship of Kintbury aforesaid (if the said land be not rebought) with the yearly fee of forty four shillings there hence to be issuing for terms of his life praying him to be hereafter as assistant to those that shall succeed me in my estate as he hath ever been to my predecessors and to me and in case that the said land be rebought then I give and bequeath to ELLENOR one of the daughters of the said Gabriell a cup of twenty pounds or twenty pounds in money at the choice of the said Ellenor. ITEM; I give and bequeath to MARY my beloved wife all other my household stuff plate jewels hangings debts goods and chattels whatsoever not formerly disposed of except such debts as are due me upon specialty the use whereof I have formerly appointed. Lastly I do make constitute and ordain my loving friends and fathers in law Sir Anthony Hungerford and the aforesaid Sir William Pitt knights my joint executors of this my last will and testament praying and desiring their pains in the due execution thereof according to equity and true meaning. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year first above written – Laus deo in eternam – Alex. Chocke – witnessed by me – William Brook John Wirrall Richard Browne John Cooke
Proved 20th May 1625 by Anthony Hungerford and William Pitt (executors)
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