11-0387-112_SirChristopherWandesfordBt_1687
In nomine Dei, Amen, I Sir Christopher WANDESFORD of Hipswell in the County of York, Baronet being at present under some indisposition of body but of sound and good memory and understanding, praised be Almighty God for the same and for all other his mercies vouchsafed me through the whole course of my life, and seriously considering human frailty and the variety of accidents we are every moment subject to and that it’s most certain all must die though the time and manner is as uncertain and various and with all that it is a duty incumbent on me to settle my temporal concerns as far as in me lies, do make publish and declare this my last will and testament, and in the first place I do in all humility resign up my soul into the gracious hands of Almighty God my Heavenly Father relying only upon his merits and the all sufficient merits of Jesus Christ for the full and free pardon of all my sins and transgressions here and by the grace and assistance of of the Holy Spirit to be a meet partake of the Kingdom of Heaven when this life shall have an end; and my body I commit unto the earth (whereof it was formed) in a good and comfortable hope and assurance of a joyful resurrection to life and immortality at the last day, the interment whereof I leave to the care and ordering of my dear and loving wife Dame Eleanor WANDESFORD; and as for that temporal estate and worldly substance wherewith it has pleased God to bless me and which remains in my possession, I do order, will, appoint and dispose the same on form and manner following, that is to say: inprimis, whereas in and by an indenture tripartite bearing date on or about the five and twentieth day of April in the five and thirtieth year of the reign of his late Majesty King Charles the Second, AD 1683, made or expressed to be made between myself and my said wife and Christopher WANDESFORD my son and heir apparent of the first part; Edward Montagu and Christopher Montagu Esquires, sons of the Honourable George Montagu late of Westminster deceased and Elizabeth Montagu eldest daughter of the said George Montagu, Thomas Pelham Esq and Anthony Firby Esq of the second part; and Sir Henry Horne, Knight, Sir John Champante Knight, Sir John Lowther of Stockbridge Baronet, and John Balby Esquire of the third party the same being or purporting a settlement of all or the greatest part of my real estate both in England and Ireland, I have (amongst other things) limited and appointed several of my manors, lands, tenements and hereditaments from and after my death for a term of four hundred years (in effect) for raising and paying to and for my wife in case she shall survive me the annual sum of two hundred pounds forever and besides the provision and settlement made for her at our intermarriage for and during so many years of the said term as she should live, and also for raising ten thousand and five hundred pounds for the portions of my younger children to be paid them at such times and in proportions manner and form as by my deed or last will and testament in writing or testified by two or more credible witnesses I should appoint and direct or in default thereof by equal parts and proportions share and share alike, and whereas I have through God’s blessing eight younger children now living, namely: George, Charles, Mary, Eleanor, Catherine, Elizabeth, Alice and Christian and since the making of my said settlement my daughter Eleanor has without my privity or consent intermarried with one Mr Amyas BUSHE who has not yet made any settlement or provision for her maintenance, now in regard thereof I do in pursuance and by virtue of the power and authority to me reserved by the said settlement, and by virtue of all other power to me in this behalf reserved, order and appoint only five pounds of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds for my said daughter Eleanor the same to be paid her within three months after my decease, and I do also order and appoint one thousand pounds more of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds to be raised as soon as conveniently may be out of my said manors and lands settled for that purpose, and the same thousand pounds to be so disposed for the benefit and use of my said daughter Eleanor and her children (if she have or shall have any) as that her said husband shall not intermeddle nor have anything to do therewith, but the said one thousand pounds and all the proceeds and increase thereof to be from time to time paid and disposed as my said daughter Eleanor alone notwithstanding coverture shall direct or appoint, and the said one thousand pounds shall be laid out in purchasing of lands or houses or other hereditaments which I leave to the election of my wife and trustees afore named and the survivors and survivor of them and the executors and administrators of such survivor, the same shall be so settled that the product and income thereof shall always go and be paid to and for the separate maintenance and benefit of the said Eleanor my daughter and such children sh has and shall have in such proportions and in such sort and manner as my said wife (her mother) or any two of my said trustees or the survivors or survivor of them and the executors or administrators of such survivor shall think fit, and whereas also since my said settlement I have preferred in marriage my daughter Catherine to one Richard PYNE Esq, I do according to my power in this appoint to her only five pounds of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds in regard I have already paid him one thousand pounds in part and am to pay him five hundred pounds more in full of her portion at the end of nine calendar months to be reckoned from the one and twentieth day of October last 1686 (being her wedding day) in case she be then living, which remaining sum I hope may be paid in my lifetime, but if things shall so happen that the same cannot be paid so soon, then I do order and appoint the said sum of five hundred pounds to be raised and paid for my said daughter Catherine out of the first rents and profits of my said settled lands and premises to be employed and disposed of according to the purport of an agreement made in this behalf upon the marriage of the said Richard Pyne and my said daughter Catherine. Also I do order and appoint to and for my said son George and my daughter Mary out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds fifteen hundred pounds apiece. And out of my personal estate I give and appoint to each of them five hundred pounds more to make up their portions two thousand pounds apiece if my personal estate will reach to do it and not otherwise, to be paid them as follows (viz.) three hundred pounds in the first place to my daughter Mary and after that to my son George two hundred pounds more. And to my son Charles I give and appoint out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds the sum of fifteen hundred pounds and out of my personal estate the addict also sum of three hundred pounds if the same will reach to do it and not otherwise. And to my other younger children I give and appoint out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds fifteen hundred pounds apiece, but my will is and I do order and appoint all my unmarried children’s portions which is to arise out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds upon this condition that if any of them shall marry without the consent of my wife (if living) and two or more of my said trustees (if she be dead) then by the power I have as aforesaid I do appoint to such child or children so marrying only one thousand pounds apiece out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds and that the remaining five hundred pounds shall go and be paid for augmenting such of my other younger children’s portions as shall continue sole or marry with such consent in equal portions, and it is also my will and meaning and I do order and appoint that the forty pounds per annum intended for my daughter Eleanor’s maintenance shall be paid until the said one thousand pounds be raised for her, yet so as her husband shall not intermeddle therewith, and her own particular receipt shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my executors and trustees for the same. And I do give and bequeath to my dear and loving wife all my rings, jewels, plate, coaches, coach horses and harnesses, and also the sum of one hundred pounds for the repairing and putting in order my house at Hipswell or else my underwoods at Hipswell to be sold and she to have the money those woods shall paid for that purpose at my wife’s election. And concerning household stuff and furniture in and about my late dwelling house at Kirklington my will is that my wife may take such of them as she shall think good or have a mind to for furnishing her house at Hipswell or any other house she shall think fit to dwell in. And the rest of my goods and moveables at Kirtlington or elsewhere be sold and disposed to the best advantage towards payment of my debts and legacies, except my books at Kirklington which I bequeath to my eldest son Christopher Wandesford desiring him to leave the same or the most considerable of them as heirlooms that they may come to his posterity as they have been left to him. ITEM; my will and mind is that one hundred pounds be laid out by my executors within seven years after my death in purchasing the fee and inheritance of lands tenements or hereditaments in or near Catterick or Hipswell in the County of York with the approbation of my son Christopher Wandesford and the vicar and churchwardens or overseers of the poor of Catterick aforesaid or any three of them whereof my son to be one (if living) and the product and profit thereof I appoint to be always applied and paid for binding out apprentices to trades and manual occupations, to be chosen out of and from among the children of such as are or shall be tenants of the manor or Lordship of Hipswell, High Waitwith, Low Waitwith, Sandbeck and Hudswell or some of them in such sort and manner as the (owner) of Hipswell and vicar of Catterick for the time being shall nominate and appoint, and it is likewise my will that the sum of fifty pounds to be laid out by my executors within seven years after my decease in purchasing land, tenements or hereditaments in fee in or near Kirklington aforesaid by the approbation or good liking of my son Christopher Wandesford (if living) and the proceeds and profits thereof I will and appoint to be always applied and paid for and towards placing out children apprentices to some handicraft trades or manual occupations so as such apprentice before of the children of such as are or shall be tenants to the manor of Kirklington and the same to be always nominated and appointed by my heirs male and the rector of the parish church of Kirklington for the time being, and failing such heirs then by the said rector and the churchwardens of Kirklington successively forever. ITEM; I give to my worthy good friends and trustees Sir Henry Horne, Sir John Lowther, Sir John Champante and John Bailey Esq., five pounds apiece to buy them memorial rings, Also I do will order and appoint all my just debts to be paid as soon as possible after my death and what I have thus devised and settled to and for my children I declare to be and so was always intended in full of their parts and shares of my personal estate and that no one of them any more than is expressly mentioned upon pretence or by colour of any custom (presage) within the see or province of York, and if any of my children shall upon that pretence or by virtue thereof claim, file for and recover any part of my personal estate other than what is hereby expressly given or intended for them as aforesaid, then I appoint and declare that double the sum or value thereof shall be defaulted or taken out of their part and share of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds and the same shall be disposed and paid equally to and amongst such of my other younger children as shall acquiesce and rest satisfied with the provision and legacies so made and given them as aforesaid, and whereas my late father (being Deputy of Ireland) did disburse the sum of fifteen hundred pounds on the account of the then tobacco trade in that Kingdom wherein it pleased the Earl of Stafford, then Lord Lieutenant, to appoint my father to have a share to the proportion of an eighth part and which debt the now Earl of Stafford has often owned and promised to take care of satisfying the same, I hope my Lord will be so just and honourable to take into consideration and pay to my executors for better enabling them to perform this my will and I do make and constitute my dear and loving wife Dame Eleanor Wandesford and my honoured kinsman Sir John Lowther of Sockbridge Baronet executors of this my last will and testament and my dear brother in law Richard LOWTHER Esq and my son in law Richard Pyne Esq overseers of the same requesting their assistance with the ordering of my concernments so that my will may be in all things duly performed, and as an expression of my love and due respect to the said Sir John Lowther I bequeath unto him twenty guineas to be paid him upon his proving this my will and taking upon him the execution thereof which I hope he will not refuse, and for his better encouragement to the undertaking thereof I do order will and appoint all charges and disbursements happening in or about the management and ordering of my estate to be defaulted and allowed to my executors. The residue and overplus of my personal estate of what kind or nature so ever after payment of my debts funeral charges and legacies aforementioned I leave to my dear wife for the better enabling her to maintain and provide for herself and our dear children whom I commit to the good providence of Almighty God praying for his blessing on them and all their concernments and I revoke and disannul all wills by me formerly made and declare them utterly void, in testimony whereof and that this is my only last will contained in these seven sheets of paper all filed together at the top I have thereto set my seal and subscribed my name to every sheet this fifteenth day of December AD1686 and in the second year of the reign of our gracious sovereign Lord King James the second over England etc – Chris Wandesford – signed sealed and published by the said Sir Christopher Wandesford (the testator) as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us four who at his request and in his sight and presence have subscribed our names as witnesses thereunto – William Warne, Charles Earl (xxx), Jer. Hammond, Ralf Turner.
I Sir Christopher WANDESFORD Baronet by this additional writing or codicil which I declare and intend to be part of my will do, by virtue of the power I have in and touching the ten thousand and five hundred pounds in my said will mentioned and the distribution and disposal of the same, direct order and appoint that if any of my unmarried children shall happen to marry in my wife’s lifetime with the approbation of my wife then the portion or portions to such child or children belonging or so much and such part thereof as my wife shall think fit shall be raised and paid before the portions of such of my children as shall remain sole and unmarried or shall marry without such consent or approbation, and whereas I have by a deed of settlement appointed only forty pounds per annum apiece for the present maintenance of my younger children which I think will be too short allowance to maintain my sons George and Charles, especially if they have their education at the university or Inns of Court, my will and mind is that, if it may be, my wife shall default twenty pounds a year for each of them out of my unmarried daughters’ allowances or else shall take the same out of my personal estate before my daughter Mary’s or my son George’s additional portions shall be paid them as my wife shall think fit, and I do hereby ratify and confirm the settlements heretofore made upon my wife either upon my own or my son’s marriage, and this writing I would have accounted and taken only as a further explanation of my mind and not a revocation of my will. Witness my hand and seal the three and twentieth day of December AD1686 and in the second year of the reign of King James the second over England etc. – Chris Wandesford – memorandum, this codicil was signed, sealed and published by the said Christopher Wandesford as and for part of his last will and testament in the presence of us four who at his request and in his sight and presence have subscribed our names as witnesses thereunto: William Warn:, Chas Earle, Jeremiah Hammond, Ralf Turner.
Memorandum: I Sir Christopher Wandesford having further considered some passages in this my will do by virtue of the aforesaid power order and appoint to my son George only the sum of five pounds out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds, the same five pounds to be paid him within three months after my death and the residue of the fifteen hundred pounds which might come to him out of the said sum were there not this particular order or appointment in will and mind is and I do appoint that the same or so much and such part thereof my wife and my other executor shall think fit be laid out in purchasing either some office or placement or else lands or tenements for my son George, and if the same shall be laid out in purchasing lands or tenements I would have the same so settled that my son George may enjoy the same during his life only and after that the issue of his body lawfully to be begotten, with remainder to my son Charles and the issue of his body lawfully to be begotten, with remainder to my son Christopher Wandesford and his heirs or otherwise as my wife and my other executor shall think best and most advantageous for my son George but if the said fifteen hundred pounds shall not be laid out and disposed in my wife’s lifetime in such manner as I have by this codicil appointed then the same shall go to my son George in such manner as is before by my will intended, and whereas for augmenting the portions of my son George and daughter Mary to be raised out of the said ten thousand and five hundred pounds I have appointed the sum of five hundred pounds apiece to be raised out of my personal estate (if the same will (xxx) it) to be paid them in order as follows (viz.) to my daughter Mary three hundred pounds, then to my son George three hundred pounds, and after that to my daughter Mary two hundred hundred pounds, and then to my son George two hundred pounds, now my will and mind is that my son George shall have three hundred pounds out of my personal estate before my daughter Mary shall have any part of the said five hundred pounds, and this codicil I declare to be part of my will. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the seventh day of February AD 1686, and in the third year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James the second over England etc – Chris Wandesford – as and for part of his last will and testament in the presence of us four who at his request and in his sight and presence have subscribed our names as witnesses thereunto – Wm Warne; Cha Earle; Jer Hammond Ralph Turner
Proved by Dame Eleanor Wandesford 14th April 1687