Will of Elizabeth Lambe 1731

 Will of Elizabeth Lambe of Great Marlow. Written 1728, proved 1731.

 Says she is writing will because of the uncertainty of this transitory life.

Commends soul to God and hopes for pardon and remission for her sins.

Debts and funeral charges to be paid by her own executor. She to be decently interred.

To Mrs Susan Cooke a ...gown.....(several indecipherable words)

To Mr John Cooke four silver (medals?) and two pairs.....

To Mr Thomas Stanton a gold ...ring.

To Mrs Cordelia Stanton a gold locket.

To Mrs Dority [spelling reflects the common pronunciation of the name Dorothy at this time] Ward a green emerald ring with two diamonds.

To Mrs Dority Cavalier a mother of pearl snuff box bound with silver.

To Mr Peeter Pagett a silver snuff box.

To my brother....Bot... £5 and to Debora his wife £5, my wedding ring and a black cloth gown.

To John Rogers and Thomas Rogers my nephews £10 apiece.

To Richard, Robert and Debora (Dirks?) my cousins £5 apiece.

To Grace (Dirks?) a black silk gown.

To my sister Mary (Borch? Booth?) a black  gown and to her husband a silver spoon.

To Mrs Dority Horniman an ash coloured suit of silk and a quilted petticoat of red and green. In case the Ship "Mediterranean" in which the said suit and petticoat goes should miscarry the executor to make good the loss by way of a quantity of silk. [As becomes clear later in the will the testator is writing her will onboard a ship].

To Mr William M... £10.

I give mourning rings to Reverend Mr Benjamin Crow, to Mr William Gray, Mr Thomas Blackwell, Mr Thomas ...., Mr David Cannon, Mr Ch..g merchant at..., Mr John ..an, Mr John Row, Mr Robert Cartwright and his wife Mrs Mary Cartwright, Mr... my nephew and to his wife, each of the three sister of Mr (Mins?) in Bishopgate Street [presumably the street in London], Mr John Newton distiller and to his wife, Mr Thomas Buttler, Mr Cavalier of ...ghouse, to Captain Brown and to his wife, to Captain..., Mr Chamberlain Godfrey.

To Captain John Hark at my safe arrival at Legh... £10.

All else of personal estate to loving niece Anne Rogers who is also made executor of the will.

Witnessed by Richard Sh... and William May.

***

Questions may have arisen over the will as Elizabeth had made a mistake. Mr William May and Debora Rogers both of London appeared to give sworn statements as to being familiar with the testator and her wishes. William said that Elizabeth Lambe was late of Great Marlow, formerly of London and also of an illegible place in Italy. He was a fellow passenger on a merchant ship carrying Elizabeth from Legh...to England in April 1728 when and also took lodgings opposite her own lodgings when they arrived in London. There they both lived for several months.  She asked him to come and help her with her will in October 1728 [presumably ahead of her return voyage from London to Leigh...]. At the time Elizabeth indicated that she had forgotten the first name of the niece Rogers that she wanted to execute her will (!!!!). It was either Anne or Debora she thought but didn't think it mattered if the will got it wrong. Elizabeth was dictating the document to William and as she said it wasn't important that he rendered the name correctly he plumped for naming the executor as "Anne Rogers". Some time later he was once more a fellow passenger on the "Mediterranean" ship with Elizabeth and also her niece - Debora Rogers as it transpired not Anne! During the voyage Elizabeth indicated to him that this was the niece she intended to be the executor and main beneficiary of the will. This niece Debora he brought to the probate hearing. The court accepted this and Debora was allowed to execute the will. 

Hopefully she used some of her inheritance to get a nice big pendant with her name on to hang about her neck in case other relatives of hers were similarly vague as to her identity.

This p.c.c will transcribed from the original held at the National Archives, Kew and then summarized by me Charlotte Day.

Many other will transcriptions are on this blog, see the Wills Index.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my transcription summary with credit to this blog.

Mistresses and Blunderbusses - Oxford House Marlow Timeline and People

 A house up Oxford Road, close to the future Cambridge Road and Queens Road turnings and next to the former almshouses. Looks then to be the original name for Tilecotes / Tilecoates. The Tilecotes listed building notes call it vaguely "circa 18th century". IF it was originally Oxford House then a date of 1820s looks more probable. Anyway not the same as Oxford Cottage, or The Cottage, Oxford Road the latter of  which despite its cottage name was a large 8 bedroom residence. The garden of Oxford House is almost never mentioned when the house is sold, assessed or let suggesting it was relatively insignificant. 

1827 - For Sale or to let. Five beds. Beer and wine cellar. Separate wash house. (Morning Herald, 4th June. British Newspaper Archives) Charles Henry Bouverie (see below) left for St Lucia that year so it was likely him wishing to sell or lease the house. Evidently it was only leased in the end as Charles still owned it in 1836.

1832 - up for sale or let again. Now described as having 3 principal bedrooms, a water closet, principal and secondary staircases, dining and drawing rooms, and 4 servants rooms. Plus a cellar, good courtyard, a flower and kitchen garden (this the rare mention of the garden), 3 horse stable and a coach-house. The furniture was also available to purchase. 

1833- late in the year, Charles Henry Bouverie Esq. House with coach house and stabling worth an estimated £30 a year. (Parochial notebooks in my possession, my transcription). He was away working in St Lucia out and leased the house to others. Looks to have returned in 1834. When he died aged 54 in 1836 he left a will (P.C.C. held at the National Archives, Kew, transcribed by me) in which he left Oxford House and the furniture in it to Maria Julia Hedges his partner and the mother of his children Charlotte and Charles. The couple had never married. Their son Charles died in London age only 23 in 1847. Charles junior was bequeathed a portrait of his father and his fishing tackle. The rest of the family portraits went to Charles senior's sisters. Earlier in his life Charles Senior had served as an M.P though a pretty inactive one, and not for Marlow. He was buried at Betchworth Surrey. He had previously lived in Betchworth House there. He was the grandson of the Earl of Radnor.

1839- Robert Richmond. Leaving town so selling off a nearly new pony chaise, mahogany four poster beds, chintz and damask furniture. He was a cattle and sheep dealer. Moved to Shillingford, Oxon. A few months earlier had fallen victim to a forged bill of exchange worth over £1000. His move may have been due to financial distress. 

1841- Probably Samuel and Mary Horrod as below. They were certainly in Oxford Road then. For Samuel's role in the circumstances surrounding the 1847 Election riots in Marlow see here.

1851 census- Samuel Horrod age 67 originally from Middlesex and Mary his wife aged 79 originally from Durham with their 39 year old daughter Mary Ann born in Yorkshire and two servants. The family appear to have had Canadian connections. Samuel was a "government pensioner in 1847" when he supported the nomination of Sir William Clayton as Marlow M.P. He himself served as a Guardian of the poor in Marlow.

1853- Henry Sibley Esq. Kelly's Directories by Kelly's Directories Limited. Perhaps a relative of the Herrods?

1856-. Samuel Horrod died there early in the year. Mary the widow of Samuel Horrod died at Oxford House, seven months after her husband. Some of their possessions were auctioned off at the house afterwards by the executors of the estate. These included a phaeton and a gig, a mahogany pianoforte and, more unusually, a blunderbuss. (Reading Mercury 13th September 1856. British Newspaper Archive).

1857- Mary Ann Horrod. Daughter of Samuel and Mary. She must have been resident in name only as nearly all the house's furniture had been sold the previous year. Later that year a new temporary occupier was in place:

1857- T. A Pope was leaving the neighborhood so selling off some of the household goods from his home, Oxford House.

1860 - For sale. "MODERN HOUSE". [Probably 30 odd years old]. Coach house, stables, walled garden. Property surrounded by brick wall and entered by folding gates. Views of Beech woods, short walk to church and river. Being let at £45 a year. [Bucks Herald 26th May via the BNA.]

1861- Peter and Louisa Bossier and their children. 

1862. On "edge of town" as the town then was. With coach house, stables, paved yard, walled garden. Ample supply of water. [ Reading Mercury 24th May via the BNA.]

1871 Edmund Mudie and his sisters Eugenia, Elizabeth, Mary and Margaret. All born Venice, Italy plus their English-born cousin Edmund and 3 servants. [Census, my transcription from microfilm. Census information remains Crown Copyright.]

1881. Eugenia and Elizabeth Mudie. Annuitants. Plus a cook, housemaid and needlewoman. Census as above.

1883- Kelly's Post Office Directory -  Misses Mudie.

1889 - Frederic Clay composer of light opera music and a number of extremely popular songs and collaborator with Gilbert and Sullivan died there aged 50 after a six year period of debility due to a stroke. He had been left paralysed on his right side and was sadly unable to write another note of music thereafter. In distress at this and the rest of his restricted life Frederic committed suicide during the brief absence of his attendant. Usually unable to walk unaided, he'd struggled to his bath tub which was awaiting emptying and plunged his head under the water in order to drown himself. He left a note apparently, presumably with his non dominant hand. Frederic was born in Paris, the don of J Clay the "famous whist player" and British M.P. He was living with his unmarried sister Emily Clay at Oxford House. The Mudies sisters are not mentioned but Frederic and Emily were related to them. (Source: 1 The Annual Register Compiled and printed 1890. By Edmund Burke. 2, The Musical Times, December 1889. 3 The Referee December 1st 1889 and for more on him see  https://garrick.ssl.co.uk/names/SCL00)

1891. Emily Clay born Italy, single as above. Living with her were her cousins Eugenia and Elizabeth Mudie as above plus servants. The sisters Margaret and Mary Mudie both acted as "lady visitors" to the outpatients of the Marlow Cottage Hospital and were obviously still resident in Marlow that year. Perhaps they were temporarily absent at time of census and thus do not seem to live with their family at Oxford House. Emily Clay went to live near Maidenhead in the next few years, taking Eugenia and Elizabeth with her.

1895. A C Tearle was leaving the house. A cricketer, footballer and athletics umpire for Marlow. Teacher at Borlase school.

Address seems to vanish about then. Tilecotes pops up 1896. That house was occupied in its very earliest years by Borlase teachers.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Other sources:

Debretts Complete Peerage 1837.

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/bouverie-charles-henry-1782-1836

All mentions of any individual on this blog can be found on the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu.  There are thousands of people there! For more Oxford Road content see this index.

©Marlow Ancestors.