Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Jun 29, 2011
Tagged in:
writing ,
Woodford ,
witnesses ,
Wiltshire Wills Project ,
will ,
Vicessimus ,
servant ,
Malmesbury ,
Little Somerford ,
John West ,
Joan Kyte ,
Hester Minchin ,
Elizabeth Kyte ,
court papers ,
Cleverton ,
calligrapher
Newly discovered papers reveal the background to the making of a will and the family conflict involved in its probate in late 17th century Wiltshire.
Hester's will
Ref: P/3/M/200
In early June 1692 worn out by her travails Hester Minchin of the village Cleverton, near Malmesbury, took to her bed and decided that the time had come to make her will. She sent her son Thomas, known as Vicessimus because he was her twentieth child, to the nearby village of Little Somerford to summon John West, a writing master. In the presence of her servant Joan Kyte and Elizabeth Kyte she declared her will. John left the chamber and wrote the will which was read out and signed be Hester and the witnesses. For some reason Elizabeth signed as that of her former married name of Woodford, but this was subsequently scratched out and her current name written over it. The elaborate and flourishing letters of the opening line are evidence of John’s skill as a calligrapher.
The will was disputed by one of Hester’s sons, Giles, whose debt to his mother was bequeathed to his brothers Samuel and Thomas. However the case was overturned and the will was proved in 1694. Found among a bundle of miscellaneous church court papers these documents have been re-united with the will and associated papers which all bear the tell-tale holes proving that originally they had been pinned together. The whole group will be filmed under the Wiltshire Wills Project. (P/3/M/300)
Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Jul 27, 2010
Tagged in:
Wiltshire Wills Project ,
Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre ,
wills ,
will ,
storage ,
probate papers ,
preserving ,
preservation ,
material ,
John Smith’s ,
John Smith ,
Heritage Lottery ,
half a million ,
funded ,
documents ,
distinction ,
digitising ,
conserving ,
cleaning ,
Archive Conservation ,
17th century ,
1000th
Recently the rather unprepossessing 17th century will of John Smith (P1/S/644), gained the distinction of becoming the 1000th will to be conserved as part of the Heritage Lottery funded Wiltshire Wills Project.
The Will of John Smith
This project is digitising, conserving and preserving the 100,000 plus wills and probate papers (an estimated half a million individual documents) held at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. To find out more, please 'read more'.
Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Jan 5, 2010
Tagged in:
Wroughton ,
Wiltshire Family History Society ,
Wiltshire and Swindon Archives ,
Wiltshire ,
William of Whitley ,
will ,
Victoria and Albert Museum ,
TV series ,
topographical ,
Time Lord ,
Thomas Gore ,
The Doctor ,
Syntagma Genealogicum ,
Swindon Borough Council ,
surgeon ,
seal matrix ,
re-incarnated ,
Quarter Sessions ,
punning seal ,
Principal Archivist ,
parish ,
North West Wiltshire ,
Norfolk ,
medieval sculpture ,
medieval deeds ,
Mayor ,
marriage licence bond ,
Malmesbury ,
Latin ,
John Aubrey ,
importance ,
Gore family ,
Friends of the National Libraries ,
estates ,
Dr Who ,
Dr Qui ,
documents ,
collection ,
Claire Skinner ,
bidding ,
auction ,
Archives ,
antiquarian ,
Alderton deeds ,
Alderman
Documents in WSA suggest that the famous Time Lord may have spent time in Malmesbury in the mid 17th century.
A Dr Qui [the Latin for who] is mentioned several times between 1657 and 1675, and was an important person in the town. He was described as a surgeon in his marriage licence bond, when aged 40 he took a bride aged 26 from Wroughton. In Easter 1673 he signed a letter filed in the Quarter Sessions records as Alderman (Mayor) of Malmesbury.
He was buried in Malmesbury abbey church yard 1675, and his will was proved in the following year. However as fans of the TV series know only too well the Doctor has been re-incarnated at least ten times so evidence of his death may well have been exaggerated.
Alderton deeds saved for Wiltshire
Although most of the archives placed in our care are deposited on loan or outright gift, we do purchase material of particular importance. In August we were alerted to sale of about 150 medieval deeds relating to the estates of the Gore family of Alderton, a small parish in North West Wiltshire. Unfortunately in order to maximise the vendor’s profit they were broken up into many separate lots. Principal archivist Claire Skinner spent a stressful but exciting morning bidding by telephone at an auction taking place in Norfolk, and managed to purchase about half of the lots (95 deeds) which covered the earliest documents. This was achieved by a combination of our own budget and generous contributions from the Friends of the National Libraries, and Wiltshire Family History Society.
Close-up of the earliest Alderton deed purchased in 2009 – reference 3815/1/1
Grant by William Lycame of Alderton (spelt Aldrynton here) to John Bovetoun and Christine his wife, of the rent of a grain of wheat for a tenement, dated 1332. The deed is in Latin, which was the language of the law until 1733.
Many of the deeds have seals attached which illustrate the craftsmanship and vitality of medieval small scale sculpture. A good example is the punning seal of William Gore which has a bull’s head between his initials. To find out more and see if you can help us with identifying a family and church in some photographs dating back to the 1950s please 'read more'...
