Cow !!!

[Mythology]

COW !!!

I suppose that I will have to start by admitting that "COW" doesn't actually exist - but it got your attention, didn't it? :D

COW = Campaign for Original Wills.

A photocopy of an original will arrived in the post this morning. I already have the registered copy and, as usual, they are not the same. A friend who can type also arrived this morning (though not in the post), so before I have a grump, make a large pot of tea (or whatever your poison), settle down, and let me tell you a story. ........

Jeremiah Halfwit was a London clerk. Poor Jeremiah had the tedious job of copying wills of people who he did not know (and had no interest in whatsoever) into the will register. Can you imagine anything more boring? It is little wonder that Jeremiah's mind occasionally wandered and, once in a while, he missed a bit out, or gave up trying to decipher the scrawl that he'd been presented with so just took a guess and got a word or two wrong. We must not be too hard on Jeremiah.

In fairness to him, we should also note that Jeremiah was a reasonably conscientious fellow, who, unlike some people who think that they are incapable of ever making a mistake, did read through his work afterwards to check it. The evidence for this can be seen in numerous places where, for instance, an insertion mark appears in his copy, with a word that he accidentally omitted shown in the margin.

(continues)

[Mythology]

It was a dark and stormy night ......

Oh! No, sorry, that's the wrong story. ;)

It was a freezing cold February day - so cold that Jeremiah wondered whether maybe he ought to make his own will instead of copying those of other people. The previous winter, one his colleagues had died of exposure half way through copying a will, and Jeremiah's miserly boss, Mr. Ductite, had then reluctantly installed the smallest stove that he could find, but its pathetic attempts to take the chill out of the air were negated by the gaping hole in the grimy window. This, like many things in Mr Ductite's ramshackle premises, was on the "I'll fix it one day when I find a workman who doesn't want to charge me an arm and a leg" list, and that day had not yet come.

At approximately two-thirty in the afternoon, Jeremiah stabbed at the ice in the inkwell with the nib of his pen, succeeded in breaking both ice and nib and, managing to fit a new nib before the inkwell froze over again, started to copy his tenth will of the day.

At three o'clock, the clerks were allowed a ten minute break. The procedure was that Mr Ductite would enter the office bearing a tray of what he, with the usual misleading language of the legal profession, described as "refreshments". A clerk who did not mind having two pence deducted from his wages could then, courtesy of Mr Ductite, partake of a small glass of that recycled sewage which Londoners meekly accept as being "water". An extravagant clerk who did not mind having six pence deducted from his wages could, if he had strong teeth, partake of something which was the result of Mr Ductite's scavenging in the bins of a nearby railway company's catering department. In those dim and distant days there was no Trading Standards Office, nor Sale of Goods Act, so, even allowing for deterioration due to excessively long storage, Mr Ductite was quite within his rights, and only slightly more inaccurate than the railway company, in calling this a "sandwich".

A sensible clerk (and such was Jeremiah) would normally decline both offerings, continue working, and take advantage of Mr Ductite's generous contract terms, by which those who worked through their ten minute morning break, their half-hour lunch break and their ten minute afternoon break, were allowed to go home five minutes early.

(continues)

[Mythology]

A few minutes before three o'clock, Jeremiah had finished copying out the will and was checking his work for errors.
"Oh, blast!", muttered Jeremiah under his breath, "I've missed a whole two lines out."
Picking up his pen, he added an inverted "v" between the words at the appropriate point in his copy, with a little "x" above it as a cross reference to the missing section. He was about to add the missing words when the office door opened. A gasp of surprise from one on his colleagues, and the absence of Mr Ductite's usual call of "Refreshments!", alerted Jeremiah to the fact that something out of the ordinary had occurred. He put down his pen and turned around to see what was happening ......

Let us step back in time to eleven o'clock that morning. It was about then that Mr Ductite decided that, even with the superior fire which he had going in his office it was too cold for comfort, and began to regret his decision to buy the cheapest coal available. Weighing up the costs of better quality coal versus alcohol, he concluded that a visit to the warmer environment of the "Wig & Pen" was in order. This was to prove an expensive mistake.

Among the occupants of the "Wig & Pen" that morning was a young lady by the name of Priscilla Joslin, a native of Romford, Essex. Usually known as "Prissy", she was anything but, and frequently visited the metropolis to improve her earnings. The "Wig & Pen", well-known as a favourite haunt of rich lawyers, was somewhere that she never failed to include on her rounds.

Poor Mr Ductite. The bulge of his wallet acted like a magnet to Prissy, and he, unused to alcohol in any great quantity in the first place, and completely unaware that "free drinks" offered by a provocatively clad young lady were likely to have been "improved" somewhere between the bar and the table, was soon decidedly tipsy. Not only did the contents of his wallet diminish at what, had he been sober, he would have regarded as an alarming rate, but he foolishly referred to the possibility of going back to the office to get some more from the safe. Prissy, an experienced judge of a man's assets, managed to refrain from making a spectacle of herself by jumping for joy on hearing the word "safe" - this was no more than she had been expecting. She merely suggested that, as he seemed a little unsteady, she should accompany the gentleman back to his office, in the privacy of which, for a small consideration, they could have some better "entertainment". Mr Ductite was as good as ruined from the moment he accepted this offer.

(continues)

[Mythology]

We will pass over what took place in Mr Ductite's office that afternoon. Exactly how an inebriated person chooses to make up for the deficiencies of their cheap coal by using other means of keeping warm is none of our business. Furthermore, this is not a court of law, so we should not pass opinions on whether or not Prissy's charges for her services were reasonable and fair. In short, all that should concern us here is the effect of Mr Ductite's downfall on Jeremiah Halfwit's copying of the will, and that, dear readers, is why we will gloss over the early afternoon period and move on towards the all important time of three o'clock.

Prissy was getting hungry, and the "refreshments" provided for the clerks were not suitable for a refined young lady. They were not suitable for Prissy either. Mr Ductite was, of course, past caring by now, so raised no objection when she suggested that they send out for some food. Opening the window, Prissy whistled at the nearest messenger boy, flung him a ten pound note, and instructed him to "Scoot off an' get us some decent grub and summink ter wash it dahn wiv. Nuffink cold, mind, and no booze - we've 'ad plenty o' that - summink like 'ot pies and a big urn o' tea 'd be champion."

The sensible messenger boy, knowing that he was in with a chance of being told to keep the change, spent only nine pounds, but even nine pounds bought an awful lot of pies and tea in those days, far too much for Prissy and Mr Ductite. The latter, in a fit of drunken generosity, blurted out something barely intelligible, but clearly including the words "three o'clock" and "my boys". Prissy got the message and, at three o'clock, marched into the clerks' office bearing a tray of hot pies and steaming mugs of tea.

(continues)

[Mythology]

Hence the gasp of surprise from a clerk who was facing the door - and the surprise on Jeremiah's face, too, when he turned around and, instead of seeing Mr Ductite with his usual "water" and "sandwiches" was faced with an attractive young lady offering just what they needed on a freezing day. Even greater was the surprise when this angel placed the tray on the table saying "All yours, boys, and no charge."

The pies and tea were, of course, greatly appreciated by the clerks, but there is some dispute about subsequent events in which food and drink played no part. Prissy stated in court that she was still carrying the tray when the words "All yours, boys, and no charge" were uttered; that it was, therefore, quite clear that nothing other than the contents of the tray was on offer without payment, and that she was, therefore, owed the sum of one pound, seventeen shillings and sixpence, being half-a-crown from each of Mr Ductite's fifteen clerks. The fifteen clerks all swore that the words were uttered *after* the tray had been put down, and that their interpretation of the words was, therefore, perfectly reasonable. The court was adjourned to allow a lengthy private discussion in chambers between judge and claimant, following which the judge found in Prissy's favour.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Prissy's legal action, there can be no doubt that the departure from the normal three o'clock routine is what caused Jeremiah Halfwit to forget that he still had some wording to add to the will that he was working on when the peace of the office was so dramatically shattered. Jeremiah has, therefore left us with:
"I declare this to be my last Will and Testament set my hand the 27th day of January ...."
instead of:
"I declare this to be my last will and Testament In witness whereof I the said Sarah Debenham have to this my last Will and Testament set my hand the 27th day of January ...."

(continues)

[Mythology]

So, what is my grump?

I am, as you will have gathered, not having a grump about Jeremiah and his kind - they have my sympathy.

I am not having a grump about the fact that, when you enquire about a will, it is almost invariably the registered copy that you will be directed to. There is probably a good reason for this. I am not a lawyer, but I imagine that if you are contesting something in court, it is the registered copy that you would need. We, as family historians are (or, at least, should be) more concerned with obtaining a proper copy of the actual will than simply obtaining something with a legal stamp on it. As far as wills are concerned, though, prior to the recent explosion of interest in family history we were (and maybe still are) in the minority - it's the legal profession who made/make the most use of them. It is, therefore, not surprising that we find the registered copies more easily available. The situation varies from one place to another, and some record offices are taking (or have taken) steps to make life easier for us, but it is quite normal to find that, say, the registered copies are on film, so you can do a print-out on the spot at very little cost, whereas the originals are filed away and copies can only be obtained at a greater cost and with some delay. Don't blame the record offices - they did what was needed at the time, and they do not have the resources to suddenly copy all the originals, do all the associated work of cataloguing and indexing, and thus make them more easily available!

I *could* have a bit of a grump about the National Archives trapping the unwary by boldly advertising their online PCC wills service without clearly pointing out that what you are paying £3.50 for is not the will, it is somebody's transcript of the will, and sometimes a pretty shoddy one at that. However, that is, in my eyes, not really worth getting annoyed about - the world is full of pitfalls for the unwary.

(continues)

[Mythology]

What makes me grumpy is when people obtain the registered copy, transcribe it, and put the result on their web site as being "The will of" whoever, without mentioning that it is the registered copy that they used, not the original.

Now, you may, especially if visiting the relevant record office in person is not practical, feel that the cost and/or difficulty of obtaining a copy of the original is not worth it. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the difference will probably be very little. In terms of things like the dates, the "who gets what", the addresses and/or relationships given for beneficiaries and so on, it is unlikely that you will have missed anything or that there will be any significant discrepancies. If that is how you feel, fine, that's up to you, I don't get grumpy about that - provided that you make it clear that this is what you have done.

If you use the registered copy, and simply present it as being "The will of" whoever, as if it is the original will that you have used, then you are no better than somebody who takes an IGI "extracted" entry and claims on their web site that they have taken it "from the parish register" - to be blunt, it is a lie!

(Amen)

[Terry]

Love it:) More! more! we cry.

[BeeE586]

I have had the undoubted privilege of handling 16th century wills at Lichfield DRO. For many years I was a member of a research group transcribing and analyzing probate documents for certain north Derbyshire parishes. We worked from photocopies, but some documents had been creased or folded and the copies were difficult to read, and for these we had to see the originals. The thrill of unfolding and handling a rather battered piece of parchment written some 450 years ago, with actual signatures and sometimes seals still attached is something else, and really puts one in touch with the past.

They really were almost always originals and could be trusted.

Eileen

PS You should be writing novels, Mythology, I really did LOL.

[Guy Etchells]

What makes me grumpy is when people obtain the registered copy, transcribe it, and put the result on their web site as being "The will of" whoever, without mentioning that it is the registered copy that they used, not the original.

Now, you may, especially if visiting the relevant record office in person is not practical, feel that the cost and/or difficulty of obtaining a copy of the original is not worth it. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the difference will probably be very little. In terms of things like the dates, the "who gets what", the addresses and/or relationships given for beneficiaries and so on, it is unlikely that you will have missed anything or that there will be any significant discrepancies. If that is how you feel, fine, that's up to you, I don't get grumpy about that - provided that you make it clear that this is what you have done.

If you use the registered copy, and simply present it as being "The will of" whoever, as if it is the original will that you have used, then you are no better than somebody who takes an IGI "extracted" entry and claims on their web site that they have taken it "from the parish register" - to be blunt, it is a lie!

(Amen)

A more accurate analogy would be to compare a certified copy of a will to a certified copy of a birth certificate.
Both should carry the same information but sometimes do not.
An IGI "extracted" entry may come from a parish register, a bishops' transcript or even from some other transcribed record such as Gibson's Oxfordshire Marriage Index.
Cheers
Guy

[AnnB]

Myth, reading the saga of Prissy and the will has made me behind with everything :D So, I thought, s.d it, I'll make myself a bit later still! I said before you should write a book, Diane said you should write a book and now Eileen says you should write a book - you have a mini subscription list already.

And I sympathise with your grump as well ;)

Best wishes
Ann

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Myth, reading the saga of Prissy and the will has made me behind with everything :D So, I thought, s.d it, I'll make myself a bit later still! I said before you should write a book, Diane said you should write a book and now Eileen says you should write a book - you have a mini subscription list already.

And I sympathise with your grump as well ;)

Best wishes
Ann

Hi Myth :D

Ditto everything Ann says ...... I shouldn't be here! You've obviously typed this classic out before posting messages? When you have a minute, will you please send me a copy at home, so that I can file it in my *Myth's Stories Folder* please, along with the rest?

If you decide to publish anytime ...... does this mean that I will have a First Edition? ;)

[Mythology]

"A more accurate analogy would be to compare a certified copy of a will to a certified copy of a birth certificate."

Yes, Guy, quite right, a direct comparison like that, rather than my "you are no better than" (which is based on the principle, not the type of record) would indeed be better.

"You've obviously typed this ...."

Not I, Diane - "A friend who can type also arrived this morning ....." - and I notice that she has made two typos. You just can't get the staff these days. :rolleyes:
I'm not going to correct them on here in case editing causes the repeated text problem, but they will be corrected in the text file that I'll send.
Definitely no book - I am a bit selective in what I say in public, often, for instance, omitting the surname. If the contents of various e-mails which you have received and a few password protected web pages were made public, certain useful contacts who I have to bite my tongue when dealing with would get the hump and clam up, and I would probably get sued by everyone from the Weston-super-Mare Residents Association to the State of Nebraska. ;)

[IreneH]

I agree with everyone else Myth.

[busyglen]

I agree with everyone else Myth.

Me too!! Or should I say `as well'. ;)

Glenys

[ruthrrr]

Myth, reading the saga of Prissy and the will has made me behind with everything :D So, I thought, s.d it, I'll make myself a bit later still! I said before you should write a book, Diane said you should write a book and now Eileen says you should write a book - you have a mini subscription list already.

And I sympathise with your grump as well ;)

Best wishes
Ann

Lovely story, had me laughing. I think I repeat everyone when they say more please...maybe once a week, or every last Friday of the month????

Ruth

[IreneH]

Definitly a Myth Forum - would keep me in 'pick me ups' for a week.