Missing page from will?

[Jan1954]

For some time now, I have been trying to find out how Jane MILSTED, who had spent her life as a domestic servant, could come by enough money to set up a laundry in St Albans.

To save you from wading through my previous thread (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23181), the background is that Jane, born and bred in Kent, suddenly appears in Hertfordshire in the 1907 Kelly's directory as a laundry owner. She had a brand new house with outbuildings in which to run the laundry.

How did she come by the dosh?

I found the will of the person for whom she was workng in 1901, but there was nothing mentioned.

His widow, Mary Stuckey, died in 1906 and yesterday I laid my hands on a copy of her will. In it, Mary says, "I wish to dispose of a variety of articles to different persons and I intend to make a list of such articles to accompany my will and to indicate my wishes in such list."

Aaaaargh! There was no list with the will!

So, my question is: should there have been a copy of this list with the will or would it not have been kept as it was not part of the main body of the will?

So near, but yet so far......

[Browneyes]

Hi Jan,

I wonder if the documents were kept with the deeds to any properties. You'd be surprised what documents solicitors hold. Who witnessed the will...are there any details of solicitors on there? Perhaps there was something similar to a Deed of Covenant, Trust Deed or something that documented rights or conditions, particularly to do with selling the property or if the list had been returned to the solicitors for some administrative reason or simply lost at some point. Could it have been a leasehold or tenancy rather than freehold? Might your lady have inherited the business or managed it for someone else?

Browneyes x

[Thomasin]

I intend to make a list of such articles to accompany my will and to indicate my wishes in such list."[/I]

Perhaps she meant to, but never got around to it (the everlasting To Do pile).

Thomasin

[Jan1954]

Browneyes:

The witnesses to the will were her solicitor and his butler. However, she adds a codicil to the will in 1905 (the original having been dated the previous year) which is witnessed by two of her servants, neither of whom were Jane.

The way I understand it, if you were to be a beneficiary in a will, you could not also be a witness, so that gives me a glimmer of hope.

I wonder if the solicitors are still in existence? Lethbridge of Dorchester.

Thomasin:

Please - not another "to do" list! |biggrin|

[Browneyes]

One way of finding out about Lethbridges is to find the nearest solicitors (or individual solicitor) that have been in business since the beginning of the 20th century. Up to, say, the end of last century solicitors/conveyancers etc knew each other well so someone might remember them and point you in the right direction.

I've looked on the Law Society website quickly but no luck so far. There is also a website called Solicitors England that lists solicitors. There is a Lethbridges in Canada!

Browneyes

[Jan1954]

Thanks for looking, Browneyes.

My father lives on the Hampshire/Dorset border and I pop down to stay with him from time to time. Next time that I am down there, I will haunt his local main library to see what I can find in the directories of their reference section.

He is not too far from Dorchester and I can also scurry down to Bournemouth to check out the address of where Mary was living when she died. It would be nice to see the house (if it is still there) of where Jane was probably working.

[Browneyes]

I'm checking Companies House for you Ma'am and will report back soon. :D

[Browneyes]

I can't find Lethbridges through Companies House or the Law Society links so I guess they stopped trading quite a while back. If you're down that way you could pop into one of the older solicitors, Battens perhaps as they say on their website they've served businesses and people for over 300 years. Failing that maybe the Solicitors Regulation Authority could point you in the right direction.

Wonder if there's any accounts from the laundry lurking somewhere...

Browneyes.

[Jan1954]

Wonder if there's any accounts from the laundry lurking somewhere...They are in my dad's loft. :D

Oh Lord! That means that I will have to climb the ladder with him waiting at the bottom, limping up and down (he has had 3 knees replaced...) and asking after my welfare every 30 seconds. :eek:

I know that we have the accounts book that shows how my great grandfather bought the laundry from Jane for £56. He paid 5/- here and 7/6 there. It is a lovely document. However, I am not sure as to what other records there are.

Thank you so much for scouring for solicitors. I think that this will have to wait until I haul myself in a southerly direction. |hug|

[Browneyes]

I'd be straight up that loft and settled nicely in a comfy chair for hours with those docs!

Your dad has 3 knees? Oh dear.

[Jan1954]

I'd be straight up that loft and settled nicely in a comfy chair for hours with those docs! Little does my father know, but that is exactly what I shall be doing next time I see him! ;)


Your dad has 3 knees? Oh dear. He had one replaced twice...... :o

[Jan1954]

Blast! I have just gone back to my notes and see that Jane was in St Albans by 1903. So that blows the 1906 will out of the water.

Back to the drawing board.....

However, I will first pop over to the library in St Albans to double-check the directories.

Sorry, folk.... :o

[ET in the USA]

Now that you have given it up, you daft bat, I don't need to make my 2 suggestions :D, but I will anyway in case it helps someone else.

1. Dont know how it works in the UK, but when my grandmother left me her beautiful .75 carat diamond engagement ring, she just wrote a list of things to her executor [my Uncle, whom she trusted to carry out her wishes] and didn't put it specifically in the will. I only mention the size to indicate that it was worth plenty, not just a trinket.

2. I got a will copy from the probate office & when I showed it to the god daughter of the deceased, she said it wasn't the real will & that this will had been contested & wasn't valid. Not sure I believe she had all the facts straight since it is what the probate office sent out, but I guess it is possible.
Elaine

[Jan1954]

Thank you for this information, Elaine. However, I have not given up on it completely yet so am grateful that you have posted it.

I intend to pootle over to the Library on Friday to have another rummage in Kelly's. My notes are rather old that refer to 1903 and, being greener at the time, I was much more easily side-tracked.

Keep your fingers crossed that I take my brain with me and obtain the correct information.

If I cannot find the entry, plan B is to hurtle across to the Hertford RO and have a look in their directories - they have ones other than Kelly's but, for the life of me, I cannot remember which ones they are.

I will report back with my findings.

[joette]

I suppose if she was a live-in servant-"all found" for most of her working life she might have been very thrifty & saved all her wages.
Particularly if she had no parents or siblings looking for financial help she may have been able to salt away quite a bit of money.If your rellie bought it from her for £56-or was that just the buisness?- then maybe she purchased it from the sweat of her own brow.
If she was a ladies maid or house maid she may also have collected "tips" from visitors-I understand it was the thing to do if guests stayed to tip the staff.
Certainly when I was working as a Nanny for a certain family about twenty years ago when people stayed they would leave"presents" for the staff which could be anything from chocolates to jewellery to cash. I am talking upper echelons & it seems this is a long-standing tradition.Quite the done thing! I have to add that I was usually not included in this as that would have constituted "bad taste" I was rewarded with notes of thanks & pictures from the children!!! Although a very nice family invited me to stay at their London mansion-where I was pampered for a week.