Will of William Bowler, yeoman, 1833 (proved 1839)
National Archives, PROB 11/1918/162
This is the last Will and Testament of me William Bowler of Winslow in the County of Bucks Yeoman First I give and devise unto my brother John Bowler and my Brothers in Law William Jones and James Hazzard All and every my freehold and copyhold messuages cottages lands tenements heredit(ament)s real estate and premises whatsoever situate standing lying and being in the parish of Winslow aforesaid or elsewhere with the respective rights members and appurt(enance)s thereto belonging to hold the same and every part thereof unto and to the use of the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard their heirs and assigns for ever Upon the Trusts hereinafter mentioned and declared of & concerning the same (that is to say) upon trust that they the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard and the survivors and survivor of them and the heirs and assigns of such survivor do and shall during the natural life of my Wife Ann Bowler permit and suffer her to have the use and enjoyment or receive the rents and profits thereof and of every part thereof for her own use and benefit She paying the interest of such incumbrances as shall from time to time affect the said hered(itament)s real estate and premises or any part thereof and keeping the said premises in good and tenantable repair and the buildings insured from loss or damage by fire and do and shall as soon as conveniently may be after the decease of my said Wife Ann Bowler sell and dispose of my said freehold and copyhold heredit(ament)s real estate and premises either by public auction or private contract for the most money and best price or prices that can be reasonably had or gotten for the same And pay apply and dispose of the monies to arise by such sale and disposition (after paying the reasonable costs and expences of and attending the same) as part of my personal Estate and effects hereinafter given and bequeathed and in case my said Wife Ann Bowler shall at any time be minded and desirous that a Sale should be effected in her lifetime of all or any part of my said freehold and copyhold heredit(ament)s real estate and premises then upon further Trust that they the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard or the survivors or survivor of them the heirs or assigns of such survivor do and shall with the consent of my said Wife Ann Bowler to be testified in writing under her hand forthwith sell and dispose of the said heredit(ament)s real estate and premises or any part thereof in manner aforesaid And put and place out the monies to arise by such sale and disposition (after paying thereout the reasonable costs and charges of and attending the same) in like manner as is therein after directed in respect of the surplus monies to arise by sale of the residue of my personal Estate and effects. And my mind and will and I declare and direct that the receipt or receipts in writing of the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard or the survivors or survivor of them or the heirs or assigns of such survivor shall be a good and sufficient discharge or discharges to the purchaser or purchasers of my said freehold and copyhold heredit(ament)s real estate and premises or any part thereof for so much of his her or their purchase money as in and by such receipt or receipts shall be acknowledged to be received And after such receipt or receipts such purchaser or purchasers shall be absolutely acquitted and discharged of and from the same and they or any of them shall not be answerable or accountable either in Law or Equity for any loss or damage which shall or may happen for or by reason of any misapplication or nonapplication of the said purchase monies or any part thereof Also I give and bequeath unto my said Wife Ann Bowler to and for her own use and benefit all her wearing apparel land ornaments of her person of every kind and also so much and such parts of my household goods and furniture linen and other effects as she may make choice of not exceeding in value the sum of thirty pounds also I give and bequeath
[p.2] unto the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard All the Rest and Residue of my household goods and furniture linen plate china ready money and securities for money goods chattels rights credits personal estate effects whatsoever and wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever (not hereinbefore by me otherwise disposed of) To hold the same and every part thereof unto the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazard [sic] their executors adm(inistrat)ors and assigns upon trust that they the said John Bowler William Jones and James Hazzard or the survivors or survivor of them or the executors adm(inistrat)ors or assigns of such survivor do and shall as soon as conveniently may be after my decease sell and dispose of the said personal Estate and Effects or such parts thereof as shall not consist of money or securities for money and shall be saleable for the most money best price or prices that can be reasonably obtained for the same And also collect and get in all debts which may be due to me on bond note or simple contract And by and out of the monies arising by such sale and disposition and to be collected and got in as aforesaid and my ready money do and shall in the first place pay off and discharge all such debts as I may justly owe at the time of my decease whether on specialty or simple contract my funeral and testamentary expences and the costs and charges of such sale and disposition and the collecting of the said debts and do and shall place out and invest the residue of the monies to arise as aforesaid which shall remain after answering the purposes hereinbefore mentioned upon Government or real security or securities at interest in their or his own names or name as they or he shall think proper and do and shall stand and be possessed of and interested in the security or securities in or upon which the same or any part thereof shall be placed out and the interest dividends and annual or other produce thereof (all and every which said security or securities shall and may from time to time be altered varied transferred assigned and disposed of and the monies thereby arising again placed out lent and advanced in or upon new or other security or securities as to them my said Trustees or the survivors or survivor of them or the executors adm(inistrat)ors or assigns of such survivor shall seem meet) Upon trust to pay the interest dividends and produce thereof into the hands of my said Wife Ann Bowler or otherwise to permit and suffer her to receive the same during the term of her natural life to whom I do hereby give and bequeath such interest dividends and produce accordingly and from and immediately after the decease of my said Wife Ann Bowler Upon further Trust to call in and receive the said monies so to be placed at interest as aforesaid and thereout in the first place to pay to my said brother John Bowler or permit and suffer him to retain in his own hands the sum of sixty pounds of lawful British money to and for his own use and benefit in case he shall survive my said Wife Ann Bowler but not otherwise which said Legacy I do in that case give and bequeath unto my said brother John Bowler accordingly and do and shall pay and divide the residue of the monies so to be placed at interest as aforesaid (except the sum of one hundred pounds part thereof) unto and among all and every the children of my sister Elizabeth the wife of William Davey and of my late brother Thomas Bowler deceased as shall be living at the time of the death of my said Wife Ann Bowler equally part and share alike to whom I do hereby give and bequeath the same accordingly and do and shall pay apply and dispose of the said sum of one hundred pounds unto and among such person or persons and for such ends intents and purposes and in such manner and form parts shares and proportions as the said Ann Bowler by any deed or deeds instrument or instruments in writing under her hand and seal to be sealed and delivered by her in the presence of and to be attested by two or more credible witnesses or by her last Will and Testament in writing or any writing in the nature of or purporting to
[p.3] her last Will and Testament or any Codicil or Codicils thereto \to/ be severally signed and published by her in the presence of and attested by the same number of Witnesses shall direct and appoint And for want of such direction and appointment In Trust for the person or persons who at the death of the said Ann Bowler shall be of the blood and in kin to her the said Ann Bowler and who either in his her or their own right or in right of his her or their representation would be entitled to the same under the statutes for the distribution of the Effects of intestates in case the said Ann Bowler had at that time died intestate and unmarried and if there should be more than one such person then to be divided between them in such parts shares and proportions as they would be entitled to the same under those Statutes and I do hereby nominate and appoint the said John Bowler William Jones James Hazzard joint Executors in trust of this my last Will and Testament and do hereby annul and make void all former and other Wills by me at any time heretofore made And my mind and will also is and I do hereby direct that my said Executors and Trustees shall each of them be answerable for his own acts deeds receipts and defaults only and not the one of them for either of the others of them and that they or any or either of them shall not be answerable for any more monies than shall be actually received by them or come to their hands respectively nor for any loss or reduction therein without their or some or one of their wilful neglect of default And also that they shall retain all their costs damages and expences in the trusts or executorship of this my Will out of the estate and effects in them respectively vested by virtue thereof or out of the monies arising therefrom In Witness whereof I the said William Bowler the Testator have to the four first sheets of this my last Will & Testament contained on five sheets of paper set my hand only and to this the fifth and last sheet thereof my hand and seal this first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty three
William Bowler
Signed sealed published and declared by the said William Bowler the Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who in his presence at his request and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as Witnesses thereof, the word three being first written on an erasure in the sixth line of this sheet,
Char(les) Willis Dav(id) Tho(mas) Willis John King Jun(ior) Clerk to Messrs. Willis
Proved at London 15th November 1839 by the oaths of John Bowler, the Brother William Jones and James Hazzard the executors to whom adm(inistratio)n was granted.
Notes
William Bowler's death was registered at Winslow in 1839, aged 58. He called himself a yeoman in his will but in some earlier documents he was a maltster. He lived at 9 Horn Street, which he inherited in 1806 from his father Thomas Bowler, maltster and wheelwright. His brother John Bowler lived in Bletchley. William was the last of the male Bowlers in Winslow. His widow Ann (daughter of James Hazzard and Ann Hazzard) was still at 9 Horn Street in 1841. She died in 1864, and the property was eventually put up for sale (see below). Lot 1 (9 Horn Street) was bought by William Henry French. Lot 2 was later incorporated into the rebuilt Congregational Church.
1877: Buckingham Advertiser, 31 March
2 Convenient Brick & Tiled HOUSES, With Cottage adjoining, and Walled Gardens in the rear, particularly well situate in Horn Street, with a commanding Frontage.
All those important and EXTENSIVE PREMISES - adjoining,
Comprising a LARGE MALTING, 117 feet in length. STABLES. Chaise House and Buildings, and 2 Brick and Tiled Cottages with spacious yards, the whole occupying a large and valuable area,
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY Mr. Geo. WIGLEY.
On WEDNESDAY, April 11th, 1877, at the Crooked Billet Inn, at 5 for 6 o’clock in the afternoon, in Two lots, by direction of the Trustee under the Will of the late Mr. William Bowler.
LOT 1 comprises a BRICK and TILED HOUSE in Horn Street, Winslow, in the occupation of Mrs. Bowden. A BRICK and TILED HOUSE adjoining, let to Mr. Merriman, both having good walled GARDENS in the rear, with well of Water, and Flower Gardens in front; also a BRICK and TILED COTTAGE adjoining the first-named House, let to Charlotte Faulkner. A Court Yard and 3 Brick and Thatched Wood Barns.
This Lot (with the gateway entrance) has a frontage of about 83 feet to the street, and is situate in a very pleasant and important part of the town.
LOT 2 comprises a large and lofty MALTING (brick built and partly tiled and thatched), about 117 feet in length, with Kilns, Chambers, Granaries &c. Brick and Slated Chaisehouse and Stable with loft over. Two Brick and Tiled COTTAGES. A pump of Water and a large and extensive yard.
To an enterprising person this lot offers valuable facilities as being well adapted for the formation of Hunting Stables, Warehouses, or other business premises, into which it is easily convertible, for all of which there is a special demand.
The Property is copyhold of the Manor of Winslow, and subject to a quit rent of 4d. per annum, and to the customary fines and Heriots.
For a view apply to the tenants, and for further particulars to Messrs. Willis and Willis, Solicitors, or to the Auctioneer, Winslow.