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Will of George Cross, draper and maltster, 1862 (proved 1864)
Oxford Registry, 15 July 1864
On the Fifteenth day of July 1864 the Will of George Cross late of Winslow in the County of Buckingham, Draper and Maltster, deceased who died on the First day of December 1863, at Winslow aforesaid, was proved in the District Registry attached to Her Majesty’s Court of Probate at Oxford by the oaths of Charlotte Cross of Winslow aforesaid, Widow, Relict of the deceased, and James Hughes of the city of Oxford, Grocer, the Executors therein named they having been first sworn to administer.
It is hereby certified that the above is a correct Copy. Dated this Twenty first day of July 1864.
COURT OF PROBATE
John M Davenport
District Registrar
OXFORD REGISTRY
[official stamp]
Effects under £4,000, including Leaseholds
Extracted by Willis and Willis, Solicitors
Winslow, Bucks
[p.1] This is the Last Will and Testament of me George Cross of Winslow in the County of Bucks, draper and Maltster First I direct that all Principal and Interest monies which may at the time of my death be due and owing from me upon Mortgage of All or any part of my freehold copyhold and leasehold Estates and all my other \just/ debts my funeral expences and the charges of proving and establishing this my Will shall at all convenient speed after my decease be paid out of the monies to arise from the sale and conversion of my residuary real and personal Estates in exoneration of the Estates mortgaged. I devise unto my daughter Ann Cross and her heirs and assigns absolutely All my copyhold pieces and parcels of land hereditaments and premises situate at Grandborough in the County of Bucks with the appurtenances thereto belonging. I devise unto my Wife Charlotte and my friend James Hughes of the City of Oxford, Grocer All my copyhold land in the Parish of Winslow aforesaid which I purchased of the Trustees under the Will of the late Ann Turner deceased and the appurtenances thereto belonging To hold the same unto my said Wife and the said James Hughes their heirs and assigns Upon trust during the life of my said Wife and after her death while my Son George Thomas shall be under the age of twenty five years to let the same from year to year or for any term not exceeding five years in possession at the best rent and manage the same and permit my said Wife and her assigns during her life to receive the rents and profits thereof for her own use and benefit And after her decease Upon further trust to receive such rent and profits and after paying all outgoings and incidental expences to apply such net rents and profits to or for the maintenance and benefit of my said Son George Thomas so long as he shall be under the age of twenty five years and to stand possessed of the said lands hereditaments and premises after he shall attain that age or die under that age leaving issue living at his death (but subject to the estate and interest therein of my said Wife during her life if she then be living) Upon trust for my said Son George Thomas his heirs and assigns absolutely And in case my said Son George Thomas shall die under the age of twenty five years without leaving issue living at his death then I direct that my Trustees shall from and after the decease of the survivor of him and my said Wife stand possessed of the same
[p.1v] lands hereditaments and premises In trust in equal shares and proportions as tenants in common for my three youngest children Mary Charlotte and Walter Essex or such of them as shall attain the age of twenty five years or die under that age leaving issue living at their respective deaths the rents and profits of the said estates in the meantime to be received by my said trustees and applied by them for the maintenance or benefit of my said children respectively I devise unto my said Wife and the said James Hughes All that my messuage or farm house farm lands and premises situate in the Parish of North Marston in the said County of Bucks in the occupation of William Archer and which I purchased of the trustees under the Will of the late Joseph Marriott deceased And also all that my Copyhold messuage or tenement on the Market Square in Winslow aforesaid in the occupation of John Hathaway and lately erected by me upon the site of a messuage or tenement which was surrendered to me by the Trustees under the Will of the late James Field deceased and the appurtenances thereto respectively belonging [=13 Market Square] To hold the same unto my said Wife and the said James Hughes their heirs and assigns Upon trust during the life of my said Wife and after her death while any one or more of my three children Mary, Charlotte and Walter Essex shall be under the age of twenty five years to let the same from year to year . . . [provisions for the wife Charlotte Cross made earlier are repeated verbatim and following her decease, similar to the earlier provision for the son George Thomas in like circumstances, are set out for] . . . the maintenance education and benefit of my said three last named children so long as any or either of them shall be under the age of twenty five years And to stand possessed of the said respective hereditaments and premises lastly hereinbefore devised (subject to the estate and interest therein of my said Wife during her life and to the preceding trust) Upon trust for my said children . . . in equal shares and proportions and their respective heirs and assigns as tenants in common And in case either of my three last named children shall die under the age of twenty five years without leaving issue living at her or his death Then I direct that my Trustees shall from and after the decease of my said Wife stand possessed of the share of every such
[p.2] child so dying of and in the respective estates . . . hereinbefore given and devised In trust in equal shares . . . for such of my four youngest children George Thomas Charlotte Mary and Walter Essex as shall attain the age of twenty five years . . . [with rents and profits accruing to the trustees and used for the benefit of his said children] I devise unto my said Wife and the said James Hughes All that my messuage or tenement in the Market Square in Winslow aforesaid in which I now reside and the Shop Stable Washhouse garden and other appurtenances thereto belonging which were purchased by me of Benjamin Dudley [=15 Market Square] To hold the same unto my said Wife and the said James Hughes . . . Upon trust to permit my said Wife to occupy the same or receive the rents and profits thereof during the term of her natural life she and they keeping the same in good repair and insured from loss or damage by fire And from and immediately after her decease Upon such and the same trusts as are hereinafter declared and contained of and concerning my residuary real estate I direct my trustees to divide my household goods and furniture plate linen china glass books prints pictures wines liquors fuel consumable provisions and other household effects of which I shall die possessed into four equal parts or shares and I bequeath three of the said equal parts or shares unto my said Wife Charlotte for her absolute use and benefit and the other of the said equal parts or shares unto my Daughter Ann Cross for her absolute use and benefit I devise all the residue of the real estate to which I shall be entitled at my decease (except estates vested in me as trustee or mortgagee) and bequeath all the leasehold estates and the residue of the other personal estate to which I shall then be entitled unto my said Wife Charlotte and the said James Hughes their heirs executors administrators and assigns respectively Upon trust to sell my residuary real and leasehold estates together or in parcels by Public Auction or Private Contract and to convert and get in my residuary personal estate And out of the monies to arise from such sale and conversion to pay all my just debts my funeral expences and testamentary expences and the charges of and attending such sale and conversion And to divide the clear reside of the same monies equally unto and among my six children The Reverend John Cross, the said Ann Cross, George Thomas Cross, Mary Cross, Charlotte Cross and Walter
[p.2v] Essex Cross, the shares of such of them as shall at my decease have attained the age of twenty five years to be paid forthwith and the shares of such of them as shall not then have arrived at that age to be paid when they attain thereto I direct that my Executors shall deduct from the share of my said Son John all monies which may be due and owing from him to me at my death If any or either of my said children George Thomas Mary Charlotte and Walter Essex shall die under the age of twenty five years without leaving issue living at his or her death I direct that my Trustees shall stand possessed of as well the original share as the accruing share under this executory trust of any and every child so dying In trust for the others of my said four youngest children in equal shares While any or either of my four youngest children shall be under the age of twenty five years I direct my Trustees to invest his her or their share in the names of my said Trustees in the Public funds or on Government Securities of the United Kingdom or on real securities in England or Wales with liberty to change the investment at their discretion for any other or others of the kind prescribed And I direct them the said Trustees to apply the dividends and annual income thereof for the benefit of the Legatee or Legatees presumptively entitled thereto I empower my Trustees to apply any part of the Capital to which under the bequests and directions hereinbefore contained each or any legatee shall be contingently entitled in or towards his or her advancement or preferment in the world not exceeding the sum of Two hundred pounds for each or any such legatee I declare that the provision hereinbefore made for my said Wife is in full satisfaction of the Dower and Thirds if any to which she shall be entitled out of any real estate of mine I devise all the real estate if any which at my decease will be vested in me as trustee or mortgagee to my said Wife Charlotte and the said James Hughes subject to the equities affecting the same respectively I declare that the receipts of my said Trustees shall exonerate purchasers and others paying or transferring monies or funds to such Trustees by virtue of my Will from all liability in respect of the application thereof I appoint my said Wife Charlotte and the said James Hughes to be Trustees of this my Will for all the purposes thereof with full power at their discretion to settle my Accounts and wind up my affairs and in so doing to make such arrangements relative to debts or demands due or claimed to be due to or from my estate as they shall
[f.3] judge expedient with liberty to accept compositions or securities from and grant indulgences to debtors and wholly to release property Mortgaged or pledged on part payment of the money secured and to admit the claims of Creditors on evidence not strictly legal and to pay demands which have become barred by any Statutory or other limitation and also to submit questions and accounts to arbitration I declare that if my said trustees or either of them shall disclaim or they or either of them or any Trustees or Trustee to be appointed under this clause shall die or decline or become incompetent to act as Trustees or Trustee of my Will it shall be lawful for the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of my Will competent to act whether disclaiming or declining to act further to act or not if none for my executors or administrators for the time being or any or either of them by any Instrument in writing to appoint any person or persons to be Trustee or Trustees in place of the Trustee or Trustees disclaiming dying or declining or becoming incompetent to act And I further declare that the Clauses hereinbefore contained so far as they concern my Trustees hereinbefore named shall extend and be applied to the Trustees of Trustee for the time being of my Will And I further declare that the Trustees of Trustee for the time being of my Will shall not be answerable for each others acts or receipts nor for any losses happening without their own respective default and shall be at liberty to reclaim and allow to each other all expences incident to the execution of the Trusts and powers of my Will I appoint my said Wife Charlotte and the said James Hughes Executrix and Executor of my Will And I appoint my said Wife during her life and after her decease the said James Hughes to be Guardian of my minor children Lastly I revoke all former and other Wills declaring this writing alone to express the whole of my Will In witness whereof I the said George Cross the Testator have to every sheet of this my last Will and Testament contained on six sheets of paper set my hand this Fifth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty two George Cross [signature] This Sheet and the five sheets of paper hereto annexed were severally signed by the said George Cross the Testator in the joint presence of us who at his request and in his presence and the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as
[f.3v] Witnesses D.T. Willis [signature] Thos Price Willis [signature] Solictors, Winslow, Bucks. (27 folios)
On the Fifteenth day of July 1864, the Will of George Cross late of Winslow in the County of Buckingham, Draper and Maltster, deceased, who died on the First day of December 1863 at Winslow aforesaid was proved in the District Registry attached to Her Majesty’s Court of Probate at Oxford, by the oaths of Charlotte Cross of Winslow aforesaid, Widow, Relict of the deceased and James Hughes of the City of Oxford, Grocer, the Executors therein named they having been first sworn duly to administer.
Effects under £4,000, including Leaseholds
Extracted by Willis and Willis, Solicitors
Winslow, Bucks
It is hereby certified that the foregoing is a correct Copy.
Dated this Twenty first day of July 1864
COURT OF PROBATE
John M Davenport
District Registrar
OXFORD REGISTRY
[official stamp]
Notes
George Cross was the son of George Cross sr (1767-1844) and Zillah Eagleton (d.1799) who married in 1796, but only after their son George Cross Eagleton had been baptised. He was known as George Cross jr, and became a prominent figure in Winslow, serving frequently as churchwarden. He was described as maltster in announcements of his death; his draper's shop at 15 Market Square (where he lived with his wife and 4 of his children) was being run by John Hathaway, and he also owned Churchwalk House and 18 Horn Street (see details of the sale, below). His wives and children were:
m.1 1819 at Hughenden: Mary Ann Essex (?1795-1821)
[A conditional surrender by George Cross and Mary Ann his wife made in 1821 was acknowledged to have been satisfied in 1864 to Thomas Essex formerly of Coombs, Hughenden but now of Naphill gent & Robert Capes formerly of Grays Inn but now of Gainsborough, Lincs, gent]
m.2 1825 at Akeley: Anne Burgess (d.1828)
Ann b.1826, d.1874; living at 13 Market Square with her half-sisters in 1871; see her will
John b.1827; studied at King's College London; Rector of Mursley from 1860; d.1884; his first wife Sarah Jones of Buckingham was descended from the Blake family of Winslow
m.3 1829 at St Peter in the East Oxford: Catherine Bailey, widow (d.1832 aged 35)
Thomas James b. & d.1830
William Henry b. 1831/2, d.1856 in Australia
Oxford Chronicle, 19 July 1856: At Melbourne, Australia, on the 30th of March last, from concussion of the brain, caused by a fall from a dog cart, William Henry Cross, aged 23, late of Winslow, and nephew of Mr. Alderman Warburton, of the High-street, in this city.
m.4 1841 at Leighton Buzzard: Charlotte Fountaine (b.1808, Stoke Hammond; d.1865, London)
George Thomas b.1845, d.1910; in 1861 he was a wine merchant's assistant in London; later emigrated to New Zealand
Mary b.1848; she and her sister Charlotte were living in Mursley in 1881; m. Rev. Henry Duffield Meyrick
Charlotte b.1850, d.1946; m. Arthur Cave (schoolmaster in Oxford)
Walter Essex b.1851; living in New Zealand by 1880, where he became a brewer; divorced from his first wife in Sydney in 1897; jailed for wife desertion and tried for embezzlement; d.1907 in Perth, Australia
Walter Essex Cross, described as “a man of gentlemanly appearance and manners” who had been working as a railway porter at Battersea park, appeared at Middlesex Sessions on 3 Oct 1877 charged with obtaining 15s and a gold watch by false pretences; he had also been trying to obtain horses without payment. He was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment with hard labour. Buckingham Advertiser, 6 Oct 1877.
For some family reminiscences, see Edgar H. Cross's website.
W I N S L O W, B U C K S.
A Neat Brick-built and Tiled HOUSE AND GARDEN
A LARGE AND CONVENIENT MALTING,
A FARM YARD, BUILDINGS, AND A PIECE OF GARDEN GROUND,
(The whole situate in the centre of the Town.)
TEN SHARES IN THE WINSLOW GAS COMPANY. And a Rick of Prime Old Hay (to go off),
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY DUDLEY & SON,
On TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18TH, 1866, AT THE BELL INN, WINSLOW, At Five o’Clock in the Afternoon, by direction of the Executor of the late Mr. Cross.
LOT 1. A Convenient Brick-built and Tiled House, containing Parlour, with Bay Winslow, Sitting-room, Kitchen, Scullery, Cellar, Four Bed Rooms, a pump of water, court yard, and neat walled Garden, opening to the churchyard, Winslow, the whole forming a very comfortable and private cottage residence. [=Churchwalk House]
Lot 2. A substantially-built and spacious MALTING, 30 yards by 6 yards, fitted up with every convenience; a large FARM YARD, containing dairy, piggeries, 5 stables, gig-house and lofts, a tiled cart-hovel, and a walled garden, the whole adjoining and having entrance from Horn-street, Winslow, with a frontage of 17 feet to the road. This lot comprises about 30 poles of ground, and being in the centre of the town presents a capital opportunity to any one requiring roomy premises. [This apparently became 12-14 Horn Street]
Lot 3. FIVE £10 SHARES in the WINSLOW GAS COMPANY.
Lot 4. Five ditto. From the recent alteration and improvements in the Works it is expected the value of shares will considerably increase.
Lot 5. A Rick of well-secured OLD HAY, about 14 tons, to go off, standing in Hollow Furrow, Winslow.
Lots 1 and 2 are Copyhold of the Manor of Winslow, subject to a quit rent of 2d. and 4d. respectively, with a small fine certain on death or alienation.
The whole will be offered for absolute sale without reserve.
1874: Bucks Herald, 5 Dec [This sale seems to refer to the land which George Cross left in trust for his son George Thomas, later part of Redfield]
By Messrs. DUDLEY & SON.
VALUABLE PASTURE LAND.
WINSLOW, BUCKS.
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY DUDLEY & SON, On THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17th, 1874,
At the BELL HOTEL, WINSLOW, at Four o’Clock in the Afternoon, on One Lot.
THREE VERY VALUABLE CLOSES of PASTURE LAND, convenient and adjacent to the Town, with a capital frontage to the Turnpike Road leading to Buckingham, and near the Railway Bridge, containing 13a. 1r. 25p. of rich Grass Land, conveniently subdivided by good Fences and well Watered, in excellent cultivation, with Cow House and Rick Yard standing thereon now in the occupation of Mr. Wm. Jones, who is under notice to quit.
The situation and its proximity to the Town render it particularly valuable, either for occupation or for building purposes.
The Property is Copyhold of the Manor of Winslow, nearly equal in value to Freehold.
For a View, apply to the Tenant; and for further Particulars, to H. F. Skinner, Esq., Solicitor, Bampton, Oxon; or to Messrs. Dudley and Son, Auctioneers and Land Agents, Winslow.
A Valuable Freehold DAIRY FARM, 81A. 1R. 26P. In the Parish of NORTH MARSTON,
Also a Convenient Newly-Built RESIDENCE, On the Market Square, WINSLOW,
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY Messrs. DUDLEY & SON,
On MONDAY, the 17th Day of JULY, 1876, At the BELL HOTEL, WINSLOW,
At Four o’clock in the Afternoon, in Three Lots, by direction of the Exec. of the late Mr. Geo. Cross ...
LOT 3.
A NEWLY-BUILT HOUSE, facing the Market Square, WINSLOW, containing Dining and Drawing Rooms, Four good Bedrooms, w.c., Kitchen, Cellar, Pantrys, &c., with small Court Yard and pump of excellent water, late in the occupation of Miss Cross.