Will of William Selby-Lowndes of Whaddon Hall, esquire, 1884 (proved 1887)

Oxford Probate Registry

ON the Sixteenth day of February 1887, the Will of William Selby Lowndes late of Whaddon Hall in the County of Buckingham, Esquire, deceased, who died on the Second day of July 1886 at Whaddon Hall aforesaid, was proved in Her Majesty’s Court of Justice in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division thereof at Oxford by the Oath of William Selby Lowndes of Whaddon Hall aforesaid, Esquire, Son of the deceased one of the Executors named (in the said Will) he having been first sworn duly to administer. Power being reserved of making the like Grant to Henry Small the other Executor named in the said Will.

It is hereby certified the above is a correct Copy. Dated this Twenty fourth day of February 1887.

Personal Estate Gross £9,055: 04 : 10.
Net        £198: 19 : 07.
No Leaseholds.
Extracted by Henry Small, Solicitor, Buckingham.

This is the last Will and Testament of me William Selby Lowndes late of Whaddon Hall in the County of Buckingham and of Winslow House Winslow in the same County Esquire I give and bequeath all my horses carriages carts harness and saddlery of every kind and furniture of the saddle room and all my Alderney cows and other cows bulls heifers and calves in and about my Park and House at Whaddon and all my Foxhounds and other dogs if any to my eldest Son William Selby Lowndes the Younger absolutely.  I give and bequeath all my household goods and furniture plate linen china glass bronzes clocks and other articles of or in the nature of furniture books prints and pictures being at my decease in or about my said Mansion House called Whaddon Hall and my Mansion House at Winslow aforesaid unto my said eldest Son William Selby Lowndes the Younger and Henry Small of Buckingham in the County of Buckingham Solicitor  their Executors and administrators  Upon trust to permit the same to go along with and be held so far as the rules of law or equity will allow as Heirlooms and to be used and enjoyed as such by the person or persons who for the time being shall by virtue of or under an Indenture of Settlement or Re-Settlement dated the Eighth day of September One thousand eight hundred and fifty eight and made between myself of the first part William Selby Lowndes my said eldest Son of the second part Robert Prescot Appleyard and Charles Appleyard of the third part Joseph Bailey and Matthew Grenville Samwell Knapp of the fourth part and Samuel Burnham Dudley and William Akid Rogers of the fifth part, be entitled to my Capital Mansion Houses and Estates of Whaddon Hall and Winslow yet so that the said articles hereby made heirlooms shall not vest absolutely in any person who would be tenant in tail by purchase of the said Mansion houses under the limitations hereinbefore contained who shall not live to attain the age of twenty one years  And I direct that the said eldest Son William Selby Lowndes the Younger and Henry Small shall cause and Inventory to be made of the said household goods and furniture plate linen china glass bronzes clocks books pictures prints and other articles two copies of which Inventory shall from time to time by the person for the time being entitled to the use of the said heirlooms and one of such copies shall be delivered to and kept by the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of this my Will and the other copy shall be kept by the person so entitled as aforesaid

I give and devise all that my Advowson donation and right of patronage of \in/ and to the Rectory and Parish Church of Crawley in the County of Bucks unto my said eldest Son William Selby Lowndes the Younger his heirs and assigns for ever. I give and devise All that my Manor of Calverton with the West side of Stony Stratford in the said County of Bucks with its rights members and appurtenances . . . unto and to the use of the said William Selby Lowndes the Younger and Henry Small their heirs executors and administrators . . . And I hereby declare that the said William Selby Lowndes the Younger and Henry Small . . . shall . . . by and out of the ready money of which I shall be possessed at  my death . . .  pay to Mary Ann Jubber Widow at present residing at Whaddon Hall aforesaid the sum of One thousand pounds . . . And I appoint the said William Selby Lowndes the Younger and Henry Small Executors of this my Will. I hereby revoke all Wills made by me at any former period and declare this only to be my last Will and Testament.  In Witness whereof I have hereunder set my hand this Third day of September in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty four.
W. Selby Lowndes [signature]

Signed by William Selby Lowndes late of Whaddon Hall in the County of Bucks as his last Will in the  presence of us present at the same time who at his request in his sight and presence and the presence of each other have subscribed our names as attesting Witnesses.
 G.D.E. Wigley [signature] Land Agent, Winslow.
Edwin J. French [signature] Printer, Winslow.

Proved at Oxford, the Sixteenth day of February 1887, by the Oath of William Selby Lowndes, Esquire, the Son, one of the Executors to whom Administration was granted. Power reserved of making the like Grant to Henry Small the other Executor.
The Testator William Selby Lowndes late of Whaddon Hall in the County of Buckingham, Esquire, and died on the Second day of July 1886, at Whaddon Hall aforesaid.
Personal Estate Gross £9,055: 04 : 10.
     “               “      Net          £198: 19 : 07.

Henry Small, Solicitor, Buckingham.
It is hereby certified the foregoing is a correct Copy. Dated this Twenty fourth day of February 1887.

Notes

This William Selby-Lowndes (b.1807) was the eldest son of William Selby-Lowndes (1767-1840). Althought he was buried at Winslow, it was not in the Lowndes family vault as burials within the church were prohibited by the Home Secretary in 1885. The will does not deal with the estates at Whaddon and Winslow as they were already entailed. Apparently Selby-Lowndes was in financial difficulties, no doubt through his hunting expenses. His younger son Octavius had also been declared bankrupt, which is probably why he did not benefit under the will.

William Selby-Lowndes married (1832) Lucy Hartman (1801-52), and had these children:

1886: Buckingham Advertiser, 10 July
  FUNERAL OF THE LATE MR. W. SELBY LOWNDES, J.P.- The interment of the remains of this gentleman who died at his residence, Whaddon Hall, on Friday, July 2nd, took place at Winslow Church on Thursday, the 8th, in the presence of a large number of people.  The ceremony took place punctually at 1 o’clock, when the long procession moved through the church gates headed by the churchwardens, next to whom came the Rev. C. B. R. Bailey, the Rev. C. Boulby, of Whaddon, and Dr. Bull.  The relatives were Mr. Wm. Selby Lowndes (Winslow) and the Rev. Octavius Selby Lowndes, sons; Master Wm. Selby Lowndes, grandson; Mr. R. W. Selby Lowndes, and the Rev. C. W. Selby Lowndes, brothers of the deceased; also Capt. Peach, Mr. Algernon Rushout, Mr. W. Seymour Lowndes, Mr. Meyrick Selby Lowndes, Major Hall, and Capt. Coote.  There were also several brother magistrates; gentlemen of the Whaddon Hunt (of which Mr. Lowndes was for so many years Master); servants of the household; the whole of the tenantry on the Whaddon Estate; and a number of townsmen at the rear of the procession.  The coffin was of polished oak, and bore the inscription, “William Selby Lowndes, born 5th November, 1807, died 2nd July, 1886.”  The arrangements were under the charge of Mr. A. G. Stevens.

1886: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 20 July (taken from The Field)
  The death of Mr. Selby-Lowndes, which occurred on the 2nd inst., at Whaddon Hall, has removed one more great name from the roll of famous masters of hounds still with us.  Time and space forbid us to furnish more than a passing notice of one who gave up the whole of his long life to the chase, and, with the possible exception of the late Mr. Meynell Ingram, made far greater sacrifices for it than any other man.  The late Mr. Lowndes, so far as we are aware, came of a political rather than of a sporting parentage, and the family “Ways and Means” (granted by Queen Ann to her chairman of committees) is almost as appropriate a device for a master of hounds as the foxes counter-salient in the escutcheon of Sir Watkin Wynn.
  It may truly be said of Mr. Lowndes that he came into the world simply to send foxes out of it; and, like many others since his day, he learnt the early lessons of his craft while carrying the horn with the Eton beagles.  These were in due course replaced by harriers after leaving Eton and settling in Winslow Hall, the second family seat in the country: he had also fifteen couple of bloodhounds, with which he hunted the deer in the Chase, and became the terror of the sheep-stealers of the neighbourhood.  The ten thousand acres of the Chase were then uninclosed; the steam plough was yet in the mind of the inventor; the drain pipe was lying in its original clay; Bletchley Junction had not come into being; and “The Vale” and surroundings were a perfect paradise of sport.  Winslow was a flourishing coaching and hunting centre; gamecocks, cut out and trimmed, strutted in the Market Square, and at every tenant’s farm-house; and the Squire was as much king over his territory as any lord of feudal time.
  Such were the days before “the march of intellect” when Mr. Lowndes first became master in the country which so long bore his name, but which is now styled the Whaddon Chase.  We think it was about the year 1841 that the Squire first hunted the fox with his own hounds in that country.  His reign extended over twelve seasons, and only terminated on Lord Southampton requiring the country, which had but been lent to Mr. Lowndes, and was in truth but a slice of what is now known as the Grafton.  One has but to glance at some of the old sporting magazines to see what sport the Squire showed, the stoutness of his foxes, and the excellence of his pack.  The country presented him with his picture, and regretted that for a time it would see him no more.  The next three seasons Mr. Lowndes hunted the North Warwickshire, and then the Atherston for the same number of years, and only gave up that pack as an opportunity offered, by the retirement of Lord Southampton, of a return to the Vale.  From 1862 to 1884 Mr. Lowndes steadily stuck to office, though of late years the Squire had become very feeble, and was forced to depend for assistance on others.  It was only towards the end that he had a huntsman, Edmund Bentley, from Mr. Parry, being engaged in that capacity, in which he still remains.
  Two seasons ago Mr. Lowndes surrendered the country to his son, who had formerly carried the horn some seasons for his father, and shown great sport, especially in the fine woodlands in the Woburn country.  The Squire, however, never seemed to realise that the pack had passed into other hands, and to the last it was always “my hounds.”  He was quite miserable when they were out of kennel, never so happy as when hunting was over, and everyone knew that nothing gave him so much mental agony as to meet hounds when out driving.
  The last time we saw the Squire it was clear the end was drawing nigh…
  So long as hounds are at Whaddon, and Christmas Gorse and High Havens are names to conjure by, and make the blood rush through our veins even in these sultry dog days, so long will the memory of “the Old Squire” remain green in the Vale.

Copyright 20 April, 2021