Friday, March 28, 2014

Will of Arabella Blake, spinster, Upton, Essex - The National Archives PROB 11/1439/159, probated 5 Mar 1806

Arabella Blake, spinster, is the testatrix of this present will. She lived at Upton, Essex. I found an interesting webpage on The Descendants of John Pelly and the Pelly family is mentioned in this will.

http://www.pennyghael.org.uk/Pelly.pdf

Henry Hinde Pelly (son of John Pelly and Elizabeth Hinde) married Sally Hitchen Blake who was the daughter of a Captain John Blake (wife unknown) and they married 13 Jul 1776. Sally was said to be born in 1744 and died on 15 May 1824 (aged 80). This couple (Henry Hinde Pelly and Sally Hitchen Blake) had four children according to this document namely John Henry Pelly, William Pelly, Charles Pelly and Francis Pelly. The will mentions Henry Hinde Pelly and his wife Sally Hitchen Pelly and their children Charles, John Henry, Francis and Raymond and possibly a daughter Mary who married Benjamin Harrison.

John Henry Pelly (nephew to Arabella Blake) has a rather interesting life story:

http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=21815&back=

Pelly, Sir John Henry, first baronet (1777–1852), merchant, born on 31 March 1777, was the eldest son of Henry Hinde Pelly (1744/5–1818) of Upton House, Essex, a captain in the service of the East India Company, and Sally Hitchen, the daughter of John Blake. His grandfather John Pelly was also a captain in the company's service, and his grandmother was Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of Henry Hinde of Upton. John is said to have been in his youth in the navy. If so, he quitted it without obtaining a commission. It is more probable that he was with his father in the company's service; that he had nautical experience of some sort appears certain. Having settled in business in London, he became in 1806 a director of the Hudson's Bay Company, of which he was afterwards successively deputy governor and governor. On 13 July 1807 he married Emma (d. 1856), the sixth daughter of Henry Boulton of Thorncroft, Surrey, the governor of the Corporation of Working Mines and Metals in Scotland and a director of the Sun Fire Office. They had eight sons and two daughters who survived infancy. In 1823 Pelly was elected elder brother of Trinity House, and, some years later, deputy master. In 1840 he was a director of the Bank of England, and in 1841 governor.

As governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1835 Pelly is remembered for having sent out the exploring parties which, under Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson (1808–1840), two of the company's agents, did so much for the discovery of the north-west passage and of the coastline of North America. His share in this work is commemorated by Cape Pelly which marks the eastern extremity of Dease and Simpson Strait. In August 1838 he and Simpson travelled to St Petersburg to negotiate with Baron von Wrangel of the Russian American Company. These talks led in 1839 to the Hudson's Bay Company's leasing the Alaskan peninsula from the Russians. On 6 July 1840 Pelly was created a baronet, on the recommendation of Lord Melbourne. The duke of Wellington was on friendly terms with him. He died at Upton House on 13 August 1852.

J. K. Laughton, rev. Elizabeth Baigent

Sources 

GM, 2nd ser., 38 (1852), 527 • Annual Register (1852), 300 • Burke, Peerage • T. Simpson, Narrative of the discoveries on the north coast of America …, 1836–9 (1843) • DCB, vol. 8
Archives 

BL, corresp. with W. E. Gladstone, Add. MSS 44364–44368 • BL, corresp. with Sir Robert Peel, Add. MSS 40411–40592 • U. Southampton L., letters to first duke of Wellington

Likenesses 

H. P. Briggs, oils, Hudson's Bay Company, London
© Oxford University Press 2004–14
All rights reserved: see legal notice     Oxford University Press

J. K. Laughton, ‘Pelly, Sir John Henry, first baronet (1777–1852)’, rev. Elizabeth Baigent, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21815, accessed 27 March 2014]

Sir John Henry Pelly (1777–1852): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21815

Now, to try to discover who Captain John Blake was, the father, of the testator and grandfather of John Henry Pelly above. Another record shows that Captain John Blake was with the Honourable East India Company Service. I should be able to learn more about him on Find My Past but first to continue checking the names on google.

Going to Family Search I did find a baptism for Mary Tymewell Blake 20 Jan 1758 (born 23 Dec 1757) at St James Westminster, Middlesex, England with father John Blake and mother Mary. There is a baptism for Sally Hitchen Blake 12 Oct 1744 at Saint Andrew Holborn, London. No baptism for Arabella located.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=0RAwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=John+Blake+%2B+Mary+Tymewell&source=bl&ots=nUJh5mhhEQ&sig=-5IB1yAKvjCUZJgag7ojn8LUXek&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xos0U-q0MK78yAHrqYCIDQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=John%20Blake%20%2B%20Mary%20Tymewell&f=false

I did find a marriage for John Blake to Mary Tymewell 17 Nov 1743 at Westminster Abbey, London, England. The published registers for Westminster Abbey (The Marriage, Baptismal, and Burial Registers of the Collegiate Church or Abbey of St Peter Westminster, edited and annotated by Joseph Lemuel Chester, Private Edition, London, 1876, London: Mitchell and Hughes, Printers, Wardour Street, W.), show that John Blake was of St Andrews Holborn and Mary Tymewell of Camrewell, Surrey. There is a footnote attached to this particular entry which reads “He, son of Captain John Blake and Mary his wife, was born at Limehouse, Middlesex 27 Aug 1713, and became, like his father, a captain in the merchant service. His residence was sometime at Watcombe, in Brockenhurst, Hampshire and afterwards in Parliament Street, Westminster. He died 25 Feb 1790. She only daughter and heir of Charles Tymewell of Peckham, co. Surrey, Gent., by (apparently) his third wife, Arabella, widow of John Hitchin, of the same place, Gent., and was born about 1723. After her husband’s death she resided at Goldwell House, Speen Hill, Berkshire. Her will, dated 7 June 1797, was proved 15 March 1802. Their eldest surviving daughter and coheir married Henry Hinde Pelly, Esquire., and was mother of Sir John Henry Pelly, first Baronet of Upton, Essex.”

This is a tremendous find since most records do not have any information on the parents of Arabella, her brother John Bradby and sisters Sally Hitchen and Mary Tymewell. I also have not transcribed this will although I did think that I had all of Berkshire completed! I have downloaded the will from Ancestry and will do it next. From the register I have now learned that Captain John Blake is the son of another Captain John Blake and checking Family Search for his birth 27 Aug 1713 and there is a baptism for John Blake at Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London son of John and Mary Blake 29 Aug 1713. There is a marriage of John Blake and Mary Daberon 24 Mar 1702 at Saint Bride Fleet Street, London.

A little more information on a random search for Watcombe, Brockenhurst, Hampshire yielded a rather interesting comment about Watcombe Farm at Brockenhurt which was sold in 1759 by Captain John Blake (India Service). The farm was described as a mansion in a 1751 lease (Hampshire Record Office apparently. http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1000499  The Hampshire Record Office has an item 6M80/3/B86 which is described as a Counterpart lease for 1000 years of Watcombe Lane, in front of the mansion house of John Blake, leading from Brockenhurst into the New Forest, dated 22 Oct 1751 and Jeremiah Cray of Ibsley, esq and John Blake, of Brockenhurst, esq were mentioned in the document. A second document 6M80/E/T273 is a Bargain and sale of Watcombe House and lands, Brockenhurst, dated 2 Aug 1759 with John Blake of Watcombe, Brockenhurst and John Howard of Bedfordshire, esquire being mentioned.

Probably if I can acquire records from the Honourable East India Company Service I will be able to learn more about this Blake family. They are now traced back to the baptism of John Blake 29 Aug 1713 at Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London and possibly the son of John Blake and Mary Daberon. There were a number of Blake marriages at Saint Dunstan Stepney which I mentioned in my blog post for John Blake mariner of Stepney:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2012/11/will-of-john-blake-mariner-of-stepney.html

More to come when I blog the will of Arabella’s mother.

Names mentioned in the will:

Arabella Blake, Upton, Essex, testatrix
Sally Hitchen Pelly, sister
Charles Pelly, nephew, godson
Mary Harrison, niece, wife of Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison, esquire, husband of Mary
John Henry Pelly, nephew
Francis Pelly, nephew
Raymond Pelly, nephew
Mary Tymewell Nutt, sister
Mrs Joan Dearing, mortgagee
Henry Anson Nutt, nephew
Charles Nutt, nephew
John Joseph Blake, adopted nephew
John Bradby Blake, brother, deceased
Henry Hinde Pelly, esquire, brother in law, executor
Mary See
Mary Nutt, step-niece
George Anson Nutt, esquire, brother in law
Catherine Arabella Browne, god daughter
Jeremiah Flack
Ellen Flack
Edmund Robinson, witness
Chris Lee, witness

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 27 March 2014
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/1439/159
Testator: Arabella Blake, spinster
Place: Upton, Essex, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 13 May 1805, probated 5 Mar 1806
Condition: 19th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: Arabella
[Margin]: Blake

1    In the Name of God Amen
2    I Arabella Blake of Upton in the County of
3    Essex Spinster being of sound Mind Memory and
4    Understanding do make this my last Will and
5    Testament in manner following I direct that all
6    my just debts and Funeral Expences shall be fully
7    paid and satisfied and subject thereto I dispose of
8    my Estate as follows I Give unto my dear Sister
9    Sally Hitchen Pelly the Capital Sum of Three
10    hundred pounds Old South Sea Annuities standing
11    in my Name I give unto my Nephew and
12    Godson Charles Pelly the Capital Sum of One
13    Thousand pounds like Old South Sea Annuities
14    I Give to my Niece Mary Harrison Wife of
15    Benjamin Harrison Esquire the Sum of One
16    hundred pounds four pounds per Cent Bank Ann[uiti]es
17    standing in my Name I Give unto my Nephew
18    John Henry Pelly the like Sum of One hundred
19    pounds four per Cent Bank Annuities I give
    [Page 2]
20    to my Nephew Francis Pelly the like Sum of
21    One hundred pounds four per Cent Bank Annuities
22    I give to my Nephew Raymond Pelly the like Sum
23    of One hundred pounds four per Cent Bank Annuities
24    I Give to my dear Sister Mary Tymewell Nutt One
25    Thousand pounds now lent on Mortgage to Mrs
26    Joan Dearing of Canterbury also the Capital sum of
27    One Thousand pounds East India Stock now standing
28    in my Name also the Capital Sum of One
29    thousand pounds four per Cent Bank Annuity
30    I Give to my Nephew Henry Anson Nutt and
31    Charles Nutt each the Capital Sum of One
32    hundred pounds four pounds per Cent Bank
33    Annuities to be transferred to them respectively on
34    their respectively attaining the age of twenty one
35    years I Give to John Joseph Blake the adopted
36    Son of my late Brother John Bradby Blake the
37    Capital Sum of One Thousand pounds three pounds
38    per Cent deducted Bank Annuities and Three
39    hundred pounds three per Cent Consolidated Bank
40    Annuities part of the like Bank Annuities
41    standing in my Name and also the Sum of Thirty
42    Guineas I Give unto my Brother in Law Henry
43    Hinde Pelly Esq[uie]r the Capital Sum of Five hundred
44    pounds four pounds per Cent Bank Annuities upon
45    Trust that he or his Executors or Administrators
46    do and shall pay the dividends and Interest
47    thereof unto Mary See of Brompton in the said
48    County of Middlesex Spinster for her Life and after
49    her decease do and shall transfer the same unto
50    the person or persons who for the time being shall
51    be entitled to the Residue of my Estate I Give
52    to the said Mary See the Sum of Thirty
53    Guineas I Give to Mary Nutt the daughter of
54    my said Brother in Law George Anson Nutt
55    Esq[uie]r by his former Wife One hundred pounds of
56    like old South Sea Annuities I Give to my God
57    daughter Catharine Arabella Browne One hundred
58    pounds like old South Sea Annuities I Give
`    my late Faithful Servant Jeremiah Flack Thirty
60    Guineas and to Ellen his Wife Twenty Guineas
61    and as a further Testimony of my regard for
62    the said Ellen Flack I Give her the Sum of
63    Two hundred pounds like three pounds per Cent
64    Consolidated Bank Annuities I Give to my said
65    Brother in Law George Anson Nutt Thirty
66    Guineas I Give to my Brother in Law Henry
67    Hinde Pelly one hundred pounds for the Trouble
68    he will have in the execution of this my Will
69    and the Trusts hereby reposed in him as to all
70    my household Goods Plate Linen China Books
71    and all other my Estate and Effects whatsoever
72    I Give and bequeath the same unto my said
    [Page 3]
73    Sister Mary Tymewell Nutt her Executors Admors
74    and Assigns and my Will is and I do hereby declare
75    that the said several Bequests hereinbefore given
76    by me to my said Sister Mary Tymewell Nutt is
77    given to her for her respective sole and separate
78    use and benefit and I direct that the same shall
79    be transferred and paid to her or to such person or
80    persons as she shall by any routing appoint and
81    that the same shall not be subject or liable to
82    the debts Controul Contract Engagements or any
83    Intermeddling of her present or any future
84    husband and for this purpose I direct that the
85    separate Receipt of my said Sister Mary Tymewell
86    Nutt or the person or persons whom notwithstanding
87    her Coverture she shall appoint to receive the
88    same shall be a good and sufficient discharge to
89    my Executor and my Will further is that my
90    Executor and Trustee his Executors and Admors shall
91    and may from time to time by and out of the
92    Monies which shall come to his hands by
93    virtue of this my Will deduct retain and reimburse
94    himself all Costs Charges and Expences which he
95    shall sustain in and about the execution of this my
96    Will and that he or they shall not be charged
97    or chargeable with more Money than shall
98    actually come to his or their hands Nor for any
99    Loss or Misfortune that shall happen to the said
100    Real Monies and premises unless the same shall
101    happen therunder his or their own wilful neglect and
102    I do hereby appoint the said Henry Hinde Pelly
103    sole Executor of this my Will and do hereby
104    revoke all former Will and Codicils by me made
105    and do declare this only to be my last Will and
106    Testament In Witness whereof I the said Arabella
107    Blake have to this my last Will and Testament
108    set my hand and Seal this thirteenth of May one
109    thousand eight hundred and Five Arabella Blake
110    Signed Sealed published and declared by the said
111    Arabella Blake as and for her last Will and Testament
112    in the presence of us who in her presence at her request
113    and in the presence of each other have hereunto
114    subscribed our Names as Witnesses Edm Robinson
115    Chris Lee Lincolns Inn
116    The Will was proved at London on the
117    Fifth day of March in the year of our Lord one
118    thousand eight hundred and six before the
119    worshipful Herbert Jenner doctor of Laws and
120    Surrogate of The Right honorable Sir William
121    Wynne Knight doctor of Laws Masterkeeper or
122    Commissary of the prerogative Court of Canterbury
    [Page 4]
123    lawfully constituted by the oath of Henry Huit
124    Pelly Esquire the sole Executor named in the
125    said Will to whom admon was granted of all and
126    Singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the deceased
127    he having been first sworn duly to administer

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