In connection with my ‘research’ I’ve obtained a few wills over the years - and shelled out a few quid in the process. During lockdown, I discovered that the national archives were allowing free downloads of documents and I took advantage of that to get a couple of wills and several other items.
Recently, I found that there is a government website where you can obtain wills and grants of probate for just £1.50 (link below for those who aren’t aware of it).
That’s such a bargain that I’ve drawn up a list of those whose wills I’d like to have a gander at. First on the list was Thomas Ashe, Alice Pitts’s paedo poet. It arrived yesterday but was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping to discover a small bequest to one or more of the Pitts sisters, but he left his entire estate to his three siblings: one brother and TWO SISTERS ;-).
The will is dated 13th December, 1889, five days before Ashe’s death, and was witnessed by his landlady, Amelia Goold and her daughter, Harriet. Probate was granted on 5th February, 1890.
Ashe left a mere £862 17s 8d, which was later resworn, in June, 1891, as £1,121 0s 8d. That’s quite a big jump and I think it probably had to do with the valuation of his library, part of which sold at Sotheby’s for over £400 in August, 1890.
What happened to Ashe’s papers, I wonder? Did they remain with the family, or were they donated to his college, St John’s, Cambridge? His diaries, if he kept them, might make interesting reading, although I suspect you might have to have a grasp of Latin/Ancient Greek/Hebrew to appreciate them fully.
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ment-form-pa1s
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