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Not Brentford
Will of Mercy Drinkwater, 1808
Abstract of will
of New Brentford ... widow
I give to my dear daughter Mary DRINKWATER all my household goods and furniture Plate Trinkets Linen China Clothes and other things in and about my dwelling house ...
unto my dear son John DRINKWATER the sum of £66 12s being the value of the fixtures and other things which together with his Estate are on mortgage to me or made a security for the payment of a sum of money which he stands indebted to me ...
I give all the rest of the said Mortgage Money and Interest unto my said Daughter and Son Equally ... and I do appoint them Executrix and Executor Dated 21 Jan 1808
Witnesses Geo CLARKE, Jos TOTHILL
Proved at London 24 Apr 1818 ... by the oaths of Mary DRINKWATER spinster the Daughter and John DRINKWATER the Son the Executors
The testator
A Mrs Drinkwater was recorded as 'Gentry' in a 1793 trade directory, also Mary Drinkwater, grocer. The first may be Mercy Drinkwater, if so she was a widow.
In the 1811 census of New Brentford she was recorded with her full name in a property at around 184 High Street, on the north side of the road. There were two families in the property and all were female (where was son John?).
TopThe witnesses & executor
Daughter Mary may have run the grocer's shop recorded in the 1793 trade directory (also in 1797). This could be 184 High Street, shown in a photo from 1945/6 .
Son John Drinkwater was recorded in the 1802 Poll as having a house in New Brentford. Presumably this is where his mother lived too.
How to see this will in full
A copy of the original will can be downloaded from The National Archives Documents (TNA) Online service and a watermarked version can be viewed for free. Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills can also be viewed and downloaded from Ancestry (£). It is also possible to view wills online at TNA, Kew (check opening hours) and they offer a printing facility.
Published May 2021; updated March 2022