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Will of Thomas Lindley, 1823

Abstract of will

Thomas LINDLEY of New Brentford ... orange merchant ...

I give ... unto my dear wife ... the rents and profits of my Copyhold Estate at Farnham in Surrey ... and immediately after her decease I give ... (it) unto my good friends Mr Edward HANSON of Pudding Lane orange merchant and Mr James PARSLEY of the Borough orange merchant ... upon Trust to sell the same...

after the decease of my said wife I direct my Executors to lay out £150 ... to apply the dividends ... thereof unto ... Mary Ann the daughter of my late son James until she attains 21 ... and on her attaining that age to transfer to her the principal or fund for her absolute use ...

But in case she should die under that age then I give the said principal ... to be equally divided between my two sons Thomas and John and my two daughters Mary CLARKE and Sarah STEPHENSON ...

unto my said son John ... my freehold piece of ground and appurt(enances) in Church Alley

I give unto my said daughter Mary ... £30

I give unto my niece Betsey PICKLES my insurance in the Hope Insurance Office effected? on the life of Mr Joseph GREENING? ...

(then refers to adjustments to distribution of estate to take account of £200 lent to son Thomas)

I appoint the said Edward HANSON and James PARSLEY Executors

Date 9 December 1822

Signed and sealed by T LINDLEY

Witnesses G CLARK, solicitor Brentford, William BOXALL Brentford, H WING Brentford

Proved at London 14th May 1823 ... by the oath of Edward HANSON ... one of the executors ... power reserved to James PARSLEY the other executor.

The testator

Thomas LINDLEY lived at or near to 147 High Street; his home can be identified with some confidence as it was two doors from the Six Bells at 149 High Street in the 1811 census.

The legatees

Pigot's 1826 Trade Directory for Middlesex includes John LINDLEY, a fruiterer in New Brentford; presumably this is the son mentioned in the will.

John LINDLEY was recorded at the same High Street location as where his father was in 1811 in 1836 (1836 Poor Rate); John LINDLEY was tenant of a warehouse in Church Alley (rent £2) as well as a house and shop on the High Street (rent £20). The £2 rental corresponds to the reference in his father's will to 'ground and appurtenances in Church Alley'.

Thomas LINDLEY, may be the elder son as he is mentioned first in his father's will. There is reference to a Thomas LINDLEY in the will of John CLARKE, written in 1842 and proved 1856, but 20 years on this may be a grandson rather than son. CLARKE owned a freehold house on the south side of the street in New Brentford in the tenure or occupation of Thomas LYNDLEY, orange merchant.

When Thomas PIPER's will was proved in 1850 he appointed Mr Thomas LINDLEY of New Brentford, orange merchant, as one of his executors. PIPER was landlord of the Six Bells at 149 High Street.

Daughter Mary LINDLEY married Robert CLARK, a widower, at St Marylebone, Westminster, 8 Nov 1815. The witnesses were Thos LINDLEY and Mary PAYNE. In 1851 a couple that could be them were at High Road, Ealing, he a proprietor of houses born Harlow, Middlesex, 70, and she age 61, born Brentford.

Daughter Sarah LINDLEY married George James STEPHENSON at St John the Evangelist, Westminster, 4 July 1816 and the couple were living in New Brentford when their son George junior was born in 1817. Evidence from land tax and census records suggests they lived at 111 High Street from 1818 until they moved away at some point before 1851. In the 1851 census she (age 60) and her husband ( a retired ironmonger, age 59) were living at Gold Hawk Road, Hammersmith, and the census confirms her birthplace as Brentford.

The witnesses & executor

G CLARK, solicitor, Brentford, will be George CLARK, recorded in New Brentford as a 'Solicitor, clerk to the commissioners of Tyburn turnpike' in 1811 and 'attorney' in 1826 (trade directories).

William BOXALL was a neighbour of the LINDLEY family in the 1836 Poor Rate record, and his home is picked out on the tithe return for New Brentford in 1838 as tithe plot 14. He was a baker. He left a will written in 1849, proved 1851.

H WING: currently identity unknown; a Thomas WING was witness to the will of Dr Robert Wallace Johnson in 1807 and may be related.

Edward HANSON is likely to be an offshoot of Benjamin Hanson & Son, orange merchants: their business papers, 1805-1809, are held at The National Archives:
Ledgers and business correspondence of Benjamin Hanson, trading in oranges, lemons, and nuts at the time of the Napoleonic wars. It includes also charter parties and other ships' papers, and show him using only foreign bottoms, presumably to avoid capture by the French, and with some evidence also of the use of false manifests, presumably with a destination other than England. Some of the correspondence is in Spanish or Portuguese. The collection includes also some household accounts for Hanson.
I guess 'foreign bottom' refers to a foreign cargo ship

James PARSLEY is a match to Parsley and Son, orange merchants, 244 Borough, Southwark (Johnstones London commercial guide in 1818)

How to see this will in full

A copy of the original will can be downloaded from The National Archives Documents (TNA) Online service (charges usually apply but it is free as at November 2020), or TNA offer a watermarked version that 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 by visiting TNA at Kew (check opening hours) and they offer a printing facility.

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Published November 2020; updated June 2024