Quaker Family History Society

Will of Samuel KNIGHT, Corn and Coal Merchant of Halstead, Essex

Will 30 September 1908   Probate 27 November 1908

Summary.

Biographical Notes.

·         Parents: Samuel Knight (1799-1873) and Eliza (nee Cooper)(1802-1871) of Pontefract, Yorkshire, Grocer.

·         Date of Birth: 9 March 1835 at Pontefract, Yorkshire.

·         School: Friends’ School Ackworth, Yorkshire from 1844-1849.

·         Profession:  Farmer, then Corn and Coal Merchant.

·         First Marriage: Rachel Knight on 7 April 1859 at Friends’ Meeting House Bocking, Essex.  Rachel died on 1 September 1893.  She was a cousin.

·         Second Marriage: Mary Ann Barnes on 19 March 1895 at Friends’ Meeting House Devonshire House, London.

·         Meetings: Pontefract MM then Coggeshall MM

·         Date of Death: 24 October 1908 at Halstead, Essex.

·         Burial: 28 October 1908 in Friends’ Burial Ground, Halstead, Essex.

·         He and Rachel had one child Ernest Henry Knight (1860-1945), who married Florence Mary Johnson in 1887.  His wife Mary Ann Knight died in 1914.

Highlights of Will

·         Name of Executors: Ernest Henry Knight, son Retired Corn Merchant of Halstead, and Richard Evan Minter, Friend, Warehouseman of Halstead, Essex.  He gave Richard Evan Minter £20 for his trouble.

·         He left his wife Mary Ann Knight £50 plus an annuity of £180, plus the household linen and some furniture for her lifetime.

·         He left his son Ernest Henry Knight all his other monies.

·         He left his granddaughter Hilda Mary Knight a trust fund of £1,000.

Transcriber’s and Editor’s Notes

This is one of a number of linked Knight family wills, including his wife Mary Ann Knight (1914), brother Samuel Knight (1908) and sisters Elizabeth Phipps Coning (1917) and Hannah Neighbour (1916). 

Will as transcribed from a copy of the original document

(Original line and page breaks preserved as far as possible)

This is the last Will and Testament

of me Samuel Knight of Halstead in the County of Essex Retired Corn and Coal

Merchant I appoint my son Ernest Henry Knight and my friend Richard Evan Minter of

Halstead aforesaid Warehouseman (hereinafter called my trustees) to be the Executors

and Trustees of this my will  And I give to the said Richard Evan Minter the sum of

twenty pounds (free of legacy duty) for the trouble he may have in carrying out the

trusts of this my will  I bequeath the following legacy To my wife Mary Ann Knight

the sum of fifty pounds to be paid to her immediately after my decease I give to my

said wife such of the linen belonging to me which shall be in my dwellinghouse at the

time of my decease as she may be desirous of having  I also desire my said wife to be

permitted to reside in the dwellinghouse in which I shall be living at the time of my

decease for three calendar months thereafter (rent free) and to have the use and

enjoyment during her life of my dining and breakfast room furniture and effects

(except pictures) that may be in and about my said dwellinghouse And also the use and

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enjoyment during her life of such bedroom and kitchen furniture and culinary articles

as she may wish for and require And from and after the decease of my said wife I

bequeath the said several chattels and effects to my said son Ernest Henry Knight abso-

lutely I devise and bequeath all my real estate and the rest residue and remainder of

my personal estate unto my trustees Upon trust that my trustees shall sell call in and

convert into money the same or such part thereof as shall not consist of money and

shall with and out of the moneys produced by such sale calling in and conversion and

with and out of my ready money pay my funeral and testamentary expenses and debts and

the legacies bequeathed by this my will or any codicil hereto and shall invest the

residue of the said moneys with power for my trustees from time to time at their

discretion to vary such investments and shall stand possessed of the said residuary

trust funds and the investments for the time being representing the same upon the

trusts following that is to say In trust to pay out of the income arising therefrom

the yearly sum of one hundred and eighty pounds to my said wife during her life by

equal quarterly instalments and to pay the remainder of the said income to my said son

Ernest Henry Knight And from and after the decease of my said wife In trust as to one

thousand pounds thereof for my granddaughter Hilda Mary Knight and as to the remainder

for my said son Ernest Henry Knight absolutely Provided always and I declare that my

trustees shall retain the said legacy or sum of one thousand pounds so bequeathed to

my said granddaughter as aforesaid and shall invest the same with power at their

discretion to vary the investments and shall stand possessed of the said legacy of

one thousand pounds and the investments for the time being representing the same

upon the trusts following that is to say Upon trust to pay the income thereof to my

said granddaughter during her life and so that if and while she shall be under cover-

ture the same shall be for her sole and separate use and she shall not have power to

dispose thereof by way of anticipation And from and after the decease of my said

granddaughter in trust for her children or any of them and any of their issue in such

shares if more than one and in such manner as she shall by her will or codicil appoint

And in default of such appointment and so far as any such appointment shall not extend

In trust for the children of my said granddaughter who being male shall attain the

age of twenty one years or being female shall attain that age or marry in equal shares

and if there shall be only one such child the whole to be in trust for that one And in

case there shall be no child of my said granddaughter who being male shall attain the

age of twenty one years or being female shall attain that age or marry then upon such

trusts and in such manner as my said granddaughter shall by will or codicil appoint

and in default of such appointment and so far as any such appointment shall not extend

In trust for my said son Ernest Henry Knight absolutely And I declare that my trustees

may postpone the sale and conversion of my said real and personal estate or any part

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thereof during the lifetime of my said wife for so long as they shall think fit and

that the rents profits and income to accrue from and after my decease of and from such

part of my estate as shall for the time being remain unsold and unconverted shall after

payment thereout of all incidental expenses and outgoings be paid and applied to the

person or persons and in the manner to whom and in which the income of the moneys

produced by such sale calling in and conversion would for the time being payable or

applicable if such sale and conversion had been actually made And I further declare

that my trustees shall be free from responsibility and shall not be answerable for any

loss that may arise in connection with the retainer of my said real and personal

estate in its present state of investment during the lifetime of my said wife And

hereby revoking all former wills and testamentary dispositions by me at any time

heretofore made I declare this only to be my last In Witness whereof I have hereunto

set my hand this thirtieth day of September one thousand nine hundred and eight -

Samuel Knight - Signed by the said Samuel Knight the testator as and for his

last will and testament and subscribed by us as witnesses thereto being all three

present and signing in each others presence at the same time - W A Smith

Solicitor Halstead - V A Land Clerk to Messrs Surridge & Smith Solicitors

Halstead

On the 27^th day of November 1908 Probate of this will was granted to Ernest

Henry Knight and Richard Evan Minter the executors.

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Death on or after 1^st January 1898

Will

Be it known that Samuel Knight of

Halstead in the County of Essex

died on the 24^th day of October 1908

at Halstead aforesaid

And be it further known that at the date hereunder written

the last Will and Testament

of the said deceased was proved and registered in the Principal Probate

Registry of His Majesty’s High Court of Justice, and that administration

of all the estate which by law devolves to and vests in the personal

representative of the said deceased was granted by the aforesaid Court

to Ernest Henry Knight retired corn merchant Son of

the said deceased and Richard

Evan Minter warehouseman both of

the same place the Executors

named in the said Will

Dated the 27^th day of November 1903

Gross value of Estate £7031-5-6. 

Net value of Personal Estate £6056-17-4.                                        

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