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Alert readers of this thread will see that there was a serious fire at Moredon in 1836 at which the King no less (William IV) also offered £100 reward to track down the arsonists. (Gould had  received a threatening letter beforehand). I did write to the Royal Archives at Windsor and did receive a gracious reply but regretting that there were few letters from the King remaining and therefore nothing to be found. It still seems odd that Gould who while wealthy and a generous benefactor to many local appeals was nevertheless still a commoner yet was able to gain the ear of the monarch. His name does crop up as a local land commissioner and a funeral notice says he was a kind and much respected man - but that's about it.

Yes thanks I've found those but none explain how he became so wealthy. Newspaper cuttings (many) give a lavish reward for a fire at Moredon 1836 in which the king enjoined as well. Curious.

I live qtr mile from Moredon in N Curry and am writing another book on this village, in particular The Barretts who were as you know extremely wealthy: Major Barrett who died 1914 left the equivalent of £52 million to just his wife. It would seem that JSG was the main source of funds to the Barrett line as his wife was the last of that generation. There was a serious fire at Moredon in 1832 where he not only offered a reward of £500 to the alleged arsonists but also got The King no less to chip in another £100. Hard to believe that the losses of barns and hay etc could amount to that huge sum in 1832, so another mystery. I have access to nearly 300 wonderful photos of the Barretts toward the end of the Victorian era but none alas captioned though we can make reasonable guesses as to the leading players. Incidentally John Chard VC (Rorke's Drift, film Zulu etc) was a relation. I would be very interested to see any wills or info about JSG and Sophia his wife. Most grateful for any response.