RootsChat.Com

Wiltshire Constabulary were formed in 1839.
Whatever records exist will be held at the Wiltshire and Swindon Family History Centre in Chippenham.
Email is archives@wiltshire.gov.uk
They are very helpful and will answer enquiries without charge if straightforward, or otherwise will do sone research for you at a reasonable cost.
I agree that it is extremely unlikely that a police officer would have escorted prisoners on a convict ship.
I had a relative who joined the Metropolitan police in the mid 19th C., and the Met certainly have records for individual officers, so I imagine Wiltshire will be the same.

I think the Lady Coventry link is a good one to follow up, even though the dates don’t seem to match up with events.

Some points about the family story occurred to me.

Firstly, to leave land and a mill in Wales to someone who helped briefly after a riding accident seems over generous. It might be true of course, but is it more likely the extent of any bequest grew over the years with the retelling of the story down the generations?

Secondly, as has been mentioned there would have been no need to go to London to make a claim.

Your g g grandfather would not know of any bequest in the lady’s will until after her death, at which time he would have been contacted by her executors, or by solicitors acting for the executors (the solicitors might well have been her executors).

If she was a titled lady it’s not unlikely that the solicitors dealing with her estate were a London firm (but that’s a guess, obviously).

In any event he would not have needed to travel to London to pursue his inheritance. It would have been common sense for him to ask a local attorney to sort it all out for him.

As you know, wills are a matter of public record once probate is issued, so the key is surely to try and identify the lady concerned, and then obtain a copy of her will. Easier said than done.

Ultimately, if a bequest or legacy is unclaimed, or in the event that your gg grandfather actually declined to accept the bequest (unlikely, but it happens), the property would revert  ultimately to the remainder of the estate and pass to the main (residuary) beneficiaries.

So clearly you are researching a possible titled lady’s estate for a death arising between the date of the newspaper article and your gg grandfathers death.

I think your suggestion that the second codicil effectively revoked the first entirely by specifically replacing the one clause is almost certainly correct.

I imagine that whoever applied for probate would have sent the Probate Registry both of the original codicils, with the original will, and that they pointed out that the first codicil had effectively been revoked by the wording of the second codicil, so that the grant was then issued with just the second codicil.

I’m assuming that the second codicil not only revoked the first but went on to make some other changes to the original will.

As a general rule it’s never a good idea to accumulate codicils. Once you’ve gone beyond one, it’s best to simply make a new will.

I don’t think the French Army ever executed one in ten men as a “stiffener”.
Verdun was 1916. The widespread mutinies in the French Army were in 1917 following General Nivelle’s disastrous major attack on the Germans, along the River Aisne.
Ironically Nivelle, who was quite a charismatic leader, had made his name at Verdun, driving back part of the German Army.
Verdun was entirely a French battle, initiated by the Germans who intended, in the words of their commander “to bleed the French Army white on the anvil of Verdun”.
A truly horrible battle which probably resulted in a million casualties in total.
The British attack on the Somme in July 1916 certainly relieved pressure on the French at Verdun, but the Somme offensive was planned originally by the joint French and British High Commands in 1915, and was intended originally  to be a major French attack with British support.
Verdun changed all that, and the British found themselves launching a major assault over ground not of their choosing, with French support on their Southern flank.
Another million casualties.
These two terrible battles in 1916, “the year of killing” (John Terraine), did at least serve to break the German Army on the Western Front.
Little wonder that people at home might name their new born children after these events, which were cataclysmic even by WW 1 standards.

Glencare - sorry my message should have read, any information about Anne Butcher's death in 1827 would be much appreciated.