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Robert Potts' will I ordered is now available. However, the GRO have said they are unable to provide a copy of the will, as a Grant of Letters of Administration was issued since he died intestate. We knew this already, but it turns out it is still a barrier to research all these years on. The grant however can be viewed and states:

"BE IT KNOWN, that at the date hereunder written, Letters of Administration of the personal Estate of Robert Potts of no. 24 Oakley Street Brick Lane Spitalfields in the County of London deceased, who died on the 22nd day of February 1894 at the Bethnal Green Workhouse in the said County a Widower without child or Parent Brother or Sister and intestate, were granted by Her Majesty's High Court of Justice at the Principal Registry of the Probate Division thereof to Henry Boyens of no. 15 Sheldon Road Silver Street Edmonton in the County of Middlesex Engineer the lawful nephew and one of the next of kin of the said intestate, he having been first sworn well and faithfully to administer the same.

Dated the 11th day of July 1895
Gross value of Personal Estate £288.13.11"

So it certainly was Henry Boyens 'junior' i.e. Isabella's brother, rather than the father, who it is now even more likely correct died in 1873 and the family split up as discussed.

Very strange, then, that her brother Henry had needed to resort to advertising in the newspaper about her inheritance, as although the family had been split up it appears to have been due to a death rather than a falling out, and it evidently wasn't permanent. As you have highlighted she wouldn't have even necessarily been able to read the notice. I don't think we'll find out why Isabella lost touch with her remaining family temporarily, or whether she got her inheritance in the end, but at least we know the circumstances around the newspaper entry now! Thank you everyone for your help

Quote from: Trevellian on Thursday 18 September 25 18:18 BST (UK)

Quote from: Mabel Bagshawe on Wednesday 17 September 25 22:12 BST (UK)

I suspect the family may have been split up after Henry died.

Not sure what happened to Isabella the mother

Robert was also admitted to the workhouse in October 1873 and then sent on to Forest Gate school/home. He's a lodger in 1881

Nicholas looks to have remained connected to Henry jnr, as they are together in 1891

I think you may be right the family was split up, at least for a while. For Nicholas and Henry jnr. staying connected, it appears Nicholas was 'reunited' with his sister Isabella after Henry jnr. died in 1904, as in the 1911 census he is part of her household (though stated as a lodger, rather than brother-in-law to Isabella's husband, while the late Henry's two children (Emily) Elizabeth and Ernest are correctly stated as niece and nephew).

Going back to the original question about Isabella's involvement with Robert Potts' estate and being sought after by her brother Henry in relation to it, you would think given that she was at least reunited with their brother Nicholas that it did get resolved. However, there is that Isabella Boyens of London who appears on F. H. Dougal & Co.'s 'Unclaimed Money Registry' in 1910 - suggesting it was still to be sorted 15 years on from the original newspaper entry in 1895. Obviously by 1910 (December 16 1895 onwards) she was Isabella Dickens, not Boyens, but there doesn't seem to be another Isabella Boyens this could have been.

I think Nicholas and Isabella were linked up earlier, as it looks like he witnessed her marriage in 1895. He's Nicholas Thomas, and the witness looks very like N T Boyens to me

Is the 1910 item referring to Isabella Boyens as the person whose estate is unclaimed, or a lost beneficiary? There is also the mother that I've not traced after 1871

Good spot! I agree it really does look like N T Boyens. Strange that she didn't seem to have been reachable by her other brother earlier that same year in that case.

I am not sure in which capacity Isabella is in the 1910 item, it's just something I found using my local library's FindMyPast subscription. RootsChat won't let me attach a file for some reason (not a file too large issue, it simply isn't giving me the option in the first place) but the two key parts of the document are the title, 'F. H. Dougal & Co.'s "Unclaimed Money Registry", 62, Strand, London. Full and authentic copy of advertisement relating to any name, £1.' and on the page below it has an alphabetical list of names including 'Boyens, Isabella (London) 19-J.' - that's all the information it gives about her. It is from the FindMyPast Record set 'Britain, Missing Beneficiaries and Unclaimed Estates 1910' so she could be either (?).

Not even my own family but found while trying to find someone else on the 1911 census, this elderly lady who added some extra details about her circumstances. Very sad though nothing too out of the ordinary, it still moved me as you wouldn't normally have those extra details. Obviously the 1911 census already feels like a leap forward in having a more 'personal' record with them being the first to be handwritten by the household rather than the enumerator, and this was just another level on top of that. Evidently it's quite telling of her limited education with the poor spelling and unusual way of writing numbers, '704' for 74 and '401' for 41. At first I thought she was 104! (As did the enumerator who filled in the age column you may note) but she was almost certainly actually 73, unless she had been married to her husband for 401 years...

Edit won't let me attach a clipping of the census here but can be viewed attached to her profile here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/G6VQ-72T

It would appear that Robert Potts of 24 Oakleigh St, Brick Lane died 22 February 1894 at Bethnal Green Workhouse without leaving a will and Henry Boyens (occ Engineer) applied to administer his estate. His effects were £288.13.11d

Perhaps Isabella was no longer in contact with her father but there was to be a payment from this money to her

The slightly frustrating thing is this Henry Boyens could either be the father (born about 1830) or the son born Q'3 1860 Whitechapel, as while the son is still alive at this point as I have his death entry for 1904 (see previous reply) I can't find a death entry for Henry Boyens senior, so am unsure whether he was still alive. If they were both still alive, she must have no longer been in contact with the whole family to have been so unreachable.

That wording is typical when solicitors are trying to trace a lost beneficiary to a will or other financial  benefit

That's really useful to know, thank you; I was hoping someone would be able to confirm or deny.

Robert Potts died 22 Feb 1894 in Bethnal Green workhouse. Address on the probate register was 24 Oakley St, Brick Lane. Administration of his estate was given to  Henry Boyens, engineer, in July 1895

Death registration gives his age as 45

That's definitely the right Robert Potts what with the Boyens connection, even though the age given would make him born about 1849, not 1844 or so as the 1851 Floyd census and 1844 Stepney birth entry would suggest