Will - 25 pages long. Is this possible?

[LizzieW]

I can imagine, therefore, that a significant member of the aristocracy may well have had a will of 25 pages.

As far as I know he wasn't a member of the aristocracy, at least as I think of them today.  The History of Suffolk Families calls him a "Gentleman" and stated that he had £500/£600 a year income.  According to National Archives £600 in 1580 would have the spending worth  today of £89,586.  So a very good income, but I'm sure today's aristocracy have an income of more than that a year.

Roger, maybe you're right and the person drawing it up, knowing of his wealth made it longer than necessary, however, my guess is that a lot of it is to do with ensuring that as his only heir my 9 x g.grandmother was mentally deficient from birth (I have no idea what form that took) her children would get his assets rather than her.  I would imagine she was what we used to call "Simple" as she was obviously able to marry and have children - 8 in all.

Lizzie

[Redroger]

Lizzie, Though I have seen the case I previously referred to, which appeared to add meaningless verbiage to the will, hence payment by the word, it does seem to me that since then the English langauge has developed quite a lot, and is now capable of much more concise expression than it was in the 18th century. Probably it had made a similar advance in the prev ious two centuries?

[LizzieW]

Possibly Roger, a bit like the French language where, because they don't have as many words as the English language they have to use more words to express the same thing than we do.

Lizzie

[Redroger]

Thanks Lizzie, an answer at last to why French documents are almost always longer than the English version. I thought they just liked talking or writing!

[Siamese Girl]

I know you cna't compare monetry values but £500-600 was quite a lot of money. Acccording to the calculator I use:

In 2008, £600 0s 0d from 1597 is worth

 £75,800.00 using the retail price index.
 £1,210,000.00 using average earnings.



All the Elizabethan wills I've read tend to be a lot shorter than later ones - the writing is smaller for a start and there wasn't so much gobbledegook in them - but that sounds VERY long.

Carole

[frederickay]

hi my possibile relation William jones father of william brasier jones from suffolk was worth 200 000 pounds in 1800. wow and i think he wasa self made man in malt brewery to begin with . AND his will isnt that long but there was a court battle over it which i should organise to get papers from ..
 another reletive the Duke of Sotomayer his will wasnt so long either but i still think lucky you . wonderful.. let us know if you find captain bluebeards tresure at the very least .. jan

[LizzieW]

Maybe I'll find I'm descended from William the Conqueror like lots of celebs on WDYTYA 

[Redroger]

Lizzie, Talking of aristocratic pay now, I think they come in all categories, from the impoverished to the Billionaires! EdwardVII was involved in a case concerning gambling, where the respondent, I think an army captain or major had a yearly income of £45,000; this in the 1890s.For comparison, in the 1990s I was involved in an enquiry over how an ordinary rail worker managed to achieve a yearly income of over £45,000. Can't give any further details but I think it puts into perspective the income that Edward VII's acquaintance had.

[danuslave]

If you have a blue coloured plastic see through folder, place it over the writing , it becomes a little clearer.

Funnily enough this was mentioned the other day by a friend who works in an opticians.  Apparently blue doesn't work for everyone, so try other colours if necessary.

Linda