Last Will and Testament of
Charles William Harrison Pickering

The following text is the complete Last Will and Testament of Charles William Harrison Pickering. You will notice that it is quite long and the original had no punctuation so I copied it as it was originally written.



This is the last Will and Testament of me
Charles William Harrison Pickering
of New Brighton Cheshire Merchant


Will of Pickeirng I direct the payment of my just debts and simple funeral expenses I bequeath my furniture plate linen wines and all my household effects pictures excepted to my dear wife Elizabeth absolutely also the sum of Five hundred pounds to be paid within fourteen days of my decease

I further bequeath to her my house Montebello for the natural term of her life

Unto my daughter Katherine Elizabeth Harling my Son Eugene Haynes and to Frederick North Liverpool Solicitor

Upon first that they or the survivor of them and the executor of such survivors hereafter called my "Trustees" shall sell call in and convert into money the same or such part as shall not consist of money with liberty to reclaim any existing investments selling my pictures at Christys and shall and of the same set apart and appropriate a sum sufficient to produce a clear income or sum of one thousand pounds and pay such annuity to my said wife during her life by two half yearly payments of five hundred pounds the first payment to be made within four months after my demise the second ten months and then at equal periods of six months. I direct that all moneys reclaimed by my trustees for the purpose of this my Will shall be invested in their names in or upon any of the stocks funds or securities of the United Kingdom or upon mortgage of real or leasehold estate or upon the fully paid up stocks shares or securities of any Railway or good dividend paying Company in Great Britain incorporated by Act of Parliament or by Royal Charter with power to vary the said investments or for others of like nature

And I direct my said Trustees to stand professed of my estate Upon trust to divide the same between my nine children on the following manner viz to pay my unmarried daughters Frederike Valentia the sum of Three thousand pounds on her marrying or attaining the age of thirty years she to receive the interest so soon as it accrues after my decease and one ninth of my estate the interest of this one ninth to be paid to my wife until she Frederike marries. To my married daughters Katherine Elizabeth Harling one Ninth To Edith Paulina Myers one ninth and to Emma Weste one ninth less the sum of Three thousand pounds (she having had more than the others) thus dispersing of four ninths and to divide the remaining five ninths amongst my five sons Charles William, Eugene Haynes, Henry Alfred, William and Alexander John and to the issue of such of them as may then be dead and leaving such issue to take amongst them the share to which his or her parent would have been entitled to

But if any of my said sons shall be then Bankrupt or Insolvent or shall have done any act whereby his share in my residuary estate would or might be payable or could be attached by any other person then I revoke such bequest in his favor and I direct my said trustee to stand professed of the share of such son upon the same or the like trusts concerning the shares of my married daughters

And I direct that my son Charles William is to take the Newslio Farm as part of his share at the price it has cost me in my Books

And I further direct that one half of the shares to which my eldest son Charles and that of my third son Henry Alfred and the whole of the share to which my sons William and Alexander John shall be entitled to shall not be paid to them but shall be retained by my said trustees who have power to appoint separate trustees for each son if they see fit with my said sons sanction and to pay the usual income in such manner and in such sums as they in their absolute direction shall think fit awards their maintenance and that of their wives and children and of the advancement of the latter in life it being my desire to give my trustees absolute power over such shares or part shares

Nevertheless I empower by trustees to advance and pay over to my said sons any part not exceeding one half of the amounts ordered to be retained for their own respective absolute use and benefit if my trustees shall deem it to be for their advantage and expedient so to do

And it is my Will and desire that the leagues to my daughter Frederike may be suitably settled before marriage.

And I direct my trustees to reclaim the leagues of my married daughters or to pay over the same to the Trustees under their Marriage Settlements Upon trust to pay the income thereof to her during her life for her sole and separate use without the favor of anticipating the same but with power for such daughter to appoint by deed or Will that after her demise the whole or any part shall be paid to any husband who may survive her during his life

And after the decease of such daughter and subject to any appointment which may be made to her husband Upon trust for all or such one or more exclusively of the other or others of the children at such ages or times and in such shares and in such manner as such daughter by any deed or by her Will shall appoint. And in default of such appointment In trust for all the children of such daughter who being male shall attain the age of twenty one or being female shall attain that age or marry in equal shares And if there shall be only one such child then In trust for that one child And in case there be no child of such daughter who shall require a vested interest in such legacy In trust for my other children in equal share And I direct that the receipt in writing of the trustees of the Settlements made in the marriage of any of my said daughters shall be deemed an acceptance of the trust by them and shall exonerate my said trustees from all liability in respect to the legacy or share so paid over

I direct that any advances made by me to any of my children and standing at the time of my death to their debit in my private Ledger shall be taken as satisfaction to their extent of the portions provided for them respectively by this my Will

I devise all estates vested in me as a trustee or mortgage

Unto the said Trustees of this my Will Subject to the trusts and equities affecting the some but so that the money secured by any mortgage shall form part of my personal estate

And I appoint the said Katherine Elizabeth Harling, Eugene Haynes Pickering and Frederic North Executors of this my Will In Witness whereof I

the said Charles William Harrison Pickering have hereunto set my hand this
Seventeenth day of June One Thousand eight hundred and eighty --

C W H Pickering - Signed by the said Charles William Harrison Pickering as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us present at the same time who at his requires in his presence used in the presence of such other have hereto subscribed our names as witnesses -- Rob W. Mitchell 17 Waterloo Road Waterloo -- George Clapham 13 Wesley Street Waterloo




The District Registry at Chester In Her Majestys High Court of Justice

Be it known that at the date hereunder written the last Will and Testament (a copy whereof is hereto annexed) of Charles William Harrison Pickering late of Montebello St Georges Mount New Brighton in the County of Chester Merchant deceased who died on the second day of March 1881 at Seymour Street in the County of Middlesex and who at the time of his death had a place of abode at Montebello aforesaid within the District of the County of Chester was proved and registered in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division of Her Majestys High Court of Justice at Chester and that administration of the personal estate of the said deceased was granted by the aforesaid Court to Katherine Elizabeth Harling (wife of Robert Dawson Harling Doctor of Medicine) the daughter and Eugene Haynes Pickering the son of the said deceased and Frederick North the Executors named in the said Will they having been first given well and faithfully to administer the same.

Dated the Eighteenth day of March 1881 Charles T. W. Parry District Registrar