Will of George Charlton, vicar (1732)

Post date: Oct 11, 2019 12:26:42 PM

Kent archives U145 T106/4 Will of George Charlton.

This paragraph is based on the CCED database. George was vicar of Wateringbury from 1729 to 1734. He was born in 1695 in Kent, the son of George Charlton of Boxley. He was educated at Westminster School and then Trinity College, Cambridge where he obtained his BA in 1718/9 and his MA in 1722 becoming a Fellow of the college. He was ordained a Deacon in 1725 and a priest in 1728. His will was made 2 years before his death aged about 39.

Edward Greensted writing about 1780 states

George Charlton Vicar rebuilt the present vicarage house [now known as The White House] ano 1731 at the expense of about £400 and having by power of the Bishop’s chancellor and archdeacon obtained £100 of Sir William Langhorn’s legacy and £15-15sh from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester he added the residue to make it up the sum of £200, and thereby entitled this vicarage to Queen Anne’s bounty of £200 to augment the same for ever.

Queen Anne's bounty was a fund apparently arising from Henry VIII's appropriation of Clerical taxes paid to Rome, dedicated by Queen Anne in 1704 to augmenting the incomes of poor clergy, not directly but often by buying land for the benefice. £200 was a fairly standard level of grant. George, however, does not seem that poor.

Greensted, believed to have been born in 1714 and who would have been aged 20 when Carlton died, also records that George is interred in "the main body of the Church" and that his wife is supposed to have donated to the Church a "fine Common Prayer Book" in 1736.

George is mentioned by Edward Hasted in his The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (1778–99) as follows:

the vicarage, a neat genteel house, almost rebuilt by Mr. Charlton, a late vicar, since much improved, and the ground round it laid out in the modern taste by the Rev. Mr. Style, the present vicar, who for some time resided in it.

The handwritten will is in English and is transcribed below:

I George Charlton of the parish of Wateringbury in the County of Kent do make this last will and testament this fourth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred thirty and two in manner and form as followeth in the first ???? commending my soul into the hands of God I will that my body shall be buried in the parish where I shall dye in a private manner without any ??????? or funeral pomp and no more than ??? pounds be expended on my funeral as ????? my Estate and Goods I dispose of them as followeth to my dear wife Ann Charlton I give and bequeath the sum of one hundred pounds to be paid to her yearly by quarterly payments during the time of her natural life by my brother John Charlton instead of the ???? settled on her by our marriage articles for the payment of which sum I will that my brother shall give to her whatsoever reasonable ?security? she shall require and whereas the perpetual advowsons¹ of the livings of Saint Mary’s and ?Harston? in the county of Kent were purchased for me in the name of Reverend Edmund Barrell³ my father in law which said advowsons cost one thousand pounds⁴ viz seven hundred pounds of my own money and three hundred pounds of my mother’s I give and bequeath said purchase of the said perpetual advowsons and all manner of right and title thereto to my brother John Charlton and his heirs to be by him sold if he shall think properand out of the money raised by the sale thereof give and bequeath one nundred pounds to my Godson George ??? [B]when he shall attain the age of fourteen years to be laid out for my Godson’s use as my brother John Charlton shall think proper and if it shall happen that I shall dye before either of the said livings shall ????? ???? [A]will that the aforesaid avowsons shall be sold by my brother John Charlton and that if they shall be sold for one thousand pounds or more I give and bequeath unto my mother Elizabeth Charlton three hundred pounds of the said money or if they shall be sold for less I give her a proportionate part but if I shall dye before either of these livings ????? ????[A]I do give my Godson George ???[B] any of the ?moity?to be realised by the sale of them but only recommend him to my ?mother/brother? Also I give and bequeath unto my brother John Charlton for and during the term of his natural life all my money which shall be out at Interest or for which I shall have bonds or any other ?securities? when I dye together with all my Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and all their appurtances ??? lying and being in the parishes of Boxley Maidstone and Hearnhill² in the County of Kent charged with an annuity of one hundred pounds to my wife as aforesaid as also all other Lands Tenements and Heriditaments which I shall dye possessed of and after the death of my said brother I give and bequeath the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and the said moneys to his Eldest Son lawfully begotten and to his heirs for ever and in default of such issue to the Eldest Daughter of my said brother and to her heirs for ever and in default of such issue to the Eldest Son of my Eldest Sister and his heirs for ever and in default of such issue to the Eldest daughter of my eldest and her heirs for ever with remainder to the heirs of my other sisters in the same order and manner also I give unto my brother John Chrlto all my books not otherwise disposed of Also I give unto my wife Ann Charlton all my household goods plate furniture appareil ???? and things together with all my ready money not before disposed of and all that shall belonging to me at my death except my money out at Interest or upon bonds or other securities provided she shall pay all my debts and the charges of my funeral but if I shall behind me a child then I declare all the foregoing part of my will except what relates to my funeral to be null and void and in that case I give to my said child and unto the heirs of the said child forever when the said child shall attain the age of twenty and one years everything before given and bequeathed to my brother John Charlton or to my mother Elizabeth Charlton and also in that case everything before given and bequeathed to my wife I give and bequeath to her for her life only also I give to the poor of the parish where I shall be buried five pounds and I do hereby nominate ????? and appoint my wife Ann Charlton Sole Executrix of this my last will and testament in the presence of the underwritten witnesses whohave also subscribed their names as witnesses in my presence George Charlton Signed Sealed published and declared to be the last will and testament of the said George Charlton in the presence of us Ann Brookes Francis Mackey ??? Hussey.

Notes:

1.An advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present to the diocesan bishop a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. The rights of owners of advowsons were only phased out from 1923 (The Benefices Act 1898 (Amendment) Measure 1923). As a benefice usually included the use of a house and the money generated by tithes and the glebe, the right to present (i.e. the advowson) had a clear financial value and £1,000 at this time would not have been unusual. In the diocese of Rochester in 1790 39% of benefices were presented to by private patrons (it was less in Canterbury); Wateringbury itself was one of 17 (13% of 135 benefices) in the diocese in the control of Rochester Chapter. Unfortunately I cannot identify the benefices mentioned as there are many St Mary's in Kent

2. Not the South London Hernhill but a small parish between Canterbury and Faversham.

3. Edmund Barrell was vicar of Boxley. He was educated at Braesnose College, Oxford and ordained in 1700, becoming a prebend at Norwich cathedral in 1702 until 1705 when he became a prebend at Rochester Cathedral (until his death in 1765). He became vicar of Sutton at Hone in 1705 (resigning in 1762) and also became vicar of Boxley in 1720 (until his death in 1765 at a ripe old but unknown age surviving his son in law, George, by many years.

4. £1,000 indexed by the RPI from 1732 to 2018 is a current value of £168,500 (https://www.measuringworth.com/).

[Note: copy of Laurentia Charlton’s will held as U145 T106/5. Spinster living in Boxley. Brother john Charlton gets £500 dated 1724.]