The Will of Richard Allestree D.D.

One of my great great great great great great great great grandmothers, on my father's side was Rachel Stanier née Allestree, whose monument appears in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Uppington, Shropshire.

The monument mentions her brother, Richard Allestree, D.D., my eight-greats granduncle, who was a clergyman of some distinction - Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford -, whose extraordinary life is set out in this extract from the Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900. 

I have tracked down Dr Allestree's Last Will and Testament (The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Series PROB 11; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 367) and transcribe it here. His bequests include a library of 3,500 books which are today at Christ Church Oxford. The library has a mediaeval tiled floor and further information is to be found on the Ashmolean website.

John Fell, John Dolben and Richard Allestree by Peter Lely © Christ Church Oxford

In The Name of God Amen I Richard Allestree of the University of Oxford Doctor of Divinity Provost of Eaton and Cannon of Christ Church in Oxford being indisposed as to my health but of good and perfect mind and memory Doe make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following Commending my Soul to God that gain it and my Body to the Earth to be decently and privatily buried And for that Estate which it has pleased God to bless me withall I dispose thereof as followeth And in the ffirst place I Doe hereby Ratify and Confirm the Deed of Trust I have made to the Chancellor Masters and Schollers of the University of Oxford of my Study of Books for such ends and purposes and under the Trust therein mentioned and Expressed And for the Residue of my Estate I give and dispose thereof as followeth In Primis I give and bequeath my Consilia Regia Parisiienti of neare fforty volumes of Great Royall Paper being in the Room behind my Study in Oxford to Eaton Coll: Library (Catalogue Entry here) Item I give all the Rest of my Books in the said Room (Except ffrench faind storyes and suchlike Books which I give to the Bishop of Oxon [John Fell D.D.] to do what he will with) And also the Books in the Box under the Window in my Study my Mathematicall Instruments in that Window And the Globes in the Room behind my Study and the Earle of Castlemaines Globe with the Booke belonging to it and all my optics Glasses (Except the longest of sixteene foote long which I give to Christ Church Mathematicall Study) And the Books



behind my Bed Chamber att Eaton I give and bequeath to my Three Nephews John Stanyer John Corbett and Richard Blakeway Students of Christ Church to be divided amongst them as my Lord Bishop of Oxford shall direct Item I give and bequeath unto my said Lord Bishop of Oxford All my Lectures in sticht sheetes or Transferred in Books for those uses and on those Conditions that I signified to him by a Letter on the nyneteenth of this instant January not doubting But they will be observed And therefore I wholly give them to him Item All my written Sermons and other writings I give to my said Three Nephews to be divided by my said Lord Bishop of Oxon Item I doe humbly give and bequeath unto said Lord Bishop of Oxon my Scrutore and Long Pendulum Clock standing in my Study at Oxon Item I give unto my deare ffriend Mr Phillip ffell ffellow of Eaton College my Scutore in my Chamber att Eaton and my little Regulator watch Item I give unto my servant Francis Welman the sume of twenty pounds beside his wages and my lesser Mares which I used to Ride on And whatever of my Apparel or Gownes he shall think fitt to tak (Excepting both my Scarlett Gownes and Hoodes) Item I give unto my Maid Elizabeth Arden the sume of ten pounds beside her wages And to my Groome and Coachman ffifty shillings a peice besides their wages and Liveries just given them Item I give and bequeath the sume of Twenty pounds to the poore of Eaton To be put into their Stock and managed as it is usually by the College and Towne Item Whereas I have at Pateshall Estate att Uppington and elsewhere in the County of Salop 

Out of the Rents and Proffitts whereof my Brother Stanyer and his wife have received the sume of Two Hundred pounds My Brother and sister Corbett the sume of One Hundred pounds And my sister Blakeway the like sume of One Hundred pounds (The Interest of which sumes I forgive my said Brothers and Sisters) And my Brother and sister Stanton have received Nothing My will is that out of all and singular my Estate goods and Chattells not hereby otherwise given and disposed My said Brother and sister Corbett shall have and receive One Hundred pounds more My sister Blakeway One Hundred pounds more And my Brother and sister Stanton the sume of Two Hundred pounds to make them equall wiith my said Brother and sister Stanyer And afterwards I give and bequeath the Residue and remainder of my Estate goods and Chattells whatsoever unto my said ffoure sisters whom I doe make my Joynt Executrices and impower them and Every of them to give and dispose of these severall parts and shares to whom they shall think fitt haveing a partiality in respect to my Goddaughter Item I do desire my said deare ffriend Mr Phillip ffell to take care to see me interred according to the directions I have given and to see the Charges of my ffunerall and Sicknisse defrayed Lastly revoaking all other will by me made I declare this to be my Last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seal the Three and Twentieth day of January in the yeare of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty And in the Thirty Second yeare of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles the Second

over England pro Rich: Allestree Memorandum after the words above interlined (are) (in my Study my Mathematicall Instruments in that (window) The word (Stet) in another place And the word (daughters) over the obliterations. The Testator did sign seal pubblish and declare this to be his last will and Testament in the presence of us Anne Clerke John Went Thomas Whitfeild

Probatum fuit Testamentum supra scriptum apud London coram Ven[erabil]i et Egregio viro Duo Leolino Jenkins Milite Legum D[o]cto[re] Curia Praerogativa Cant[uariensis] Ma[g]istro Custode sive Commisario L[egi]time Constituto [ ] die mensis Augusti Anno Dei Mill[es]imo Sexcentisimo Ottogi[nti]simo Primo Anno Mentis Maria Stanton Rachaelis Stanier Juditha Corbet et Margareta Blakeway Executrices in hujusmodi Testamento nominati cui Commissa fuit Administratio omnium et singulorum bonorum jurium et creditorum dicti defuncti De Bene et fideliter Administrand' ead'm Ad S'cta Dei Evangelia (vigore Commissionis) Jurat.

The above-written will was proved at London before the Worshipful Master Leoline Jenkins Knight Doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commisary of the Prerorogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted on the [ ] day of the month of August in the year of Our Lord one thousand sixteen hundred and eighty one by the oaths of Maria Stanton Rachel Stanier Judith Corbett and Margaret Blakeway Executrixes to whom were granted administration of all and singular the good rights and credits of the said deceased to well and faithfully adminster the same Sworn on the Holy Gospels of God, by power of commission. 

Castlemaine's Globe - a further note may be found here.

© Julian Parker 2024