Saturday 09 Nov 1844 (p. 3, col. 3-4) WILL OF THE LATE DR. DALTON. ----- Several inaccurate statements having appeared respecting the will of the late Dr. DALTON, proved the other day in Doctors' Commons, the Manchester Guardian has published the following account taken from an authentic copy furnished by one of the executors:— The will, which is dated December 22nd, 1841, and which was proved by the executors, Messrs. William NEILD, Peter CLARE, and the Rev. William JOHNS, thus commences:—"This is the last will and testament of me, John DALTON, of Manches- [sic] in the county palatine of Lancaster, D.C.L.F.R.S., &c. I bequeath all and every my philosophical, scientific, and literary MSS. and correspondence, and all other my written papers (not being legal deeds, or documents, or accounts) unto my friend William Charles HENRY, late of Manchester aforesaid, but now of Haffield, near Ledbury, in the county of Hereford, M.D., and to my executors hereinafter named; to be disposed of as they may judge most meet, and to be free from legacy duty." He next bequeathes to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society ("of which society I am now the president,) my gold and silver medals; presented to me by the Society of London, to be held as the property of the society, as a memorial of me, and to be free from legacy duty." He then devises all his real estate upon trust, in the usual form, to his executors, Thomas WILSON, of Netherfield, near Kendal, Westmoreland, manufacturer; William FEILD, Esq., mayor of Manchester; and Peter CLARE, gentleman. [Mr. WILSON having subsequently become unable to act; Dr. DALTON, in his codicil, appoints the Rev. William JOHNS, of Manchester, an executor in his stead.] The executors are to pay all just debts and funeral expenses, and all expenses of proving the will, and executing the trusts, and then follow the bequests, viz. To the children of Henry DALTON, of Eaglesfield, in the parish of Brigham, in the county of Cumberland, gentleman, £300, equally divided amongst them, and to be paid as they come of age. The shares of those under age to be vested in government stock, real security, railroads, or canals, that have received parliamentary sanction, they to receive the dividends or interest.—To John ROBINSON, of Bank, in Eaglesfield, gentleman, £300. To the same John ROBINSON, the interest of £300 (invested for that purpose) for life; and at his death, the principal to be equally divided amongst his children, if he die intestate; if not, in such proportions as he may direct by will.—"To my friend, Peter CLARE, £650."—To Elizabeth JOHNS, daughter of the Rev. Wm. JOHNS, of Broughton, £500.—To Catherine (sister of the above) £500. [This lady dying in the doctor's lifetime, in the codicil he revokes this legacy, and bequeaths the £500 to her father, the Rev. William JOHNS.] To Isaac WILSON, of Kendal, and Mary, his wife, "in trust for my relatives," Isabella, Margaret, and Rachel LICKBARROW, £900, in equal third shares; if any of them die, their shares to the survivors.—"To my relative, Hannah ABBATT, wife of Robert ABBATT, of Liverpool, £300."—To my sister, Isabella BENSON, wife of Robert BENSON, jun., of Preston, £300. —"To Miss Esther WOOD, my housekeeper," £200. [By the codicil, Dr. DALTON leaves an additional bequest of £100 to Miss WOOD."]—"To my highly esteemed pupil, and most agreeable friend, Mary TAYLOR (daughter of Colonel TAYLOR), of Moston, near Manchester, £100, as a testimony of the pleasure I have had in the instruction of such superior mental abilities." To the Eaglesfield and Blind Bothell School, at Paddle, Cumberland, £50, free from legacy duty. To the school connected with the Society of Friends at Wigton, Cumberland, £300, free from duty. To the institution connected with the Society of Friends called Ackworth School, in the county of York ("the general meeting whereof I attended with much interest for 20 years,") £500, "to be applied towards carrying on the benevolent designs of that institution, in the said county or elsewhere;" free from duty. [The legacy duty on these bequests he directs to be paid out of his residuary personal estate.] "I also give and bequeath to my executors the sum of £2,000, and I request my executors to found, endow, or support a professorship of chemistry at Oxford, for the advancement of that science by lectures, in which the atomic theory, as propounded by me, together with the subsequent discoveries and elucidations thereof, shall be introduced and explained. [It will be seen, by the codicil, that Dr. DALTON afterwards revoked thie [sic] bequest; with the object, we have some reason to believe, of increasing the number and amount of several legacies.] He then appoints the gentlemen already named his executors, "to each of whem [sic] I give the sum of 19 guineas, as a friendly bequest." Then follow the usual clauses relating to executors. The codicil, which is dated the 26th June, 1843, after substituting the Rev. William JOHNS for Mr. WILSON, as an executor, contains the following bequest:—I bequeath to William Chas. HENRY, M.D., named in my will, my chemical and other philosophical instruments and apparatus." He then bequeathes to Mr. William NEILD and Mr. Peter CLARE, six houses in Gray-street, Manchester, to hold as tenants in common. He revokes the legacy of £2,000 for the purpose of founding a professorship of chemistry at Oxford, and directs the amount to fall into the general residue of his effects, for the purposes we have already hinted at. He bequeathes to Ann FISHER, of Henbury, near Bristol, £40; to Charles DAUBENY (Dr. DAUBENY, professor of chemistry), Oxford, £100; to Deborah WILSON, of Kendal, (sister to Mr. WILSON, originally named as one of the executors,) £300. And the residue, in equal shares, to the children of Henry DALTON and John ROBINSON, both of Eaglesfield. The total personal property of which Dr. DALTON died possessed was locally situate, partly in the province of York, and partly in that of Canterbury; and hence it arises that the executors proved the latter to be under £4,000 (which the paragraph in the Britannia represents as the whole of the personal property included in the will), and that in the province of York as under £5,000. Dr. DALTON, therefore, may be said to have died possessed of upwards of £8,000 personal property, besides the reality &c. in the six houses bequeathed to Mr. Alderman NEILD and Mr. Peter CLARE, two of his oldest friends.