Greetings Listers I'm at present writing up a short story about my 11 x ggf, John STANDBYNORTH - or STANBINORTH and other variants - who made his Will on 6th January 1578 (either 78/79 or 79/80 - year not certain yet) - I have a transcribed extract. Among the Legatees are three called John STANDBYNORTH - 1. His son John 2. His son John's son John - a child of 3 or 4 (baptised 1575) 3. His son Harry's son John - a child of 9 or 10 (baptised 1568) In addition, one of the Witnesses is John STANDBYNORTH. I'm discounting the two children, but am left with this question: was it possible back then for a Legatee to witness a Will? Or have I found yet another adult resident of Hastings called John STANDBYNORTH? Any help on this matter or anything to do with STANDBYNORTHs would be gratefully received. Many thanks Pam Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

The Wills Act 1837 provided that if a beneficiary (or their spouse) witnessed a will the will remained valid but the gift was invalidated (this remains the case). Whether there was any earlier legislation to this effect I don't know - there may not have been It is always possible that your witness was a nephew or cousin of the testator Ros -----Original Message----- From: sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of PMR Sent: 27 September 2013 02:17 To: SFHG Mailing List Cc: SSX-PLUS - Mailing List Subject: [SXP] Witnessing a Will - 16th century Greetings Listers I'm at present writing up a short story about my 11 x ggf, John STANDBYNORTH - or STANBINORTH and other variants - who made his Will on 6th January 1578 (either 78/79 or 79/80 - year not certain yet) - I have a transcribed extract. Among the Legatees are three called John STANDBYNORTH - 1. His son John 2. His son John's son John - a child of 3 or 4 (baptised 1575) 3. His son Harry's son John - a child of 9 or 10 (baptised 1568) In addition, one of the Witnesses is John STANDBYNORTH. I'm discounting the two children, but am left with this question: was it possible back then for a Legatee to witness a Will? Or have I found yet another adult resident of Hastings called John STANDBYNORTH? Any help on this matter or anything to do with STANDBYNORTHs would be gratefully received. Many thanks Pam Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SUSSEX-PLUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Yes Ros, but Pam was talking in terms of 1578 well prior to 1837 :-). Frances On 27/09/2013 07:06, Ros Dunning wrote: > The Wills Act 1837 provided that if a beneficiary (or their spouse) > witnessed a will the will remained valid but the gift was invalidated (this > remains the case). Whether there was any earlier legislation to this effect > I don't know - there may not have been > > It is always possible that your witness was a nephew or cousin of the > testator > > Ros > > -----Original Message----- > From: sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of PMR > Sent: 27 September 2013 02:17 > To: SFHG Mailing List > Cc: SSX-PLUS - Mailing List > Subject: [SXP] Witnessing a Will - 16th century > > Greetings Listers > > I'm at present writing up a short story about my 11 x ggf, John > STANDBYNORTH - or STANBINORTH and other variants - who made his Will on 6th > January 1578 (either 78/79 or 79/80 - year not certain yet) - I have a > transcribed extract. > > Among the Legatees are three called John STANDBYNORTH - > 1. His son John > 2. His son John's son John - a child of 3 or 4 (baptised 1575) > 3. His son Harry's son John - a child of 9 or 10 (baptised 1568) > > In addition, one of the Witnesses is John STANDBYNORTH. I'm > discounting the two children, but am left with this question: was it > possible back then for a Legatee to witness a Will? Or have I found yet > another adult resident of Hastings called John STANDBYNORTH? > > Any help on this matter or anything to do with STANDBYNORTHs > would be gratefully received. > > Many thanks > > Pam > Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

Hi Pam, You probably have this info already but I was interested to see that there were 3 Standbynorth burials within a couple of weeks of each other: John senior 12/01/1579 Joan 20/01/1579 maid daughter of John Johan 26/01/1579 widow of John senior I'm not an expert on wills either but could the other witness have been his wife? I don't know if women were allowed or expected to witness such documents - was she named in the will? all the best, Anne > Greetings Listers > > I'm at present writing up a short story about my 11 x ggf, John > STANDBYNORTH - or STANBINORTH and other variants - who made his Will on 6th > January 1578 (either 78/79 or 79/80 - year not certain yet) - I have a > transcribed extract. > > Among the Legatees are three called John STANDBYNORTH - > 1. His son John > 2. His son John's son John - a child of 3 or 4 (baptised 1575) > 3. His son Harry's son John - a child of 9 or 10 (baptised 1568) > > In addition, one of the Witnesses is John STANDBYNORTH. I'm > discounting the two children, but am left with this question: was it > possible back then for a Legatee to witness a Will? Or have I found yet > another adult resident of Hastings called John STANDBYNORTH? > > Any help on this matter or anything to do with STANDBYNORTHs > would be gratefully received. > > Many thanks > > Pam > Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

Good morning to those pursuing this thread. It is interesting to see the opinions about pre 1700 wills being expressed, thank you I am learning. I think it would be a very specialised art as Wills did change back and forth in Latin and English for a little while during the reigns of the Tudors. Then you have the trouble of reading the Latin writing some of them being in ancient Latin. There are good Latin dictionaries on the web. I did do 3 years of Latin in High school but we did not cover writing styles which even if you know Latin are very hard to decipher I do have a talk I gave here in Australia called ''Deadly Serious but sometimes Hilarious'' about Wills. Noticed with some I had over the 16th century that even when the Will itself was in English the Probate was in Latin. This does not solve the query but thought it might be interesting. Lefayre Palmer -----Original Message----- From: sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sussex-plus-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Anne Capewell Sent: Saturday, 28 September 2013 2:12 AM To: PMR; sussex-plus@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [SXP] Witnessing a Will - 16th century Hi Pam, You probably have this info already but I was interested to see that there were 3 Standbynorth burials within a couple of weeks of each other: John senior 12/01/1579 Joan 20/01/1579 maid daughter of John Johan 26/01/1579 widow of John senior I'm not an expert on wills either but could the other witness have been his wife? I don't know if women were allowed or expected to witness such documents - was she named in the will? all the best, Anne > Greetings Listers > > I'm at present writing up a short story about my 11 x ggf, John > STANDBYNORTH - or STANBINORTH and other variants - who made his Will on 6th > January 1578 (either 78/79 or 79/80 - year not certain yet) - I have a > transcribed extract. > > Among the Legatees are three called John STANDBYNORTH - > 1. His son John > 2. His son John's son John - a child of 3 or 4 (baptised 1575) > 3. His son Harry's son John - a child of 9 or 10 (baptised 1568) > > In addition, one of the Witnesses is John STANDBYNORTH. I'm > discounting the two children, but am left with this question: was it > possible back then for a Legatee to witness a Will? Or have I found yet > another adult resident of Hastings called John STANDBYNORTH? > > Any help on this matter or anything to do with STANDBYNORTHs > would be gratefully received. > > Many thanks > > Pam > Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SUSSEX-PLUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message