I Thomas Holdsworth M A and Rector of the parish and

parish Church of North Stoneham in the County of Southampton

being infirm in my body but God be praised of sound mind and

memory calling to mind the certainty of my death and the

uncertainty of the time of my departing out of the world do

make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner

and form following (that is to say) First I commit my poor

Soul into the hands of God the father who hath made me and all

the world Beseeching him for the sake and mericts of God the Son

who hath redeemed me and all Mankind that through

Sanctification of God the Holy Ghost who sanctifyeth me and all

the elect people of God It may with my body at the Generall

Resurrection in the Last day be found acceptable in his sight

Rise again with joy and possess and inheritt the Kingdom of

Heaven prepared for his Elect and I do here with great comfort

and Satisfaction Declare that by the grace of God I have always

lived and do Resolve to dye in the Holy Communion of the

Church of England the profession of whose faith I have always

held fast without wavering and with a hearty zeal have always

adhered to her interests in the highest and best sense without

base treacherous trimming and my body I committ to the

ground to be interred in the Grave already provided for wrapt

up in a Coarse Flannell Shroud the cheapest that can be bought

and putt in an ordinary plain Coffin made by a Workman in

by own parish without any ornamentall …… and Hinges

to be carried to my grave covered only with the black cloth

belonging to the parish without any escutcheons by four poor

men of my parish of the best reputation for piety and good

life and who have been the most frequent partakers with me of

the Blessed Sacraments of the most precious Body and Blood of

Our Lord Jesus Christ To each of those Four Bearers and to the

clark of my parish I give a Coat of Black or sad coloured strong

Cloth and a pair of Lambskin gloves and to my ………honoured

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friend my always kind and very good Neighbour the honourable

Colonel Richard Flemyng a pair of black Shammy gloves and a

Ring of a Guinea piece and to each of my Children a pair of

black shammy gloves and to such of the Reverend Clergy as

shall be pleased to be at my funeral a pair of black shammy

gloves and a Mourning hat-band and Scarce The Entertainment

at my funeral I desire may not in any respect be distinguished

but such only as is commonly made and provided at the and such

funeral of any of the common people of my parish only

immediately after my funeral I desire there may be a

Refreshment of wine for the Clergy at the discretion of my

Executors hereafter named and now for the better ordering

and disposing of my temporal Estate which the Good God hath

been pleased far above my deserts to bestow upon me I give

and devise to my Son Winch Holdsworth B D and fellow of St

John Baptist College in Oxon: and to my son Edward Holdsworth

M A and ……. of St Mary Magdalene College in Oxon: and

to the Survivor of them all my Estate real and personal

Goods and Chattels whatsoever (excepting what I shall

otherwise settle and dispose of in my life time) To have and to

hold to them and to the Survivor of them upon Trust and

confident that they shall dispose and distribute it according to

the uses hereafter mentioned and I make them Executors in trust

of this my Last Will and Testament I give to such Children of

my parish as can read well and come oftenest to be Catechized

in the Church all the money be it more or less that shall be

found in my study after my decease behind my books upon

the second shelf downards in the corner of the shelf next to my

Bedchamber (which are my private offerings) and all the money

be it more or less which shall be found after my decease in my old

desk in my study to be laid out in such good books for them as my

son Winch shall think to be most useful to their Souls Item I give

to my three Sons Winch Holdsworth Edward Holdsworth and

Henry Holdsworth all my Books and Pamphlets to be equally

divided among them After my three Daughters Anne Mason

Philadelphia Downes and Mary Ann Holdsworth have been

furnished out of them with such practical and devotional

books as my Executors shall in their discretion and kindness to

their said three sisters think fit to bestow upon them for their

Improvement in Christian knowledge and practice Item I do

give and bequeath to my Eldest son Winch Holdsworth and to

his heirs Executors and Assigns a piece of ground commonly

called Jayes Garden which I bought of Sir William Paul

County of Berks. Item I do give to my said Son Winch the

large Walnut Table standing in the Hall of Baldwins

aforesaid Item I do give to the said Winch the Bill of Sale

of Goods and Chattels of Thomas Williams of the Parish

of Bray aforesaid Which Bill of Sale is in one of my old Little

Red Trunk Item I give to my said Son Winch the large silver

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Tankard which was left to him by his Uncle Mr Richard

Winch and a long while detained unjustly from him by Sir

Thomas Grantham Knight out of whose hands I at last

recovered it by a Decree of the High Court of Chancery after

a very long and chargeable Suit Item I give to my said

son Winch my large Silver Tobacco Box which hath my

Coat of Arms on the Lid of it and my other Silver Tobacco

which hath the Arms on the Lid of it of Doctor Harrison

who was Master of St Cross I give to my Son in Law Mr

Sons my Son Edward Holdsworth my Silver Tankard with my

Coat of Arms and the Arms of Mr Winches Engraved on it

and my Silver Salt with the same Arms and all the pictures

hanging in my parlour and the mourning Ring which

Rectory of North Stoneham which ring as I have commonly

worn in memory of my great friend and patron so I desire

my Son Edward to do the same All my other Gold Rings

and Lockets and all my Silver plate not already and before by

this my Will disposed of as Casters dishes spoons and of what

kind or sort soever I give to my aforementioned three daughters

equally dear to me to be as equally and impartially divided

among them by my Executors as they can and what they my

Executors shall judge to be an equal and impartial division

and distribution I do earnestly entreat my dear daughters

absolutely to acquiesce in it and be determined by it without

any wrangling or dispute But forasmuch as my Sons and

Daughters most if not all of them have had plate or ……..

or money or other things given to them by their Godfathers

or Godmothers or other friends my meaning and will is

that all that be excepted out of the gold and silver which

I have given before to my aforesaid three daughters and that

each of my sons and daughters who has not yet received in

whole or part what hath been given to them as before

(as I believe some of them have) my be permitted and

suffered by my Executors in Trust to take and receive what

shall be found or what is known to have been given to them

or belong to them Item I give and bequeath to my three

Daughters aforesaid my Annuity and all the money I have

payable to me out of the Exchequer that is to say I give to my

fourteen pounds for which she is my Nominee and to my

another Annuity of fourteen pounds for which she is my

Nominee The …..allics for which Annuities out of the Exchequer

are in my old desk in my study and if there be any other

Security for those Annuities It is in the custody of my Cousin

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Samuel Mayo Brewer in London who by my Letter of Attorney

hath all along received those Annuities and of the two

hundred and ninety pounds which I have in the Exchequer

One hundred pounds of it with the interest due for it I give to

my eldest Daughter Anne Mason and one hundred and ninety

pounds with the interest due for it I give to my youngest

daughter Mary Anne Holdsworth The Security of Orders

for which two hundred and ninety pounds are in the custody

of my worthy good friend John Martyn Esq of Covent Garden

in London But if my said Daughter Mary Ann shall happen

to dye before she is married them of the one hundred and

ninety pounds which I had given to her I give and

bequeath ninety pounds to my daughter Ann Mason or to

or the survivor of them and the other hundred pounds I leave to

my Trustees to be disposed of and given by them to some one or

most of my Children as they my Trustees or the Survivor of them

shall think fit and if my said daughter Mary Ann shall live to

be married and shall marry any person without the approbation

and consent of my Executors in trust or the Survivor of them That

then of the one hundred and ninety pounds which I had given to

my daughter Mary Ann she shall only have one hundred

pounds and the other ninety pounds shall be given to my

Daughter Anne Mason or to her daughter Anne as before

And forasmuch as my unhappy Sons John Holdsworth and

have miserably disappointed me in all the care I have taken

for them and the great trouble and charge I have been at to put

them in a way to be able to provide for themselves having

misused all that I have done for them and given me just

Cause to fear that to do more for them would be to as little

purpose as what hath been already done for them Therefore to

my said Son John Holdsworth who hath been so perverse in

his ways very stubborn refractory and incorrigible and hath

for many many years past given great vexation and disquiet to

me and my family I give only five shillings and to my Son

Richard Holdsworth who by delusive fair promises hath drawn

me in to raise for him and to lend to him a very great sum

of money who slyly left me several of his debts to pay and who

by his own wretched folly (to say the best of it) hath made

himself miserable I give ten shillings Item I give and bequeath

to my sons Francis Holdsworth and Henry Holdsworth my

in the County of Berks the Deeds for which Land ore at present

in the hands of Mr Samuel Downes Attorney at Law of

Southampton who lent me an hundred pounds upon the

Security of the said Land which hundred pounds if God shall

spare me I intend speedily to pay and then I desire the said

may be sold and that one half of the money may be given unto

the money to my son the said Henry Holdsworth but the

time of payment of the money shall be wholly at the

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discretion of my Trustees And all my household goods and

furniture of what sort or kind soever and all that belongs

to me and is mine within doors and without not disposed of

as before My Will and Desire is should be sold by me Trustees

and the money raised thereout and all my money and credits

(my debts and funeral expenses being paid and discharged)

shall be paid by equal parts to my said sons Francis

and Henry but at such a time or times and in such a

manner as my Executors in trust shall think most proper

and expedient for them and my Will is that in the sale of my

Goods my Children should not only have the pre-emption

but also what goods they have occasion for and desire to

have for their own use may be allowed and sold to them at

such easy rates as my Executors shall think fit to whose

kindness and discretion I wholly leave it Item my Will and

desire is that with the good leave and permission of my

Successor so many of my Dear Children as can conveniently

may live together in the parsonage house for a Month or

six weeks after my decease and that for the defraying the

charges of the housekeeping for so long time an allowance be

made at the discretion of my Executors out of my personal

Estate that is to say out of what I have given to my Sons

Francis and Henry Lastly as a Common Legacy to all

my Dear Children I give them Saint Pauls advice to the

Romans to be kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly

Love most Earnestly beseeching them to accept it Conjuring

them to accept it Conjuring them by the duty which they owe to

our Good God by the tender love and kindness which I have ever

showed unto them and as they hope to appear with joy at the

Great Tribunal that they be loving and kind to one another and

willing and ready to help and assist one another in what they

are able Conjuring them in Saint Paul’s patheticall moving

Language to the Phillipians If there be any Consolation in

Christ if any Comfort of Love if any fellowship of the spirit

if any bowells and mercies To fulfill my joy To be like minded

having the same Love being of one accord of one mind to let

nothing be done through strife and vain-glory but in lowliness

of mind to let each esteem other better than themselves and

unto God’s gracious mercy and protection I Commit them The

Lord bless them and keep them the Lord make his face to shine

upon them and be gracious unto them The Lord lift up his

Countenance upon them and give them peace both now and

evermore Amen. This is my Last Will and Testament In

witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the

Signed sealed and declared by the said Testator Thomas Holdsworth

to be his Last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at

his request and in his presence have hereunto set our

hands. Thomas Wallis Will: Durman Ric: Holloway. /.

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This Testament was proved at London before the right honourable John Bettesworth, Doctor of Laws Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Magistrate, lawfully constituted this 1^st day of October in the year of our Lord 1714 by the Oaths of Winch Holdsworth and Edward Holdsworth executors named in this Will to whom administration was granted of all and singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the Deceased having been first Sworn Duly only to administer.