Posted by e.m.vine@exeter.ac.uk
23 April 2024Our third will of the month, that of affluent fashionable lady Helen Spratt (d.1726), is as long and as detailed as that of the Lincolnshire farmer Ralph Wrighte [link], and is full of rich detail about Helen’s possessions and what they meant to her. She itemises silk dresses, crimson quilts, and chinaware, and sets out her intentions for her cherished gold wedding ring, and portraits of her grandparents. Despite listing a wealth of treasured objects, Helen’s will mentions far fewer beneficiaries than Ralph’s. Helen explained why she had a relatively small number of people to divide her estate between in her own words: ‘I have but very few Relations and fewer acquaintance’.
Read more: Will of the Month: a fashionable lady and her Cloath of Gold shoes
Helen’s moving will therefore lays bare the losses she had suffered in life: she asked to be buried ‘by my dearest husband and best of friends Doctor Thomas Sprat who was Deane of Westminster and Bishopp of Rochester and where my two sonns lye by him’.[1] Helen’s son George had died as an infant in 1683, her husband Thomas in 1713 aged 77, and her son Thomas in 1720 aged 41. Helen lived another six years, and died aged 79.[2] Her closest surviving relatives, according to her will, were her nieces and nephews.
Helen, the daughter of Colonel Devereux Wolseley, had married a prominent clergyman and was buried alongside him, according to her wishes, in Westminster Abbey. Her detailed will reveals the personal and household possessions of a woman of some standing, of fashionable tastes and inherited wealth, who left many of her belongings to other women. To her niece by marriage, Christian Knipe, she left among other furniture ‘foure pieces of Tapestry hangings one great looking glass one dressing glass foure glass sconces… four large wrought Curtaines lined with Crimson silke and Quilt of the same’. These were substantial and fashionable items: the list reveals that Helen owned more than one mirror (and that these mirrors had different uses), and decorative tapestries that likely covered the walls, (although as is usual for wills, we don’t have any further information about what these tapestries looked like, or the images or patterns they depicted). While ownership of decorative furnishings such as looking glasses was becoming more widespread in the early eighteenth century, the possession of two different types of mirror was still significant.[3] Alongside the ‘crimson silke’ curtains and quilts, we get the sense of a woman whose household furnishings comprised multiple decorative and luxury items.
To her niece Alicia Ross she left ‘a Box with China to be putt upp safe and sent to her if liveing and I give her my six new smocks… my new black Lutestring scarfe and velvet scarfe… one black silke Mantua and petticoat one striped silke Mantua and petticoat… all my finest Aprons’. In this bequest Helen signalled her ownership of a range of items of fashionable clothing, identifying which items were newly purchased or made, which she considered the ‘finest’, and which were made of expensive materials of velvet and ‘lutestring’ or ‘lustring’ silk. We also see evidence of her engagement in global markets: her ownership of chinaware, and, in her instructions for it to be carefully packed, her awareness of both its fragility and value.
The next items listed, which were also set aside to be given to her niece Alicia Ross, are some of the most interesting in the will. She bequeathed ‘my Cloath of Gold shoes made of one of King James’s Buskins that was at his Coronation and one pair of Gold stuffe out of Queen Anns pall she wore at her Coronation’. We know that Helen’s husband was a senior clergyman, and his position as Dean of Westminster would have included involvement in coronations, but this is a surprising detail that suggests that Helen owned shoes that had been made from the gold buskins (a kind of boot) worn by King James II at his coronation. The ‘Gold stuffe’ of Queen Anne’s pall refers to a type of finely-woven wool that was a popular choice for clothing. These were striking and unique items that were described by Helen seemingly with a degree of pride. These entries appeared in the will not only with details of their appearance and materiality, but also their provenance. The will was a means of memorialising the origin and historical significance of these items of clothing, of putting the meaning of these objects in writing, and ensuring that their provenance was remembered as they were passed down to other generations of Helen’s family.
Helen Spratt’s will was unusually forthcoming about the meaning or emotional resonance of her possessions, including those that had belonged to or had been associated with her late husband (and which may have ordinarily been passed down to the son who had pre-deceased her). In one bequest she left ‘to my deare husbands Nephew Mr Thomas Glover now liveing a student of Christ Church in Oxford… I give him all the books my deare husband left me in his will’. Helen’s son Thomas had followed in his father’s ecclesiastical career, and would have been the likely recipient of these learned or theological books prior to his untimely death. In a separate bequest she gave ‘to my Nephew Knipe a little Chest that had all my husbands letters and paper in it’ – using this entry not solely to clearly identify the item of furniture, but to record its function and its personal and tactile connection to her deceased husband. Other bequests further reiterated Helen’s affection for her ‘deare’ late husband and the time of her marriage: ‘I give to my Neice Mrs Ann Done my Wedding Ring and wish her as happy if ever she has one as I was in mine’.
Helen ostensibly had so many possessions to disperse that she forgot some, and had to correct this with a later codicil that was added to her will three weeks after it was first drawn up. She noted ‘having forgot part of my furniture for my Chamber my husband gave me leave to take… which I suppose nobody will believe was only a feather bed and blankets but what was fit for me as his wife’. This hints at the fact that some possessions continued to be viewed as belonging discretely to either the husband or the wife after marriage. It is possible that these items of furniture were also those that Helen has brought with her upon her marriage. In the codicil she also left her daughter-in-law several paintings: ‘they are my fathers picture and good old Grandfathers and Grandmothers drawne most them at least a hundred years agoe so of no great value but to me… which pictures whether large or little to go still to those that have Children’. This is a striking clause that emphasises the deep sentimental value of these portraits, and her firm desire that they remained in the family, perhaps particularly pressing as Helen had no direct descendants. This clause also makes an interesting inference about the ‘value’ of paintings – that perhaps older artwork was considered to have less monetary value or artistic merit – and also emphasises the deep meaning an object could have for one individual but not another.
Helen Spratt’s will is extraordinary in many senses, including in its level of detail, and its itemising of fashionable and expensive clothing and furnishings which were inaccessible to much of English society. But most striking is that Helen appeared unusually forthcoming in setting out the emotional resonance of her possessions. She included descriptions of her ‘finest’ or ‘new’ clothing, she set out the provenance and meaning of family heirlooms or objects which signalled her connection to royalty. Most poignant are descriptions not of the most economically valuable items, but of objects associated with her late husband, or which would have ordinarily been passed down to her son. There are suggestions of a rethinking of legacies, and the passing down of family treasures and memories, to account for the children that did not survive, the grandchildren she did not have. Every object described in Helen Spratt’s will has some meaning either explicitly or implicitly attached, but most affecting were those items that could no longer be left to their original intended beneficiary.
Tm
Helena Sprat
In the Name of God Amen
October the Eighth One Thousand seaventeene hundred
Twenty foure I Helen Spratt Do make my last Will and Testament
in manner following ffrist I recommend my soule to the Great of
Heaven and Earth who gave it beseeching his divine Majesty to
pardon and forgive many and grievous sins of omission and
commission through the merits and intercession of my blessed
saviour and Redeemer the only Mediator between God and
man Christ Jesus And I desire it may be done to be buried
by my dearest Husband and best of friends Doctor Thomas
Sprat who was Deane of Westminster and Bishopp of Rochester
and where my two sonns lye by him I desire to be attended by
few I have but very few Relations and fewer acquaintance I
give to my niece Mrs Christian Knipe my Nephew Knipes
wife the furniture of my Chamber at her house the vicarage
at Bexley, foure pieces of Tapestry hangings one great looking
glass one dressing glass foure glass sconces one Cedar little
table two other little tables foure black velvet stooles two black
velvet Cushions three Cane Chaires fire Grates two fire
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ffender one and fire shovell Tonges and forke window Curtaines
Clock one feather bedd Bolster two great pillow three little ones
foure Blanketts four large wrought Curtaines lined with Crimson
silke and Quilt of the same foure out Curtaines of darke serge one
over the doore for my my maid one Chest Bedsteed feather bedd
carpett by the fireside one little press in the Garrett one black
Truncke for my lynnen and what course sheets and Table lynnen
are in it ^ and one chaire Trunke with some finer in it markes H:W: the
lynnen in both to be equally parted between her and my Nephew
Mr Thomas Knipe though it is not worth naming I give to my
nephew Mr Knipe out of the South Sea stock that shall fall to
my share after my daughter in Laws life One hundred pounds
and to his Children if he has any if not after his death to my
nephew Mr Thomas Knipe and his Child xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I give to my daughter in law now Mr Wiats wife one hundred pound
that after her death will fall to me in that part of the stock subscribed
into the annuity I give to my niece Mrs Alicia Ross my Cabinet
that stands in the hall in my Nephew Knipes house in Bexly
and a Chest of Drawers that stands in the Garrett and a Box
with China to be putt upp safe and sent to her if liveing and I
give her my six new smocks one dozen of Cambrick handkercheifs
one new black alamode hood one white sarseuett hood one
dozen of white gloves one black silke Mantua and petticoat
one striped silke Mantua and petticoat One white satten
quilted coate of all my finest Aprons my Cloath of Gold shoes
and one pair of Gold stuffe out of Queen Anns pall she wore
at her Coronation I have no doubt but my daughter in law now
Mr Wyats wife will deliver the medalls I left in her care as
directed in papers and a letter I left with her to my Neices and
Nephews which I now name againe to my twoe nephew
Knipes to my niece Miss Ann Done now her good mother is
dead and to my deare husbands nephew Mr Thomas Glover
now liveing a student of Christ Church in Oxford and I give
him all the books my deare husband left me in his will And I
give to my Neice Mrs Ann Done my Wedding Ring and wish
her as happy if ever she has one as I was in mine And I give
the medalls to my niece Alicia Ross that has her name upon them
I knoe Mrs Wyat to be a woman ~~~~~ of Justice and
I therefore she will make good what I so earnestly desired of her
I give my niece Mrs Ann Done King Charles the seconds little
virtue in Ivory sett in Gold of my good Grandmothers’ the Lady
Wolseleys Wedding Ring I give to my Nephew Mr Thomas
Knipe six silver spoons I bought when I lived with my son at
the prebends house in Deanes yard and my little silver Can to
his son they were bought some yeares after I was an unhappy
widow so I hope I may have them though I have given an exact
accompt of all I have already in several papers when the goods
are paid for at Bexly the money that arises there and when
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the pictures are all sold of which part of them I designed for good
Doctor John ffreind my part in them I still give to him lett Mr Wyatt
do what he thinks fit in the other and when both the summs are
gathared to be putt out and the halfe that that shall come to me after
my daughter in laws death to my share fifty pounds of it to my
good Cousin Low who had beene so kind and carefull of my small
affaires and earnestly desire he will be Trustee to see it performed
and what comes to my share either in the Southsea stock or that
is subscribed into the annuitys or that will rise from the goods
sold at Bexly or from the pictures after what I have first given in
the stock and annuitys be given to my deare husbands Nephew
Mr Thomas Glover if he lives to one and Twenty and if he
dyes before then to his Uncle Mr Thomas Spratt and his Aunt
Mrs Susan Seddon and his mother Mrs Gartrude Glover the use
to be equally divided and to the longest liver of them and after
their death to my deare husbands sisters Brands children Mr
Jonathan Brand and his Children I thinke they live in Branstable
in Devonshire or near it and their names two of them being
marryed the ones name Mrs Mary Gribble the other Mrs Sarah
Jwell the others name I know not and to be equally divided to
them or their Children if my Nephew Glover dyes without
Children I give my daughter in Law Mrs Wyat the Bible my dear
husband gave me that he carryed at Queen Anns Coronation
for her life I suppose she has not forgott the agreement and then
to give it to my Nephew Mr Thomas Knipe or his son for my
good husband gave me leave by his will to take what I would of
English books but I tooke none but what he gave me himselfe
some years before he dyed I leave my Nephew Mr Knipe and my
deare husbands Nephew Mr Thomas Glover my Executors to see
this my Will performed Witness hand the Tenth of October One
thousand seaven hundred twenty foure Helen Sprat.
Now as to my funerall the two hundred pounds my good Cozen
Lowe put out for me I desire may be sold to pay my ffunerall
charges or what expenses in my sickness or may do wages or any
other debts I may owe I sett Downe now how I would be buried.
I desire a good Elme Coffin with no more Hinges then to keepe
it fast together covered with black Cloath on the outside of five
shillings a yard and a shroud of a Guinea and halfe at most and
to give to the poore where I dye fourty shillings and hope I
shall lye where my deare husband and two sonns lye in the
Abby Church of Westminster only a Hearse and six horses
and one Coach and six horses if I dye in the Country and to
be brought into the Abby Church in Evening Prayer and to be
buried by daylight And if the two Doctor friends will do me
the favour to hold my pall and Doctor Gee and Mr Evans and
Doctor Broderick or who my Cousin Low thinks fitt and my
nephew Knipe for I know none doe now there but I leave it all
to them to doe as they thinke most proper I desire if when my
funerall charges is discharged and my debts paid that my
executors will if the money will allow it to buy a plaine silver
Cupp of about sixteene or seaventeene poundes and only putt
my deare husbands and my arms as us upon the steele seal
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I have and make a present of it to my nephew Knipe for his and
her kindness to me while I was with them and I desire as little
expence as possible at my funerall so that if the money will allow to
give my deare husbands nephew Mr Thomas Sprat and his two
neices Mrs Susan Seddon and Mrs Gartrude Glover and his nephew
Mr Thomas Glover five pound a piece to buy them mourning
if my niece Ross should not be living when I dye then the
Cabinet and China and Walnut Chest of drawers to my nephew
Mr Thomas Knipe or to which of them survives or their Children
I give to my nephew Knipe a little Chest that has all my husbands
letters and papers in it and after his death to my nephew Mr
Thomas Knipe or his son but never to lett any of them to be
seen and in the same is a Bagg wrought with redd worsted sealed
with some little papers of mine which he must not lett be seen
but left to his brother Mr Thomas Knipe Helen Sprat October
the Thirteenth 1724. I give to my Maide that lives with me
now Dorothy Keaill or if any other at my death all my lynnen
of constant weare that lyes in my Chest of drawers of all sorts
and Wollen and peticoats and wastcoates and shoes and stockins
and gloves and hoods except those herebefore named my two
grey silke quilted petticoats my Norwich mantua and petticoat
my striped white Gowne and petticoate my night Gowne and
petticoate Witness my hand the day and yeare above written
Helen Spratt. I give to my Neice Ross if liveing my sable Tippet
and Muffe and three white dimetty petticoates Helen Sprat
I give to my nephew Mr Knipe the Originall Association of
Robert Youngs plott and my Coate of Armes that hangs in my
Chamber at his house in Bexly and to his brother after his
death or his Children he haveing none himselfe and I give my
nephew Mr Knipe my Grandfather Sr John Rouch his pedigree
I lent my Neice Done and a booke of my good husbands
sermons writ in his owne hand these I desire Mrs Done to
have safe delivered to my nephew Knipe or to his brother Mr
Thomas Knipe the peice at the Bottome I cut off my selfe
having wrote the same thing twice witness my hand Helen
Sprat. If when Mr Wyat has settled the little affaire betwixt
us I am allowed any thing as I suppose I may have something
more to give I will make a Codicill to this my Will and
Testament I have sett my hand and seal this fourteenth day
of October One thousand seaventeene hundred and twenty
foure Helen Sprat. Signed and sealed in the presence of
Dorothy Neale Eliz. Easton John Hallett
October the Thirtyeth One thousand seaventeene
hundred and twenty foure it being the happy day of my life
so long as my good husband and son lived I begin to add a
Codicill as I said in my Will I would and haveing forgot part of
my ffurniture for my Chamber my husband gave me leave
to take his debts being paid which I suppose nobody will
believe was only a feather bed and blankets but what was
fit for me as his wife they are my fathers picture and good
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old Grandfathers and Grandmothers drawne most of them at least
a hundred years agoe so of no great value but to me and which
most of them hang in my Chamber at Bexly and all in my
Chamber at my daughters house in old Bond Streete and Closet
there which pictures whether large or little to go still to those that
have Children and the hundred pound I give to my daughter in
Law now Mrs Wiat in that part of South sea stock subscribed into
the annuitys if my daughter dyed before which is not very
probable I still have in my owne power to dispose on Witness
my name Helen Sprat the day before written. November the
seaventh 1724. I give to my maid that lives with me at my
death my Camblet Cloake and head to it and my little Clocke and straw
hive the Mantle I said was in a haire Trunke is in the Chest
where my good husbands papers are I give to my little
nephew Thomas Knipe a gold seale that has in a Cornelian
Queene Marys and King Williams heads and the mourning
Ring Mr Done gave me with his wife haire in it witness
my name H: Sprat. January the seaventh One thousand
seaventeen hundred Twenty five and six I write downe
this that I sold my Watch sometime agoe for the reasons I have
already given of doctors and expences which are all sett
downe to a halfe penny in my accompt booke and a little old
booke my Maid kept till I could write them downe my selfe
and she had beene very faithfull to me I desire they may be
both given with my keys to my good Cousin Low who knows
my hand witness my hand the day and yeare above written
H: Sprat signed and sealed the same day by the name of the
underwritten Susan Pope John Newington. If neither of my
nephew Knipes have Children then to my Deare husbands
Nephew ^Mr Thomas Glover now student in Christ Oxford and
if he has no children then to my Neice Alicia Ross if she has any
and if she has none then to my good cousin Lowe and his
Children and none of them what they have either South Sea
stock or annuitys but to go from one to the other as ordered
by this my Will but none to sell but my daughter in Law now
Mrs Wyat December the Three and twentyeth One thousand
seaventeene hundred Twenty foure witness my hand Helen
Spratt signed sealed the seaventh of ffebruary one thousand
seaventeene hundred twenty foure and five This is my
Codicill I have added John Hallett Eliz Easton Dorothy Neale
This is now sealed witness these two last hands of Susan Pope
and John Newington Helen Sprat.
[1] PROB 11/609/123, Will of Helen Spratt or Sprat, 13 May 1726
[2] Morgan, John. “Sprat, Thomas (bap. 1635, d. 1713), bishop of Rochester.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 8 Jan. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26173 ; https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/thomas-sprat
[3] Lorna Weatherill, Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in Britain, 1660-1760, (London, 1996), p.33.