The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790

Tagged: Maritime


Will of the Month: A widow of Calcutta and her moveable property

Content Note: This blog post discusses enslaved people This month’s post takes us on a journey from London to Calcutta via the South Atlantic island of St Helena, navigating the complex administration of the wills of those who died thousands of miles from England, the movement of people and property, and the blurred boundary between […]


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Will of the Month: Mary Andrews – from the Bubble to the Baltic

In this month’s post, one of our Expert Volunteers shares her research into one of the wills she came across when transcribing pages for our project. Liz Wood, archivist and project volunteer There is a formula, a routine, to official copies of probate records. The same impersonal clerical hand, standard phrases about mind, bodily health […]


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“If my daughters will not be ruled…”: Contingencies and Caveats in will-making

Emily Vine Early modern folk frequently added ‘conditions’ to their wills: that a sum of money would not be given until a beneficiary reached the age of twenty-one, got married, or entered a certain profession, or threats to disinherit those who behaved poorly or ignored parental instruction. These caveats and contingencies reflect a key reason […]


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