{"id":8021,"date":"2026-01-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?p=8021"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:51:11","slug":"will-of-the-month-a-yorkshire-widows-living-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/2026\/01\/27\/will-of-the-month-a-yorkshire-widows-living-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Will of the Month: A Yorkshire Widow\u2019s \u2018Living Will\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month\u2019s blog post takes us to Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and to the will of a widow named Mary Young, who died in 1786.[1]<\/a> Mary\u2019s husband, the Reverend James Young, Rector of Catwick, had died in 1768, and the couple had no children. James had made his \u2018dear Wife Mary\u2019 the executrix of his own will, entrusting his funeral expenses to her and leaving her forty pounds a year in addition to the residue of his estate.[2]<\/a> James was buried in the churchyard of Catwick, in the parish he had served.[3]<\/a> When Mary made her own will some eighteen years later, she acknowledged that \u2018it is very Probable that I shall dye here at Hornsea\u2019 but wished for her body to be carried the five miles to Catwick to be laid to rest next to James. Indeed, she wished to be buried \u2018so near to my late Husbands Grave that our Tomb Stones at the tops may touch each other\u2019.[4]<\/a> Today the inscriptions on James\u2019s tombstone, and on those nearby it, are largely illegible, so it is unclear whether Mary is buried next to him or even in the same plot.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Church Lane, Catwick, with the churchyard in the background where Mary Young hoped to be buried next to James Young Church Lane, Catwick. <\/em>https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Church_Lane,_Catwick_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1816304.jpg<\/em><\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018if it shall please God to afflict me before my Death\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\u2019s desire to be buried as close as possible to her husband was poignantly described, but other aspects of her will are even more striking. Unusually, Mary did not only detail her wishes for after her death, but also for the remainder of her life: specifically, in the eventuality that she were to lose mental or physical capacity, require care, or be unable to live independently. Her will stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018I desire further if it shall please<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God to afflict me before my Death in the same manner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as my Uncle Henry Burrel was afflicted (viz) with the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palsy that I may not be removed out of my<\/p>\n\n\n\n

present Dwelling House nor even out of my present<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lodging Room whilst I live\u2019.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This clause suggests that her uncle Henry Barrell, a chapter clerk in Rochester, had been afflicted by a stroke or other debilitating condition in his final years. When Henry made his final will in 1745, he had been living with his nephew Francis. A codicil was added in 1746, but then his will was not updated again in the eight years before his death in 1754, perhaps suggesting, in line with Mary\u2019s description of his affliction, that he lacked the capacity to do so.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Franks Hall pictured in Francis Orpen Morris’s County Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland (1867), https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franks_Hall#\/media\/File:CS_p1.098_-_Franks,_Kent_-_Morris’s_County_Seats,_1867.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018during my Supposed imperfect state of mind\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reason why Mary included a formal record of her \u2018living will\u2019 is that she lived far away from her surviving family in the south of England. Unlike her uncle Henry, she may not have been able to\u2014nor perhaps wished to\u2014move to live with a nephew or niece to be cared for. Her executrix was her niece Ann Tasker, who lived in the large Elizabethan manor house of Franks Hall in Horton Kirby, Kent. Mary recognised that if she lost capacity, she would wish to stay in her own home, but that she would need to entrust oversight of her affairs to someone more geographically proximate. Accordingly, her will stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018if my<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason and understanding should fail or be much<\/p>\n\n\n\n

impaired some time before my Death and I should<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be thereby rendered incapable of Managing my own<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affairs my Will then is this that the aforesaid Mr<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Whittehead and his Wife shall have the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direction of my House and Servant\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While her servant would presumably provide daily care in this scenario, Reverend Whitehead, the vicar she had trusted to oversee her burial, would also be trusted with \u2018the Support of myself and Household\u2019 during \u2018my Supposed imperfect state of mind\u2019. Reverend Whitehead and his wife were granted Mary\u2019s \u2018Rents and Interest Money\u2019 to pay for these outlays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018my silver Tumbler with the Barrels Crest on it\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recognition of the Whiteheads\u2019 anticipated work in managing Mary\u2019s household and arranging her funeral, she made several other bequests to them, including \u2018All my printed Books\u2019, and \u2018my largest Silver porringer\u2019. Mary also made bequests to each of the Whiteheads\u2019 four children, including \u2018to their Youngest Daughter my Clock I give to their Eldest Son my silver Tumbler with the Barrels Crest on it\u2019. The bequests of valuable items such as clocks and silverware were designed to recompense the Whiteheads\u2019 work, but the gifts set aside for their children were perhaps also prompted by Mary\u2019s own childlessness. Family heirlooms, such as the silver tumbler with the \u2018Barrels Crest\u2019, would normally be passed down to direct descendants, but Mary\u2019s connection with younger generations was via her friends\u2019 children.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Gold signet ring set with a carnelian intaglio engraved with the arms of Rushe (?). Engraved behind with a skull and inscribed ‘I\/ R\/ Obijt Sep. t\/ 13th .52. etat.63’, England, ca.1652. \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O118971\/signet-ring-unknown\/<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018five large Silver Table Spoons with her late Uncles Crest\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other engraved items or family heirlooms were divided up amongst Mary\u2019s nieces, nephews, and cousins. Her husband\u2019s niece, Ann Ascough, was left \u2018my Silver Coffee pot five large Silver Table Spoons with her late Uncles Crest on them Also four Tea Spoons and a Silver Strainer having the Initial Letters of her late Uncles Name upon them Also a pair of Silver Tea Tongs with these three Letters engraved on them IMY\u2019. Ann\u2019s brother, the Reverend Samuel Ascough, received \u2018his late Uncles Silver Watch and a Studded Watch Case also a Cornelian Seal set in Gold a punch Laddle\u2019. A cornelian or carnelian seal, like the one above, would be a red carnelian semi-precious stone with a design carved into it (often a family crest), which may have been pressed into sealing wax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the objects mentioned in Mary\u2019s will demonstrate her and her family\u2019s engagement with the consumption of global goods, some of which may have come into Mary\u2019s possession via the port towns of Hull and Whitby. She listed coffee pots, punch ladles, (punch was made of imported ingredients including sugar, citrus fruit, and spices) and chinaware, and her ownership of tea strainers and tongs inscribed with the initials of her deceased uncle and husband shows that her family had owned these types of goods for several decades. The niece that Mary had appointed as her executrix, Ann Tasker, was also childless, and this perhaps explains why none of the engraved family silverware was left to her.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cast, chased and engraved silver punch ladle; London hallmarks for 1738-39, mark of Paul de Lamerie, \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025, <\/em>https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O156415\/ladle-lamerie-paul-de\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018that I may not be removed out of my present Dwelling House\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than a servant, Mary ostensibly lived alone, and perhaps had done so for the entire eighteen-year period since her husband\u2019s death. Her will exemplified her desire to carefully shut up her household and disperse of all her and her husband\u2019s goods, with particular care taken to find a home for family heirlooms that would otherwise have passed directly to their children. It was perhaps her childlessness, and distance from living relatives, that prompted her to set down in writing her wishes for the end of her life, and to pre-empt any incapacity. As it was expected that wills were read and executed after death, it is unclear whether such \u2018living wills\u2019 would be considered before the probate process, but perhaps these wishes merely formalised hopes already discussed with friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary recorded her wishes for the end of her life, and for after her death, in May 1784, and she died around two years later. This was a much shorter time than had elapsed between the making of her uncle\u2019s final will and his death, eight years later, afflicted by \u2018palsy\u2019. We can hope that Mary avoided falling into a long term \u2018imperfect state of mind\u2019\u2014that she had planned for, and wished to mitigate the impacts of\u2014and that she was able to stay in her own \u2018Dwelling House\u2019, and indeed her own \u2018Lodging Room\u2019, until the end.<\/p>\n\n\n