Susan was the widow of Richard Gotham. She appears to have been survived only by daughters, and leaves them bequests extremely unequally. As is so often the case we can only guess at the reason.

Where we do learn the reason often unequal treatment was because those children who had married had been provided for in a marriage settlement. However, here 3 had married; two of these were left just 6d. and the other practically everything. This will was written just after the Civil Wars – had this divided the family? On the other hand, Agnes, the one to inherit nearly all, was also left the task of looking after her unmarried sister Penelope. Penelope was not a child, but aged 41; the fact that it was left to Agnes to care for her suggests she was in some way disabled. Maybe Agnes being made the main beneficiary was to enable her to fulfil her role as carer.

We must also remember we do not have any idea of what Susan had to leave. Had the family suffered financially as a result of the recent wars? Had Richard left most of his property to his children with Susan just receiving use of rooms in a house (presumably that of daughter Agnes and her husband Nicholas Gellard) so that Agnes’ inheritance was not so disproportionately large as may first appear? However, Susan must have had some real interest in the property at Whiddon – see footnote [1]. Agnes was the youngest and maybe she was unmarried at the time her father died, and provision for her left to Susan to arrange, who preferred to do so in her will rather than by a marriage settlement.

Footnotes

[1] Whiddon in Abbotskerwell Parish … [notes to be added shortly] ↩

[2] A Prerogative Court is by definition the Court of an Archbishop; the strange thing here is that there was no Archbisop of Canterbury at the time this will was proved, as the most recent, Laud, had been executed in 1645 and another was not appointed until after the Restoration in 1660. A secular court was created to deal with the granting of probate and admon. in 1653, when all the church courts were abolished; it seems that the term Prerogative Court was used until then. Why this will was proved in the PCC is not clear; this Gotham group were clearly better off than most but Susan’s will does not suggest she would have had property outside of the Diocese. Maybe proving in the a local church court (i.e. Archdeaconry or Consistory) was impossible or too difficult due to the chaotic nature of the times? Whatever the reason, not being proved in Devon means it has survived whilst if proved in Devon it would almost certainly have been lost in the bombing of Exeter in 1942. ↩

Source

This is a transcription of the register copy of the will, which was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and is held at the National Archives. TNA ref: PROB 11/217/22 (as well as direct from TNA images of this will can be seen and saved from Ancestry.com or TheGenealogist).