The will of David Woodhouse dated 15th February 1804 is a long one with many bequests. Some thirty-six years later it still had not been settled and needed an Act of Parliament to do so.
This is the last Will and Testament of me David Woodhouse of Crich in the County of Derby, Gentleman, made published and declared this fifteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and four.
In the first place I will that all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid and discharged as soon after my decease as conveniently can be out of the Estates and Effects hereinafter to be charged with the payment thereof.
I give and devise all that my messuage or dwellinghouse with the yard, garden, outbuildings and two closes of land to the same belonging commonly called or known by the names of The Paddock and Kiln Croft with their and every of their appurtenances situate at Crich aforesaid and now in my own possession and also all those my messuages and lands or parts or shares thereof situate in the parish of Crich aforesaid now in the several possessions or occupations of my three tenants George Raworth, John Paley and Israel Poyser or their undertenants unto my loving wife Ann Woodhouse and her assigns for and during the term of her natural life, save and except the first mentioned messuage or dwellinghouse with the yard, garden, outbuildings and two closes to the same belonging commonly called The Paddock and Kiln Croft which she is not to hold or have under a second marriage, without impeachment of or for any manner of waste (wilful waste only excepted).
Also I give and bequeath unto my said wife the use of all my plate, linen, china, household goods and furniture of every sort, description or kind whatsoever to and for her sole use and benefit free from impeachment of waste (wilful waste only excepted) for and during the term of her natural life. All which said estates, effects and premises I will and direct shall be in lieu of and in full recompense and satisfaction for all such dower or thirds at common law as she, my said wife, may or can claim of in to or out of all or any part of my said real or other estates of which I am or shall die possessed of.
And in order to prevent as much as possible any part of my plate, china, linen, household goods and furniture from suffering any wilful injury or loss during the life of my said wife other than what may happen from the common use of or casualties attending the same, I do hereby desire and request of my Trustees and Executors hereinafter named to take a true and exact schedule and inventory thereof with an undertaking from my said wife to their mutual satisfaction not to commit or suffer any other than common and accidental waste to come to the same.
Also I give and bequeath to my said wife such necessaries of life in or for housekeeping as shall be in my said dwellinghouse and on the premises in my own possession at the time of my decease to and for her own sole use and benefit.
Also I give and bequeath the sum of one hundred pounds unto David Woodhouse Shafford, son of Henry Shafford of Ripley, to be paid to him as soon as he shall have attained his age of twenty one years but if it shall happen that the said David Woodhouse Shafford shall die before he shall attain to that age leaving no lawful issue behind him, then I will and direct that the said sum of one hundred pounds shall be divided and paid equally amongst such brothers and sisters of the said David Woodhouse Shafford (lawfully begotten on the body of his mother Elizabeth Shafford) as shall be living at the time of his decease equally share and share alike as such child or children shall severally attain to his her or their respective age or ages of twenty one years and not otherwise.
Also I give and bequeath unto all and every the lawful begotten child or children of my niece Mary Sampson which shall be living at the time of my decease (save and except her daughter Matilda) the sum of one hundred pounds a-piece of lawful money of Great Britain which I will shall be paid to them as they shall severally attain to their respective ages of twenty one years and my will is that if any of the said children of the said Mary Sampson shall happen to die before they become entitled to receive their said legacies leaving no lawful issue of their respective body or bodies that the share or shares of him her or them so dying shall go and be paid to the survivor or survivors of them respectively and to his her and their respective representatives (save and except the said Matilda) equally share and share alike.
Also I give and bequeath the sum of one thousand pounds of lawful money of Great Britain to my nephew, Thomas Travis of Crich aforesaid.
Also I give and bequeath the sum of one hundred pounds a-piece of lawful money of Great Britain to Mary Bradley, Dorothy Bradley and Ann Clough daughters of my sister-in-law Elizabeth Bradley late of Wirksworth in the said county of Derby.
Also I give and bequeath the like sum of one hundred pounds to Elizabeth, daughter of my sister-in-law Hannah Cooper (late Elizabeth Heald(?)).
Also I give and bequeath unto Uriah Woodhouse of Hilton in the county of Derby aforesaid and to Mary Ann Hill daughter of the late Wm. John Hill of Wakefield the sum of fifty pounds apiece of like lawful money.
All which said seven last mentioned legacies I will and direct shall be paid to my said several legatees at the end of one year from the time of my decease.
Also I give and bequeath unto Jeremiah Sampson and the said Mary Sampson his wife the annual interest, issues and profits of eight hundred pounds after the rate of four pounds and ten shillings for one hundred pounds by the year and which I will and direct shall be paid to them and the survivor of them or to their respective assigns half yearly for and during the term of their natural lives and the life of the survivor of them without any deduction or abatement whatsoever, the first payment of which I will and direct shall begin and be made at the expiration of six months to be computed from the time of my decease. And from and immediately after the decease of the said Jeremiah Sampson and Mary his wife and the survivor of them and the decease of my two sisters Susannah Alsibrook and Dorothy Woodhouse and the survivor of them I give and bequeath the said sum of eight hundred pounds to all and every the child and children of the said Jeremiah Sampson and Mary his wife (except their said daughter Matilda) to be divided amongst them share and share alike at such times and in such manner and under the said advantages of survivorship as I have hereinbefore directed with respect to their said legacies of one hundred pounds apiece hereinbefore bequeathed to them respectively.
Also I give and bequeath to Susannah Lowly, widow, one annuity or clear yearly sum of twenty pounds of lawful money of Great Britain for and during the term of her natural life to be yearly and every year issuing and payable out of all and every my real estates situate in Crich aforesaid or elsewhere in the county of Derby with their and every of their appurtenances (save and except those hereinbefore devised or bequeathed to my said wife for life) which said annuity or clear yearly sum of twenty pounds I will and direct shall be paid and payable to the said Susannah Lowly or her assigns clear of all taxes and deductions by four equal quarterly payments in the year, the first of which shall begin and be made at the end of three months to be computed as aforesaid. And in the case the said annuity or clear yearly sum or any part thereof shall be behind or unpaid by the space of twenty one days after any or either of the said days or times whereon the same ought to be paid as aforesaid (being lawfully demanded) that then and in such case it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Susannah Lowly and her assigns into and upon my said real estates or any part thereof (except as aforesaid) to enter and distrain and the distress and distresses then and there found to take, lead, drive , carry away and impound and impound detain and keep or otherwise to sell and dispose thereof until the said annuity or clear yearly rent or sum of twenty pounds, together with the arrears thereof and all costs, charges and expenses of such distress or distresses, shall be fully paid and satisfied.
Also I give and bequeath unto the widow of my late servant Henry Blount deceased the sum of one shilling weekly and every week for and during the term of her natural life the first payment of which to begin and be made immediately after the time of my decease.
All the rest, residue and remainder of my money and securities for money real and personal estate or estates of what nature, kind, quality, sort or condition the same may be of at the time of my decease not by me already disposed of and also all those expectant of the death or second marriage of my said wife I give devise and bequeath the same and every part and parcel thereof with the appurtenances subject and charged and chargeable as aforesaid unto my three friends, John Toplis of Wirksworth in the county of Derby aforesaid, Esquire, The Rev’d William Hurd of Kniveton in the said county, clerk, and Robert Mason late of Matlock Bath in the said county, Gentleman, and the survivor of them and the heirs, executors and administrators of such survivor of them respectively In Trust that they do and shall out of the annual rents and profits of such of my said estates or by sale or mortgage thereof or of any part thereof as to them shall seem meet and proper raise such sum or sums of money as may and will be sufficient to enable them to pay and discharge my said debts and funeral expenses and also the several legacies and annuities hereinbefore by me given and bequeathed as the same shall from time to time become due and payable and subject thereto In Trust to pay and apply all the surplus of the annual rents issues interest proceeds and profits thereof as the same shall from time to time grow due and be received to and for the sole proper use and benefit of my two sisters Susannah Alsibrook and Dorothy Woodhouse and their respective assigns equally share and share alike for and during the term of their natural lives and the natural life of the survivor of them. And from and after the decease of such survivor then as to for and concerning all the then rest, residue and remainder of my said personal estate money and securities for money then remaining in the names of my said trustees or any of them (after paying and satisfying themselves in a handsome manner for all the loss of time or other trouble which they or any of them shall sustain or be put unto on my account or on account of the trust in them by me reposed being a sum of less than twenty pounds apiece) I give and bequeath the same and every part and parcel thereof to my kinsman Samuel Travis, son of Henry Travis late of Wirksworth, deceased, his executors administrators and assigns for ever. And as to for and concerning all the then rest residue and remainder of my said real or copyhold estate or estates (which said copyhold estate I have surrendered to ??? ??? of this my will) In Trust to stand seized thereof with the appurtenances (subject and charged and chargeable aforesaid) and to permit and suffer my said kinsman the said Samuel Travis and his assigns to hold and enjoy the same and to take and receive the rents issues and profits thereof to his and their own use or uses for and during the term of his natural life . And from and immediately after the decease of the said Samuel Travis In Trust to stand seized thereof to and for the only sole proper use and behoof of all and every the son and sons, daughter and daughters of the said Samuel Travis lawfully begotten or hereafter to be begotten by him equally share and share alike as tenants in common and not as joint tenants and the heirs of the body and bodies of such son and sons, daughter and daughters respectively. And in default of such son and sons, daughter and daughters In Trust to stand seized thereof to and for the only sole proper use and behoof of my own right heirs for ever.
And I do hereby will and direct that the receipt or receipts of my said trustees or the survivor of them or the heirs executors or administrators of such survivor shall from time to time be a sufficient discharge to any purchaser or purchasers, mortgagee or mortgagees of any part or parts of my said real estates so devised to them In Trust as aforesaid. And that such purchaser or purchasers, mortgagee or mortgagees shall not be obliged to see to the application of the purchase or mortgage monies or answerable for the misapplication thereof. And that it shall and may be lawful to and for my said trustees and the survivor of them and the heirs executors and administrators of such survivor in the first place by and out of the trust monies, estate effects, rents and premises aforesaid from time to time to deduct and reimburse themselves and himself respectively all such losses, costs, charges, damages and expenses whatsoever as they or any of them shall or may respectively suffer, sustain, expend or be put unto for or by reason or means of the trust hereby in them reposed or the management or execution thereof or any other matter or thing incident or relating thereto. And also that my said trustees or the survivor of them or the heirs, executors or administrators of such survivor shall not be answerable or accountable for any more of the trust monies, estate effects, rents and premises than they shall respectively actually receive or shall come to their respective hands or possession by virtue of the trusts hereby in them reposed nor for any loss or losses which shall or may happen of the same monies, estate effects, rents and premises respectively or any part or parcel thereof so as the same happen without their or any of their wilful neglect or default nor the one of them answerable or accountable for the other of them or for the acts, deeds, receipts, payments or disbursements heirs executors or administrators of the other of them, but each of them answerable and accountable for his own acts, deeds, neglects, receipts, payments and disbursements heirs executors and administrators only.
And lastly I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint my said three friends the said John Toplis, William Hurd, Robert Mason and Samuel Travis joint executors of this my will with sufficient power for them or any of them to put up and erect or cause to be put up and erected a proper stone or monument for the purpose of perpetuating my memory as is customary or usual in the like cases and to do all such other acts respecting my funeral as they shall think precedent according to my degree and situation in life.
In witness wherof I have to this my will consisting of five sheets of paper set my hand and seal (to wit) my hand to the four first sheets thereof and my hand and seal to this the fifth and last sheet thereof the day and year first above written.
David Woodhouse.
Some thirty-six years later, on 23rd July 1840, an Act of Parliament was passed allowing the Trustees of the Will to sell Hereditaments in the Parishes of Crich and Ashover.
Look at the schedule of his lands at the back of the document as this names all his tenants and where they lived. There are many Crich names mentioned.
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