Inventory, 1783.....

[Russell]

Hi Lesley and Jenny

I think that Inventories were required where the person died intestate and the estate had to be divvied up to meet the spouse's share, the childrens share and outstanding debts. I think debts had first call on the monies.
Scots Law was so different from English Law. Widows could be granted 'liferent' in a Will but there was no evidence of intention when a man died intestate. Then the Law dictated what each interested party was entitled to. I suppose it saved family feuds.

Thanks for that info Jenny. It really gives you a feel for what was of value and how they lived their lives.

Russell

[DavidWW]

There's a neat summary of the situation at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... ?r=554&407

Both a testament testamentar, - a will in existence, and a testament dative, - no will, required an inventory. In many cases, however, the inventory might just be a line or three.

But see the link for full details.

One point not generally realised and not mentioned is that there was no absolute requirement to go through the process of confirmation under Scots Law, as there was with the equivalent process of probate in England.

It's known that there are many wills in the various Registers of Deeds which don't turn up in the Wills and Testaments index on ScotlandsPeople, since they were never used in a formal confirmation process.

What number, however, is not known.

Searching for such a document is impractical unless you know the date of registration in the relevant register of deeds, - there are quite a few different registers, - national, plus various local ones. In other words, it could easily be the case that a will was made and registered decades before the death of the person concerned.

David

[jennyblain]

Aye David, there are relatively few wills and only some circumstances are recorded. I'm maybe fortunate for these few ones - each in a particular circumstance, the elder Thomas feeling 'distempered' and writing his will (it says it's the apprentice lawyer who comes in to write it) in part I think to have recognised a sum owing to him, and to ensure his widow gets it, and to give this hundred pounds in a bill drawn on a particular individual to his two sons while placing a 'burden' on it of paying all debts. It's the small-scale stuff of emergent capitalism..

And the younger Thomas, of course, dying intestate overseas a very few years later and his brother having to make out the inventory, this younger Thomas having, so far as I can make out, neither spouse nor children. I've wondered how much of his stuff was in Leith and how much in a ship's cabin..

A great insight though into the poor (to our eyes, not his!) goods and gear of a shipmaster! Mind you, the suits and buckles sound quite nice!

I'm now back another generation - and that's as far, I think, as I'm likely to get. But I now have more understanding of why the 'six volumes of history books' - the mother of Thomas and John Philp, Margaret Imrie, was the daughter of a schoolmaster. No more testaments, alas..

Jenny

[LesleyB]

Hi Jenny
I think for the times, you chap's goods would not be considered too meagre. See: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... ?r=551&419

The items of clothing listed below were probably typical of those worn by tradesmen in the Lowland Scotland in the 18th century. They belonged to John Peat, an upholsterer in Edinburgh, who died in 1776.

Body Cloths:
Two suit of Brown Cloths 2 2s
A black Cloak 10s 6d
A Duffle Big Coat 7s 6d
Three Dozen of Shirts 3
Six pair of Thread & worsted Stockings 7s 6d
A Silver watch 2
All Sterling money

By itemising the contents of the individual's clothes chest, inventories of 'guids and gear' often throw light on the social standing of the deceased as well as on the fashions of the day.

Best wishes
Lesley

[jennyblain]

No indeed, not too meagre, particularly with the two good suits and the shoe and knee buckles - I was referring to the difference of 'gear' between then and now.

The other thing is that we don't know whether they are his gear 'here' in Leith, or what has been returned from his ship - I suspect quite a bit of the latter - and if so what is actually er, missing..

(Or is this rather too much influenced by 'Pirates of the Caribbean' )
Jenny

[LesleyB]

Hi Jenny

The other thing is that we don't know whether they are his gear 'here' in Leith, or what has been returned from his ship - I suspect quite a bit of the latter - and if so what is actually er, missing..

I suspect you may never know - I reckon if he died at sea and had belongings with him, I wouldn't be surprised if those items may well have been er...shared among the crew?

Best wishes
Lesley

[DavidWW]

Hi Jenny

The other thing is that we don't know whether they are his gear 'here' in Leith, or what has been returned from his ship - I suspect quite a bit of the latter - and if so what is actually er, missing..

I suspect you may never know - I reckon if he died at sea and had belongings with him, I wouldn't be surprised if those items may well have been er...shared among the crew?

Best wishes
Lesley

There was a custom was to auction the deceased's belongings, with the money going to the widows and wains, but I don't know if that would apply to the shipmaster.

David

[jennyblain]

The only clues given in the TD are that he died abroad on the 29th May 1777, the decreet of commissaries for his brother to get the inventory done was dated 12th August 1778, and the valuations came in on the 11th September 1778 for the clothing etc, and 16th Sept. for the watch. presumably the ship took a while to get back...
But the entry in the book of the Edinburgh Commissary Court was dated 18 the Sept 1783 so some considerable further time had elapsed. I wonder what was going on?

No sign of wife or bairns that I've found yet, unlike brother John.

Jenny