A calendar of wills relating to the counties of Northampton and Rutland, proved in the court of the Archdeacon of Northampton, 1510 to 1652 / edited by W.P.W. Phillimore.

  • Church of England. Archdeaconry of Northampton.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A calendar of wills relating to the counties of Northampton and Rutland, proved in the court of the Archdeacon of Northampton, 1510 to 1652 / edited by W.P.W. Phillimore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/242 (page 19)
    from the Gloucester Wills, Marriage Licences, and Bishops Tran- scripts, chiefly illustrative of the “ clothing” families in the Valley of Stroud. Mr. Cattell was somewhat of a recluse, and allowed his antiquarian studies to engross most of his attention, but his genial and kindly nature was much valued by a small circle of intimate friends, of whom the writer was privileged to be one, and his death was much regretted. For the last few years of his life a widowed sister, Maria Sophia Marmont, who was possessed of kindred tastes, resided with Mr. Cattell. She zealously aided him in his researches, and after the death of her brother, whom she survived a little more than a year, she continued the indexing of his Collections in accordance with the plans he had laid down. Though Mrs. Mar- mont did not herself undertake any original work relating to Northamptonshire, a notice of Mr. Cattell’s life would be incomplete without a reference to this lady. Until i6iO it appears to have been usual to have transcribed the wills into the registers, and then to have returned the originals to the executors, but that at a later date it became customary to file the will itself* The Second and Third Series consist principally of originals, but in a few cases transcripts are also preserved. The originals of nearly all the wills registered in Books EV and AE part II, in the First Series, will be found in the Second Series. With this exception, there is no apparent connection between the First and Second Series. Book OE, 1626-30, First Series, consists wholly of originals. In the Second Series the reader has the advantage that the precise year of probate is given, and^ in the Third Series the date of the will. The Second Series is con- tained in volumes which are known by the letters of the alphabet, in the same way as the First, and, indeed, the Third Series, so that in giving a reference to any will in this Registry it is needful to mention the Series. It may be worth while to add that the Office Calendar to the Second Series is in two parts, each of which is arranged in lexicographical order. The reader will see that they have been combined in the present work. The only other varia- tion from the official calendar is that the letters I and J have been separated. * But it should be mentioned that there are extant two bundles of original wills corresponding with the registered copies ; they consist of wills of testators who come under the initials C and D, and extend from 1542 to i 2 , an 154 to 1622 respectively.