MARY ANN COWLEY als MYLREA & husband from Kerruish (Lockman)

Purchase - 1895 (Douglas)

Whereas at a sitting of the Common Law Division (Summary Jurisdiction of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man) holden at Douglas on the eighteenth day of February one thousand eight hundred and ninety five, an execution was granted in favour of Edward Thomas Kissack against Edward Todd Quiggan and John Williams Clinch, trustees of Frederick Callow, for the sum of thirty three pounds (being one year's interest from the thirty first day of October one thousand eight hundred and ninety three to the thirty first day of October one thousand eight hundred and ninety four) on a certain Deed of Bond and Security granted and passed by the said Frederick Callow and Mary Alice his wife to the said Edward Thomas Kissack, bearing date the tenth day of August one thousand eight hundred and eighty five for the principal sum of seven hundred pounds of which said sum one hundred and fifty pounds has been repaid and secured and made chargeable on all and singular a certain plot of ground, part of the Hills Estate situate on the north side of Circular Road in the town of Douglas and parish of Onchan and numbered twenty three on the plan of the said Circular Road portion of the said Estate, together with the dwelling house and premises erected on the same and hereafter more particularly described, with one pound six shillings costs such judgement being ordered to be enforced against the property given in security in and by the said Deed

And whereas the said execution was on the first day of December one thousand eight hundred and ninety four duly placed in the hands of John Kerruish lockman of Onchan (the said John Kerruish in his aforesaid capacity hereinafter being called "the lockman") to be enforced against the properties given in security against the said Deed of Bond and Security, and the lockman thereinunder seized and appraised inter alia the property hereby conveyed and, after due publication, put up the same by public auction on the seventh day of May one thousand eight hundred and ninety five, whereafter several bids or offers had been made, therefore the same was knocked down to John Corkill Watterson Cowley of Stephen Terrace in the said town of Douglas as the highest bidder therefore and purchaser thereof at the price or sum of five hundred and sixty six pounds

And whereas the said John Corkill Watterson Cowley has requested the lockman to assure and convey the said premises to him which the lockman hath consented to do

Know all men by these presents that the lockman under and by virtue of the said execution and for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred and sixty six pounds to him in hand paid by the said John Corkill Watterson Cowley (the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged) doth hereby give, grant, bargain and forever absolutely sell and convey to the said John Corkill Watterson Cowley, his heirs and assigns, all and singular the aforesaid plot or parcel of ground, part of the Hills Estate situate on the north side of Circular Road in the said town of Douglas in the parish of Onchan and numbered twenty three on the plan of the said Circular Road portion of the said estate with the dwelling house and premises thereon, the same being bounded on the north by a lane, on the south by Circular Road, on the east and on the west by the property of the said Frederick Callow which said plot or parcel of land was purchased by the said Frederick Callow from Eleanor Gelling by Deed dated the seventeenth day of June one thousand eight hundred and eighty four

To have and to hold the same unto the said John Corkill Watterson Cowley, his heirs and assigns yielding and paying the Lord's rent and all other rates and taxes and and also doing, paying and performing all boons, suits and services annually or otherwise encumbered on the same are hereby conveyed subject thereto

Provided always that the lockman does in no way guarantee the title to the property hereby conveyed nor shall be held responsible in respect thereof

In witness whereof the said John Kerruish lockman as aforesaid hath hereunto subscribed his name this thirteenth day of June eight hundred and ninety five. John Kerruish, Lockman of Onchan

Signed and delivered in presence of EWKerruish

[REF: June 1895 #35 ONC]

NOTES

  1. Cronk Urleigh
  2. John Corkhill Watterson Cowley married Mary Ann Mylrea in 1891. He was a school teacher
  3. Mary Ann was the daughter of John Mylrea and Margaret Barrie als Brew
  4. The curiosity of this contract is that yet again, Cowley has purchased premises in his own right.In this case, Mary Ann who stepped in to support a mortgage
  5. Cowley had previously purchased #1 Park Road in his own right, no mortgage required, but #23 Circular road was bought, mortgaged and sold in a very brief time window
  6. In the decade they were married, John Corkill Watterson Cowley undertook multiple land dealings. His purchases and mortgages in Douglas amounted to about £1,000 and the sales considerably less
  7. In his will in 1900, John Corkill Watterson Cowley left his first purchase (1894), the dwelling at #1 Park Road to his wife during her lifetime. He also mentions "the remainder of my property in Douglas" and presumably the property to which he refers was a series of dwellings jointly held with his wife Mary Ann as a result of her father's will
  8. A week after this purchase, Cowley took mortgage on the Circular property for £200
  9. Without more qualitative information, it is impossible to say whether Cowley was a thoughtful investor or a frivolous purchaser, a feckless husband and father, a selfish and unstable character who took advantage of his wife's wealth and circumstances. There were oddities about Cowley
    • his address in this contract (1895) was given as Stephen Terrace in Douglas whereas only 5 months earlier, he said he was living in Bucks Road. He was at the time married to Mary Ann Mylrea and their home was Cronk Urleigh in Michael
    • he styled himself as a farmer but on other occasions, he said he was a gentleman or teacher and on first encounter, he was a theology student (all this in the space of a decade)
    • he maintained the fiction he was born in 1859 rather than 1857, his actual year of baptism
  10. Also of interest is where Cowley acquired his funds to purchase these properties in his own right

Associated Documents

Last updated: Nov 2024