MARY ANN MYLREA
Will - 1837 (Italy)
I Mary Anne Mylrea being in a perfect sound state of mind and in the presence of Almighty God do now make my last will and testament and I desire that the same may be carried into full effect by my trustees who I shall herein name as soon after my demise as possible.
I have in the British funds property to the amount of eleven hundred and eighty pounds sterling as near as possible. This I leave, subjected to my just debts and the payment of the legacies, to be herein named to my niece or nieces daughter or daughters of my brother Frederick Thomas Mylrea to be equally divided between them at their father’s death. The interest of this said bequest to my niece or nieces to be paid to my brother the said Frederick Thomas Mylrea during the term of his natural life. Should no daughter or daughters survive my brother, I desire that the aforementioned bequest be still retained in the hands of the trustees for the benefit of any surviving son or sons to be paid to them on the above mentioned conditions. Should my brother survive all his children, he is heir to the whole I have and bequest free of all taxes and deductions
Fifty pounds sterling to my friend Catherine Cruickshank of Boulogne Sur Mer as a trifling memento of my affection. I also give to her in addition to the above fifty pounds, twenty pounds sterling more. This latter sum is to liquidate some small debts left in the name of my late father at Boulogne this, as near as I can recollect, is about the amount out but should it be beyond that sum the individuals who have claims are to be compounded(?) with and nothing paid beyond it now in order to carry this my last solemn will and testament into full force and effect
I do appoint Barnabas Maude and William Robertson, merchants of Leghorn, my sole trustees and executors and I give them full and sufficient power to sell out of the funds such sum or sums of money as may be necessary to carry this my last will and testament into complete effect, namely to pay all my just debts, funeral expenses and legacies herein or hereafter mentioned and the residue paid as above stated to my brother and his children
Unto this my last will and testament I now set my hand and seal this twenty fifth of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven (signed) Mary Anne Mylrea - (seal) - In the presence of W.S. Briggs - John Crawford
Codicil I likewise desire that within one year of my demise, twenty pounds sterling be paid out of my personal property to my beloved friend Harriet Maude to purchase any ornament she may think fit to wear for my sake.
Likewise I bequest to her husband B Maude five pounds sterling to purchase a ring or brooch which I beg him to wear in remembrance of the esteem gratitude and friendship I have long felt for him.
I also give and bequeath to the fourth son of Harriet and B Maude, John Barnabas Maude, the sum of twenty-five pounds sterling to be paid to his father or guardians within a year after my death and to be given to said John B Maude with interest then but when he shall have attained his twentieth year as a memento of the sincere affection I have borne him from his infancy and I do variously beg my dear friends Harriet and B Maude not to think of refusing these trifling marks of my affection as I feel that I have done my duty to my dear brother. (signed) Mary Anne Mylrea Leghorn Sept 1st 1835
This codicil to an old will I desire may remain in full force (signed) Mary Anne Mylrea Appeared Personally Witness Angelo Bajocchi
Leghorn 1837 March 31st, William Symson Briggs of Leghorn clerk and John Crawford of Leghorn merchant and .... made oath that they knew and were well acquainted with Mary Anne Mylrea, formerly of Worthing in the County of Sussex and afterwards of Boulogne in the Kingdom of France and last of Leghorn in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, spinster, deceased and with her manner and character of handwriting and subscription having frequently seen her write and subscribe her name and having now viewed the Testamentary paper hereinto .[?]. purporting to be and contain a codicil to the last will and testament of the said deceased beginning this Codicil "I likewise desire that within one year of my demise twenty pounds sterling to be paid out of my personal property to my beloved friend Harriet Maude” ending thus “as I feel that I have done my duty to my dear Brother” and thus subscribed and dated “Mary Ann Mylrea Leghorn Sept 1st 1835 the said codicil leaving an addition thereto contained in the words following to wit "This codicil to an old will I desire may remain in full force” and being thus also subscribed and dated Mary Ann Mylrea Leghorn 1837 Mar 31st they lastly made oath that they verily and in their consciences believe the whole body .(?). and contours of the said codicil and addition and also the name Mary Anne Mylrea to the same respectively so set and subscribed to be the proper handwriting and subscription of the said Mary Anne Mylrea Spinster deceased. W.S. Briggs – John Crawford - on the thirteenth day of June 1837 the said William Symson Briggs and John Crawford were duly sworn to the truth of this affidavit by virtue of the annexed requisition before me John Falconer, Consul at Leghorn, PROVED at London with a codicil 12th July 1837 before the worshipful Jesse Addams of Sarus and Surrogate by the oath of William Robertson one of the executors to whom .(?). was granted having been first sworn July to administer – power reserved of making the like grant to Barnabas Maude the other executor
NOTES
- She was born 1798 in London, the oldest child of Daniel Mylrea & Mary Bosley
- Grand daughter of Thomas Mylrea & Rose Savage. Their older son Daniel, baptised 1750 in Peel on the Isle of Man, was her father
- Her Mylrea line were the Deemsters/Attorney Generals/ MHKs/ Archdeacons
- Father Daniel, hero of the Harpooner incident in 1816, died 1822 in France
- Mary Ann and her younger brother, Frederick Thomas, together with their father, survived the wreck while her mother, Mary Bosley, and two sisters Rose Kingson (1800-1816) and Sophia Ann (1811-1816) were drowned
- Two other siblings had died previously: Charles Daniel (1799-1815), Rachel (1808-1811)
- Mary Ann went to live in Livorno, Tuscany after her father died. Also living there was Harriet Maude, whose maiden name was Armstrong. Harriet was the sole member of her family to survive the wreck of the Harpooner. Her father was the surgeon Richard Armstrong who perished along with his wife and children and many more besides.
- Ref for Harriet'd marriage to Barnabas Maude: A Genealogical & Heraldic History of the Commoners Of Great Britain and Ireland, John Burke. (1834)
- It is curious that she had over one thousand pounds to her name when she died, given that her father's economic state was parless, and she had no relatives who might have left her a legacy. In other words, how she survived financiall the 20 years after the ship wreck, living in rented accommodation presumably, is a mystery
Associated Documents
- 1692 Will: William Mylrea (great great great grand father)
- 1724 Will: Daniel Mylrea (great great grand father)
- 1757 Will: Daniel Mylrea (great grand father)
- 1759 Will: Thomas Mylrea (grand father)
- 1775 Will: Daniel Mylrea (great uncle)
- 1777 Purchase: John Mylrea from Daniel Mylrea (father)
- Story: William McYlrea 1627-1692
- Story: Frederick Thomas Mylrea 1803-1862 (brother)