The will of James Irving (baptised 1835 Bowness-on-Solway, died 1877 Switzerland) suggests he was worthy of the description Cumbrian Character…<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on this site, you can find a general info article on using wills<\/a> as part of your family history research<\/p>\n The following will contains some standard elements. It was usual for a man to stipulate any legacy to his wife would only be hers for as long as she remained a widow. He wouldn\u2019t want his estate to pass to another man, and potentially another man\u2019s children at the expense of his own.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also common to specify who is to get household and professional items \u2013 everything from bed linen to ploughs. Up to a point.<\/p>\n It is extremely common for a farmer\u2019s will to itemise grain and other crops.<\/p>\n The following is the ONLY will I ever recall reading (and I have read a LOT!) that specifies (household) food.<\/p>\n It is also unique (in my experience) in the writer crossing out (and initialling, to make it legal) a term of endearment!<\/p>\n James Irving, sharebroker, Blackwell House, Carlisle. Written 2\/6\/1876.<\/p>\n The trustees and executors are solicitor Richard Bowman Brocklebank, of Currock House, Carlisle, and Edward Lawson Irving (James Irving\u2019s younger brother).<\/p>\n \u201cI appoint my dear (the word ‘dear’ is scratched out, with the initials JI after!!<\/strong>) wife, during her widowhood, guardian of my infant children.\u201d<\/p>\n The trustees are to take over if she dies or remarries.<\/p>\n \u201cI give my wife Barbara all the household effects (china, plate, all usual stuff)\u2026 wines and other consumable stores<\/strong>, including one horse, one cow, and a carriage, to be selected by her from those belonging to me.\u201d<\/p>\n James Irving then recommends she divides it all up in trust for the children in her will.<\/p>\n He leaves \u00a350 to Richard Bowman Brocklebank if he acts as trustee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He leaves the rest in trust to provide: \u00a3300 a year to my wife, until she dies\/remarries. Thereafter to the children when they reach 21 or (daughters) marry.<\/p>\n The daughters are to get their share for their sole use, separate from husband\u2019s control. (However), the daughters don\u2019t control the trust, the trustees do.<\/p>\n He does at least trust his daughters to appoint who their share of the trust money will go to after they die. If they don\u2019t specify, it goes to their children; if they don\u2019t have any, it will be as if they had died intestate and a widow. (ie husbands don\u2019t get it).<\/p>\n There is also a personal bequest: \u201cI give to my eldest son my printed books.\u201d<\/p>\n James Irving died on March 19, 1877 at Davos Platz, Switzerland. The probate entry shows he was a wealthy man: \u2018effects under \u00a330,000\u2019.<\/p>\n So, despite being worth a LOT of money, he felt it necessary to specify that his wife could have the food.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He also left her (a share broker’s wife) a cow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He also changed his mind about describing her, crossing out the \u2018dear\u2019 and initialling the change.<\/p>\n His children were still young, so he had no way of knowing if his daughters would be any good with money, but while he wanted to be sure their husbands couldn\u2019t get their hands on it, he didn\u2019t want them taking any decisions.<\/p>\n He also took it on himself to advise his not-dear wife what she should put in her will.<\/p>\n James Irving was the third child of ship owner and merchant Peter Irving and his wife Jane Simpson, who feature in my book (quick plug!!), Port Carlisle, a history built on hope<\/a>.<\/p>\n Baptised at Bowness-on-Solway in 1835, James had left home by 1851, to be a druggist\u2019s apprentice in Carlisle. However, he didn\u2019t stick with it and by the early 1860s was advertising as a stock and share broker, of Post Office Court, Carlisle.<\/p>\n He married, in 1864, Barbara Bell, who was about a year younger than James and had been born at Beanlands, Irthington.<\/p>\n In 1871, they were living in Port Carlisle with a baby, Robert James. Their older children were staying (or living?) with Barbara\u2019s 76-year-old mother at Beanlands. They were John Bell Irving, six; Maggie J Irving, four, and: Barbara A Irving, two. John and Barbara had been born at Port Carlisle, Maggie in Rickerby.<\/p>\n Why the three young children were with their grandmother (or for how long), can only be guessed at.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure how you go about obtaining Swiss BMD certicates. But the fact James Irving died at Davos is very suggestive. It may be famous these days for global economic conferences, but it first attracted visitors for a very different reason.<\/p>\n The whole story about Davos can be read here<\/a>,\u00a0but the short version is that when James Irving was there, its claim to fame was as a health spa. It attracted well-off people suffering from consumption (tuberculosis). I have written a post on consumption here<\/a>.<\/p>\n James Irving was only 42 when he died, and had written the will nine months earlier, suggesting he was already ill then. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The probate entry gives his main address as Blackwell House, near Carlisle. Blackwell House carries the distinction of having been used as a headquarters by both sides during the two sieges of Carlisle in 1745. Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) stayed here on November 10, 1745 and the Duke of Cumberland from December 21-31, 1745.<\/p>\n Barbara Irving\u2019s will is dated November 1895. She was still of Blackwell House.<\/p>\n Barbara named sons John Bell Irving, of Blackwell House, and Robert James Irving, of South West Australia, and a solicitor, as her executors and trustees.<\/p>\n She left everything in trust, in equal shares to her children. \u2018Effects \u00a35,696 19s 6d\u2019.<\/p>\n How she had felt, widowed with young children, when her late husband\u2019s will was read, we can of course only imagine.<\/p>\n Any food James Irving kindly left her, she must surely have bought herself (albeit with his money), given he died in Switzerland.<\/p>\n What she thought of \u2018dear\u2019 being crossed out\u2026<\/p>\n Family papers in Carlisle Archives say:<\/p>\n At the time of his marriage, James Irving lved in the house on the west side of the Solway Hotel. Later he lived in Carlisle and brought Blackhall House, at Blackwell, and Solway ?House, Port Carlisle.<\/p>\n He was 6ft 2in and known as \u2018Long Jim\u2019. Educated at Croft House School, Brampton, and then a \u20181st class school\u2019.<\/p>\n He joined Hathaway\u2019s chemist, Carlisle, but had to leave after bursting a blood vessel in his lungs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He joined his father as a partner, till shipping declined, then set up successfully as a stockbroker in Carlisle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He was also an insurance agent in a big way; carried through the formation of the Cumberland Union Bank, and was Consul for Norway and Sweden in the north of England.<\/p>\n He was a shy man, and did not follow his father in public life, but led the Conservatives in Bowness and was known for his dancing, flute plyaing, and field sports (shooting and coursing).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The will of James Irving (baptised 1835 Bowness-on-Solway, died 1877 Switzerland) suggests he was worthy of the description Cumbrian Character… Elsewhere on this site, you can find a general info article on using wills as part of your family history research The following will contains some standard elements. It was usual for a man to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2,4],"tags":[125,124,78],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","category-family-history","category-wills","tag-blackwell-house","tag-irvings","tag-port-carlisle"],"yoast_head":"\nThe will of James Irving<\/h2>\n
Thanks for that<\/h2>\n
Who was James Irving?<\/h2>\n
Did James Irving have TB?<\/h2>\n
No mention of food<\/h2>\n
Update<\/h2>\n
\n