The Last Will & Testament of Betty Campbell; 1756

Betty Campbell (1734-1756)

Betty, the daughter of Mr John Campbell and Betty his wife, was baptised in Christian Malford on 23 July 1733. She wrote her Last Will & Testament on 6 June 1756, died about a week later and was buried in Sutton Benger on 16 June.

How many 22-year olds make a Last Will & Testament today? – very few, I guess. And that was probably no different in the 1750s. So why did Betty Campbell, the daughter of Sutton Benger’s doctor, make her Will, dated 6 June 1756? Probably because she was quite wealthy, having been left £100 by her grandfather; she had also had other bequests from her Aunt. And, knowing that she was quite ill, she wished to pass these legacies on. Also, she might possibly have been estranged from her father, who receives no mention in her Will; she named her mother as her Executrix and possibly wanted to ensure that her father would not ‘steal’ her money. After all, £100 in the 1750s would be the equivalent of about £25,000 today. And Betty, the daughter, wanted her mother to have the £100 and everything else in her estate ‘for her sole use’.

After Betty's death in June 1756 her mother was awarded probate on 25th September. The process in those days was managed by the church; Sutton Benger was ‘managed’ by the Archdeacon in Salisbury (known as Sarum); he delegated a ‘surrogate’ in Chippenham. Betty Campbell (senior) took an oath, in which she swore to pass on her daughter’s instructions, as written in her last Will and Testament.

Scroll forward to 1764, and we find a number of documents in the archives, which reveal that somebody had alleged a degree of malfeasance. Exactly what was alleged is not clear, but the Archbishop of Canterbury was now involved. Local clerics were being summoned to Doctors’ Commons in London, the highest Ecclesiastical court in the land, to explain why / how Betty Campbell’s Will and Probate had been mis-managed.

(As an aside, Charles Dickens was a reporter at Doctors’ Commons when he was starting out in life as a journalist. He refers to it in his semi-autobiographical David Copperfield as a ‘cosey, dosey, old-fashioned, time-forgotten, sleepy-headed little family party’.)

John Campbell, the father, had died in 1762; the allegation appears to have been made by Betty, his widow, and the approved Executrix of her daughter’s Will. Perhaps something had come to light following her husband’s death? Had he been a very naughty boy? Perhaps he said to his wife: don’t worry about Betty’s Will, my dear; I’ll deal with it…. Whatever happened to Betty junior’s £100? Is there any significance in the fact that John Campbell left a bequest of £100 to his daughter Jane Campbell?

We may never know the answers; unless they lie, waiting to be found, in the archives of Doctors' Commons? But it does show that Sutton Benger was not just a little village where nothing untoward ever happened.

The Will of Betty Campbell in the County of Wilts and Diocese of Sarum; 1756

In the Name of God Amen. I, Betty Campbell, spinster, daughter of John Campbell of Sutton Benger in the County of Wilts, Physician, being a little indisposed in Body but of sound and disposing mind, memory and understanding, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, that is to say:

First, I will and desire my body may be duly (?) and privately interred in the parish of Sutton Benger aforesaid at the discretion of (the) Executrix hereinafter named.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my niece Betty Hudson the sum of £10 to put and place her out Apprentice to such business as my Executrix hereinafter named shall find proper. I also give and bequeath unto all my brothers and sisters that shall be living at the time of my decease a mourning ring, of such value as my Executrix hereinafter named shall think proper;

Whereas Richard Burgess of Christian Malford in the said County of Wilts, Gent did, in and by his Last Will and Testament in writing duly executed and attested bearing date on or about the third day of March in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and thirty six, give and bequeath unto me the said Betty Campbell (by the name of his Granddaughter Elizabeth Campbell) the Sum or Legacy of One hundred pounds to be paid to me when I should attain the age of twenty one years or be married;

And whereas by virtue of the Will of the said Richard Burgess I am Likewise intituled to a share of the Estate and Effects of Mrs Sarah Burgess, late daughter of the said Richard Burgess, which said share or dividend is not yet made so that the Sum cannot be ascertained.

Now in case it should please God to call me from this world before the said Legacy of one hundred pounds should be paid me, or the said share or dividend of the Estate and Effects of the said Sarah Burgess should be made (after payment of all my just debts, legacies and funeral expenses) I do hereby give and bequeath the same legacy of one hundred pounds and also my share or dividend of the Estate and Effects of the said Sarah Burgess unto my Honoured Mother Betty Campbell to and for her own proper use and benefit and to be entirely at her own disposal, and do hereby constitute and appoint my said mother Betty Campbell whole and sole Executrix of this my Will;

In witness whereof I have to this my Last Will and Testament contained in one sheet of paper set my Hand and Seal this sixth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty six.

The mark of Betty Campbell.

...14 June 1764, from the Diocese of Sarum ... raising an issue regarding the original Probate of the Will of Betty Campbell (the daughter).

Thomas, by Divine Providence, Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and Metropolitan, all and singular clerks and literate persons whomsoever, wheresoever in and throughout our whole province of Canterbury, Greeting;

Whereas, on the part and behalf of Betty Campbell, senior, widow, the mother and sole Executrix named in the last Will and Testament of Betty Campbell, junior, late of Sutton Benger in the County of Wilts, spinster, deceased, dated the [blank] day of [blank] in the year of our Lord [blank];

It was alledged before the Worshipful Andrew Cottel Ducaret, Doctor of Law, Surrogate to the `Right Worshipful George Hay, Doctor of [?] Master Keeper or Commissioner and Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted;

That the said deceased having whilst living and at the time of her death, Goods Chattels or Credits in Divers Dioceses or Jurisdictions sufficient to found the jurisdiction of our said Prerogative Court of Canterbury, and being of sound and disposing mind and memory and understanding, duly made her last Will and Testament aforesaid in writing;

And thereof appointed the said Betty Campbell, widow, her natural and lawful mother, sole Executrix, who proved the same in common form in an inferior court, and probate thereof was granted to her by the Reverend Richard Keeble, Clerk, Bachelor in Divinity, the lawful surrogate of the Reverend and Worshipful John Taylor, Doctor in Divinity, Special Principal of the Episcopal Consistorial Court of Sarum;

That the said Original Last Will and Testament of the said deceased is now remaining in the Episcopal Consistorial Court of Sarum, and whereas the Surrogate aforesaid rightly and duly proceeding hath at the petition of the Proctor of the said Betty Campbell, widow, decreed the said original Last Will and Testament of the said deceased to be transmitted in a manner and form as hereafter mentioned, Justice so requiring;

We do therefore impower, strictly enjoyn and command You jointly and severally peremptorily to monish or cause to be monished the said Worshipfull John Taylor, Doctor in Divinity, his Surrogate or Substitute Register or Actuary in Special and all others in General with whom the said original last Will and Testament of the said Deceased, as and (…?)

That they or one of them do on or before Wednesday 20 June next [1764] ensuring between the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon of the same day, transmit or cause to be transmitted unto us or our said Master Keeper or Commissary, his Surrogate or other competent Judge in his behalf in the Common Hall of Doctors Commons , London;

The said original last Will and Testament of the said deceased, under stain of the Law and Contempt thereof and that you duly Certify us or our said Master Keeper or Commissary, his Surrogate or other competent Judge in his behalf.

That you shall do in the Premises together with these presents.