Will of Robert Busby of Addington, 1648/9 (proved 1655)

National Archives, PROB 11/245/468

In the name of God, Amen The fifteenth day of March in the yeare of our Lord God according to the computac(i)on of the Church of England one thousand sixe hundred forty and eight I Robert Busby of Addington in the County of Bucks being of good and perfect health mynde and memory (my thankes I render to the Allmighty and ever mercifull God for the same) considering the certaynty of death and the uncertainety, of the tyme thereof especially in these dangerous tymes when mens persons are more exposed to casualty than heretofore doe make and ordayne this my last will and Testament in manner and forme following That is to say first and principally I Commende my soule unto Allmighty God the father of spiritts trusting that when shee shall leave her earthly tabernacle shee shall bee placed amongst the Elect in heaven not for any merritts [text omitted?] of the death and passion of my Saviour  Jesus Christ by whome only I hope for the forgivenes of my sinnes and in due tyme to bee made an Inheritor of the Kingdome of heaven  Concerning my body, I bequeath the same unto the Earth from whence it came there to remayne untill there shalbe a reunion of my soule and body at the last day . . .  [He leaves the arrangements for the interring of his body to the discretion of his Executrix, expressing a wish for an Addington location ] . . . concerning my goods and chattels reall and personall (if these incertayne tymes shall leave mee a personall Estate at the tyme of my decease) Then I dispose thereof as followeth . . . [Once his debts and funeral expenses have been discharged he bequeaths to the poor of the parishes of East Claydon where he was born and Addington, five and ten pounds respectively.  All servants still with him at his death are bequeathed twenty shillings each.] Item I doe give and bequeath unto every one of those persons whome by a Conveyance by mee made since I came with my daughter Hester from France I have made feefees or Trustees for the benefit of my Children Twenty shillings . . . [for all to buy and wear rings in memory of him ‘their then deceased freind’.]  Item I doe give and bequeath unto my daughter Hester being my eldest child (the increase of whose portion will not be soe beneficiall unto her in respect of her riper age as unto the rest whose youth will admitt of a greater encrease) the summe of five hundred pounds [to be raised through the sale of his goods and chattels and paid at the age of eighteen or upon marriage, ‘which shall first happen’. His ‘beloved and deere’ wife Abigail is bequeathed all ‘her jewells and wearing apparel,’ one hundred pounds and is appointed his sole Executrix. She is advised (warned) to take ‘good security’ from any second husband to avoid the legacies to her being rendered ‘spent and wasted’. His servant Thomas Bowers is bequeathed an additional £20 ‘over and above his legacie as my household servant’ and as a trustee] for his better incouragement to undertake and performe the truste I have reposed in him by the before mentioned conveyance, and for that the greatest part of the care in manageing and improeving of my lands for the benefitt of my children will depend upon him . . . [Bowers is further rewarded for his ‘fidelity and good service’ with a Messuage in Addington then occupied by Michael Ward ‘together with the Close and the yarde lande and a halfe’. The residue of his estate not otherwise bequeathed is left to such of his children who shall be living at the time of his death ‘except such of my children which shall be my heyres’.]

In Witnesse whereof I have written this my last will and Testament with my owne hand in fower sheetes of paper and have to this my last Will and Testament put my hand and seal That is to say my hand at the bottome of each sheete and my seale once at the toppe the day and yeare first above written Robert Busby [signature] signed sealed and published in the presence of Edward Woodward [signature] Anthony Godin [signature] Richard White [signature]

This Will was proved at London the fower and Twentieth day of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred and fifty five before the Judges for probate of wills and granting Administrations lawfully authorised by the oath of Abigail Busby the relict and sole Executrix named therein to whom was committed Administration of all and singuler the goods chattells and debts of the deceased shee being first sworne truely to Administer the same.

Notes

Robert's heir was his son Sir John Busby; his other children included a daughter Elizabeth (d.1661). Robert was born at East Claydon, studied at Oxford and became a lawyer. He was buried at Addington on 26 Sep 1653. Ralph Verney of Claydon House also went to France during the Civil War after coming under suspicion from both sides, and Robert Busby must have made arrangements to prevent his estate from being sequestrated. He had presumably left by 1646 when he did not sign Addington's statement of losses sustained to the Parliamentarian army (read more), but his daughter Abigail was baptised at Addington on 14 Oct 1647.