Will of Eli Goodger, brewer, 1898 (proved 1899)

Oxford Probate Registry

 This is the last Will and Testament of me Eli Goodger of Winslow in the County of Bucks Brewer I appoint my friends William Thomas Matthews of Winslow aforesaid Builder and William Norris Midgley of Winslow aforesaid Solicitors Clerk (hereinafter called my Trustees) Executors and Trustees of this my Will I devise and bequeathall my real and personal Estate whatsoever and wheresoever unto my Trustees Upon trust (after payment out of my personal Estate of my just debts my funeral and testamentary expenses) to permit and empower my Wife Esther during her Widowhood to have the use and enjoyment thereof or to receive the net rents profits interest dividends and annual produce of the said real and personal Estate and premises after the payment of all outgoings and expenses which may be payable or which my Trustees may think fit to pay thereout and the interest on any principal sums and any annual sums charged thereon And upon the decease or second marriage of my said Wife whichever shall first happen I direct my Trustees to sell call in and convert into money my said real and personal Estate and premises at such time or times and in such manner as they shall think fit and either by public auction or private contract And I hereby authorise the said William Thomas Matthews notwithstanding his being a Trustee of this my Will to purchase my hereinbefore devised real Estate interest as aforesaid at any such sale or sales thereof by public auction or by private contract provided in the latter case the sale shall be conducted by the Trustee of my Will other than the said William Thomas Matthews or be made at a price fixed by a Valuer appointed by such other Trustee but I declare that no sale of my said real Estate either by public auction or private contract shall be made to any person other than the said William Thomas Matthews until the said real Estate shall have been offered to the said William Thomas Matthews and he shall have refused to purchase the same or shall be unwilling to purchase the same at the price fixed by the other Trustee or by the Valuer appointed by such other Trustee or by the Valuer appointed by such other Trustee And I declare that my Trustees shall stand possessed of the net proceeds arising from such sale calling in and conversion of my said real and personal Estate and premises as aforesaid In trust for all my children who being Sons have attained the age of Twenty one years or being Daughters have attained that age or marry under that age in equal shares and if there shall be only one such child the whole to be in trust for that one child Provided always that if any child of mine shall die in my lifetime or in the widowhood of my said Wife (should she survive me) leaving a child or children and being a Son or Sons shall attain the age of Twenty one years or being a Daughter or Daughters shall attain that age or marry under that age then and in every such case the last mentioned child or children shall take (and if more than one equally between them) the share which his her or their parent would have taken of and in the residuary trust funds if such parent had been living at my decease or the decease or second marriage of my said Wife should she survive me Lastly I revoke all other Wills In Witness whereof I have the said Eli Goodger the Testator hereunto set my hand the Fifteenth day of December One thousand eight hundred and ninety eight
Eli Goodger [signature]
Signed and acknowledged by the above named Eli Goodger the Testator as his Will in the presence of us present at the same time who at his request in her presence and the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as Witnesses
Stanley W. Midgley [signature] Winslow, Solicitor’s Clerk
George Stevens [signature] Winslow, Carpenter

On the Twenty ninth day of May 1899 Probate of this Will was granted at Oxford to William Thomas Matthew and William Norris Midgley, the Executors
It is hereby certified that the foregoing is a correct Copy
Dated this Fifth day of June 1899

BE IT KNOWN  that at the date hereunder written the last Will and Testament of Eli Goodger of Winslow in the County of Buckingham, Brewer, deceased, who died on the 27th day of December 1898, at Winslow aforesaid, and who at the time of his death had a fixed place of abode at Winslow aforesaid within the District of the Counties of Oxford, Berks and Buckingham, was proved and registered in the District Probate Registry of Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice at Oxford and that Administration of all the estate which by law devolves to and vests in the personal representative of the said deceased was granted by the aforesaid Court to William Thomas Matthew, Builder and William Norris Midgley, Solicitors Clerk, both of Winslow aforesaid, the Executors named in the said Will.
Dated the 29th day of May 1899
Gross value of personal Estate            £135 - 0 - 0

Extracted by Willis and Willis, Solicitors, Winslow

Notes

Eli Goodger died on 27 Dec 1898 aged 67. He was the son of Thomas Goodger (d.1868), from whom he took over the brewing business. Eli married Esther Vidler (born at King's Walden, Herts) in 1858. She died in 1908 aged 77. They lived in the houses built by Thomas, now 110-116 High Street, probably moving into 110 after Thomas died.

The children, who aren't named in the will, are:

In the 1871 Census Eli was listed as a travelling brewer at Wadebridge Farm, Hemel Hempstead, and described as unmarried. The farmer was John Thomas Curtis aged 28, born at Winslow. In 1891 Eli was a boarder at Lower Farm, Quainton, described as married.

W.T. Matthews seems to have taken up his option to buy the real estate as Matthews Bros owned 110 High Street in 1910.

Copyright 2 August, 2025