Winslow History | Will of William Wise, stone mason, 1929

Will of William Wise, stone mason, 1929

Oxford Probate Registry

I WILLIAM WISE of No. 63 High Street Winslow in the County of Buckingham Stone Mason hereby revoke all testamentary dispositions heretofore made by me and declare this to be my last Will which I make this Twenty fifth day of January One thousand nine hundred and twenty nine

Executors I appoint my sons WILLIAM GEORGE WISE and HERBERT EDWARD COLEMAN WISE (hereinafter called “my Trustees”) to be the Executors and Trustees of my Will.
I declare that each of my Trustees shall have power to select such articles of my plate plated articles linen china glass books pictures prints furniture and other household effects as he may desire and to purchase the same at such valuation as my Trustees may agree upon.

I DEVISE to my said son William George Wise in fee simple my house No. 63 High Street Winslow aforesaid known as “Stoneleigh” with the yard outoffices and gardens thereto belonging now in my occupation And also the small piece of ground at the end of Park Road South in Winslow aforesaid belonging to me but subject nevertheless to the existing rights with regard to water to the adjoining four Cottages and to the Post Office until a Public Water Supply is provided for the Town.

I DEVISE to my said son Herbert Edward Coleman Wise in fee simple my four Cottages gardens and premises situate in the High Street Winslow aforesaid numbered 65, 67, 69 and 71 now in the respective occupations of Eleanor Emily Wesley Frederick Young Edward Foskett and Thomas Adkins Together with the right of obtaining water from the premises now in my occupation as now enjoyed until a Public Water Supply is provided for the Town.

I DEVISE unto my son Ralph Hobbs Wise in fee simple the Post Office and Post Masters House yard out offices and premises situate in the High Street Winslow aforesaid Together with the right of obtaining Water from the premises now in my own occupation until a Public Water Supply is provided for the Town but nevertheless subject to and charged (in exoneration of my personal estate and my other real estate if any charged therewith) with the payment of all principal monies and interest specifically charged thereon by any mortgage or mortgages and any other charges and incumbrances affecting the same at my death.

I DEVISE AND BEQUEATH all the real and personal estate not hereby or by any Codicil hereto otherwise specifically disposed of and which I can dispose of by Will in any manner I think proper either as beneficially entitled thereto or under any general power (including the money to arise from any articles purchased by my Trustees as hereinbefore authorized) unto my Trustees Upon trust that my Trustees shall sell the said real estate (including chattels real) and call in sell and convert into money such part of my personal estate as does not consist of money with power to postpone such sale and conversion for so long a period as my Trustees without being liable to account may think proper and so that any reversionary interest be not sold unless my Trustees see special reason for sale The income of my personal estate however invested shall from my death be treated and applied as income and no part thereof shall be added to capital except accumulations of surplus income (if any) during a minority or pending a contingency My Trustees shall out of the money to arise from the sale and conversion of my said real and personal estate and out of my ready money pay my funeral and testamentary expenses death duties including Estate Duty on my real and personal estate and my debts except any mortgage debt or debts on property hereinbefore specifically devised to my said son Ralph Hobbs Wise and charged therewith and shall also pay the Legacy or sum of Fifty Pounds free of duty to my late wifes sister Mrs. Elizabeth Bowden of The Poplars Great Horwood Bucks to whom I hereby bequeath the same accordingly and so that the aforesaid legacy and the duty thereon shall be paid primarily out of my personal estate.

My Trustees shall stand possessed of the residue of the said money Upon trust for my Grandson William Wise (son of the said Herbert Edward Coleman Wise) absolutely The statutory powers of maintenance and advancement shall apply to my Will.
IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand the day and year first before written.
WILLIAM WISE
SIGNED by the above named William Wise the testator as his last Will in the presence of us both present at the same time who in his presence and the presence of each other have hereunto set our names as witnesses.
William M. Midgley, Clerk to Mr. W.G.W.Willis, Solicitor, Winslow.
A.J.Hartley, Winslow. Master of the Institution.
(10 Folios)
On the Sixth day of June 1929
Probate of this Will was granted at Oxford.

BE IT KNOWN that WILLIAM WISE of 63 High Street Winslow in the County of Buckingham died on the 15th day of March 1929 at The Radcliffe Infirmary in the City of Oxford
AND BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that at the date hereunder written the last will and Testament of the said deceased was proved and registered in the District Probate Registry of His 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 GEORGE WISE of 63 High Street Winslow aforesaid Stonemason and HERBERT EDWARD COLEMAN WISE of 8 Oxford Street Wolverton in the county of Buckingham Carpenter Sons of Deceased the Executors
named in the said Will.
Dated the 6th day of June 1929
Gross value of Estate          …        £3681 : 14 : 7
Net value of Personal Estate         £ 245 : 14 : 7
Extracted by W. Gravely W. Willis,
                        Solicitor, Winslow.

Notes

Although he gave his occupation as stone mason and his firm provided numerous gravestones in Winslow churchyard, William Wise was employed for many years by Winslow RDC as sanitary inspector and surveyor, retiring in 1918. Presumably his son ran the mason's business. The comments in the will about the water supply no doubt reflect his frustration at having been unable to get agreement to provide one.

William Wise was born in Stony Stratford in 1852. He married Ann Hobbs from Great Horwood in 1878. He acquired the former Gas Works site in Winslow High Street in 1888, which is apparently when he moved to Winslow, and the adjacent former Boys' School in 1904. They previously lived at Scaldwell, Northants and Orwell, Cambs.

1889: Buckingham Advertiser, 11 May [65-71 High Street]
The four new houses erected in Winslow High Street, are a credit to Mr. Wise, the builder and proprietor, besides being an improvement in the looks of the street.

He seems to have lived in the former Gas House until in 1912 he built the Post Office and two adjoining houses, now 61-63 High Street.

The eldest son William George Wise moved into 63 High Street after his father died, but died in 1938 aged 58. The third son Ralph Hobbs Wise emigrated to Australia in 1912 and died there in 1978.

Buckingham Advertiser, 23 March 1909

We regret to have to record the death of Mr. William Wise, of High Street, Winslow, who passed away at Oxford on Friday, at the age of seventy-seven.

Mr. Wise was one of the best known men in Winslow, and one of the most respected. He had the good word of everyone with whom he had dealings, and in his time he came in contact with many, because for many years of his life he was an esteemed public official.

A native of Stony Stratford, Mr. Wise had lived in Winslow for forty years. He was in business as a stone mason, and founded the successful firm of Messrs. Wise and Son, which, of course, is still flourishing. In his young days he was associated with a Bedford firm that specialised in church restoration, and young Mr. Wise worked on many old churches in different parts of the country. Curiously enough, one of his first jobs for this firm was the restoration of Great Horwood Church, in the heart of the district where, though he did not know it at the time, the prime of his life was to be spent.

As a matter of interest, it may be mentioned that his last undertaking in this line was the erection of the memorial shrine in Addington Church to the memory of the fallen in the war – an artistic piece of work that was a credit to the craftsman.

The time came when Mr. Wise made up his mind to settle on his own because the constant long journeys had become tiresome, and so in 1889 he came to Winslow. Then began the making of his business, and he built the handsome post office of Winslow, which is one of the most striking features of the old High Street. He also built the fine house next door, and lived there till his last illness.

PUBLIC OFFICIAL.

In 1894, Winslow became a more important place from a local government point of view. The district was advanced to the dignity of a rural council, and Mr. Wise was appointed to be Winslow’s first surveyor and sanitary inspector, duties which he carried out to everyone’s satisfaction. In later years the office was divided. A new official took over the duties of sanitary inspector, but Mr. Wise carried on as highways surveyor and surveyor for new buildings, and he held these positions till he retired on September 30, 1918. He had then been in office twenty-four years, and the council placed on record its appreciation of his valued service. After his retirement, Mr. Wise was a member of Winslow Parish Council for a time.

A staunch Churchman, he was a church-warden and sidesman at St. Laurence’s Church for years, and by his death the congregation loses one of its most loyal members. A sociable man, he was a member of the Winslow Old Bowling Green, whose associations go back through the centuries. Bowls was the one recreation that Mr. Wise loved above all others, and he delighted to be on the green in the summer time. No one was more enthusiastic than he in the time-honoured match when the veterans‘ team of seventy and over played the Rest. Indoors his hobby was handicrafts, and his home contained some very pretty and useful articles which he made himself. ...