Nat Gould

Summary of the Provisions of the Will of Nathaniel Gould 1818

To my brother George Gould of Retford £3,000

To my sister Lydia Lucas of Bolsover £1,000

To my late wife’s sister Alice the wife of Mr George Lander of Birmingham £1,000

To my niece Ann Gould of Ardwick £500

To my brother John Gould £100

To my Cousin Ellen Gould of Uttoxeter £300

To my good friend James Royds and my nephews Joseph Gould and Richard Gould (my Executors) £300 each

To my servant John Keeton £100 if in my service at my decease

To the other house servants in my service at my decease £20 each

To my gardener £20

To the Public Infirmary Dispensary Lunatic Hospital and Asylum in Manchester £200

To the House of Recovery in Manchester £200

To the Lying-in Hospital in Salford £200

To the Ladies or Jubilee Charity in Manchester for educating females as house servants £200

To the Lancasterian School in Manchester £100

To the Church of England Sunday Schools in Manchester and Salford £500

To the Auxiliary Society for Educating the Children of the Poor in Manchester and Salford £500

To the Auxiliary Bible Society in Manchester £500

To the Society in London for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge which first met in 1698 £500

To the London Bible Society £500

To the National Society for the Education of the Children of the Poor in London £500

To the Institution in London for the relief of poor pious Clergymen residing in the country £100

To John Cross, Thomas Drinkwater, Thomas Hardman and Samuel Phillips (trustees of funds subscribed for the benefit of the children of the late Colonel Young who died at Manchester some years ago) £300

- all to be paid out of my personal estate and within twelve months next after my decease

To the Reverend Robert Twedell of Manchester and my friends Thomas O’Gill of Salford, Nathaniel Shelmerdine of Salford and William Simmons of Manchester £5,000 upon trust that they with all convenient dispatch expend as much of it as needed for procuring a legislative enactment
- to prevent the introduction and employment of children under nine years of age in any UK cotton mills or factories
- to limit the time of daily labour of all children employed in those factories under sixteen years of age
- and to retain eminent Counsel to advocate this cause of humanity in Parliament and to pay them such fees as my trustees think proper and from Session to Session (if they my trustees deem it expedient) to use their utmost endeavours to obtain such an Act of Parliament
- and if the whole £5,000 shall not be expended in procuring of this Act, then my trustees shall (after deducting all expences in obtaining the Act) expend the residue for the moral and religious education of the Children of the Poor in Manchester and Salford as my trustees think proper and most beneficial to such children

A life annuity of £100 to my brother John Gould of Wormhill in Derbyshire to be paid by equal quarterly portions

A life annuity of £20 to Mrs Gould widow of my late cousin William Gould of Manchester to be paid by equal quarterly portions

- first payment of these annuities to be made after three calendar months from my decease from 3% Consolidated Bank Annuities bought from my personal estate
- and after the decease of these two annuitants, my trustees transfer the investment for the benefit of my daughter Lydia Gould

To my trustees £30,000 for the benefit of my daughter Lydia Gould and her heirs

To my daughter Lydia Gould and her heirs all my real estate in Manchester, Salford, and in the counties of York and Durham or elsewhere in Great Britain together with all the residue of my personal estate and effects

- and I particularly recommend my executors to invest so soon as a fit opportunity shall in their discretion present itself all or part of the £30,000 in purchasing of lands of inheritance or chief rents in Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire or elsewhere in England or Wales

Signed 3 October 1818 in Brighton, Sussex

I revoke the legacy of £5,000 bequeathed to the trustees Robert Twedell, Thomas O’Gill, Nathaniel Shelmerdine and William Simmons upon the trusts and for the purposes mentioned

I revoke the legacy of £300 James Royds and his appointment as one of my trustees and executors and I bequeath that £300 to my nephew William Gould of Manchester and appoint him a trustee and executor instead of James Royds

Signed 23 July 1819 in the presence of Will Sergeant, James Weston and Samuel White.

Proved at London 3 June 1820 and administration granted to nephews Joseph Gould, Richard Gould and William Gould, power being reserved to Lydia Gould spinster the daughter the Executrix named in the will.