and is there somewhere I can find out more about a person who was one?
Unconfigured Ad Widget
Collapse
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Plain English please! What's a ward in chancery?
Collapse
X
-
Merry - there's a question about it on a rootsweb listing - might be of help
RootsWeb: GLAMORGAN-L Re: Ward of CHANCERYElaine
Comment
-
Thanks you two!
Well, I have a tree of 2,000 people completed by my 1st cousin (a few times removed) between 1890 and 1963! A friend of ours is related to a lady in the tree who "married in", so my relative only has the bare bones about her.
Maria Harvey b abt 1780/1 married William Hunt 15th Oct 1799 (no place given, but I should think it was a Quaker marriage in Bristol). Maria was buried in 1852 at Kingsweston aged 72.
The age at burial is probably where he got her approx year of birth from, though she is noticeably younger in 1841 and 1851 (living at Henbury Gloucestershire)! The only other note he has about her is "ward in chancery" which I would guess he found with the marriage entry when she was probably a minor. The 1851 census says she was born in Croydon, Surrey.
Comment
-
Further to Mary's post above, I always find it useful to remember that "Chancery" was generally to do with money, lol, and anyone who was a ward of chancery was a beneficiary of an entailed will,(or no will at all) probably underage but not necessarily so - women were considered soppy things who could easily fall prey to a fortune hunter even at the age of 60 or more, and needed male protection, or the protection of the court.
OC
Comment
-
Thanks Mary and OC!
Apparently she believed she was related to this man:
Eliab Harvey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and this man:
William Harvey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So, there's a challenge! lol
Comment
-
I seem to remember a ward of chancery was mentioned once on WDYTYA (or was it another series?), and they said it was very difficult to find any of the records because they were illegitimate children of the high-up, titled people etc., and so it was all kept secret. Or am I thinking of something else?KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
Comment
-
Oooh, there's a thought! lol
My Quaker lot would be spinning in their graves to think they might have someone ILLEGITIMATE in their ranks! :D And what if she was the natural dau of someone titled??! They wouldn't approve of that either! Pity it's a common name in a difficult-to-research (online) area.
Comment
-
It was the John Hurt episode - if you look it up there will be some info about wards of chancery, but it looks as though they weren't all that type, so probably yours was a respectable heiress!KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
Comment
-
Oh dear I did use A2A a lot so not sure what I will do now, but at least I did print off a lot of material on A2A. I always found it so good for many things. I shall have to look at the new system to see what is now available. Why do they have to change someting that works well!! Maybe they found they were giving away too much information for free and that would never do!:(
Janet
Comment
-
Mary
No, not the same amount of info, definitely! I think Janet is right, A2A gave too much information away for free.
I noticed a reduction in information about 18 months ago on A2A (thought I was going mad, but compared something I had printed off a few years ago with the same document and it had definitely been pared down to uselessness!)
I find TNA an impenetrable thicket I'm afraid. Whatever search term I use either brings me one entry, or ten thousand.
OC
Comment
Comment