Arthur Roberts - link with Australia?

[ozgirl]

Arthur Copleston Gay Roberts MC was born in Devon 1877, and died also in Devon on 11 july 1951. Probate is granted in November to his brother-in-law. Then on the probate record it says: Resealed Sydney 21 July 1952.

On Ancestry there is this record from the NSW Index to Deceased Estate Files http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/48...9_309008-01807

which gives no further info except for the name of Stephen Jacques & Stephen, which sounds like a firm of solicitors. I have checked Trove and the Australian Archives site but can find no mention of him and no other links between him and Australia. I'm flummoxed. Any thoughts on this one?

[margaretmarch]

Arthur Copleston Gay Roberts MC was born in Devon 1877, and died also in Devon on 11 july 1951. Probate is granted in November to his brother-in-law. Then on the probate record it says: Resealed Sydney 21 July 1952.

On Ancestry there is this record from the NSW Index to Deceased Estate Files http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/48...9_309008-01807

which gives no further info except for the name of Stephen Jacques & Stephen, which sounds like a firm of solicitors. I have checked Trove and the Australian Archives site but can find no mention of him and no other links between him and Australia. I'm flummoxed. Any thoughts on this one?

Could be he owned some property or had some other type of asset in Australia that had to be added to the estate.

Margaret

[ozgirl]

Thanks Margaret - that could be it as he seemed to be in Devon all his life, judging by the newspaper entries I have found.

[AntonyM]

Maybe a sibling or other relative went to Australia and left him property there when they died.

[Elaine]

Have looked on Trove and they were a firm of solicitors

[ozgirl]

Thanks Elaine, must be something to do with business interests - I haven't yet found any relatives who went out to Australia, but the name Roberts is quite common so difficult to trace.

[margaretmarch]

Thanks Elaine, must be something to do with business interests - I haven't yet found any relatives who went out to Australia, but the name Roberts is quite common so difficult to trace.

I have been looking at the rules about wills and probate and it seems that assets that need to be dealt with under a will must have a grant of probate to the executors. I think in this case the solicitors involved must have been asked to deal with assets in Aus so that the money could be sent to UK for distribution. This would mean a grant pf probate in Aus to enable any sale. The term for granting probate seems to be 'seal' meaning 'signed and sealed'. You get a very official document with a wax seal in the UK when Probate is granted.

I imagine that the 'reseal' meant another document of the same type issued in Aus for action there.

Margaret

[ozgirl]

Thank you Margaret, that has clarified things a lot. I was thinking resealed meant closed to viewing or something like that. The date of the resealing in Sydney was just over a year after he died, so presumably it would have taken that long to sort everything out.

[margaretmarch]

Thank you Margaret, that has clarified things a lot. I was thinking resealed meant closed to viewing or something like that. The date of the resealing in Sydney was just over a year after he died, so presumably it would have taken that long to sort everything out.

Yes, I imagine that someone went through Arthur's papers here in UK and found some reference to an investment in Aus which then had to be looked into and sorted out. Lots of people invested in mining for gold and diamonds in Aus at one point so maybe it was shares in something like that.

Margaret