How could ordinary ancestors acquire so much property?
QMy 5x great grandfather Richard Eastop died in 1817, aged 63, which puts his birth date as 1754. He was a butcher in Old Gravel Lane, Stepney, where his children were born. His first marriage, in 1777, was to Hannah Ward. She died, and he married Mary Ward in 1787
– I am guessing that Mary was Hannah’s sister. Richard died in Blue Anchor Road, Bermondsey.
I have a copy of his will, proved in 1817. It includes bequests of property to Mary, who died the following year – The Times, in September 1818, has details of this property, up for auction.
The property comprised a copyhold brick-built dwelling house and butcher’s shop in Old Gravel Lane; two freehold properties and two leasehold properties, all in King Street; and six leasehold dwelling houses and land in Blue Anchor Road. Another auction took place four days later, for additional properties in Ealing.
How did a butcher in Stepney acquire so much property? Why would he have property in Ealing? And lastly, was it normal practice to leave property to a woman? Marian Freeman A Property would be acquired either by inheritance or purchase. The Manor of Stepney was sizeable, and its records (1584–1935) are available at the London Metropolitan Archives (see discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ details/c/F236166).
Manorial or copyhold property was held “of the lord of the manor”, the title deeds consisting of a copy of the relevant entry in the Court Roll, hence ‘copyhold’. Any change of ownership had to go through the Court, so it might be possible to trace whether the previous holder of the property was a relation, who ‘surrendered’ it to Richard.
London Land Tax records are available online ( search.ancestry. co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2170)
and contain several references to Richard. Studying these may show the steps by which he built up his property ‘portfolio’. A John Eastop held property in Old Gravel Lane in 1796 from the proprietor Margaret Kebbell, from whom Richard also held property.
People purchased property as an investment and to provide an income from the rents. This was regarded as more genteel than income from trade; Richard describes himself as a “gentleman” in his will. If unable to buy outright, property could be obtained on a mortgage. Richard mentions two freehold “messuages” or houses in Old Gravel Lane on a mortgage of £270 from Mrs Bignell of Bethnal Green. If repayment was required during the lifetime of his widow, his executors were instructed to sell the property to settle this debt.
Richard may have inherited Ealing property from his own family or from that of one of his wives. It was copyhold, but the manor is not named – there were several manors in Ealing but records don’t survive for all of them (see discovery.nationalarchives.gov. uk/manor-search).
You mention that Richard’s wives were called Ward, but looking at the marriage entries (on ancestry.co.uk)
I make the surname ‘Waud’. A Hannah Waud was baptised on 1 January 1758 at St John at Wapping, Tower Hamlets – her father was William Waud and, significantly, he was a butcher.
Rather than acquiring property from relatives, it is equally possible that Richard purchased it on the open market. Property sales were advertised in newspapers; maybe property in Ealing happened to be available at the point in time when he wanted to invest.
Finally, it was common for a testator to leave his property to his widow for the term of her life. On her death it would pass to the heirs he specified, or he might have arranged for it to be sold and the money to be given to the heirs. Sometimes he would appoint trustees who would pay her maintenance for life from the profits, then arrange for the disposal of the property on her death.
Margaret McGregor