FOUNDER JOHN LOVELACE

John LOVELACE was born at Aylesbeare in 1743, the only child of the Rev. John LOVELACE and his wife Anna Maria LOCKE and was baptised at Aylesbeare:

26 Nov 1743 John son of John LOVELACE, clerk, vicar of Aylesbeare and Anna Maria, born 5 November, half an hour after nine in the evening. (Aylesbeare Parish Register).

John lived his early life in Aylesbeare and went up to Christ Church, Oxford, a short while before his parents left Devon for Essex. Alumni Oxoniensis records: LOVELACE, John, s. John, of Ailesbeare, Devon, cler. Christ Church, matric. 27 May, 1762, aged 18. The Dean’s register records John’s admission into residence as a servitor: Servientes – May 26 1762 Johannes LOVELACE. John was obviously not enamoured with college life and he remained at Oxford for little more than six months. College records show that he was not charged for food in the battels after 19th November 1762 and had left by 3rd December after settling his battels’ bill. During his short time in residence, John evidently lived very frugally, as his weekly expenditure rarely exceeded 6d. His name was removed from the college books after the first week of January 1763. After dropping out of University, no record has been found of John or his activities for many years. It seems likely that he travelled overseas and gained experience by working for a merchant or merchants before going into business for himself. He operated in partnership for a time with James Stuart TULK junior and then with a Mr PARKER. John lived latterly in some style at Malaga in Spain. He did not marry.

In 1778 the names TULK and LOVELACE appeared in various Trade Directories.
As Merchants (also at 115 Upper Thames Street, London) in “The Complete Pocket Book, or Gentleman and Tradesman’s Daily Journal” for the years 1778 & 1779, “Kent’s Directory” for the years 1778, 1780, 1781, 1782 & 1783 (as TULK, LOVELACE & PARKER in 1783), “BAILEY’s Northern Directory” for 1781, “LOWNDES’ London Directory” for the years 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782 & 1783 (as TULK, LOVELACE & PARKER in 1782 & 1783), and as TULK LOVELACE & PARKER, Wine Merchants, in the “New Complete Guide to All Persons who have any Trade or Concern With the City of London and Parts Adjunct” 1783.

James Stuart TULK junior (1745-1791) was the son of James Stuart TULK senior (1718-1775) and Ann LOVELACE (1718-1783). The TULK family originally came from Sturminster Newton in Dorset but James Stuart TULK senior settled in London, where he came into considerable property. He lived at Newington Butts, Surrey and Leicester Fields (Leicester Square), Middlesex. It seems very likely that, through his mother, he was related to John LOVELACE, although the exact relationship has not been discovered. The TULKs were obviously quite close to the Lovelace's. James Stuart TULK senior’s Will was witnessed by a William LOVELACE in 1775. In his Will of 1791 James Stuart TULK junior left a life interest in some money to a Mrs Robert LOVELACE with remainder to William, the son of a Thomas LOVELACE. He also left £100 to Arthur Anthony LOVELACE (John of Malaga’s cousin), to whom he had advanced a large sum of money, in a joint venture to develop some houses off Oxford Street in London.

It is not clear when TULK and LOVELACE severed their partnership but in his Will, made on 24th December 1791, James Stuart TULK refers to his “late” partnership of TULK and LOVELACE, viz: “I give to Edward William ALLEN, my esteemed friend, British Consul at Vienna (sic) in Portugal, £500, to be allowed him out of the debt owing by him and his brother, to my late partnership of TULK and LOVELACE, London; if there should not be so much owing from him and his brother, the five hundred pounds is to be made good to him with what may be owing.”

James Stuart TULK made no specific mention of his late partner John LOVELACE in his Will. However, his Executrix and sister, Love Stuart TULK, claimed that her brother had advanced large sums of money to John LOVELACE of Malaga and, at the time of James’ death in 1791, John owed him upwards of £1,900 on Notes and Bills of Exchange. In her capacity as Executrix, Love TULK claimed to have applied to John for payment but, because John could not pay immediately, he had agreed to assign his interest in a legacy of £2,000 Bank Stock, which he was expecting on his father’s death, as security for repayment of the debt. John LOVELACE’s father died at Great Waltham, Essex in March 1797, leaving John £2,000 in 5% Bank Annuities. The Will states that John had not seen his father for many years, to the extent that his father did not know whether he was still alive and there was a proviso in the Will that, unless John returned to England to claim the legacy personally, within seven years of his father’s death, he should be presumed dead, in which event the legacy would lapse. John and his father do not appear to have enjoyed a particularly good relationship. John did not communicate with his father when his mother died in 1795 and, according to his father, rarely wrote and did not answer his letters. John the son was more specific and said he hadn’t written to his father for ten years before the latter made his Will in 1797. However, he did write to him a fortnight before his father died. On receipt of that letter, the elder John’s companion, Anna Maria CARTER, assumed he would alter his Will now that he knew young John was alive but the father said he would not alter it, as his son had been undutiful to him. Indeed, it appears that John the father would have long since disinherited him because of his “misconduct and inattention”, had he not been persuaded otherwise by Anna Maria. Whilst John the son may not have kept up with his father directly, he claimed that he wrote to his agents, the WARD Brothers, in London several times each month and that he had frequently told his father “that he could have tidings of me as often as he pleased” through them if he was so inclined and it is true that John’s father had communicated with his son (albeit in one direction only), by this means in the past.

News of the death of Rev. John LOVELACE soon reached Love Stuart TULK. She clearly felt that she could not rely on John LOVELACE junior’s undertaking to pay the alleged debt due to James Stuart TULK’s estate and was concerned that he had appointed, or would appoint, someone under a Power of Attorney to receive on his behalf the legacy, which was supposed to be security for the debt. She, therefore, filed a Bill of Complaint and sought an injunction preventing the transfer of the £2,000 Stock to John LOVELACE junior. The Bill found in Chancery Proceedings 1758-1800 (C12 Bundle 702 Suit 6) recites the events in more detail:

29th May 1797 To the Rt. Hon. Alexander Lord LOUGHBOROUGH, Baron of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Lord High Chancellor of Gt. Britain. Humbly complaining, sheweth unto your Lordship, your Oratrix, Love Stuart TULK of Castle Street, Holborn in the County of Middlesex, spinster, Administratrix with Will annexed of the Estate and Effects of James Stuart TULK, late of Leicester fields in the said County of Middlesex, Esquire, deceased, that John LOVELACE, late of the parish of Great Waltham in the County of Essex, being in his lifetime and at the time of his death possessed of or intitled to a very large sum of money, to the amount of more than two thousand five hundred pounds in the Capital Stock of Five per cent Annuities, standing in his name in the books of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, duly made and published his last Will and Testament in writing, bearing date the Twenty Sixth day of November One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety six and thereby, after giving to his Aunt Anne BOWDEN, then living with him, five hundred pounds, part of his Interest or share in the Capital or joint Stock of Five per cent Annuities in the Bank of England, as therein mentioned, gave unto his son John LOVELACE, therein mentioned to be at Malaga in the Kingdom of Spain, merchant (one of the Defendants herein after named), Two thousand pounds and share likewise in the same joint stock of Five per Cents with the proportional Annuities attending the same, as therein mentioned, and the said Testator thereby appointed his Niece Anna Maria CARTER, now of [blank], Executrix of his said Will, and the said Testator afterwards duly made and published a codicil to the said Will, dated the fifteenth day of February One thousand seven hundred and ninety seven and thereby, after reciting that he had by the said Will given to his son John LOVELACE, then residing at Malaga in the Kingdom of Spain, Two thousand pounds & a share in the Capital or joint stock of five per cent Annuities, he thereby revoked the said Legacy given by his said Will to his said son and thereby gave to his said son John LOVELACE Two thousand pounds Capital stock in the five per cent Bank Annuities, part of his said stock in the said fund but, as he had not heard from his said son for a considerable time and there was a probability that he might not then be living, he thereby declared his Will and mind was that the said legacy was given to him upon the express Condition that he should not be intitled thereto unless he should return to England and personally claim the same of his Executrix or [her] Executor or Administrators [or] in the church porch of the parish of great Waltham in the presence of two witnesses. And in case his said son should not return to England & claim the said legacy in manner aforesaid within the space of seven years from the time of the Testator’s death, then his Will and meaning was that he should be presumed to be dead and in such case the said legacy thereby given to him should be deemed a lapsed legacy and become part of the Residuum of his personal Estate, and he thereby directed that the said legacy should be continued in the Bank by his Executrix for the time aforesaid after his decease or until sufficient proof of the death of his said son should be produced or such claim thereof should be made in manner aforesaid within that period, and that the Dividends, which should from time to time become due thereon, should be received and vested in the same fund, to accumulate, together with the Dividends which would become due upon such accumulated fund, for the benefit of his said son, in case he should make his claim thereto in manner and within the period aforesaid or otherwise of his said Residuary Legatee and he gave all the residue of his Effects to the said Anna Maria CARTER, his said Executrix, as by the probate of the said Will and Codicil, to which your Oratrix craves leave to refer when produced, will appear. And your Oratrix further sheweth that the said Testator John LOVELACE departed this life soon after making his said codicil, without having revoked or altered his said Will and codicil, save as his Will is altered by his said codicil, and since his Death the said Anna Maria CARTER hath duly proved the said Will and Codicil in the Prerogative Court of the Province of Canterbury and hath possessed herself of the said Testator’s personal Estate and Effects, more than sufficient for payment of all his funeral expences and Debts, exclusive of his said Stock in the Five per Cent Bank Annuities, for which there is now a sufficient sum standing in the name of the said Testator, as aforesaid, to answer the said legacy of two thousand pounds, by the said codicil given to the said Testator’s said son John LOVELACE, as aforesaid and which is liable to answer the same accordingly. And your Oratrix further sheweth that the said James Stuart TULK in his lifetime advanced and lent and paid, laid out and expended considerable sums of money to the said testator’s said son John LOVELACE, who also received considerable other sums of money on account of the said James Stuart TULK, in consequence whereof the said John LOVELACE the son was indebted to the said James Stuart TULK in the sum of one thousand nine hundred pounds and upwards at the time of his death and the whole thereof still remains unpaid and owing to the Estate of said James Stuart TULK. And the said James Stuart TULK departed this life a short time ago, having first duly made and published his last Will and Testament in writing and thereby appointed certain persons Executors thereof and, since the death of the said James Stuart TULK, the said persons have duly renounced the probate of the said Will, and whereupon, Administration of the said Testator James Stuart TULK’s Estate and Effects with the said Will annexed was duly granted to your Oratrix by the Prerogative Court of the Province of Canterbury, as by the said letters of Administration, to which your Oratrix craves leave to refer when produced, will appear. And your Oratrix further sheweth that, since the deaths of the said James Stuart TULK and John LOVELACE the father, your Oratrix, as Administratrix as aforesaid, hath applied to the said John LOVELACE the son for payment of the said debt of One thousand nine hundred pounds and the said John LOVELACE the son, being unable to pay the said Debt immediately, hath agreed with your Oratrix to assign to her all his Interest in the said Legacy of Two Thousand Pounds Bank Annuities, for the purpose of securing the payment of such debt and in order that the same may be sold and the produce thereof applied towards the discharge of the said debt, and your Oratrix hoped that the said Two Thousand pounds Bank Annuities would have been applied accordingly, as in Justice and Equity ought to have been the case. But now so it is, may it please your Lordship, that the said John LOVELACE, in concert with the said Anna Maria CARTER and the said Governor and Company of the Bank of England, objects to your Oratrix’s having the benefit of the said Bank Annuities and, although he is still resident at Malaga aforesaid, out of the Jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, yet he hath executed or threatened to execute a power of attorney to some person to accept a transfer of the said sum of Two thousand pounds Bank Annuities and afterwards to transfer the same with a view of selling the same and, the said Anna Maria CARTER threatens or intends to transfer the said sum of Two thousand pounds Bank Annuities in such manner as to prevent your Oratrix having the benefit thereof, and the said Governor and Company of the Bank of England intend to permit such transfers, in consideration whereof and forasmuch as your Oratrix is remediless in the premises at the common law and cannot have relief therein but by the aid of a Court of Equity, where matters of this nature are properly cognizable and relievable, to the End therefore, that the said Defendants John LOVELACE and Anna Maria CARTER, upon their several and respective corporal oaths, and the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, under their Common Seal, may for true, perfect and distinct answer make to all the matters aforesaid to the best and utmost of their respective knowledges, remembrances, informations and beliefs and that, as fully as if the same were here repeated, and they thereunto severally and distinctly interrogated and more especially that the said Defendants may answer and set forth in manner aforesaid, whether the said John LOVELACE deceased was not in his lifetime and at the time of his death possessed of or intitled to a sum of money to the amount of more than two thousand five hundred pounds, or some and what sum, in the Capital Stock of five per cent Bank Annuities standing in his name in the Books of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, and whether he did not duly make and publish his last will and testament and codicil thereto in writing, of such respective dates and to such purpose and effect as hereinbefore in that behalf respectively set forth, so far as the same are set forth, or to some such or some other and what effect, and whether there is not now a sufficient sum standing in the said five per cent Bank Annuities in the name of the said Testator as aforesaid, to answer the said Legacy of Two Thousand pounds by the said codicil given to the said Testator’s said son John LOVELACE as aforesaid, or what is become of such Stock, and whether the same is not liable to answer the said Legacy, and whether the said James Stuart TULK did not in his lifetime advance and lend and pay, lay out and expend some and what sums of money to the said John LOVELACE the son, and whether the said John LOVELACE the son did not receive some and what sums of money on account of the said James Stuart TULK and was not in consequence thereof, or by some and what means, indebted to the said James Stuart TULK in the sum of one thousand nine hundred pounds and upwards or in some and what sum of money at the time of his death, and whether the whole or some and what part thereof doth not still remain unpaid and owing to the Estate of the said James Stuart TULK, and whether the said James Stuart TULK did not depart this life some short time ago, and whether he did not in his lifetime duly make and publish his last will and testament in writing and thereby appoint executors thereof, and whether such Executors have not since duly renounced the Probate of the said will, and whether Administration of the said testator’s Estate and Effects, with the said will annexed, was not thereupon granted to your Oratrix by the Prerogative Court of the Province of Canterbury, and whether your Oratrix hath not since the deaths of the said James Stuart TULK and John LOVELACE the father applied to the said John Lovelace the son for payment of the said Debt of One Thousand nine hundred pounds or for some and what other purpose touching the same, and whether he hath not agreed with your oratrix to assign to her all his Interest in the said legacy of Two thousand pounds Bank Annuities, for the purpose of securing the payment of such debt as hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned or how otherwise, and that the said John LOVELACE and Anna Maria CARTER may answer and set forth whether they have any and what objection to your oratrix having the benefit of the said Bank Annuities, and whether the said John LOVELACE is not now resident in Malaga aforesaid or at some and what other place abroad out of the Jurisdiction of this Court, and whether he hath not executed or doth not threaten or intend to execute a Power of Attorney to some and what person to accept a Transfer of the said sum of Two thousand pounds bank annuities for the purpose hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned or for some and what purpose, and whether the said Anna Maria CARTER doth not threaten or intend to transfer the said sum of two thousand pounds Bank annuities in such manner as is hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned or in some or what manner, and whether the said Governor and Company of the Bank of England do not intend to permit such Transfer, and that the said sum of Two thousand pounds five per cent Bank Annuities may be sold by and under the direction and decree of this Honorable Court and the monies to arise from such sale and the Dividends of the said Bank annuities, which shall have accrued due between the time of the death of the said Testator John LOVELACE and the time of such sale, may be paid to your oratrix as Administratrix of the Estate and Effects of the said James Stuart TULK towards satisfaction of the said debt of one thousand nine hundred pounds, and that the said Anna Maria CARTER may in the meantime be restrained by the Order and Injunction of this Honorable Court from transferring the said two thousand pounds Bank annuities to the said Defendant John LOVELACE or otherwise. And that the Governor and Company of the Bank of England may in like manner be restrained from permitting such Transfer and that your oratrix may have such further and other relief in the premises, as to your Lordship shall seem meet and in this case may require. May it please your Lordship, the premises considered, to grant unto your Oratrix, not only his majesty’s most gracious writ or writs of Injunction, issuing out of and under the seal of this Honorable Court, to be directed to the said Anna Maria CARTER and the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, for restraining them from transferring the said Bank Annuities but also his majesty’s most Gracious writ or writs of Subpoena, also issuing out of and under the seal of this Honorable Court, to be directed to the said Anna Maria CARTER and the Governor and Company of the Bank of England and also to the said John LOVELACE, when amenable to the Process of this Court and the rest of their confederates, when discovered, thereby commanding them and every of them, at a certain day and under a certain pain therein to be limited, personally to be and appear before your Lordship in this Honorable Court and then and there, upon their several and respective corporal oaths, full, true and perfect answer make to all and singular the Premises and to stand, to perform and abide by such order, direction and decree herein, as to your Lordship seem meet, and your orator shall ever pray etc. The Bank of England answered on 13th July 1797, to the effect that they held £3,500 5% Annuities in the name of the Reverend John LOVELACE of Great Waltham, Essex, that there was no dividend due thereon and they denied all charges. Anna Maria CARTER married Richard HOULDITCH in August 1797 and they subsequently filed an Answer to the Complaint (not yet located) jointly. The documents relating to TULK v Bank of England can be found at the National Archives (C12/675/2). Love Stuart TULK was successful in getting an injunction, the result being that neither John LOVELACE, Anna Maria HOULDITCH nor Love Stuart TULK could touch the Bank Stock and so the matter rested for several years. In her subsequent attempts to gain satisfaction, Love TULK does not seem to have produced any proof of the debt, quantified it more precisely or appeared to be in possession of any written evidence of the arrangement with John LOVELACE to pay. She obviously believed she had right on her side and continued to press her claim over many years. A number of the allegations made by Love TULK were incorrect. John LOVELACE did not in fact hear of his father’s death until 18th July 1797, when he received a letter dated 16th June 1797 from his cousin Ann CARTER, informing him of the sad news and detailing the relevant parts of the Will. John made no attempt to come to London and claim his legacy and did not even acknowledge Ann CARTER’s letter for nearly four years. John’s motives for remaining abroad are unclear and it is difficult to judge whether the TULK affair influenced him in any way. No mention of the affair was made in any surviving letters and, whether or not John came to England, he wasn’t going to get the legacy because of the injunction. John’s failure to acknowledge that he had received news of his father’s death and the terms of the Will caused some consternation to Richard and Anna Maria HOULDITCH. Under the Will, they would receive the £2,000 Stock if John did not claim it in time, which was good for them if John remained in ignorance of his legacy but Anna Maria was the Executrix of Rev John LOVELACE’s Will and had a duty to establish if John was still alive and make him aware of what he must do to claim the legacy. Using what contacts he had, Richard HOULDITCH caused enquiries to be made as to whether John was still alive. John clearly received news of the enquiries about him from various quarters but did not respond. However, in a letter dated 28th May 1800 to his friend John Baptist MAURY of Lisbon (who was later an Executor of young John’s Will), he wrote about the enquiries: “That I am existing (I cannot say I live, because the Beef & Mutton of this Country are in general Carrion) in this miserable World, you may depend.” Richard HOULDITCH received a copy of this note in August 1800, through the WARDs and also learned that John LOVELACE was living in Malaga. Richard HOULDITCH wrote to John LOVELACE yet again on 3rd January 1801, advising him of his father’s demise and giving details of the Will and asked John to acknowledge receipt. This again brought no response from John but he did write on 9th May 1801 to Ann CARTER (then Ann WOLLAND) at Ottery St. Mary – in reply to her letter of 16th June 1797 – and mentioned that he had received Richard HOULDITCH’s letter of 3rd January. John excuses himself for not writing before and said the reasons should be obvious and also that “his state of health was tolerable considering the one I have been in for time past”. When he made his Will seven months later, John stated that he was in a weak state of health. One should be aware of the difficult political and trading conditions at this time. Malaga was an important centre for international business and there was a substantial trade with London and America. The French Revolutionary Wars began in 1793 and Spain subsequently allied herself with France. In February 1797 the British Navy attacked and defeated the Spanish fleet off Portugal at the Battle of St. Vincent and went on to seize the island of Tobago in the West Indies. In October 1797 Spain declared war on Britain and it was not until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, that an uneasy peace came to Western Europe. The importance of maintaining international trade during national conflicts had long been recognised and treaties were in force to afford some measure of protection to the assets of foreign subjects, who were operating in a country with whom their country was at war. Nevertheless, it could not have been easy being an Englishman operating in Spain at that time and having cargoes of merchandise being shipped between the two countries. There was no more communication between John LOVELACE and his cousins in England regarding his father’s legacy and no mention at all of a debt due to the Estate of James Stuart TULK.

In 1802 John’s first cousin James Bowden LOVELACE (born 1774, son of Thomas LOVELACE & his wife Jane ANDREWS) came to live with him in Malaga for several months. A number of letters written by James to his wife Mary in England have survived at London Metropolitan Archives (F/LVL/1-6). These often refer to John LOVELACE and provide an impression of his lifestyle: e.g. “Our house is like a castle and contains Sen. Don Juan (John) LOVELACE, Sen. Don Diego (James) LOVELACE, Mrs HUDSON our housekeeper, Mr BOLTON an American merchant, a Mr McDERMOT, a cook, a housemaid, two girls, a footman and a clerk” “My relation is immensely rich but loves his money, has one of the best of hearts and is the best friend I ever had” “Our cousin’s temper is very trying, though at the same time he is as good a man and has one of the best hearts of any man living” “Mr LOVELACE is fond of me and takes great pains to instruct me in his business for which he designs me” “Mrs HUDSON can wind Mr L. round her finger, in short she fills the place of a wife” “I have learnt that my cousin’s fortune is divide by Will amongst us – it is immense” “Entirely trust to his generosity which is very great” “My cousin does not love children” “Mr L. proposes to bring me to London with him and set me up in partnership with a lemon merchant in one of the lanes or in Thames St.”

John LOVELACE died in Spain on 13th October 1803, three weeks short of his sixtieth birthday. His will was proved in Spain on 22nd November 1803. He made it very clear that his affairs were to be settled extra-judicially. John’s Will was written in Spanish. Various copies have been made both in the original Spanish and English translations. Probably the earliest English translation was the one marked “Copy”, discovered with the letters of James Bowden LOVELACE at London Metropolitan Archives (F/LVL/7). The Spanish words appear to have been translated literally and the result is very stilted. The translation contains scores of spelling mistakes and appears to have been done by a not very well educated person:

Pencil note on the front – 13 December 1801, Copy Translation of the Will of John LOVELACE Esq. of Malaga.

On the reverse – The Testator died 13 October 1801 or 1803. Mary the widow of James LOVELACE of late of Gibraltar, Painter & glazier, dec’ed, leaving four children. – James LOVELACE was 1st Couzen and the nearest relation to the Testator. It is not known when these notes were made.

Translation Last Will and Testament of John LOVELACE Esq’r late Merchant of Malaga;

in the name of God, Amen, I John LOVELACE, Professing the Protestant Religeon and a Subject of his Brittanic Magesty, Born at Aylesbearre near Topsham in the County of Devon on or about the fifth Day of November in the Year one Thousand seven Hundred and Forty three, a present a Resident in the City of Malaga in the Kingdom of Spain, beeing in a week State of Health but Possesing a good Understanding, with a perfect Memory, do make and constitute this my last will and Testament in the form and manner following, to Wit: In the first place, after Recommending my Soul to God and Resighning my Body to the Grave, my will and desire that all my just Debts and Funeral Expences be paid with all possible Dispatch after my Decease. Likewise, it is my will that to Mrs Mary HODSON of this City, Widow, now living on my Premisses, there shall be given, During every Year of her Life, One Hundred English Guineas, Payable one half at Midsummer and the other at Christmas, as a Recompence for her care of me, which allowance is to begin and to be passed to Credit of her Account as dating from the Day after my Death, whether she shall Reside in this City or any other, either in this Kingdom or in any Foriegn part except England, on Presentation of a Certificate of her beeing alive, and payable against her Bills of Exchange for the Respective Sums allowed to be drawn upon the Trustees to my Estate hereafter named, in whose Hands the proceeds theirof are to be deposited. And further, my Executors heirn mentioned shall give up to the said Dona Maria HODSON all such Goods and Chattels belonging to her or she shall Claim as her Property. Item, it is my Will that my Executors shall with care and deligence bequeath all my depending Accounts of whattever kind or Description they be in Spain or other Parts, exept in the Kingdom of England or Ireland, and make Quarterly Remittances to the extent of what they may realize out of my concerns, to my Esteemed Friends Messrs John & George WARD, Merchants in London, and for that Purpose I give full power to my appointed Executors to treat for the Sale of all the Tenements adjoining to my Dwelling House, as also of all such effects and Assists as might be there found after my Desolution, this beeing to be Understood so as to take place in an extrajudical manner, for i mean and enjoin that, in all steps and proceedings tending to that Effect, no local Judge shall be permitted to interfere, and hereby I appoint my aforesaid Friends, Messrs John & George WARD, Trusstees for my whole forthcoming Fortune thus already Remitted or intended to pass from the hands of my Executors into theirs, in Addition to what is in their Possesion on my Account arising from previous Remittances, which thus farr they hold in Cash, Bills of Exchange etc., inclusive of whatever may be in tranceit for the same Destination, with full Authority and right of Disposal over all such Outstanding Debts, Claims and Titles to Inheritances as might devolve on me in England & Ireland with respect to all which i give and Transfer from me to them aforesaid Friends, the most Ample and extencive Power imaginable, in order that, upon the reciept of all such effects, the Produce of my Goods & Chattels, the whole may be by them invested gradually in the Nationalle British Funds by means of well timed purchacers, calculated for the best Advantage, according to the Complection of these times, when they might be in Cash, for the same Amount applicable to the ends hereafter specified.

I[n] the first Place they are to pay to Mrs Mary HODSON One Hundred Guineas Yearly.

2ndly, the Proceeds of the aforesaid effects are to be invested by my Friends Messrs John & George WARD for the purpose of training up and giving a good Education to all Children who are in a strict sence my poor Relations, without Comprehending those who are not in that Predicament, for my intention is only to assist the distressed and, should a Female relative of mine happen to Marry in bad Circumstances, whil those Gentlemen might hold a Fund more than Sufficent arsing from their investments to be so made at my desire, let them advance to this poor Woman at once fifty or a Hundred Pounds Sterling in proportion to her wants but, such a provision is to be supplied without causing a deficiency in the main resourse designed for the purpose of reaing the young branches of our Family, for, in this case, general assistance to others must be limited by the Value of their income or fluctuation of stocks upon the whole mean; if, for setting up in the world any of my poor relations, a Sum of Money should be wanted, it shall be taken out of the Principal fund, provided it does not exceed fifeteen Hundred pounds sterling [£500 in copy of Will proved at the PCC], almost upon the footing of a loane, to one or two of my relations, on condition of repaying the principal advanced and also to another or two other Kinsmen a like sum may be lent, not above fifteen Hundred Pounds Sterling [should be £500] to each of them, upon Security to be given to the Satisfaction of the Trusstees, Messrs John & George WARD, or eventually thier Successors in the Management of this Trust, for the restitution or repayment of such advances by instalments, on such terms as shall be agreed upon and not to exceed ten Years at farthest for the Principal so furnished, as well as for the respective legal Interest of five Per Cent, the whole to be Recovered in half Yearly payments, so that the permanent fund shall be deminished only for the sake of accomplishing this sole object and not for any other purpose whatever. Item thus, after the Death of my said Friends, Messrs John and George WARD, the trust committed to their Direction is to fall with all nessesary powers upon William LOVELACE Esquire of Charles Square, Hoxton, eldest Son of the late Mr William LOVELACE of the same Place and the nearest Male Relation of the said William LOVELACE, if he should reside in England and, in case of his Death, it will devolve on the nearest Male Heir of the said William LOVELACE and on his nearest Male Relation, so that in England there shall be at all times two Trusstees incharged with this Commission.

I name for my Executors, Don juan Bautista MAURY & Don Pedro BARINGON with Mr John McDERMOT, Inhabbitants of this Place, to all whom and to each of them Jointly and severally in Solidium, I give and Grant the fullest Competent Authority, with a view of enabling them to enter and take possession of all my effects, Goods and Chattels immediatly upon my Death, all which they are empowered to sell by Publick Auction or in such a manner as to them shall appear most Judicios and Conducive to the Interest of these bequeathed Concerns, agreeable to this my Will, which is to be Complied with extrajudically, without giving notice to any Court of Justice or Proffecional Judges of Law. They are only required to Give an Account and remit as ass’nd to my Friends, Messrs John and George WARD or their Successors, the next proceeds of what they may realize, so far as respects this City and any other place or dominion, except England & Ireland, since, with an eye to these Kingdoms, I commit the care of every Concern to my Friends in London, and for the present I revoke & cancal whatever other Will or Disposition I may have made, either in Writing or by Words of Mouth, declaring this to be valid and to have its full effect, since I now sighn it as my last Will, in Malaga the thirteenth Day of December one Thousand eight Hundred and one.

Sighned John LOVELACE Signed, Sealed, Published, declared for such by the sd. John LOVELACE as his Acc’t and deed, in our presence, which wee sign before the Testatar and other Witnesses, Jn. De St. MARTIN, Joseph De SCHEYRIN, Luis Nicholas leben De CARNERY, Jn. MILLAN, Guillm. MAJOR, Tho’s STALKER. (Exam’d H.B.)