National Archives C8/102/120
Bill of Complaint of Elizabeth relict of William HAMILTON
February 1652
Complaining showeth unto your Honour Elizabeth relict of William Duke of Hambleton in Scotland deceased and one of the daughters and co-heirs of James MAXWELL esquire late Earl of DIRLETON in // Scotland also deceased. That the said Earl of DIRLETON being in his lifetime lawfully seized in his demesne as of fee of and in the Manor of Wanborough and diverse lands tenements and hereditament thereunto // belonging. And of a capital messuage called the Fryers at Guildford and of and in diverse lands tenements and hereditaments called Guildford Park and of diverse other lands all lying in the County of Surrey and of the // Manor of Kidlands and diverse other lands and tenements and hereditaments in the County of Northumberland by his indenture bearing date on or about the four and twentieth day of May which was in the year // of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and forty nine [1649] between the said Earl of the one part Henry FINCH of the Inner Temple London Esquire, John PRESTWOOD of London Merchant and Henry PRATT of // London haberdasher on the other part. In consideration [two?] thousand five hundred pounds therein mentioned to be by them paid unto the said Earl did bargain and sell the said Capital messuage called Friars and the said Park // and diverse other of the said lands lying in the parish of Guildford Stoke, St Nicholas Compton and Worplesdon unto the said Heneage FINCH, John PRESTWOOD, and Henry PRATT and their heirs upon condition contained // in another indenture of the same date to be void upon payment of £2600 at the end of six months then next after and now past (as in and by the same Indenture the first being enrolled in this Honourable Court more // largely may appear. Which two thousand five hundred pounds or any part thereof was never lent or really paid to the said James Earl of Dirleton but the same conveyance more only in trust for the said Earl and such person // and person to whom the said Earl should dispose the same and the said persons rusted were to make and execute conveyances of the premises accordingly. And your Oratrix further showeth that in or about the same month of May // the said Earl of Dirleton did borrow William WESTON of London Esquire the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds of lawful money of England and in consideration thereof by deed likewise enrolled in this Court bearing date about the eleventh // Day of the same month of May did bargain and sell the said Manor and farm of Wanborough and the said manor of Kidlands with the appurtenances unto the said William WESTON his heirs upon condition to [?] // Upon payment if the said 2500 with interest at several times expressed in another Indenture of demesne of the same date as in and by the same likewise may appear which monies not being paid to the said William WESTON // accordingly the said premises became forfeited to him in the life time of the said Earl but the said Earl nevertheless did continue in the possession of the premises and took the rents issues and profits thereof to his own use during // his life. And your Oratrix further showeth that the said James Earl of Dirleton having such right to title and trust [?] and to the premises as aforesaid and having by his deed [?] in writing dated on or about the 24th day of April which // was in the year of our Lord God 1650 given and granted all the said Manor park lands and premises in the county of Surrey to Elizabeth Countess of Dirleton his wife and mother of oratrix for the term // of her life for her better support [?] and the said Earl having long before that advanced his daughter Diana youngest sister of your Oratrix in marriage to Charles Lord CRANBOURNE to whom // he gave in marriage with her above 18000 besides jewels and other things of great value being a portion far beyond that he gave in marriage with your Oratrix his eldest daughter [?] // and the said Earl considering honestly your Oratrix and her many children were provided for and being minded out of the premises to make a provision of better support and maintenance // for Oratrix and her heirs. To that purpose he the said James Earl of Dirleton in Scotland your Oratrix father having in himself a power to declare touching the trust of the inheritance of the said manor // and lands by deed or writings by him signed and sealed in the presence of diverse creditable witnesses bearing date on or about the [?] day of April 1650 intending truly to declare his mind and purpose touching the // inheritance of the premises and to trust thereof aforesaid as well upon the consideration aforesaid as of the natural love and affection which he bore unto your Oratrix and for many other good causes him thereunto // moving, did thereby give and grant assign[?] and [?] unto your Oratrix the said Wanborough park and Priory house in Guildford and all other the premises in the county of Surrey. To have and to hold the same // said Earl died leaving your Oratrix and the said Lady CRANBOURNE her sister his two daughters and coheirs by virtue of which writings of declaration limitation and [?] and other good [?] // [manifesting?] the proof expression and declaration of the said Earl of the trusts aforesaid your Oratrix is entitled in equity as well to the trust of the said premises conveyed to the said Heneage FINCH // John PRESTWOOD, and Henry PRATT and ought to have the same be then settled upon her and her and her heirs as also to the equity of redemption and trusts of all the said Manor of Wanborough and premises // in the County of Surrey so mortgaged to the said WESTON and also and also as coheir your Oratrix is entitled to the equity of redemption and trusts of all the said Manor of Kidlands and // lands in the County of Northumberland plenty and of moiety of the revision of another third part thereof which the said Countess of Dirleton now holds for the term of her life for // her dower after the decease of the said Countess and the said Lord CRANBOURNE and his said Lady in right of the said Lady CRANBOURNE as one other of the coheirs of the said // Earl is in equity well entitled to the redemption and trust of another third part of the said Manor and lands in the County of Northumberland plenty and of moiety // of the reversion of another third part after the decease of the said Countess her mother and your Oratrix ought to be admitted to the redemption of the said respective estate // accordingly the said County of Dirleton and Lord CRANBOURNE and his Lady ought to pay their respective portions of the mortgage money according to the value of their estate // in case they will [?] any benefit thereof that the premises belonging to your Oratrix may be enjoyed by your Oratrix according to the intention declared and settlement of the said James // Earl of Dirleton. But now so it is may it please your honours that the said Heneage FINCH, John PRESTWOOD, Henry PRATT and William WESTON do refuse to convey the said premises to your Oratrix and her // heirs according to her several titles to the same according to equity and the said Lady Dirleton and Charles Lord CRANBOURNE and his Lady do refuse to join with your Oratrix according to the portions for // the redemption of the premises from the said William WESTON who also refuses to receive his said money although your Oratrix is ready and hath offered to pay her portion and part thereof . But the // said persons or some of them having entered upon the premises have committed diverse waste thereupon and do proceed so to do knowing your Oratrix having only a trust and not the estate or […] // cannot punish or restrain the same by law all which their damages are contrary to right equity and good conscience and tend much to the damage of your Oratrix to whom the inheritance of the premises // belongs. In tender consideration whereof and for as much as your Oratrix having only such right and title in equity as a aforesaid is remediated herein by the rules of Common Laws of this // nation and is properly to be [?] them in equity. And to the end that all the said persons may a particular and perfect answer make to all and singular the premises and that the said trustees // may be compelled to execute the estate of the Priory Park and lands at Guildford to them so conveyed as aforesaid unto to your Oratrix and heirs and that the said Countess of Dirleton and Lord CRANBOURNE // And his Lady may be compelled to join according to the proportion of their estates in the redemption of the mortgaged premises or that your Oratrix for possession of her interest may be permitted // to redeem the same alone and that the said William WESTON may account for the [?] profits and receiving what remainder due unto him may convey the premises to him mortgaged accordingly // And that your Orator may be otherwise righted and relayed in all and singular other the premises according to right equity and good conscience that it may please your Lordship to grant to your // [?] of [?] under the seal of this Honourable Court to them the said Elizabeth MAXWELL Countess of Dirleton, Charles Lord CRANBOURNE, the Lady Diana his wife, and Heneage FINCH, John PRESTWOOD, // Henry PRATT and William WESTON and every of them to be directed thereby commanding them and every of them at day certain and under certain pain thereunto to be limited personally // to be and appear before your Lordship in this Honourable Court of Chancery to answer the premises and further to stand to and abide such order [direction] and decree concerning the same // as unto your Honour shall seem meet and your Oratrix shall pray for the [?] of your Lordship.//
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The joint and several answer of Charles Lord CRANBOURNE and the Lady Diana his wife two of the defendants to the Bill of Complaint of Elizabeth the relict of William Duke Hambleton in Scotland Complainant.
Lady Diana sworn March 22nd 1652
Charles Lord Cranbourne sworn March 23rd 1652
The said defendants saving to themselves all benefit of exception to the uncertainties and insufficiencies of the said Bill of Complainant for full answer to so much thereof as any way concerns them these defendants // They say that they believe it to be true that the Earl of Dirleton in the Bill mentioned (father of the defendant the Lady Diana) was in his lifetime lawfully seized in his demeasure as of fee of and on the // Manor of Wanborough and diverse lands tenements and hereditaments thereunto belonging and of the capital messuage called Friars at Guildford and of and in diverse lands and tenements // Called Guildford park lying and being in the County of Surrey and of the Manor of Kidlands and diverse lands tenements and hereditaments in the county of Northumberland. And that the said Earl // Of Dirleton did by indenture dated about the time in the Bill mentioned bargain and sell or mention to bargain and sell the said capital messuage messuage called the Friars and the said Park // And diverse other lands lying within the several parishes in the Bill mentioned unto Heneage FINCH, John PRESTWOOD and Henry PRATT in the Bill afore named upon the condition contained // in another indenture of the same date as in the said Bill of Complaint is expressed. And this defendants do likewise believe that the consideration of two thousand five hundred pounds mentioned // in the said deed of bargain and sale was not really paid or lent unto the said Earl of Dirleton but the said conveyance was in trust for the said Earl and his heirs and not for such // person and persons to whom he should dispose the same nor were the said persons to make conveyance accordingly as this defendants do verily believe. And this defendant do also believe // that the said Earl of Dirleton did by his deed bearing date about the time in the Bill mentioned and enrolled in this Court bargain and sell the said Manor of Wanborough and Kidlands // with their appurtenances unto the said William WESTON in the Bill named and his heirs upon such condition as in the said Bill of complaint is expressed by the other deed therein mentioned but whether // the said Earl did borrow two thousand five hundred pounds of the said William WESTON or what was the consideration of that conveyance these defendants do not certainly know but do believe that // money mentioned in the said several deeds was not paid according to the condition therein mentioned and for the premises became forfeited and that the not only standing the said Earl of Dirleton // did continue in possession and took the rents and profits of the said lands until his death as by the said the said Bill is set forth And believe that by a writing dated about the time in the bill mentioned // he did give and grant the Manor Park lands and premises in the County of Surrey in the Bill mentioned unto Elizabeth Countess of Dirleton his wife mother unto the defendant // the Lady Diana and the Complainant for term of her life whereunto these defendants refer for more certainty and to the order of this Honourable Court made touching the same. And these // defendants do confess that the marriage was long before had between them and that the earl of Dirleton did give for a portion unto the defendant the Lady Diana his youngest // daughter eighteen thousand pounds and some jewels and other things of some value but what or how much the said defendants nor whether of them do know nor how far // it was beyond the portion of the complainant the Earl’s eldest daughter and sister these defendants the Lady Dianna or what consideration he had of the [?] provision // for the complainant and her many children (these defendants having many now children) these defendants do not know nor do they believe that he the said Earl for that reason // or any other was minded to make any provision out of the premises in the Bill mentioned for better support of the said Complainant and her heirs for this defendant // Say that they do conceive that the said Earl of Dirleton did a few days before his death b a codicil added unto to his last Will plainly declare his intention to be // that the estate and in [?] of and in the said Manors lands and premises in the Bill mentioned should descend and come unto the Complainant and the defendants the // Lady Dianna as co heirs of him the said Earl. And the said Defendants do not know of any such deed or writing made by the said Earl as in the Bill is set forth // Whereby he did for the consideration therein mentioned dispose of the inheritance of the said lands and premises unto the complainant and her heirs nor was it // in the power of him the said Earl (as the said defendants conceive) by any effectual conveyance in the law to dispose of the same having long before conveyed away the // Fee simple of the said lands and premises as by the Bill it doth plainly appear, and in case he the said Earl did make any deed or conveyance whereby he intended to // convey the said lands and premises unto the said Complainant and her heirs by the common law and the same happen to be ineffectual by the rules of law, this Court // (as these defendants humbly hope) will not support or make good the same in conscience being between persons in equal relation and no purchase in the case. And // these defendants further say that if any such deed or writing was made by the said Earl of Dirleton as in the said Bill of Complaint is mentioned they do believe and so [?] // hope to prove that it was done in the time of his extreme weakness and sickness (and not duly executed) by the earnest solicitation of some persons about him taking // advantage of the absence of the defendants the Lady Diana being here in England and the said Earl dying in Scotland And never intended any particular benefit by the said // pretended deed to the plaintiff in regard he after express his dislike of what writing was so gotten from him as aforesaid. And declared against it as this defendant have // to prove. And therefore these defendants do deny that by virtue or colour of any such writing or any other evidence of the said Earls expression (to these defendants // knowledge) the said complainant is entitled in equity unto the trust of the premises in the Bill mentioned to be conveyed to Heneage FINCH, John PRESTWOOD, and // Henry PRATT or to be […] // Kidlands in the County of Northumberland laid out […] // And coheirs unto him the said Earl of Dirleton after the death of their said mother as these defendants [?] and as […] // Mortgaged unto him the said William WESTON the same is settled by the decree of this Honourable Court date the [blank] day of [blank] upon the hearing of several causes // between Elizabeth Countess of Dirleton and these defendants and others. And these defendants do deny the doing or committing any waste or wastes in or upon the premises // or any part thereof without that that any other matter or thing in the said Bill of Complaint contained material or effectual in the law for these defendants for to make answer // unto and not herein before sufficiently answered unto confessed and avoided transversed or denied is true in such manner and farm as in the said Bill is alleged to make answer // defendants prayeth to be dismissed out of this Honourable Court with their reasonable costs and charges in this behalf wrongfully sustained. William ADAMS.