Elizabeth Searles

Widow of William Searles, counterclaimed successfully as annuitant for part of the compensation on Good Intent in British Guiana.

1. Will of William Searles proprietor of plantation Good Intent Demerara and Essequebo proved 07/10/1834. Under the will he bequeathed an annuity of £30 p.a. to William Burgess of No. 1 George Street Smethurst [?] Fields Stepney London; to his daugher by Christian van Dam named Sarah Elizabeth Searles he gave £5000 (the contingent legatees of this sum were his brother James Edward Searles and sister Frances Ann Bryan); to his wife Elizabeth Searles he left an annuity of £200 p.a. In a codicil, however, he referred to the death of William Burgess and instituted his sons William and Isaac Searles as his heirs; a second codicil, however, transcribes his sons as William and 'James.'

2. The will of Elizabeth Searles widow of No. 3 Paragon Place New Kent Road Surrey was proved 21/08/1851. Although the will makes no reference to property in British Guiana and has very modest legacies, the residuary legatees were given as her sons William and Isaac, tending to confirm her as the widow of William Searles of Good Intent (but subject to the confusion described above over Isaac and James as the name of William Searle's second son, and to the fact that in Isaac Searles' will proved 12/07/1852 he makes no reference to British Guiana property). This was in the same woman as the Elizabeth Searles aged 51 buried at the South Metropolitan Cemetery (now known as the West Norwood Cemetery) 13/08/1851; although the entry in the burial register give her address as '55 [or 33] Glengall Grove, Old Kent Road' (the modern Glengall Grove is on the Isle of Dogs), this was the address given in a codicil to Isaac Searles' will.

T71/887 Counterclaim of Elizabeth Searles of No. 1 Morden Place Lewisham Lane Blackheath Co. Kent widow of Wm Searle Esq. annuity of £200 payable under will of sd Wm Searles during the life of sd Elizabeth Searles. The original claimant William King admitted a varied counterclaim which gave Elizabeth Searles the interest and dividends on the compensation for her life.

1. PROB 11/1837/406.

2. PROB 11/2138/254; Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online; PROB 11/2156/164.