2: Money in Chancery

            Over several years I heard the story of family money in Chancery. Emma Gyles or Giles married John Nutt Corbitt at St Pancras in 1828. Reference to its existence occur at various times in my family history records which seem to confirm some truth in the tale. One of the problems with discovering more is that despite searching for Emma’s parentage over many years I have been unable to discover any details about her or her siblings.

When Emma (Giles) Corbitt received a legacy she gave John Nutt Corbitt, her husband, money and ‘packed him off to a  banker cousin in Boston’. Certainly he disappears after the 1851 census entry when he was last sighted living at 15 Stibbington  Street, St Pancras. This story of John Nutt Corbitt being sent off to America (Boston or New York) has been mentioned  by    another member of the Corbitt family.

 In the events concerning Ted Prentis Emma was said to have  written the reference for him at about the time she got some of the money from Chancery.

When Charles James Corbitt her son was about 15 years old  Emma sent him to college when she got the money from Lucy Clifton College was not founded until 1862.

The family tale about there being money in Chancery goes as follows.

Emma Giles was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Giles and her sister, Emma’s aunt, was a Lucy who had married someone named Swan.

Their father, was Irish and titled and was reputed to have been the owner of Newhall, Essex.

When Lucy’s husband died she inherited her husband’s money and  left a will which bequeathed her estate to her sister’s children.

Amongst these children was Emma who had been born in 1806 in London and brother, William who was in South America at the time.

Relations (nieces and nephews) of Lucy’s husband contested the will and the estate was placed in Chancery and when these relations had died Emma successfully applied for the estate which was estate shared out amongst the brothers and sisters, apart from William’s share which was waiting his return from South America.

William, on returning to England on board a ship, possibly while still in harbour, a woman fell over board and he jumped in to save her. While she was rescued he was attacked and killed by a shark

So William’s share is still in Chancery.

This story came from my grandmother Ellen but has not been proved and the part about the shark attack sounds a little fanciful but Ellen could be, as my father said, a bit of a romancer.

There is no doubt that Nanny, as we knew her,  made an attempt in 1922 to recover the money and the following are the details as told by my father who, since he was involved in helping his mother, would have known some if not all of the circumstances.

My father said ‘In June 1922 Nan (Ellen) searched and found Aunt Lucy Swan’s will and the estate had accumulated to £80,000 at that time.’

‘Nanny and her solicitor, Fitzroy Wentworth Keen had a go at [claiming] it. He searched and said the money was there and all we had to do was produce the papers [to prove the family connection]. So this is why Aunty Annie came over in 1922. Nanny got the solicitor to search it all out and it was all on the cards. All they (Nanny’s brothers and sisters) had to do was put it in front of the Probate Court and say ‘these are the papers for making the claim.’

All that was left to do was to get a letter from Aunty Flo, who said ‘You’ll never get anything, but if it pleases you, I’ll sign a letter and I’ll give you - so much of what we get.’  Meaning she would pay towards Keene’s costs.

Uncle Harry and uncle Frank said ‘You can have my share because you will never get anything.’

I took the letters down to the stamping office at London Moor and got them stamped. This was to authorise them because they had to be stamped to show the duty had been paid. It didn’t make it a legal document but that has to be done before it can be registered.’

On 11 May 1922 Flo drafted a letter to sister Lily part of which said. ‘Annie has come over from Canada on a visit, probably she has written to you to that effect. While staying with Nell she told her that the money in Chancery (you recollect it being left by aunt Swan, Pa’s Aunt (about £7000) so Nell and Mr Keen have decided to try and get it for us but there is such a lot of ‘forms’ to go through and certificates to get etc but Nell says they will have a good try if we all come to terms with her. Harry, Frank and myself have agreed to let her have 50%, that is half of what we are entitled to and she will pay all expenses incurred. I think that is reasonable as we stand to lose nothing and if they get anything we shall at least get half, so I am enclosing a form for you to sign and return as soon as possible so that they can proceed as soon as we get your signature. So don’t forget to sign the document and enclose a letter also to say you accept Nell’s terms of 50%.’

There is no address for Lily on this letter and Flo may have thought she was still in Melbourne but a letter written a month later by Lily to Annie makes it clear she had returned to England from Australia.

My father continued ‘Then it came to Aunty Annie and we said ‘will you sign?’ And she said ‘No‘. She asked Nanny how much she was going to get. Nanny told her he was going to charge them their share of the costs out of the money once it was received  and ‘as I’m giving him the business he’s doing it for nothing for me.’ ’If he can do it for nothing for you he can do it for nothing for me.’ said Aunty Annie. ‘I’m not going to sign unless he agrees.’ So Nanny said ‘If that’s the case, alright,  we’ll put the papers on the fire and we won’t do anything at all. You can starve the same as I am!’  And with that she threw the papers on the fire. And that’s what happened there.

And then, after this you see, when things happened like that your grandma considered things unlucky. Fate had smashed it up. So it’s no good us doing anything. We can’t make it right and it took me a couple of years to talk her around into giving me some information and what she did give me, a lot of it was - well some was alright - but a lot of it was her fancy. You know what I mean. I tried to claim it for Nanny. I went down to Somerset House and looked up wills. I searched the Swan wills. I came unstuck because I didn’t have the time to spare and although I searched I didn’t get anywhere greatly but then I wrote out and drew up on a sheet of cartridge paper, a family tree, showing both sides of the family. Even my father’s side of the family.’

The ‘solicitor’ who was advising Nanny about the Chancery money was Walter Fitzroy Wentworth Keene, who does not appear to have any legal qualifications. He lived at 5 Lordship Road, Stoke Newington and had an office in Holborn. On another occasion my father referred to him as someone ‘who advised Nanny re the money she believed was being held in Chancery.’

Walter F W Keene was born as Walter Frederick Keene in 1861 at Newington, Surrey. His father was a clerk at Surrey County Gaol in 1871 and in 1881 the Governor of a Gaol and living at Lyndhurst, Beddington, Surrey.  In 1881 Walter was an apprentice chemist at Margate and this is the last census he has been found on. He may have died in 1929.

At the end of her visit Annie Studd sent a postcard from Chorlton-cum-Hardy dated 18 May 1922 to sister Flo at 18 Sanford Terrace which also adds some detail. ‘I got pretty well of news in reference to chancery case - got to know name of our great grandfather [John Nutt Corbitt?] and who his daughters married also where Uncle Harry died [was this Henry who was ‘apprenticed to the Sea’?] and the place where the land is connected with the estate. I’ve been quite busy. Cousin Sid got time for taking brass. Received photos. Will write when I get home. Annie.’