1851 – The will of William Brunton
William Brunton April 17th 1851
I William Brunton being at this time of sound mind do hereby publish my will with regard to any property belonging to me at my decease or that may arise from the invention of the Exhausting Ventilator for Coal Mines or from my contrivances as to the improvement of gutta percha
First that all my just debts be paid and the funeral expenses discharged and that the residue shall be the sole property of my dear daughter Gwellian Sophia Brunton and that the executors of this my will be my son John Brunton and my son William Brunton
Signed William Brunton
Witnesses Albinus Martin Edward Richardson
The enclosed packet of letters ten in number will explain what I have expressed as to gutta percha
Signed William Brunton
Witnesses Albinus Martin Edward Richardson
In the prerogative court of Canterbury in the case of William Brunton deceased
Appeared personally William Brunton of Camborne in the county of Cornwall civil engineer and Albinus Martin of No 1 Delahy Street, Westminster in the county of Middlesex civil engineer and made oath and first the said William Brunton made oath that he is the son and one of the executors named in the last will and testament of William Brunton late of Camborne in the county of Cornwall civil engineer deceased the said will being now hereunto annexed and bearing date seventeenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fifty one the deponent referring to the following clause written at the foot of the said will and signed by the said deceased and witnessed to wit “The enclosed packet of letters ten in number will explain what I have expressed as to gutta percha” further made oath that the said deceased previously to the date of this said will had been in correspondence through his son in law William Henry Buckland of Bath with Messers Hancock and Company the patentees of gutta percha respecting an improvement discovered by the said deceased in the manufacture of that article
That the results of such correspondence were from time to time communicated to the said deceased by letters from the said William Henry Buckland and that the said deceased who resided with the deponent frequently conversed with the deponent respecting his said discovery and the progress of the said William Henry Buckland’s correspondence with the said Messers Hancock and Company
That a few days after the said deceased’s death the deponent found his said will in his writing desk sealed up in an envelope and on opening the same found another sealed envelope which on being also opened was found to contain a packet of letters numbered from No 1 to No 10 inclusively
That the deponent thereupon perused the said letters and found the whole of them were from the said William Henry Buckland to the said deceased and related almost exclusively to his correspondence with the said Messers Hancock and Company and that there was nothing in either of the said letters of a testamentary nature
And he further made oath that he has no doubt whatsoever that the said letters are the very letters referred to by the said deceased in the aforesaid clause written at the foot of his said will and that the deponent has made diligent and careful search amongst the deceased’s papers of ________ and _________ for the purpose of ascertaining whether he left any other testamentary paper but that he did not find any other will codicil or testamentary disposition of the said deceased’s property whatever than his last will and testament hereto annexed and bearing date as aforesaid or any letter or letters whatever of the nature or description of those referred to in the aforesaid clause
And the deponent Albinus Martin made oath that he is a subscribed witness to the said will and also to the said clause at the foot thereof and that the said deceased duly executed the said will on the day of the date thereof by signing his name at the foot or cut thereof and at the same time at the foot or cut of the aforesaid clause now appearing underneath the conclusion of the said will in the presence of the deponent and Edward Richardson the other subscribed witness thereto both being present at the same time and that the deponent and the said Edward Richardson thereupon respectively attested and subscribed the said will and clause in the presence of the said Testator and of each other and the deponent in reference to the letters mentioned in the said clause further made oath that no letters whatever were produced at the time the said will was executed signed William Brunton on the fourteenth day of April 1852 the said William Brunton was duly sworn to the truth of this affidavit before me signed Hugh Rogers Commissioner
Albinus Martin on the 20th day of April 1852 the said Albinus Martin was duly sworn to the truth of this affidavit before me illegible
Proved at London 29th of April 1852 before the judge by the oath of John Brunton and William Brunton the sons the executors to whom admon was granted having been first sworn by _________ only to administer
