Page:The English Reports v1 1900.pdf/1317

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
LIGHTBURNE v. GILL [1764]
III BROWN.

which it was (among other things) provided, that the sum of £1000 should be raised, in the manner therein mentioned, for providing portions for the children of the marriage, to be divided among them in such shares as the said Willian Lightburne should by deed or will direct or appoint; but the interest of this £1000 was to be paid to the said William, during the joint lives of him and his intended wife; and it was also provided, that if there should be but one child of the marriage living at the death of William Lightburne, then such child should have £500 only, and the residue of the £1000 or so much thereof as should be raised, should be and remain to the said William Lightburne, his executors, administrators, and assigns.

The marriage soon afterwards took effect, and there was issue thereof a son, who died an infant in the life-time of his father; and a daughter, named Mary Lightburne, who survived her father.

The said sum of £1000, or £500, part thereof, having been raised in pursuance of the settlement, or by William Lightburne, he afterwards laid out £360 in the purchase of a house in Church-street, Dublin; and £70 in the purchase of a lease held under Nicholas, Lord Bishop of Raphoe, of the lands of Enver, in the county of Donnegal.

Mrs. Taylor had issue by her former husband three daughters, who were afterwards married; viz. the respondents and Ann, the wife of Joseph Dickenson, and two sons, namely, Warrenford Taylor and Robert Taylor, who all behaved so disrespectfully to Mr Lightburne, that there subsisted to the time of his death a settled enmity between him and them, insomuch, that he frequently injoined his daughter not to hold any intercourse or correspondence with any of them.

Mr. Lightburne had a brother, the Reverend Stafford Lightburne, who had seven children.

Such was the situation of Mr. Lightburne, with respect to family, when he made his will, dated the 11th of April 1747, by which he bequeathed pecuniary legacies to the amount of £210, and gave to his wife the use of the furniture of her own room and closet, in his house on the Batchelor's Quay, in Dublin, during her widowhood; and he ordered the said house to be surrendered or sold to the best advantage; and reciting the settlement made on his marriage, and that £1000 was thereby appointed to be raised upon the trust before-mentioned, and that he had but one child named Mary, and had laid out £360 and £70, part of the sum of £500 which she was entitled to under the said settlement; he declared, that both purchases were made by him [252] in trust, and for the use of his daughter, and to improve her fortune; and he did thereby leave to his said daughter the sum of £500, which she was entitled to under the said settlement, and all the rest of his worldly goods, effects, and substance, real and personal, to dispose of as she should think fit; but if his said daughter should die unmarried, or intestate, then what was thereby left to her should go to, and be equally divided among the children of his brother, the Reverend Stafford Lightburne; and he appointed his said daughter sole executrix of his will.

On the 27th of July 1748, William Lightburne died, leaving Ann his widow, and Mary his daughter, who proved his will, and possessed herself of all his personal estate, to the amount of £2000 and upwards, but he left no real estate.

Part of William Lightburne's personal estate, consisting of several particulars which could be of no use to his daughter, were soon after his death sold and turned into money; and there being several debts due to him by simple contract, and a sum of money lying dead in the Bank, the same were got in, and received by Mary Lightburne, and lent out by her on securities at interest; and some other debts due on securities having been paid in, she from time to time lent out the same at interest, upon other securities, or otherwise disposed of the same, as she thought most for her advantage; but so far was she from having any intention to defeat her father's will, or deprive the appellants of any right which they had, or might have, to his personal estate and effects after her death, in case she died unmarried or intestate, that she frequently declared she considered the appellants, the children of the said Stafford Lightburne the elder, and their brother Stafford Lightburne the younger, since deceased, as her heirs at law, and the persons who were to have all she died worth; and whenever she was spoke to about making a will, she declared her father had made a will for her, and expressed herself satisfied and pleased with the disposition he had made of her fortune, in case she died unmarried; and a little time before her death, she delivered to the appellant Deborah Barker, all her securities and papers, and all

1301