George Coveney Bird

Executors and Trustees – my late husband’s nephew, Leslie Bird of Owl House, Lamberhurst, Kent and my cousin, Robert Coare Swaine of 11 Essex Street, Strand plus two named solicitors.

I give all my real and leasehold hereditaments and premises situate in the Parishes of Hook and Chessington or elsewhere in the County of Surrey to and to the use of my cousin Eva Mary Deedes, the wife of General Charles Deeds (Horseguards London) for her life, remainder to and to the use of her son Charles Julius Deedes absolutely.

I give all my household and other plate, linen, china, glass, books, pictures, chattels and effects of every kind in and about my said residence, The Rhodrons, Hook, both indoor and outdoor (subject to a non legally binding letter of wishes) to my Trustees for the said Eva Mary Deeds for her life, she keeping the same in good condition and repair and adequately insured against loss or damage by fire, and after her death, then upon Trust for the said Charles Julius Deedes absolutely, and I declare that my Trustees, after handing over the aforesaid Articles to the said Eva Mary Deedes, shall be under no responsibility to see to the custody insurance or preservation therein during her life or to require any inventory thereof to be made.

I give all my live and dead stock and all my wines, liquors and consumable articles to the said Eva Mary Deedes or, should she predecease me, then to the said Charles Julius Deedes.

I give the following legacies :

To the Rector and Church Wardens of Everdon, Northamptonshire - £100 to invest and use the income for the maintenance and repair of the grave of my late father, David Richard St Paul, which is in the Parish Churchyard. (He died in 1886 Daventry, so could be Everdon, having been born in 1810)

To the Vicar and Church Wardens of Chessington, Surrey - £100 to invest and use the income for the maintenance and repair of the grave of my late mother Sarah St Paul.

Subject thereto for the general purposes of the Benefice To the said Leslie Bird - £25,000.

Eva Mary Deedes - £500 for her immediate requirements.

To my friends - there are eight listed, 4 receiving £200, the others £100.

To my cousins, Mrs Susan Mercer, Miss Louisa Dean Pitt, Mrs Josephine Nesbitt and Miss Ellen Sidgwick - £50 apiece.

To the said Robert Coare Swaine and William Edwards - £200

To the said Leslie Bird and Lewis Wilson Edwards - £100 apiece as an acknowledgment for their trouble in acting as my Executors and Trustees, the legacy to the said Leslie Bird to be in addition to the legacy already given to him.

 

All £50 each :

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The School for the Indigent Blind at Leatherhead

The Surbiton Hospital

The NSPCC

The Home of Rest for Horses, Acton

The Home for Lost and Starving Dogs, Battersea

To my Trustees £12,000 upon Trust to invest and pay the annual income to my friend Mrs Annette (Nance) Jarvis, wife of Major E. Harvey Jarvis (Inniskilling Dragoons) for her life and then after her death both capital and income to her daughter (my goddaughter) Mrs Joan Riddle Scudamore Reeves absolutely.

To my Trustees £2,000 upon Trust to invest and pay the annual income to my said Cousin Mrs Josephine Nesbitt for her life and after her death to pay the annual income to her sister, the said Ellen Sidgwick, for her life and after the death of the survivor of them as to both capital and income for my Cousin Mrs Eda Bybart absolutely.

All residue to be invested by the Trustees with full annual income to Eva Mary Deedes and then all capital and income to Charles Julius Deedes absolutely.

All gifts free of duties, such duties to be borne and paid out of my residuary estate.

There is a Codicil attached dated 29^th September 1934 explaining two lapsed gifts due to death of friends. A witness is Marion Eves (spinster) of The Rhodrons, Elm Road, Hook, Surrey.