The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-07-27 00:00:00

A WILL CASE.

The cause of "Thompson and Aldridge v. Raine "has been
heard before the Right Hon. the President in the Probate,
Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
Dr. Spinks, Q.C., and Dr. Tristram appeared for the plain-
tiffs ; Mr. lnderwick, Q.C., and Mr. E. B. Cope for the
defendant.

Miss Sarah Raine, whose will was the subject of
inquiry in this suit, was one of the ten children of Mr.
Jonathan Raine, who was formerly a land surveyor in
the parish of Bloomsbury. All the family pre-
deceased her, and she herself died at an advanced
age on the 22nd of February last at her residence,
11, Clarence-crescent, Windsor. She had also a house
at Peter's-place, Brighton, and kept up a small esta-
blishment there, though she had not resided at Brighton
since 1873. For some years prior to her death, she
led a most secluded life. Her next-door neighbour
never saw her, and the only person with whom she
corresponded was her niece, Miss Rosa Raine, the de-
fendant. Towards the end of December, 1877, she
became seriously ill, and could only move about by the
use of crutches. On the day of her death she was
heard by her servant to say, on waking out of a
slumber, "I will do it; I will do it," and she there-
upon rose from the sofa in the dining.room, where she
had for some weeks slept, and made her way to her
bedroom. On reaching the room she opened her
wardrobe and took from it some papers. After a
time the housemaid, who had left the room at
her request, but who had remained on the
landing, heard her fall, and on entering the
room found her mistress insensible on the
floor. On regaining consciousness the testatrix placed
two sheets of note-paper containiag her will and
codicil before her servants, the housemaid and cook,
and they, at her request, signed the instruments. She
had herself already signed the papers, and after the
witnesses had subscribed them she took the pen—
whether there was ink in it or not did not clearly
appear—and retraced her own signature to the codicil.
Both documents were in her own handwriting, and
were loosely drawn and barely legible. The will, the
preparation of which she had presumably commenced
in January, ran,—
"This is the provisional will of me, Sarah Raine, spinster,
of, &c. lam of sound and disposing mind, and in case I
do not leave my funded shares, goods, money, cte , otherwise,
I give and bequeath a life interest to the amount of sixty or
one hundred pounas a year to any relations as shall prove
themselves in want or in insufficient means."

She then gave an annuity of £lOO a year to her
cousin, Mr. Richard Thompson, whom, with Mr.
Aldridge, her solicitor, she also named executor, and
she bequeathed the residue of her estate, subject to
legacies of 50 to each of her servants and other
legacies of inconsiderable amount, ii trust to the
Charity Commissioners. The codicil began.--" Codi-
cil to my will, as I had not time to finish." If gave
additional legacies, and at the end of the clause, "All
my shares are in the Imperial, at Brighton, in the store-
room, behind the door, and the key on my bunch of keys ;
it is a round leather call-box," there was a rough sketch
of a box, intended, presumably, to aid in the identifica-
tion of tuat to wilich she referred. The docuuaents
were executed between four and five p.m., and the tes-
tatrix died at eleven o'clock the same night. Her papers
included one headed "Instructions to my servants in
case I die. January 2, 1878." It directed them to
write to Mr. Aldridge, her solicitor, who had not seen
her for 50 years, and to Miss Raiue ; it named the
place where she desired to be buried, and gave the ad-
dress of her bankers, and it continued,—

"Let Griffin and Dew, High-street, Windsor, conduct my
funeral. I wish not to be buried for certain within a week
of my decease, and not covered in the coffin until I show
very visible signs of being dead, and not to be opened. My
will need not be opened for funeral expenses, as they are
always by law allowed. If Mr. Aldridge is not living, his
executors. Let my tradesmen supply your wants as usual,
and apply to them for all necessaries; and the Brighton
servants the same, or to Mr Hadly, post office, for board
wages, to be paid when all debts are paid there as well as
here. Put on me a clean shift and night gown and flannel
gown in hair trunk under the Led in little room Key on my
bunch of keys. Night gown in 2 drawer in wardrobe, and let
me be one hour before 1 am moved or undressed."

After her death there were found in her drawers, in
different parts of her house at Windsor, Bank of
England notes and cash to the amount of £4,96i, and
in her house at Brighton, notes and cash to the
amount of £1,273, and it appeared that she had for
several years before her decease neglected to draw the
dividends on her Bank stock and railway shares,
which togetker amounted to a considerable sum. The
total value of the property of which she died possessed
was estimated at between 220,000 and 130,000.
The plaintiffs, as executors, propounded the will and
codicil, and the defendant, the niece and sole next-of-
kin of the deceased, contested the validity of the instru-
ments on the ground of undue execution and want of
testamentary capacity on the part of the testatrix.
After hearing the evidence of the attesting witnesses,

who had not a very clear recollection of the circum-
stances attending the execution of the papers, and of
the two medical men who saw the deceased at the time
the papers were being signed, and who were of opinion,
though not positively so, that she was not fully con-
scious of what she was doing.
The Court reserved its judgment.