The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-29 00:00:00

YORK.

JOHN ANGELL, ESQ., •
The interest excited by the late proceedings by Writ
of Right, in the cause, of. Angell e. Angell, induces us to
suppose that the following particulars relative to John An-
gell, Esq. whose eccentricities and aversion to lawyers
have given rise to the long-continued litigations which
were terminated hut week, at our Assize's, will be accept-
able to the generality of our readers.
Mr. Atigell was educated at the University of Oxford,
and was designed for Holy Orders; but; on the death of
his elder brother, becoming heir apparent to considerable
estates in the counties of surrey, Sussex, Kent, and Berk-
shire, hi had no occasion to seek the emoluments of a
profession. On succeeding to the paternal property, he
resided at Binfield, in Berkshire.

. Suspecting, by Mistake a boy in his neighbourhood of
having stolen one of his dogs, he charged "him with the
theft, but the boy denied it, saucily affirming that the eni-
mal was his own. Angry words followed, and Mr. Angell
was at length irritated to such a degree, as to strike seve-
ral blows, but not so violent as to endanger the boy's life.
He was, however in a few weeks seized with a fever,
which proved fatal; and after the funeral, a report pre-
vailing that his death was occasioned by the chnstisement
he had received from Mr. Angell, an inquest was held by
the Coroner, and a verdict extremely unfavourable to Mr.
Angell; returned. To avoid a long confinement he retired
into Wales, but surrendered himself at Reading on the first
day of the ensuing Assizes.. The trial lasted S hours,and a ver-
diet of guilty was returned by the Jury, contrary to the
opinion of the Judge, who declared himself satisfied that
the deceased died a natural death. He, of course, directed
the Jury to reconsider their verdict, and the prisoner was
acquitted. During this alarming state of suspense,
Mr. Angell was observed to be much agitated, and
a variety of circumstances proved that the incident
made a lasting impression on his mind. Two ser-
vants who lived with him many years never remem-
bered his having mentioned either Binfield or Berkshire,
and as often'as his estates there obliged him to visit that
county, they could always perceive him to be snore ill-
tempered than when he was at Stockwell or Temple
Ewell. In his will he appears to have purposely avoided
mentioning his estate at Binfield, audit is observable, that
Berkshire is not specified among the counties from which
the fellows of his intended College might be chosen.
Mr. Angell married , the eldest daughter of Sir John
thininijo,nanwidthwahomseao
ofda
Gresham, Bart. of Titsey, who died some years before
ytsomwperere.soP perverse, and morose.robahly shortened by her
Among his many unaccountable whims the following
are Particularised. For years he was not known to open a
letter himself. As lonias,Mrs. Angell lived, all his let-
ters were carried to her, and when she had read them, she
laid.thern upon the floor of. the room where her husband
usually sat. After her decease, a female. servant ryas em-
ployed to open them, and to piece them on the floor; and
be constantly read them on his knees, without taking them'
into his hand. The solicitor who transacted-business for
him was not all Owed to enter his apartment, but received
instructions at the door, without seeing his principal. He
was very abstemious in his diet, never drinking
more than
three glasses of wine, and on some days not
any. To
stronger liquors, he probably had an aversion, but on one
day; and only one in the year, he would have a small glass
of spirits. He never associated with Any of the neigh.

bowing gentlemen, and it was not often that Mrs. Angell
was permitted to receive visiters. Possibly she might not
wish this indulgence, because as the parlours were at a
small distance, it rarely happened that it was not followed
by a rebuke. The complaint was, that his bead was dis-
turbed by the ladies talking over their tea. Nevertheless,
no sooner was Mrs. Angell removed from him by death,
than he became sensible of the irreparable loss he lad
sustained. After an interval of three years' he was often
known, with tears in his eyes, to bewail his being de-
prived of her.

Mr. Angell is reported to have employed much of his
time in reading law and controversial divinity. He con-
tinued through life a member of the Church of Englarid.
His dress and equipage were not among the least
striking of his singularities. In giving directions for
the dress of the fellows of his intended College, he
seems to have had his, own apparel in his thoughts, doubt-
less conceiving it to be very becoming and genteel. His
coat, in the cut of which he never conformed to any
fashion, was cloth of the highest colour, arid there was
an edging of gold lace to his hat. His wig was made
of hair of a flaxen hue, and thick set with small curls in
every part except the crown. His coach, a curious relic,
was surmised, E tradition, to have been built when Mr.
Angell's father was High-Sheriff of Berkshire; but, the
materials were so substantially framed, that the son
every summer travelled in it to and from Temple Ewell,
near Dever. Its antique figure was very remarkable, and
on the Kentish road it acquired the appellation of An-
gell's Ark.

Mr. Angell died in 1784. His will was made ten years
before, being dated September 21st, 1774. It contains
many curious clauses. In that which relates to hia funeral
is a ridiculous minuteness of direction, which affords a re-
markable instance of human weakness and vanity extending
beyond the rave..g It is as follows :
" Imprimis, I resign myself wholly to God Almighty.—
Item, I would be interred in the manner following :—I
would be wrapped in a woollen sheet without a :shroud,
be, put into a leaden coffin, which shall not be soldered
down, but only screwed. On this coffin shall be , a large
plain inscription on lead, expressing who I am; &c.—
Then to be put into a black cloth coffin, with usual orna-
merits; only I would have a plate of copper or brass, in-
stead of such as is usually put. .Then shall be well en-
graved the family cost of arms, properly blazOned as
I now bear, with a full inscription in Latin, as this
John, the son of John and Caroline, qui cossorte.s; habuii
cariesimain, &C. I desire to lie open in my chamber so
long as I decently may; afterward, in about a fortnight, or.
rather above, would be carried to Crowhurst (a village near
Bette', in Sussex) in a hearse with six horses, dressed pro-
perly with shields and escutcheons,
,but no other trilling
ornaments. My own coach shall follow, with one foot-
man behind it, and one riding before ; and besides, two
mourning coaches only, with six horses, in one of which I
would have my executors or
.near friends, in the other my
maid servants. I would desire the tenants and neighbours
of Crowhurst, and in that neighbourhood, would meet me
at the bottom of. Riddlestlowne, as usual heretofore ; and
they are to beim their gloves andhat-bands., And I would
desire such of the ne)ghbours in and about Stockwell, as
would shew me that regard, to ride two by two before me
as far as the farther end of Croydon, accordingly to have
gloves and hat-bands. And it is my will and desire that
if the College and Chapel Which I intend to erect, be
finished and settled, the
,gentlemen and the chaplain, and
minister, and the whole choir, afterwards the servants of
the College, attend on foot to the top of Brixton-cause-
way, singing as they proceed some proper hymn or anthem
as shall be appointed on the occasion.'
The clause by which he bequeaths his estates, and
which' has afforded an endless source of litigation, and has
perpetuated the name of Angell in Westminster Hall, and
in the records of assize in the counties in which he.pos-
, messed estates, begins thus :—" I give to the male heirs--
if any such there be—of William Angell, tbe first pur-
chaser of Crowhurst, and father of my, great grandfather,
John Angell, and their heirs male for ever, all my lands
and estates, &C." He then makes a variety f prolix pro-
visions in favour of the heirs male (if any) of other remote
branches of the faurdly, in case no heir he found to the said
William Angell. The concluding provisions of this clause.
is particularly worthy of observation :—" One chief condi-
tion, . besides whit ~I have mentioned, is, I Would have
Stockwell of Crowhurst made the chief residence of the
family. And particularly my will is, that all things at
Stockwell, where I chiefly now inhabit, be kept at least
for one season as they are, and no alteration made in' the
house-keeping or expences thereof, nor ever after any ser-
vant put away without good reason, or any tenant or
agent removed, or put out of their bargains without due
consideration and special reasons. And it is my desire,
will, and order, that no oak, elm, or ash, or any timber tree
on any of the estates, be lopped or cut down till it be of
full growth of-four load of timber round Measure, "micas a
fourth part of its boughs shall be manifestly decayed and
rotten; and it is my desire that no fir-tree whatsoever,
that is timber or near it, without a particular reason for it,
shall be cut down or destroyed so long as it will stand;
nevertheless any timber, except fir, wider forty feet in'
measure, may be felled and taken fOr repairs and buildings
on the estate on which it grows."
It has been observed that in 17118, there were standing
at the bottom of the garden, then belonging to Mr. Angell,
in the Wnshway, near Stockwell-lane, by Brixton Cause-
way, some willow trees, perfectly straight, several yards
taller, and their circumference much larger, than that of
any mast.

Besides some trifling legacies to the poor of Stockwell,
he makes provision for the building and endowment of a
College at that place. He gives to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and the Archbishop of
York, for the time being, 100/. per annum, out of his es-
tate at Ewell; 100/. per annum out of his estate at Lam-
beth ; 350/. per annum out of the collections of the Spurn
Lights, at Neweastle ; mid 254 out of the light-houses at
Sunderland, in trust, to be paid half-yearly without any de-
duction, for the maintaining a College or Society of seven
decayed or unprovided-for gentlemen, that shall be such
by three descents; and two clergymen, an organist, six
singing men, and twelve choristers, and a verger or chapel
clerk ; also three domestic servants, viz, a butler, baker,
arid groom. One of the gentlemen may have been a mer-
chant, They shall be called the gentlemen of St. John's
College, near Stockwell. One of the seven gentlemen
their clothing, Which shall be of
and each
for ac° hatin
e
shall be styled President, and shall he superior to the rest;
shall
This, it should be t,h;
se
hifroarubobaredyearlyliaujoowrse
the Gentlemen and the two Clergymen shall eat together,
and the charges of
twihtltb°fteu°l:27:3oel *wd Yegelltro°ltild lace, about td.
ob-
served, was the dress Mr. Angell himself usually wore.
The propensity of Mr. Angell to perpetuate suits at law
after his decease, appear from the clauses of hiB will that
enjoin large sums of money to be reserved out of his es-
tates, and appropriated to that use. lie directed that 1001
„vat should be applied, to regain the estate at Crowhurst,
withheld from him by mortgage, contrary to all
equity, and
100/. a-year to cancel the demand upon the Spurn Light;
and ius successors were never to desist from their attempts
to accomplish both these points. He likewise took the
most effectual means to entail law suits upon them by his
random devise of his estates to the heirs male (if any) of
his remote ancestors.