The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-03 00:00:00

INBOLVENT DEBTOR
Cheater Castle, Aroveniber 31

OURT

(BEFORE MR, COMMISSIONER BOWEN.)
In tleo matter rf Sir Henry Mainwaring Mainwaring,
Baronet, an insolvent debtor.
Mr. JAMES opposed on behalf of Mr. Smith, the regis-
tered officer of the Northern and Central Bank, who was the
detaining creditor : Mr. VENABLES supported the insolvent.
, Sir Henry Mainwaring examined by Mr. JAMES, said:—
I went to Boulogne in July, 1837, and my accounts were
there very small: I had no property either freehold, lease-
hold, or copyhold, except what was included in the settle-
ment on the marriage of my son : the articles were made in
1832, and the settlement in 1836: the tithes were not in-
cluded ; they were corn tithes on a lease under Christchurch •
there was also a farm called Gibbon's farm not included : it
was 170 or 180 acres, and the rent about £3OO per annum :
it was mortgaged for about £6,000: I purchased it in 1835,
arid I paid from £3,000 to £l,OOO, and the remainder was
left on mortgage to Gibbons's family, from whom l pur-
chased it : the estate was sold by them in 1838, under a
foreclosure : I had no copy of the deeds relating to the
mortgage : I received the balance of the purchase money,
about £6OO, which is stated in my balance sheet : I did not
execute any deed : the estate was not conveyed to me at the
time I purchased, nor afterwards : I contracted for the pur-
chase in writing : I had a copy of the agreement which was
given to Mr. Wright, of Macclesfield, the purchaser : at that
time I was at Boulogne, and it was given up to my solicitor :
I had an estate at the Kennels at Sandiway Head, which was
not included in the settlement : it was about six or seven
acres : I agreed for it with Mr. Heron, whom I succeeded in
the management of the hounds : I agreed to take it for
£l,lOO : I had never any deed or papers relating to it : I paid
no money whatever for it : I paid interest on the mortgage
to that amount : I have now no interest in that estate : I paid
interest from 1819 to 1837. 1 have not executed any deed or
paper relating to that estate : I have not paid any interest on
it since 1837: Mrs. Gleave, of Moor, the mortgagee, took
possession of that estate : I had no interest in any other
estate, not included in the deed of settlement : all my
property was settled on the marriage of my son, in 1832 :
I entered into the articles of agreement before the mar-
riage, they are dated 20th of January, 1832: the articles
were carried out by a deed, dated 27th December, 1836 ; on
the 7th of March, 1838, I assigned certain tithes and leases
to any son, which had not been included in the marriage set-
tlement . that was during the time I was at Boulogne: I was
then considerably involved in debt, above £100,000: I have
not incurred many debts since : my debts now are £109,000 :
nearly £55,000 of that sum is secured on mortgage : I con-
veyed the tithes to raise a sum of money to satisfy a judgment
debt, and to pay the expense of the renewal of the leases : I
was induced to sign that deed with the understanding that all
my debts would be paid : I did not read the deed : I had no
solicitor with me : the solicitor, Mr. White, of London, who
came over, told me it was the best thing I could do : I had
never employed him as my solicitor; he came to Boulogne
twice : his first visit was to get me to assign the tithes and
the estate generally : there were two or three deeds : I was
induced to sign by him : I had had a correspondence with
my son, which was discontinued, as he said he was recom-
mended not to write to me on any business whatever : that
correspondence commenced shortly after / went to Boulogne,
and continued nearly up to the time I executed the deeds : I
expected Mr. White would come over in consequence of that
correspondence : my son recommended White to me, as a
man I might put confidence in, to settle the business for the
advantage of all the creditors : I expected he would bring
deeds for me to sign : he might have read portions of the
deeds to me, but it was only a very small portion : he said
that Sir John Stanley, the present Lord Stanley of Alderley,
recommended me to sign them : I have not since read the
deeds : Mr. White told me what their purport was : at that
time I owed Mr. Reed, of Knutsford, £2OOO, for money bor-
rowed, about 1830 or 1834: 1 had given a bond for it, jointly
with my son : 1 don't know if that has been paid : I owed
Joseph Barlow, of Knutsford, about £7OO or £BOO, part
owing on a joint bond also : I have not paid that, nor do I
know that it is paid : my son also joined me in a bond to
Daniel Antrobus, of reover, for £6OO ; to Peter Taylor, of
Peover, for the same sum ; to Barra, of Knutsford, for
£BOO ; to Samuel Beswick, of Toft, for £600; and to Thos.
I Firth, of Northwich, for £602 10s.: I don't know if any of
those bonds are paid, nor if Banks has been paid £BOO,
for which a judgment was obtained : I was at Boulogne
on the 27th June, 1838: I executed that day another deed
to my son : I had seen my son between March and that date
in Boulogne, when he came to fetch Lady Mainwaring away ;
the deed is an assignment of household furniture at Peover
Hall : I then was in arrears on his annuity : I had no con-
versation or correspondence with him about it, nor with Mr.
White, who brought the deed over : I had had notice from
Mr. White that he would bring over such .1 deed : my son
after his marriage resided at 011erton, near Knutsford, until
1838 or 1839: he went to Peover, subsequent to the deed of
1838: there was a sale of books and pictures to the value of
£1624 7s. 4d., which being considered heir looms, the pro-
duce of the sale was paid to him : I had added to them pro-
bably to the value of £2O : the books and pictures had be-
longed to my father, who had inherited them with the estate :
they were not included in the marriage settlement : my father
inherited from his half brother, by whose will the estate was
limited to me : I have nothing here to show that the books
and pictures were heir looms: I never read the will : I un•
derstand the books and the pictures belonged to the estate.
Examined by Mr. VENABLES.—I had only a life estate
under the will, with remainder to my son : in 1826 or 1827
my son joined me in cutting off the entail of that estate, and
I agreed to give him an annuity of £300: I agreed in the
marriage articles to find him a residence, an outfit, and £5OO
a year, reserving to myself a power to mortgage for £150,000
for Lady Mainwaring and the younger c:rildren : the debts
I owed in 1832 were charged in the estate by the deed of
1836: Mr. White told me all my debts would be paid, by my
signing the deeds of the 7th and Bth of March, 1838: I have
not had any correspondence with my son for years on busi-
ness : a deed of composition was prepared early in this year,
and many of my creditors signed, and it was tendered to the
approving creditors, who held as security for their debt a po-
licy of insurance on my life, which they have made available
by sale for £300: I had no interest in the Kennels beyond
being the manager of the Cheshire hounds.
Mr. George Saxon, solicitor at Northwich, examined by
Mr. Vesranees : said—l prepared in March last two deeds,
the object of which was to make provision for the payment
of Sir Henry Mainwaring's debts, one of which was executed
by about twenty-two creditors, and the other by not so
many ; the detaining creditor and Mr. Harvey his solicitor
came to my house on the 21th of May. when the deeds were
submitted to them for their perusal, and also a variety of pa-
pers, elucidatory of Sir Henry's affairs, and they went away
without signing them : I had afterwards a letter from Mr.
Harvey to the effect that he had reported the case to the Di-
rectors of the bank, and they had declined to become parties
to the deed, and should proceed against Sir Henry Main-
waring for the recovery of their debt ; the deeds provided for
the debts of such creditors as signed before the 10th of June,
so far as there were means : I have filed a bill of equity
against Sir Henry Mainwaring's son, in the name of Peter
Hickson and Stephen Carter, trustees under one of the
deeds

Examined by Mr. JANIFS :—the arrangement under the
deeds contemplated a Chancery suit : I apprehend there will
be nothing for the creditors until the Chancery suit is de-
cided : the parties to the deed must contribute to the ex-
pense of the Chancery suit : I have had no communication
with Mr. Wainwaring: In February, 1838, several of the
creditors met at Knutsford, and I attended as a creditor : I
have adopted this proceeding, with the sanction of several of
the creditors ; Sir Henry Nlainwaring came over from Bou-
logne in Oct. 1840, and attended a large meeting of credi-
tors, called by Mr. Hostage, of Northwich, a friend of Sir
Henry's : I had been in communication with Mr. Hostage
a month or more previous to the meeting : I had brought an
action against Sir Henry, and was retained by creditors as
early as March, 1838: Sir Henry at the meeting offered to
give up any assets he had for the benefit of his creditors : I
have not acted on behalf of Sir Henry in any form : the
draft of the deeds were submitted to Sir Henry's solicitor,
and when engrossed, Sir Henry signed them ; I have not
written to Mr. Wainwaring, nor has he been written to by
my authority, or with my privity.
Re-examined.-1 am not the solicitor for either Sir Henry
or his son. Sir Henry was received with shouts of applause
at the meeting of creditors, who threw all the odium on his
son. He offered to do all that he could in favour of his
creditors.

Mr. Thomas Hostage, solicitor, of Northwich, examined
by Mr. `ENABLES.-1 acted as Sir Henry's friend, and
called the meeting of his creditors; and he attended and gave
a full explanation of his affairs, and left himself entirely in
their hands, and pledged himself to execute any deed, to the
extent of every farthing he had in the world, for their benefit.
I suggested the creditors should appoint their own solicitor.
I know Mr. White, the solicitor, he is deranged, and now i❑
confinement.

Cross-examined.—l sent the notices. I believe the bank
(lid not get a notice. nor did I know they were creditors.
The Kennel property belongs to the hunt, and Sir Henry has
no interest in it. It belongs to Mr. Egerton, of Tatton, Sir
Richard Brooke, and Mr. Cornwall Legh.
Sir Henry Mainwaring re-examined by Mr. JAMES.—I
purchased furniture for my son in 1832.
That was the case.

Mr. JAMES, for the opposing creditor, said, that many
matters required explanation on which no explanation had
been given. He then called the Commissioner's- attention to
the state of Sir Henry's affairs, when he assigned away his
property in 183 S, without doing anything for his creditors.
The offer that had been spoken of at the meeting of creditors,
came after he had divested himself, by deed, of every shil-
ling he possessed, though he owed then more than £lOO,OOO.
He had left the country in 1837, and corresponded with his
son aboiAt the subsequent deeds, which correspondence was
not produced, and he had a right to assume that the purport
was to divest himself of his property without benefitting his
creditors in the slightest degree. The purport of the deed was
at entire variance with the representations which Sir Henry
said had been made to him about providing for the liquida-
tion of his debts. No adequate consideration had been given
for any part of the property. One of the deeds was a convey-
ance of property clearing £lOO or £5OO per annum, to pro-
vide for a judgment debt of £BOO, and the ea pence of th.'
renewal of the leases, and which debt it did not appear had
been paid. The next deed conveyed away the life estate of
Sir Henry Mainwaring, in the settled property, and also his
interest in the property not settled ; and there was nothing
to shew that this was for the payment of debts : in point of
fact, they contained no such trusts, but divested him in all
interest in all his property. The deed spewed that there had
been gross misconduct in some quarter, and on behalf of the
insolvent, that blame was imputed to Mr. Mainwaring. The
deed only specified that certain parties were to be paid, for
whose debts the son was jointly liable with the father ; but
not one word was said about the great body of the creditors.
And even as to that condition, there was no evidence that
those debts had been paid. The learned counsel then al-
luded to the assignment, of the 27th June, 1838, of house-
hold furniture at Peover to the value of £3OO, said to have
been made in pursuance of marriage articles, completed by a
deed in 1836; and he commented strongly on the fact, that
everything Sir Henry possessed, and which might have been
available to the creditors, had been conveyed to the son ;
and he said, that though the blame was thrown on the latter,
yet there were facts and circumstances which led to the in-
ference that there had been collusion between the parties.
With respect to the books and pictures, which sold for
£l6OO, the money paid to the son, no evidence had been
given to shew that they were heir-looms, or that the son
had any right to have that money. He contended, that
though pictures were heir-looms, yet books had never yet
been so held ; and he quoted Blackstone to establish that
point. If the purchase money, however, followed in the
nature of a heir-loom, Sir Henry had still the life estate in
it, and was entitled to the interest.
The COMMISSIONER said, that was a question for the
assignee, and not for the court. How could he compel the
son, who was in a hostile position, to pay that money into
court?

Mr. JAMES continued and said—He had a right to assume,
that as this furniture was on the property of Sir 11. Main-
Waring, it was his property, unless evidence was given to the
contrary, which had not been done, and also that he had the
absolute interest in it. In conclusion he recapitulated that
Sir H. Mainwaring had divested himself of all property
whatever, without benefiting his creditors ; and the defence
set up was that he had been duped and deceived into making
these deeds. He must, however, be held responsible for the
acts he had done, and for the advice on which he had acted.
He could not escape from that position. It was however said
that certain parties had made provision for liquidating these
debts, by the deeds prepared by Mr. Saxon. And what was
that provision ? A chancery suit to which the parties who
sign, became parties. It appeared that creditors representing
£17,000 had signed; but bona fide creditors representing
£20,000 had not signed. There was no probablity that ever
one shilling would be realised for the creditors. He then
put it to the court that a number of persons were not put in
the schedule, whom it did not appear had been paid their