​​

​

​

The starting point of this study is the Will of Philip Collier, yeoman, of Westbury-sub-Mendip.

 

Philip Collier was baptised in Westbury-sub-Mendip on 5th of May 1744. There had been Colliers in Westbury since at least the 16th century, working on the land and living mostly impoverished lives. As a yeoman, Philip was able to cultivate a small plot, bought or leased from the local landowning Hardwich family. This was not as feudal as it sounds: Philip's first wife, Elizabeth, was a Hardwich. Despite differences in their wealth, both families were respected members of their very small community, and pillars of the local church.

​

Philip died on 22nd April 1832, at the advanced age of 88. His Will, dated 1812, was proved in 1818. He appointed his three daughters - Sarah, Joanna and Frances - as executors.

​

In his Will, Philip left to his younger son, Henry

​

​

all that my close of arable ground with a messuage or dwellinghouse lately erected thereon

containing by estimation half an acre (more or less) situate in the parish of Westbury

 now in the possession of my son Henry Collier held under the Bishop of Bath and Wells

by lease for lives unto James Hardwich gentleman and Charles Dix yeoman.

​

​

 

So although the land was leasehold, Philip had the right to leave it to Henry, as long as the

lease was renewed.

​

Henry was the last of the Colliers to live in Westbury. Two of his sisters died unmarried and

childless; Sarah married and moved away from the village. James married, and settled in

Birmingham; perhaps, after the death of his father, there was nothing to keep him in a sleepy

village.

​

Henry died in 1835, leaving a widow and three children in Westbury. The  Hardwich and Dix

families remained, owning and farming most of the land.

​

​

​

 

What did Philip leave in his Will?

​

His personal estate and effects were valued at under £200 (about £14,350 in 2024, according

to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.)

​

He left the lease of about half an acre, plus ''a dwellinghouse lately erected thereon'' to his son

Henry, and after Henry's death to Henry's unmarried daughters, Mary Ann and Frances.

​

One third share of his 'plate, linen, china, dairy utensils, household goods and furniture' to his

wife, Joan, as long as she remained unmarried and, after Henry's death, to Henry. The other

two thirds were to be divided equally between Joanna and Frances.

​

Annual payments of £15 were to be made to James, Sarah and Frances; and from the residue

of his estate were to be paid all his just debts 'and particularly a certain promissory note which

my said son Henry Collier has joined with me to the Westbury Club funeral expenses'.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​