Six north country diaries - The MAN & Other Families

96
1717. Dec. 10th. Mr. Fletcher^^s and Vane have agreed that suit
in chanceiy—the former is to have 500/. per annum for life and
1,300/. in hand, and the rest to be divided between Mr. Vane and
brother Sir Francis Bowes' ^^4 five daughters; Wigton and Weedupwood
is in their share : uncle says Mr. Fletcher has payed no legacys,
so that the estate is encumbred above 1,300/.
1717. Dec. 11th. Mr. Kotheiy^-^ has changed Broomfeild for a
Fellowship in Queen's College with Mr. Jos. Nicholson's brother—^lie
has some lecture-ship in London and will not come down himself
Mr. Brown proposed to my uncle his getting him an equivalent in
London and giving me Broomfeild, but he is not willing.
1717. Dec. 12th. Mrs. Douglass^^e very kind—^gave me sack.
Mark Foster, etc., petitioned uncle for his contribution to raise a
hundred pound for the minister of AInwick,i27 and proposed Dr.
Morton's example to him (who had given them 100/.)—he replyed it
was a shame for so many rich men to ask him to help to make
up 100/.
1717. Dec. 13th. Uncle told them they should rather propose
his example to Dr. Morton, i^s who had given away ten times as
much—nor was it Dr. Morton's own charity—it was left in his hands
'-^ Sir Henry Fletcher of Hutton in Cumberland, third bart., died as a
monk at Douay in 1712, having settled his estate on his kinsman Thomas
Fletcher of Moresby. The settlement was contested by Sir Henry's sisters and
coheirs, and, after some litigation, under terms of accommodation the said
Thomas Fletcher was permitted to enjoy Hutton for his life, and, on his death
without issue, the property reverted to Henry Vane (bapt. 8 June, 1689),
second son of Lionel Vane of Long Newton in the County of Durham, by his
wife Catherine, sister of Sir Henry and daughter of Sir George Fletcher, bart.
Henry Vane, on succeeding to the estates assumed the name of Fletcher. Cf.
Nicolson and Burn, Westmorland and Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 391. Surtees,
Durham, vol. iii. p. 214 ; and Ferguson, The M.P.'s of Ctimherland, p. 358.
^^^
Francis Bowes of Thornton, county Durham, son of Sir Francis Bowes of
the same place, married Lucy, uterine sister of Sir Henry Fletcher, by whom he
had, with other children who died in infancy, four daughters : Margaret,
baptized 15 Jan., 1678, living 1734 unmarried; Catherine, baptized 27 Jan.,
1682 ; Alice wife of William Wanley ; and Lucy, who was living unmarried
in 1734.
"' See p. 81, supra.
'-"
See p. 90, supra.
'" During the seventeenth century the slender revenues of the perpetual
curacy of Alnwick were usually augmented by the chamberlains and four and
twenty of the borough, who, forming the municipal authority of the town,
claimed and exercised the patronage. Mr. Richard Werge, who had been
appointed in 1712, was not happy in his office, and subsequently, on the 25th of
March, 1718, resigned the appointment on obtaining preferment in Essex.
Mr. Mark Forster was a merchant in Alnwick and died on the 22nd of
September, 1726, aged 67 years. By his' will, dated 20 Feb., 1726, he gave a
rent charge to the free school, and a tenement to the benefice of Alnwick. The
i-esidue of his estate was given to his sister Anne, widow of George Potts of
Alnwicli, whose daughter Elizabeth was one of the well dowered ladies whom
the diarist thought of in marriage. See pp. 72, 86, supra.
'^"
The Venerable John Morton, D.D., of Lincoln College, Oxford, archdeacon
of Northumberland from 1685 to 1722.