The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.3 | December 2022

Member’s article

The Will of James Dance of Old Dolphin

James Dance died in 1829, but the terms of his Will ensured that it was 28 years before his estate was finally settled. I came to investigate this when I found that my 3x great grandfather Henry MARSHALL , a grandson of James DANCE , had been summoned to Winchester in 1855 in connection with the estates of his parents Walter and Elizabeth MARSHALL . In his Will James Dance described himself as a gentleman of Portsea. In 1815, at the baptism of his youngest daughter Caroline, he was a victualler of Ordnance Row. A trade directory of 1793 has him more precisely as victualler at the Old Dolphin , which was situated on the east side of Smith’s Lane, at the corner of Ordnance Row (Gillian Ferrett of the Portsmouth History Centre, pers. comm. 7 June 2013 – it’s now gone and the site is occupied by the Green Mango hair salon). James’ will, written on 14 June 1827, was proved on 6 January 1830. James, who died aged 78 in December 1829, left his household effects to his wife Mary and appointed as executors his son William DANCE , cutler of Portsea and his nephews Daniel Dance, yeoman of Copnor and George WINGHAM , carpenter of Portsea. James owned two houses in Anchor Smiths Lane, two in Surry Street and five in Town Field, Portsea; the income from these and from £500 “Old Navy” stock was to go to his wife. After her decease the property was to be auctioned and the proceeds from this and the stock to be divided equally between his eight surviving children, who were listed and included Elizabeth, “the wife of Walter Marshall”.

A curious feature of James’ Will was that he apparently didn’t know the whereabouts of his eldest son James and stated that, “if he shall not be seen or heard of or any correct information received where he can be found within the space of ten years” of his father’s decease, his share should be divided between the seven other children. Only the two eldest, James and Elizabeth, were the children of James’ first wife Hannah GIBBS , who was a widow when she married James in 1779. Hannah died in 1795, and in the following year James was married again to Mary Moses, who was more than 20 years younger than him and was the mother of his other six children: Eliza, William, David Henry, Mary Ann, Jane and Caroline. The administration of James’ Will became a lengthy process, mainly because his widow Mary survived to the age of 79 – she died on 18 January 1854. However, by this time all the original executors and five of the eight children were also deceased. Only the three youngest daughters, Mary Ann ADAMS , Jane MITCHELL and Caroline SPRINGGAY , survived their mother. The trees in Tables 1 and 2 show the principal relationships between the ultimate beneficiaries of James’ Will. James’ eldest daughter Elizabeth DANCE was christened at St Mary’s in Portsea on 26 March 1784. At the same church, on 25 September 1808, she married Walter MARSHALL , who was a millwright and shipwright. They had three sons in Portsea and moved to Chatham in Kent between 1813 and 1815; they had four more sons there.

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