Suffolk, Acton - Miser of Acton and endless litigation
1671-1725 Robert Jennens www.flickr.com/photos/brokentaco/8708100294/ in marble, aide de camp of the Duke of Marlborough and lawyer and trusted legal and financial adviser fo the Duchess of Malborough until his death. Robert started building and almost finished Acton Place house bought from the recusant Daniels family whose ancestor Edmund Daniel and Margaret West have a brass here www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/537156772/
He was a younger son of Mary Millward and Humphrey Jennens of Erdington Hall and of Nether Whiteacre manor, brother of Charles who rebuilt Gopsall Hall in 1770 congerstonevillage.co.uk/gopsall-hall/
He lies looking at his wife Ann d1761, heiress daughter of Carew Guidot, who erected the monument
Children (1 son)
1. William dsp 1701-1798 - (King William III was his godfather) William "the miser of Acton" never spent a penny of the fortune left to him, he ignored the furnished rooms and instead lived in the basement, accumulating much, his personal estate alone was £2000,000 "The litigation which ensued upon his death, Jennens v Jennens with claimants coming forward as late as 1875 and 1933 was the origin of the proceeding inspired Dicken's Bleak House "Jarndyce v Jarndyce" satirization. William died essentially intestate as his first will was made in favour of his mother in 1726, and shortly before his death in 1798 he had prepared but never executed a will by which he left the bulk of his property away from his relatives. After Williams' death the house on his instructions was almost totally demolished and the furnishings and building materials sold in 1825
In the settlement of the estate the inheritors of the real estate was declared to be George Augustus William Curzon a descendant of Robert Jennens' eldest sister Hester. His mother Sophia Charlotte Howe took possession on behalf of her second son, Richard William Penn Curzon (1796-1870), who was created 1st Earl Howe in 1821. Earl Howe was later alleged to have been an illegitimate son of a spinster named Ann Oakes, substituted as the heir
The personal property of William was divided between the living next-of-kin who were William Lygon 1st Earl Beauchamp (1747-1816) a grandson of Hester Jennens, and Mary Lady Andover, a granddaughter of Humphrey Jennens' daughter Ann.
The claims of American descendants of William Jennings, uncle of intestate William Jennings, are based on the fact that the children of the uncle were alive in America at the time of the intestate's death and should have been considered as next-of-kin with Lady Mary Andover and Earl Beauchamp. Furthermore if the alleged illegitimacy of the first Earl Howe could be proven, the question of proper disposition of the realty would likewise entitle the American claimants to consideration. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the eldest son of Humphrey Jennens died unmarried willing his real estate and his rights in entailed property to the heirs of his sister Hester.
The family riches had originally come from John Jennens a Birmingham ironmaster.
Acton church Suffolk
Suffolk, Acton - Miser of Acton and endless litigation
1671-1725 Robert Jennens www.flickr.com/photos/brokentaco/8708100294/ in marble, aide de camp of the Duke of Marlborough and lawyer and trusted legal and financial adviser fo the Duchess of Malborough until his death. Robert started building and almost finished Acton Place house bought from the recusant Daniels family whose ancestor Edmund Daniel and Margaret West have a brass here www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/537156772/
He was a younger son of Mary Millward and Humphrey Jennens of Erdington Hall and of Nether Whiteacre manor, brother of Charles who rebuilt Gopsall Hall in 1770 congerstonevillage.co.uk/gopsall-hall/
He lies looking at his wife Ann d1761, heiress daughter of Carew Guidot, who erected the monument
Children (1 son)
1. William dsp 1701-1798 - (King William III was his godfather) William "the miser of Acton" never spent a penny of the fortune left to him, he ignored the furnished rooms and instead lived in the basement, accumulating much, his personal estate alone was £2000,000 "The litigation which ensued upon his death, Jennens v Jennens with claimants coming forward as late as 1875 and 1933 was the origin of the proceeding inspired Dicken's Bleak House "Jarndyce v Jarndyce" satirization. William died essentially intestate as his first will was made in favour of his mother in 1726, and shortly before his death in 1798 he had prepared but never executed a will by which he left the bulk of his property away from his relatives. After Williams' death the house on his instructions was almost totally demolished and the furnishings and building materials sold in 1825
In the settlement of the estate the inheritors of the real estate was declared to be George Augustus William Curzon a descendant of Robert Jennens' eldest sister Hester. His mother Sophia Charlotte Howe took possession on behalf of her second son, Richard William Penn Curzon (1796-1870), who was created 1st Earl Howe in 1821. Earl Howe was later alleged to have been an illegitimate son of a spinster named Ann Oakes, substituted as the heir
The personal property of William was divided between the living next-of-kin who were William Lygon 1st Earl Beauchamp (1747-1816) a grandson of Hester Jennens, and Mary Lady Andover, a granddaughter of Humphrey Jennens' daughter Ann.
The claims of American descendants of William Jennings, uncle of intestate William Jennings, are based on the fact that the children of the uncle were alive in America at the time of the intestate's death and should have been considered as next-of-kin with Lady Mary Andover and Earl Beauchamp. Furthermore if the alleged illegitimacy of the first Earl Howe could be proven, the question of proper disposition of the realty would likewise entitle the American claimants to consideration. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the eldest son of Humphrey Jennens died unmarried willing his real estate and his rights in entailed property to the heirs of his sister Hester.
The family riches had originally come from John Jennens a Birmingham ironmaster.
Acton church Suffolk