William Mattocks of Mansergh High

Legatee of his uncle William Mattocks (q.v.) and beneficiary of the compensation awarded for the Retreat Pen in St Andrew, Jamaica.

1. Mattocks was in correspondence with the Compensation Commissioners in 1835 and his lawyer again in 1839 over the administrative details of this award (which was not contested).

2. William Mattocks of Mansergh High was very probably the William Mattocks who was living at Thornton-in-Lonsdale in the 1851 and 1861 censuses and died at Roeburndale in 1866, leaving £100. The William Mattocks who in 1851 was living at Holden House, Thornton-in-Lonsdale, Yorkshire ('landed proprietor' aged 34 born Kirkby), and who by 1881 ('Retired Farmer' born Mansergh) was at Hornby, Lancashire, was the son of the William Mattocks of Mansergh High the beneficiary of the award. This man had been baptised 29/12/1816 at Mansergh High, the son of William and Jane Mattocks and died formerly of Holden House Thornton-in-Lonsdale, but late of Hornby Lancashire 27/08/1883, leaving £2177 11s 11d. One executor of his will was Robert Armistead of Ireby: a John Armistead had been a legatee under the will of William Mattocks of Jamaica under which William Mattocks of Mansergh High was the major beneficiary as residuary legatee. This man William Mattocks (1816-1883) would have been a minor in 1835 and his father's name militates against him being the nephew (as opposed to great-nephew) of William Mattocks of Jamaica.

1. T71/1607 letter 26/11/1839 from George Wilson: 'A Mr Wm Mattocks residing near Kirkby Lonsdale in Westmorland [Cumbria] some time since received a considerable sum of money at your office in respect of slaves in Jamaica which had belonged to his relative William Mattocks.' He has lost the Jamaica probate he brought with him from the country: do you have it?; Letter from William Mattocks Mansergh High near Kirkby Lonsdale 27/8/1835: I have agreed with Bartholomew Ibbott Williams for me to collect the money for my uncle's slaves; Letter to Wm Mattocks T71/1592 p. 219: claim and returns filed in Jamaica, but in name of William Mattocks, 'it is presumably the Testator under whose will you claim as residuary devisee', and p. 221: you need a letter from the executor to enable you to collect the money.

2. 1851 and 1881 census online; Ancestry.com, England, Select Births & Christenings, 1538-1975 [database online], National Probate Calendar, 1866 and 1883.

We are grateful for the help of Stewart Hopkins with this entry.