John Snell

Profile & Legacies Summary

1774 - 9^th Dec 1847

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Owner of Clare Valley on St Vincent. Son of William Snell (1719-74) West India merchant of Austin Friars, and half-brother of Charles Snell Chauncey (né Snell) (d. 1809) and Nathaniel Snell (each of whom q.v.). He inherited Edmonton House under the will of the latter.

According to Rubinstein, 'Mercantile fortune', but it is unclear whether John Snell himself was ever actively engaged in trade. Apparently unmarried, he does not mention a wife or child in his will, and left almost everything to his two nephews, Charles Snell Chaunc[e]y (q.v.) and Nathaniel Snell Chaunc[e]y (q.v.), the sons of Charles Snell Chauncy (né Snell) (d. 1809). John Snell also made a bequest of land to build an Anglican church in Edmonton [in fact, the legacy of one acre appears to have been to build the school attached to St James's Church, now St John and St James School].

Sources

William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical dictionary of British wealth-holders Volume Two 1840-1859 MS, reference 1847/36; VCH Middlesex 5 (1976) pp. 181-7 [cited by Rubinstein]. The first Charles Snell Chauncy was in ibid. Volume One, reference 1809/18.

Further Information

Absentee?

British/Irish

Wealth at death

£250,000

Rubinstein

1847/36

Associated Claims (1)

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

SD - Association Start Date
SY - Association Start Year
EA - Earliest Known Association
ED - Association End Date
EY - Association End Year
LA - Latest Known Association

1779 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Owner

Clare Valley [ St Vincent ]

Left under the will of William Snell sen. to his son John Snell, subject to annuity payments to William Snell's wife (and John's mother) Mary.

Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Paintings

John Snell was among the four dedicatees of 'Edmonton, Middx; Enfield, Middx; Chingford, Essex; Tottenham, Middx', Four Views of Churches, a hand coloured etching by John Thomas Smith (1793), now in...

Details

notes →

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Physical (1)

School

St James School Edmonton

Details

description →

National School attached to St James Edmonton church. John Snell left one acre for the building of the school in his will of 1847. The school opened in 1851....