From the archive of Brockbank and Tyson, solicitors of Whitehaven, Cumberland, held at Whitehaven Record Office, item DBT 10/184 "Stray settlement on the marriage of John Nicholson, yeoman of Randlehow, Eskdale and Hannah Tyson, spinster of Netherwasdale" (The names are not in bold in the original).
This Indenture made the day of in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty Between John Nicholson of Randlehow in Eskdale in the Parish of St Bees in the County of Cumberland Yeoman of the first Part Hannah Tyson of Mill Place in Netherwasdale in the Parish aforesaid Spinster of the second Part Isaac Miller of Mill Place aforesaid Yeoman of the third Part and Henry Tyson of Foulsike in Netherwasdale aforesaid Yeoman (a Trustee named and appointed for the Purpose hereinafter mentioned) of the fourth Part Whereas a marriage hath been agreed upon and is intended to be shortly had and solemnized between the said John Nicholson and the said Hannah Tyson and whereas the said Hannah Tyson is possessed of or entitled unto the Sum of One hundred Pounds and upon the Treaty for the said intended Marriage it was proposed and agreed that the same should be lent and advanced to the said Isaac Miller upon his promissary note payable to the said Hannah Tyson or Order on Demand and by her indorsed transferred or made payable to the said Henry Tyson upon the trusts and to and for the ends intents and purposes hereinafter expressed which hath accordingly been done Now this Indenture Witnesseth that in consideration of the said intended Marriage and for settlyng and assuring the said Sum of One hundred Pounds and the Interest thereof upon and for the Trusts intents and Purposes hereinafter expressed it is hereby declared and agreed by and between all the said Parties hereto and the intent and meaning of them and of these Presents is that the said Henry Tyson his Executors and Adminstrators shall and do continue the said Sum of One hundred Pounds secured as aforesaid or with the Consent and Approbation of the said Hannah Tyson whether married or sole signified in Writing under her Hand call in and receive the same or any part thereof and again lend and place out the said Principal Sum of One hundred Pounds or such part thereof as shall be called in and received as aforesaid upon Publici or Private Security or Securities or upon Mortgage at Interest and stand possessed of and interested in the same and the Interest or Annual Proceeds thereof Upon the Trusts and for the ends intents and Purposes following that is to say In Trust for the said Hannah Tyson her Executors Administrators and Assigns until the said intended Marriage shall take Effect and from and immediately after the Solemnization thereof then Upon Trust that the said Henry Tyson his Executors and Adminstrators shall and do pay the Interest and Annual Proceeds of the said Sum of one hundred Pounds as when and as the same shall be him or them received or receivable unto the said Hannah the then wife of the said John Nicholson or otherwise permit and suffer her to receive the same for and during the Term of her Natural Life for her sole and separate use whose Receipt for the same from time to time notwithstanding Coverture and whether she shall be covert or sole shall be agreed sufficient and effectual Discharge for the same And from and after the Decease of the said Hannah the intended Wife of the said John Nicholson then Upon Trust that he the said Henry Tyson his Executors and Administrators do and shall pay the said Sum of One hundred Pounds to the said Isaac Miller for his own use and behoof absolutely in Case he shall be then living But if the said Isaac Miller shall die in the Lifetime of the said Hannah Tyson Then from and immediately after the Decease of her the said Hannah Tyson Upon Trust that the said Henry Tyson his Executors and Adminstrators do and shall pay apply and divide the said Sum of one hundred Pounds to and amongst such of the Children or Grandchildren of the said Isaac Miller and in such manner Share and Proportions by way of Legacy Annuity or otherwise as she the said Hannah Tyson by any Deed or Deeds Instrument or Instruments in Writing or by her Last Will and Testament or any Codicil or Codicils thereto to be by her or her Direction signed in the presence of and Attested by two or more Credible Witnesses shall direct appoint Assign given bequeath the same which Deed or Deeds Instrument or Instruments in Writing Will and Testament Codicil or Codicils she the said Hannah Tyson is hereby expressly Authorized and empowered to make sign and execute notwithstanding Coverture and whether Covert or Sole and in Default of such Direction Appointment Assignment Gift or bequest and as to such Part of the said Sum of One hundred Pounds which no such Direction Appointment Assignment Gift or Bequest shall be effectually made Upon Trust that the said Henry Tyson his Executors or Administrators shall and do pay the said Sum of One hundred Pounds and Interest or so much thereof as shall not be effectually disposed of as aforesaid in manner following namely to Isaac Nicholson and Jane Nicholson the Grandchildren of the said Isaac Miller each the Sum of five Pounds and the residue thereof equally between and amongst Joseph Miller Sarah Nicholson Hannah Miller and Mary Benson Children of the said Isaac Miller and John Kitchin a Grandson of the said Isaac Miller And if any of the said Children of the said Isaac Miller or if his said Grandson the said John Kitchin shall die in the life time of the said Hannah Tyson leaving issue such Issue shall be entitled unto have and receive the Share or Shares which the Parent or Parents of Such Issue would have been entitled unto if living But if any of them die as aforesaid without leaving Issue the Share or Shares if him her or them so dying shall go to and be received by the Survivors of them and the said Henry Tyson his Executors and Adminstrators is and are hereby expressly Authorised directed and required to divide pay and Apply the same Accordingly and to accept and take the Receipt or Receipts of any Infant or Infants for his her or their Share or Shares in Case he the said Henry Tyson his Executors or Administrators shall think proper so to do whose Receipt or Receipts in that event shall be good legal and effectual Discharges for so much or such Sum or Sums as shall be therein expressed to be received Provided always and it is hereby agreed and declared by and between the Parties hereto that the said Henry Tyson his Executors or Administrators shall retain to and for himself and themselves out of the said Trust monies all such Costs Charges Damages and Expences as he or they may pay bear sustain expend or be put unto in or about the execution of the Trusts of these Presents or any of them or in any will relating thereto and further that he or they shall not be answerable or accountable for or be charged or chargeable with of for any other Sum or Sums of money than what shall actually come to his or their Hands by virtue of the Trusts aforesaid nor with nor for any Loss which may happen in lending or placing out the said Trust Premises upon any Securities or in chaning [sic] or varying the same or any part thereof whether or by reason of the insufficiency or Deficiency of and [any?] Security or Securities in or upon which the said money now is or herafter may be invested or in depositing the same in any Bank or Bankers Hands or elsewhere for safe Custody or otherwise in the due Execution of the Trusts aforesaid unless the same happen through his or their Wilful Default or Negligence In Witness whereof the said Parties to these Presents have hereunto set their Hands and Seals the Day and Year first above written
Sealed and delivered
Not signed. Three seals, an identical ‘A’.
Notes
1 The sense of this trust agreement appears to be that Isaac Miller is settling one hundred pounds on Hannah Tyson for life but that the capital sum is to revert to Isaac Miller's descendants upon Hannah's death. (The actual gift to Hannah Tyson is not mentioned but may be implied from the conditions of the trust). At the time of this agreement (and until 1882) a woman's property upon marriage passed to her husband but this trust protected the settlement from John Nicholson. (See Coverture).
2 I had taken John Nicholson of Randlehow to be John Nicholson leading to the possibility that his wife (Hannah Wilson) had died and he remarried. However in 1820 he would probably not have been referred to as 'of Randlehow'. It seems more likely that the intended marriage partner was John Nicholson whose first wife had probably died in 1804. In the end the marriage apparently did not take place since Hannah Tyson died leaving a will in 1840.
In English and American law, coverture refers to women's legal status after marriage: legally, upon marriage, the husband and wife were treated as one entity. In essence, the wife's separate legal existence disappeared as far as property rights were concerned.
Under coverture, wives could not control their own property unless specific provisions were made before marriage, they could not file lawsuits or be sued separately, nor could they execute contracts. The husband could use, sell or dispose of her property (again, unless prior provisions were made) without her permission.
Sir William Blackstone, in his 1765
authoritative legal text, Commentaries on the Laws of England, said this
about coverture and the legal rights of married women:
| "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs every thing; and is therefore called ... a feme-covert...." |
After the 1880
General Election William Gladstone became Prime Minister of a government that
promised legislation that would reduce the legal
inequalities between men and women. One example of this was the passing of the
1882 Married Women's Property Act. Under the terms of the act married women had
the same rights over their property as unmarried women. This act therefore
allowed a married woman to retain ownership of property which she might have
received as a gift from a parent. Before the 1882 Married Women's Property Act
was passed this property would have automatically have become the property of
the husband. The passing of the 1893 Married Women's Property Act completed this
process. Married women now had full legal control of all the property of every
kind which they owned at marriage or which they acquired after marriage either
by inheritance or by their own earnings.