Richard Skynner

Of Le Burtons The will of Richard Skynner of Pixley, as set out in the account of Robert Skynner, Bishop of Bristol, then Oxford, then Worcester in the 17thC, by Allan Maclean Skinner QC:

'IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. Jan 1, 1659

I, Richard Skynner, of Pixley, in the County of Hereford, Gent., being sick and weak in body, but of perfect minde and memory, thanks be to Almighty God, do make and declare this my last will and testament in writing, in manner and form following: that is to say, first and principally, I give and bequeathe my soul into the hands of Almighty God, my maker, hoping and undoubtedly believing, to be saved by the merits, death, passover, and resurrection of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and my body to the earth, whence it came; to be decently interred by my executors, hereinafter named, in Ledbury Church, as near unto my dear wife as conveniently it may be placed; and as for any outward and worldly estate, which God hath been pleased to bestow upon me, I dispose thereof as followeth: - First, I give, bequeathe, and devise unto my son Joseph Skynner, and to his heirs for ever, all that parcell of ground called the Castle, or Old Castle, lying in Aylton, in the said County of Hereford; neverthelesse upon condition that my said son Joseph shall sattisfie and pay, or cause to be paid unto my sonne-in-law, Mr Robert Charles, the summe of ten pounds; and unto my grandson Stephen Charles, the sum of twenty pounds (both which sommes are the proper debt of my son John Skynner), which if my said , sonne Joseph shall refuse or neglect to do by the space of three months next after my decease, then my will and meaning is that the said Robert Charles and Stephen Charles, their executors and administrators, shall make sale of the said lands, and pay themselves out of the money had for the same, rendering the surplus to my executor hereafter named, towards the satisfaction of my debts, legacies, and defraying my funeral expenses. Also I geve and bequeathe to John Jones of the City of Hereford (who married my daughter Elizabeth) tenne shillings, as a marriage portion with the said Elizabeth. Also I give and bequeathe towards the setting forth of two such poor children of the Parish of Pixley to be apprenticed as my executors and two Justices of the Peace shall think fit, the sum of twenty shillings. Also I geve and bequeathe to the poor of Ledbury twenty shillings, and to the poor of Aylton tenne shillings, to be distributed as the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of each parish shall think fit. Also I geve and bequeatbe to John Showell, of Ashperton, who was formerly my servant, five shillings, and to Elizabeth Baynton, who formerly attended upon me in my sickness, six shillings and eightpence. Also I give and bequeathe unto John Morgan, one of my grandson Richard Clarke, his servants, six shillings and eightpence; and to Anne Jonson, other of his servants, five shillings. Also I geve and bequeathe unto my daughter, Rebekah Merrick, my wife's wedding ring. And for debts owing to me I do fully forgive Thomas Turner (who hath been my faithful servant and workman) his seventy-nine pounds tenne shillings; and for the debt that my sonne-in-law, James Gamond, owes me upon two several bonds, I give and bequeathe the one half thereof unto his sonne Richard Gamond, and the other half thereof unto all the rest of my said sonne-in-law's children, to be equally divided between them. All the rest of my goods, cattle, and chattels, I geve and bequeathe unto my said sonne Joseph Skynner, whom I make and ordain executor of this my last will and testament.

RICHARD SKYNNER.
Witnesses - WILLIAM CHARLES.
HENRY CLARlKE.
KATHERINE CLARKE.
RI CLARKE
(Sealed, Skynner Arms, without crest or motto).

From Richard, Stephen's eldest son, are descended, among others, the subject of a fine monument, with bust, in Ledbury Church, bearing this inscription:-

Here lies the body of Captain SAMUEL SKYNNER,
Who was no mean proficient in maritime affairs,
Having been conversant therein near forty years.
He left to this parish six pounds a year for ever, to be divided as follows:-
One pound to the Vicar, for the time being, for a Sermon on Candlemas day,
and the other five, on the same day, to twenty poor Housekeepers, not
receiving alms.
He departed this life the 23rd of July, 1725. Aged 73.

Samuel's eldest brother, William Skynner, M.A, was Vicar of Sunbury, Middlesex, and died there July 20, 1717.

Also John Skynner (eldest brother of Captain Launcelot Skynner, R.N., killed in the Biddeford frigate, 1760), who was educated at Reading School, under that great scholar, Dr. Hiley, grandfather of the first Lord Sidmouth, and, through life, retained a grateful recollection of its usefulness; his name is found, in April, 1780, in the list of donors to the building fund.

He was admitted at St. John's College, Cambridge, Pensionarius minor, Oct. 25th, 1740, aet: 16; he became B.A., 1744 ; Fellow, April 6th, 1747, and M.A., 1748. He was Chaplain to Elizabeth, Countess of Gainsborough, and on March 21st, 1750, preached a sermon (afterwards printed) from Psalm xxxix, 8, on the death of her eldest son, Baptist 4th Earl. He was elected Public Orator at Cambridge, succeeding Bishop Younge, Oct. 26th, 1752 and when, in 1755, the Duke of Newcastle laid the first stone of' the New Public Library, he spoke the Latin Oration. He was B.D., 1756, and resigned the office of'Public Orator in 1762, on being made Stib-dean of York, Rector of Blatherwick, and of Easton near Stamford. He died in Lamb's Conduit Street, London, in 1805, aged 81.

He was born and died in the same years as his cousin Sir John. His sons, John Melmoth, Launcelot (Captain R.N., lost in H.M.S. Lutine), John, called to the Bar, at Lincoln's Inn, in 1803, and William, of St. John's College, Cambridge, M.A., Rector of Bradley, Derbyshire, Cuxwold, Lincolnshire, and Vicar of Rushden, Herts, who died April 13, 1858, aged 80, were all unmarried, so that of his immediate family, except the children of his daughters, remain only Major Augustus Charles Skyntier, of Berridon, Devon, only child of his nephew William Augustus Skynner, of Moor Hall, Cookham, who died there, February l0th, 1833, aged 85.'