Frampton

Frampton Wills and Administrations

Transcribed and donated to the Dorset OPC Project by Kim Parker

When a person dies somebody has to deal with their estate (money, property and possessions left) by collecting in all the money, paying any debts and distributing what is left to those people entitled to it. Probate is the court’s authority given to a person or persons to administer a deceased person’s estate. Before 12 January 1858 the probate of wills, and the granting of letters of administration for the estates of persons who died without leaving a will, took place in an ecclesiastical probate court of which there were at least 300 throughout England and Wales.

The court in which a will was proved, or letters of administration granted, depended on the amount of goods and property left by the deceased, and their location. If the deceased held property in one archdeaconry the will was proved in the archdeacon’s court. If the deceased had property in more than one archdeaconry, but within the same diocese then the will was proved in one of the bishop’s courts, either the Commissary Court or, for more extensive estates, the Consistory Court. If the deceased held goods or debts worth more than £5 (or £10 in the City of London) in more than one distinct diocese or jurisdiction, then probate took place in the appropriate archbishop’s court, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (southern England and Wales) or the Prerogative Court of York. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury was the highest church court in England and Wales until 1858 when it was abolished and all wills were indexed centrally. (This index is widely available at Record Offices, Probate Registries and the LDS Church.)

This apparently simple system was confused by the presence of peculiars of important churches and cathedrals within dioceses which claimed immunity from the bishop’s jurisdiction A few places, called royal peculiars, claimed exemption from all jurisdictions except that of the sovereign. The picture in Dorset is further confused by some parishes having remained attached to the See of Sarum after creation of the Diocese of Bristol in 1543, which resulted in the transfer of a large part of the County of Dorset from the jurisdiction of Sarum to that of Bristol (Dorset was transferred back to Sarum in 1836). In the case of Frampton there is a further complication in that from 1678 until 1745 the Lords of the Manor of Frampton claimed a probate jurisdiction in the Liberty of Frampton, consisting of the tithings of Bettiscombe, Bincombe, Compton Valence, Frampton, and Winterborne Came. The inclusion in one Liberty of these scattered tithings may be due to the fact that they were all formerly the property of the Abbey of St Stephen of Caen, and the exemption from the ordinary probate jurisdiction claimed by the Abbey's successors in title as Lords of the Manor of Frampton is possibly also derived from that former ecclesiastical ownership. The motivation for asserting the jurisdiction was pecuniary: the steward would receive a ten shilling fee for every will proved or administration granted by the court.

Note that until the 20th century most people did not make a will: it has been estimated that the estates of only about one person in ten were dealt with by the ecclesiastical probate courts. Even when a will had been made, if there was little property involved and no dispute as to who should benefit, the will may not have been proved at all, in order to save paying the fee. In addition, until the late 19th century, only unmarried women and widows made wills as married women and their possessions were deemed to belong to their husbands.

I. Probate granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC)

The following wills proven in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury can be downloaded from the National Archives Discovery site for a small fee.
 

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II. Probate and Admon granted by Bristol Diocesan Courts 1568-1792

These documents are now held at Blandford, with copies available on microfilm at the Dorset History Centre
 

a) Consistory Court

Name	Residence	Year	Notes
HUXFORD Hugh	Frampton	1716
TIZZARD John	Frampton	1784	A.c.W. durante minoritate
TURNER John	Frampton	169-
TURNER John	Frampton	1696	A.
TURNER John	Frampton	1696	A.
TURNER John	Frampton	1696	A.

b) Archdeaconry Court of the late Diocese of Bristol 1660 - 1792 (Wills)  

Name	Residence	Will N° / Year	Notes
CUPMAN Thomas	Frampton	38 / 1736
DEVENISH Edmund sen.	Frampton	24 / 1786
HELLIER Henry	Frampton	24 / 1791	Admon de bonis non 7/1798
LAKE Joan	Frampton	34 / 1775
PETTY Henry	Frampton	28 / 1734
STROUD Elizabeth	Frampton	28 / 1778
WALTERS James	Frampton	25 / 1786
WATERS James	Frampton	15 / 1784

c) Archdeaconry Court of the late Diocese of Bristol 1660 - 1792 (Admons)  

Name	Residence	Admon N° / Year
ADAMS William	Frampton	4 / 1792
ADDAMS William	Frampton	9 / 1746
ELLIS Thomazin	Frampton	17 / 1747
LEGG John	Frampton	7 / 1785
MARTIN Richard	Frampton	48 / 1684
MOREY Joan	Frampton	52 / 1671
ROBERTS John	Frampton	26 / 1675
TURNER John	Frampton	47 / 1684
WALTERS John	Frampton	5 / 1793
YEATES John	Frampton	25 / 1677

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III. Probate granted by the Court of the Liberty of Frampton 1678-1745

None of the manorial probate documents appears to have survived, but fortunately all the wills and inventories were copied into the court books which can be consulted at the Dorset History Centre. The following is a list of the testators and intestates.
 

SURNAME	FORENAME	PLACE	OCCUPATION	DATE	TYPE	INVENTORY
ABBOTT	George the elder	Frampton	shoemaker	1722	Will	no
ADAMS	Philip			1745	Will	yes
ASH	Sarah	Bincombe	widow	1691	Will	yes
BALSON	Moses	Frampton	yeoman	1753	Will	no
BANGER	Peter	Frampton	vicar of Frampton	1710	Admon	yes
BARTLET	John the elder	Frampton		1698	Will	yes
BARTLET	Rebeccah	Frampton	widow	1701	Will	yes
BARTLETT	John	Frampton		1716	Admon	yes
BARTLETT	Robert	Frampton	yeoman	1734	Will	yes
BECK	John	Frampton	mason	1744	Admon	no
BISHOP	Anne	Frampton	widow	1716	Will	yes
BOYLAND	William	Frampton	yeoman	1684	Will	yes
BOYNELL alias LUCKIS	Thomas	Frampton		1678	Admon	yes
BROADE	Sarah	Bincombe	widow	1696	Will	yes
BULLOCK	Robert	Frampton	yeoman	1749	Admon	no
CHAMP	John	Compton Valence	yeoman	1712	Will	yes
COMBDEN	Elizabeth	Frampton	widow	1679	Will	yes
COMBDEN	George	Frampton	husbandman	1706	Will	yes
COMBDEN	Joan the younger	Compton Valence	spinster	1745	Will	yes
CROADE	Thomas	Southover		1682	Admon	yes
DAY	Peter			1684	Will	no
DAY	Peter	Bincombe	yeoman	1684	Will	yes
DIGGE	Joan	Southover	widow	1710	Will	yes
FORS	John	Frampton	husbandman	1741	Will	yes
FORSE	Richard	Frampton	yeoman	1748	Admon	yes
HARDY	John	Frampton	yeoman	1699	Will	yes
HENSLEIGH	Obadiah	Frampton	yeoman	1729	Will	yes
HENSLEIGH	Martha	Frampton	widow	1733	Will	yes
HINE	Henry	Frampton	blacksmith	1693	Admon	yes
HOLLAND	Edward			1741	Admon	no
KNIGHT	John	Frampton	yeoman	1690	Will	yes
KNIGHT	Robert	Frampton	yeoman	1730	Will	no
MABER	Peter	Southover in Frampton	yeoman	1680	Will	yes
MABER	John	Southover	yeoman	1716	Will	yes
MABER	Alice	Frampton	widow	1720	Will	yes
MANTELL	James	Frampton	yeoman	1678	Will	yes
MARTEN	Eleanor	Frampton	widow	1682	Will	yes
MEADWAY	John			1684	Admon	no
NOTTING	Bernard the elder	Chilfrome*	yeoman	1689	Will	no
OLIVER	Richard	Compton Valence	shepherd	1702	Admon	yes
OLIVER	Hannah	Compton Valence	widow	1726	Admon	yes
PASHEN	John	Bincombe	yeoman	1729	Will	yes
PEALE	Elizabeth	Compton Valence	widow	1697	Will	yes
PRICKETT	William	Frampton	yeoman	1743	Admon	yes
READ	Henry	Bincombe	husbandman	1683	Will	yes
ROPER	Sampsom	Frampton	yeoman	1752	Will	no
SALISBURY	James	Frampton	yeoman	1728	Will	yes
SCOTT	Richard	Frampton	husbandman	1698	Will	yes
SMITH	John	Bincombe	yeoman	1690	Admon	yes
STEVENS	William	Frampton	collar-maker	1733	Admon	yes
STROUD	John the elder	Frampton	yeoman	1737	Will	yes
STROUDE	Mary	Frampton	widow	1748	Will	no
SYMONDS	William	Compton	Valence	1684	Admon	yes
TIZARD	Richard the elder	Frampton		1728	Will	yes
TOOGOOD	James	Frampton	yeoman	1684	Will	yes
VOWELL	Thomas	Bincombe		1728	Will	yes
WALLIS	Daniel	Bincombe	yeoman	1734	Admon	yes
WHITE	William the elder	Frampton		1680	Will	yes
WHITE	Richard	Bincombe	yeoman	1746	Will	no
WHITTLE	Thomas	Frampton		1749	Admon	no
WILLIS	Robert	Frampton		1679	Admon	yes
WOOD	James	Frampton	husbandman	1705	Will	yes
WOOD	Robert	Frampton		1716	Will	yes
WOOD	Richard	Frampton	yeoman	1725	Will	yes
WOOD	Dorothy	Frampton		1732	Will	yes
WOOD	Joan	Frampton	widow	1737	Will	yes
WOOD	John	Southover		1755	Will	yes
WOODSFORD	Anthony	Frampton	yeoman	1679	Will	yes
YEATES	John	Frampton	innkeeper	1678	Will	yes

*Chilfrome is not in the Liberty of Frampton, but it is stated in the probate act that the testator died within the Liberty.

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