Hester Maria Thrale

His widow

From other assets, she was left with the interest of £50,000 for life. A provision of the marriage settlement was an allowance to Mrs Thrale of a lump sum of £13,400 from Henry Thrale’s estate if his wife survived him. John Cator, either through oversight, or, as Hester later believed, deliberately, failed to make over this sum to her, and it resulted in a Court case when she discovered her right to it in August 1786.

Streatham Park and Brighton homes

Henry left Streatham Park and Brighthelmstone to his wife for life. The contents of both the houses were hers unconditionally, including all Sir Joshua Reynolds’s paintings.

Anchor Brewery

From brewery profits Hester was to receive:

• £2,000 p.a.;
• £150 p.a. for each child under fifteen years, rising to £200 p.a. between their fifteenth birthday and until their coming of age.

If the brewery was sold, Mrs Thrale was to receive £30,000 outright, and the rest of the proceeds were to be held in trust for his daughters. Brewery House and The Anchor Inn, were quickly sold. When challenged about the value of the business by the wary bankers, Dr. Samuel Johnson famously replied …

We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

His children

The daughters’ inheritances were £20,000 each, to be held in trust until they came of age, and if any should die without marrying her share was to be divided among the surviving sisters. Their mother and the executors were named as joint guardians, but the will requested in addition that all the daughters be made wards in Chancery.

Crowmarsh

Crowmarsh, the Oxfordshire estate, was willed to the eldest child Hester Maria Thrale. This property had, however, by the terms of the Thrales’ marriage settlement been set aside for an annual payment to Mrs Thrale of £200 during Mr Thrale’s life, and £400 after his death. This triggered an acrimonious Court case between Hester and her eldest child.

Reaction

Hester wrote about the will on 24 August 1786 whilst in Milan …

Mr Cator writes me word at last at Michaelmas we shall not have a Debt in the World—so young Ladies are paid; & I am discharged from an Obligation wch Mr Crutcheley told me was very great, tho’ not a Jew in the Alley would have refused me the Money at the same Price—he told me so when they were in the Room too I remember, & they took Care never to forget it while I lived with them at Bath—& try’d to save Money to get rid of the Incumbrance—but Lady Salusbury’s² cruel & unjust Rapacity, insisting on payment when such was the Situation of Public Affairs Novr 1782 that no Cash could be borrow’d without Land Security, & scarcely with it: Mr Crutcheley’s unmerited Roughness towards me, insisting not only on five per Cent to the Misses, but on my paying 800£ of the principal the 1st Year, a Thing scarcely possible; his Censures of me afterwards for not living grand enough, when he himself had cramped my Power of living better; he and Cator all the Time tacitly agreeing to keep me ignorant of my Claim to no less than thirteen Thousand Pounds, settled on me at marriage wch I had forgot—have much sour’d my Temper towards my Daughters Guardians: who could not urge in Defence of their Conduct my future Marriage, because Crutcheley never heard of any such thing till the Janry after, when he came to me open mouthed about it, & said he had heard on’t by Miracle; and Cator had not an Idea of the sort, till Mr. Piozzi arrived at Dover in June³ 84. & I wrote a circular Letter to each of my kind Coadjutors—How glad I am now that all debts are discharged however! & that I paid the Attorney’s Bill even before I married Mr Piozzi—it is a comfort to me to think on’t to be sure. Now let the Mortgage Deeds be destroyed, and these Mortifications be forgotten for ever.—

Hester also found fault later with the guardians for concealing her sole authority to receive and utilise the girls’ maintenance payments.

Ten years later on 3 January 1791, Hester wrote…

See Page 41 of this Volume & admire at the Compiler’s Folly— I have got an Extract of Mr Thrale’s Will at last, & find out that for the 150£ a piece of his Daughters to be annually paid till they attain the Age of 15. and for the 200£ o’Year a piece from that Age till the Day they become 21. nobody has a Right to receive it except myself—nor am I accountable to any Person whatever for what I please to do with it—Yet have I tacitly suffered them & their Other Guardians to manage it how they thought fit, and Mr Cator had the Assurance to advise me a Twelvemonth ago in Hanover Square, to take 50£ o’Year for Cecilia’s’ Maintenance, if I would have her with me was the Phrase; & plague him no more about the Bills, which were enormous he said,—in good Time! because they amounted to 80£. One could not credit such Usage, was it related of another—& such Submission to ill Usage is I believe wholly unexampled. but Charity seeketh not her own.

1. John Cator (1701-1772) was a wealthy merchant and philanthropist who was known for his generosity and business acumen. He was a member of the Levant Company, a British trading company that operated in the Mediterranean region, and he amassed a considerable fortune through his trade. Cator was also a prominent figure in the London social scene, and he was friends with many of the leading literary and intellectual figures of the day, including Dr. Samuel Johnson. He was a generous benefactor to a number of charities and institutions. He founded several schools and orphanages and he also donated funds to support the education of poor children. He was a man of deep religious convictions, and he was a faithful member of the Church of England.. ↩︎
2. It is not clear to whom this refers. It was not Hester’s mother, as she had died 10 years earlier.↩︎
3. 17 June 1784.↩︎