SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. WILL OF JAMES SMITHSON. I, JAMES SMITHSON, son of Hugh, first Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth, heiress of the Hungerfords of Audley, and niece of Charles the Proud, Duke of Somerset, now residing in Bentinck street, Cavendish Square, do this 23d day of October, 1826, make this my last will and testament: I bequeath the whole of my property of every nature and kind soever to my bankers, Messrs. Drummonds of Charing Cross, in trust, to be disposed of in the following manner, and desire of my said executors to put my property under the management of the court of chancery. To John Fitall, formerly my servant, but now employed in the London Docks, and residing at No. 27, Jubilee Place, North Mile End, Old Town, in consideration of his attachment and fidelity to me, and the long and great care he has taken of my effects, and my having done but very little for him, I give and bequeath the annuity or annual sum of £100 sterling for his life, to be paid to him quarterly, free from legacy duty and all other deductions, the first payment to be made to him at the expiration of three months after my death. I have at divers times lent sums of money to Henry Honoré Juilly, formerly my servant, but now keeping the Hungerford Hotel, in the Rue Caumartin at Paris, and for which sums of money I have undated bills or bonds signed by him. Now, I will and direct that if he desires it, these sums of money be let remain in his hands at an interest of five per cent. for five years after the date of the present will. To Henry James Hungerford, my nephew, heretofore called Henry James Dickinson, son of my late brother Lieut. Col. Henry Louis Dickinson, now residing with Mr. Auboin, at Bourg la Reine, near Paris, I give and bequeathe for his life the whole of the income arising from my property of every nature and kind whatever, after the payment of the above annuity, and after the death of John Fitall, that annuity likewise, the payments to be at the time the interest or dividends become due on the stocks or other property from which the income arises. Should the said Henry James Hungerford have a child or children, legitimate or illegitimate, I leave to such child or children, his or their heirs, executors and assigns, after the death of his, her, or their father, the whole of my property of every kind absolutely and forever, to be divided between them, if there is more than one, in the manner their father shall judge proper, and in case of his omitting to decide this, as the Lord Chancellor shall judge proper. Should my nephew Henry James Hungerford marry, I empower him to make a jointure. In case of the death of my said nephew without leaving a child or children, or of the death of the child or children he may have had under the age of 21 years or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property, subject to the annuity of £100 to John Fitall, and for the security and payment of which I mean stock to remain in this country, to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. I think it proper here to state, that all the money which will be standing in the French five per cents. at my death in the names of the father of my above mentioned nephew, Henry James Hungerford, and all that in my name, is the property of my said nephew, being what he inherited from his father, or what I have laid up for him from the savings upon his income. JAMES SMITHSON. [L. S.] |