Mystery beneficiaries from will, 141 years on...

Friday 05 December 2014

Some people could get a welcome Christmas surprise in the next few weeks – a share of a £232,400 inheritance from a relative they have probably never heard of who died 141 years ago.

The Royal Court has just issued a judgment in the bizarre case of the will of Edward Hamilton Stirling (1797-1873), who served as Collector of Taxes in Agra in the Indian Civil Service, and who was the first European explorer of his generation to return alive from northern Afghanistan.

Although he died when Queen Victoria was on the throne and while Jesse James was still robbing trains in the old west, a dispute over some land that Stirling owned in Australia which has been compulsorily purchased by the Northern Territories had held up proceedings.

Stirling moved to Jersey at the age of 56, and built “Stirling Castle” on Mont Neron in St Helier. He soon married a woman called Anna Glascock but the couple separated within a year, and he lived until 1873 and died in Jersey, where his wills were recorded.

At that point the story went quiet for around 141 years, until last Friday, when a judgment was issued on a representation made to the Royal Court in respect of the will.

Michelle Leverington, Head of Probate & Wills at Hanson Renouf, said: “I had thought that an un-administered estate from the 1960’s which I dealt with recently was an old matter, until I read this case, 141 years after the death of the testator.”