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Image of document - N.B. poor quality scan
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Wills and inventories are a fertile source for local history research.
However, they sometimes contain problems as well as items of interest. If we take the
Bidford-on-Avon example, there are several questions. John Bushell is described by the
appraisers as a 'yeoman'. The total of his goods they make out to be £60.6 .0: we would
have expected it to be more. This total would have fitted a 'husbandman' One of the
appraisers seems to be a relation, so, maybe, John's status is being raised. whatever John
was, it is surprising that none of his farming equipment, beasts or crops is mentioned:
there must have been some. An obvious explanation is that he had given them away to his
family; perhaps he was an invalid or very old and had ceased to have a hand in running the
farm. £60 without farming stock is a reasonable amount for his house contents, although
the feeling arises that not all the house rooms are mentioned: perhaps he had already
given away their contents, too. if these thoughts are right, it is possible that his
possessions before his death totalled considerably more than £60 and that he was, indeed,
a 'yeoman'.
One wonders how many people died of lead poisoning in the early part of the l8th century: the dozen pewter dishes would be in frequent use. John Bushell also lay in what we would call a 'four-poster' bed and apparently did his own brewing.
The date 1723/2 is interesting. It was not until 1752 that the year began officially on January 1st. But the public anticipated the change. Bushell died in January or February 1722 according to the calendar then in use but in 1723 in popular usage
© Alcester & District Local History Society 1991