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shall please myn Executrix./ Item I bequeathe unto saynt Andrewys churche in Welle xiid./ Item I bequeathe and give unto the parishe churche of Ilemynster vis. viii d. And to the crosse store of the same Churche iii s. iiii d. Item I give unto Sr. Poole for tithes forgotten iii s. iiii d/ Item I give and bequeathe unto my doughter Anne besides her purchase with her owne goodes xiii li. vi s. viii d. to be delyvered at her mariage/ Item I give and bequeathe unto my doughters Alice and Agnes beside their purchase and with their owne goodes, and to every of theym Tenne pounde to be delyvered at their mariage/ Item I give and bequeathe unto my sonne John beside his owne purchase and with his owne goodes Tenne poundes to be delyvered at his mariage./ Item I give and bequeathe unto my sonnes Thomas and Anthonye to euery of theym Tenne pounde./ And if it happen any of myn Elder Children to dye afore the daye of their mariage, That then I will that his parte so dyinge shall remayne unto Agnes Thomas and Anthonye/ And to the longest Lyver of theym three/ And yf it happen any of the three yonger Chyldren to dye afore their mariage that then I will his or theyr parte so dying shall remayne to myne Executrix/ and she to dispose the same as she thynkith best/ Item I give and bequeathe to my sonne George Balche myn heyre my Baye gelding in Donyett Parke/ The residue of my goodes not bequeathed my debte paide and all my will fulfillyd/ I frely give yt unto Isabell Balche my wief whome I make my whole Executrix./ And she to dispose of the same for the welth of my soule as she thynketh best And for the performance of this my will in eury poynt/ I make my ouerseers John Walys and Willyam Balche and they to do the same when nede shall requyre."

This will was thus endorsed at the time it was

proved:

"Probatum fuit supa scriptu testm coram dno Cant Archiepo apud London Secundo die mens Septembris Anno dni Millimo quingentesimo quiquagesimo secundo/ Juramento Chroferi Robynson procur Executrice in hmoi testameto noiat Ac Approbatu et insinuatu. Et comissa fuit Admistraco oim bonor tc dci defuncti prefat exi/ De bene et fidetir Admistrand eadem Ac de pleno Inuentario tc exhibend/ Ad sancta dei Euangelia in debita forma Jurat."

John Balche learnt the profession of arms in the service of Sir Nicholas Wadham of Muryfield, County Somerset.35

In May, 1550, he was named as the first of the original seventeen trustees of the famous Ilmin

*

35 EXTRACT FROM THE WILL OF SIR NICHOLAS WADHAM, KNIGHT. "25 November 1539. I, Nicholas Wadham of Muryfelde in Co. Somerset, Knight. * * * Also I will that Roger Fauntleroy, William Beoyn, John Balche, & Anthony Bolleyn my servants have every of them £3. 6. 8 above their wages yf they contynue in my service during my lyfe. Also I will that every other gentilman being in my service the tyme of my deceas have every of them above their wages 40 s."

Proved 31 January, 1542. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 15 Spert.

Sir Nicholas Wadham was a great grandson of Sir John Wadham, Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Richard the Second. In the temps of Henry the Eight, Sir Nicholas was an important personage. For in 1509 he was Captain of the Isle of Wight, and Vice-Admiral to Lord Surrey. In 1524 he obtained a license to make a park at Merifield of two hundred acres of pasture and forty acres of woodlands. In 1530 he was appointed a commissioner to enquire into Cardinal Woolsey's estates. He died in 1542, having married four times. His second wife was Margaret Seymour, aunt of Jane Seymour, one of the Queens of Henry the Eight. A grandson of Sir Nicholas Wadham and Margaret Seymour, Nicholas Wadham, born in 1532, and his wife, founded Wadham College, Oxford.

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