Thursday 21 February 2019

10. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Wiltshire: 1937 and 1938

I have not been able to find anything about Patrick's move from Barnes, but by mid-March 1937 he was Rector of the village of Winterslow, near Salisbury.  Perhaps it was intended to be a quieter parish and a slower way of life, after many years in busy or challenging ministries.

It was in the Winterslow Rectory, on 18 March 1937, that Annabel signed her Will.  She left everything to her husband and appointed him sole Executor – a very simple Will but, most unusually, it was handwritten.  It does not appear to have been written by Annabel, but I can't discount the possibility that it is in Patrick's handwriting.  This suggests to me that, when Annabel was persuaded of the need to make a Will, they simply copied the terms of someone else's – perhaps Patrick's own Will.  The appropriate gap was left for the date to be inserted, and this has been done in a darker ink.  It is properly witnessed by retired schoolmaster and local JP, Henry T Witt, and by T Cottrell, the Rectory chauffeur.

Annabel died a few months later, on 5 November 1937, at the West London Hospital.  She was 69 years old, and the cause of death was 1(a) sarcoma of uterus with (b) multiple secondaries.  A funeral service was held at Barnes Parish church which was, the West London Observer reported, "attended by a large number of prominent local people."

Patrick took out Probate of her Will, the net value of her estate being £3,098 17s 8d.  He did not survive her long.  He died a year later, on 8 December 1938, at St Luke's Hostel, Fitzroy Square, a nursing home for clergy.  His sister Bessie was his Executrix.  Interestingly, the gross value of his estate according to the National Probate Calendar index, was £1,028 8s 10d, some £2,000 less than the value of Annabel's estate.  Perhaps this generous man had made more gifts and donations during the last year of his life.



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