Henry Neville Will (1615)

Topic: Henry Neville Will (1615)

Overview

This packet controls the located probate witness for Sir Henry Neville's will. It should now be cited whenever the book or topic corpus discusses Neville's death, estate circle, executors, debts, legacies, children, household goods, or reported references to Robert Killigrew.

The will has been located locally as a National Archives probate PDF, PROB 11/126/63. It is the registered PCC copy. It is image-only: automated text extraction returns only the TNA reference and copyright notice. A refined v3 working transcription is now available locally and supersedes the rough AI v1 transcription and earlier clean draft for ordinary topic use.

ODNB also cites an original-will packet, TNA PROB 10/323, unnumbered. TNA Discovery exposes PROB 10/323 only at bundle level as July-August 1615 proved wills, surnames A-W, so the Neville original still needs to be found within that bundle before it can be collated against the register and IPM.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• A local copy of Sir Henry Neville's probate will is now filed at:
• [local source path removed]

• The same file was located on the external drive at:
• [local source path removed]
• [local source path removed]

• The PDF metadata and rendered page headers identify the National Archives reference as:

PROB 11/126/63

• TNA Discovery identifies the registered copy as:

PROB 11/126/63, Will of Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere, Berkshire, 24 July 1615

• Greengrass's ODNB source list additionally cites the original will as:

PROB 10/323, unnumbered

• TNA Discovery identifies PROB 10/323 at bundle level as:

Wills proved during July 1615, surnames A-W. Wills proved during August 1615, surnames A-W

• The PDF has two image pages. pdftotext does not extract the will body; it returns only the TNA reference/copyright layer.

• The current preferred working transcription is:
• [local source path removed]

• An earlier clean working transcription remains for comparison at:
• [local source path removed]

• An earlier rough AI working transcription also exists, but it has inferior readings and should be treated as superseded:
• [local source path removed]

• Visual inspection confirms that page 1 is the will of Sir Henry Neville. The opening begins:

“In dei nomine amen ... I Sr Henry Nevill knight ...”

• The v3 transcription reads the executor clause as:

“and constitute my sayed wife and the sayed Sr Henry Savill Executors of this my last will”

• The v3 transcription reads the witnesses as:

“H. Savill. Edward Nevill. Willm Simonson William Hamond.”

• The v3 transcription reads Robert Killigrew as appearing in the bequest section as one of Neville's "very good friends," receiving a piece of plate. It does not read Robert Killigrew as an executor:

“freindes Sr Robert Killigrewe and Sr William Burlace to eache of them a peece / of plate of tenne poundes.”

• The v3 transcription identifies the two executors named in the will as Anne Neville and Sir Henry Savile, and the probate act states that they renounced execution. Administration issued to Henry Neville, natural and lawful son of the deceased:

“D[omi]na Anna Relicta dicti defuncti et Henricus Savill miles executores in dicto Testam[en]to / nominat[i] oneri executionis eiusdem Testamenti expresse renuntiaverunt”

• The will states that Neville made provision during "the tyme of my healthe and perfect strengthe of my memorye." It concerns, among other matters, payment of debts, maintenance and advancement of younger sons and daughters, household goods, servants, friends, and family bequests.

• This will is distinct from the 1615 inquisition post mortem. The inquisition independently states that Henry Neville made a written will on:

“nono die Julij”

• The inquisition also states that executors or administrators were to hold listed properties:

“pro et duran termio viginti et unius annor”

• The stated purpose in the inquisition is:

“ad et pro solucoe debitor suor et performacoe legacor suor et educacoe liberor suor”

• Source-control update, 2026-05-27: a redone transcription of the inquisition restores the English will recital on C 142/356/123/005. That IPM recital is not identical to the located probate-register will. It says the will was made on 9 July 1615, requests burial in Wargrave parish church, and names Dame Anne Neville, Sir Henry Savile, Sir John Bourchier of London, and Thomas Windebank as executors or estate actors who took on the burden of execution.

• The probate-register v3 transcription instead dates the will to the last day of April 1615, requests burial in Laurence Waltham church, names Anne Neville and Sir Henry Savile as executors, and records their renunciation with administration granted to Henry Neville the son.

• Controlled conclusion: the IPM and probate register agree on the broad estate mechanism: debts, legacies, children, and pre-existing trust/conveyance arrangements. They currently disagree on date, burial place, and executor list. Book prose should not choose one silently until C 142/356/123/005 and PROB 11/126/63 have been audited together.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• Ken Feinstein's preserved Killigrew/Holinshed blog states that Robert Killigrew was closely connected to Henry Neville and that Neville explicitly mentions Robert Killigrew in his will.

• That claim is now supported in a narrower form by the v3 transcription: Robert Killigrew is mentioned in the will as a friend and plate-bequest recipient. The stronger "executor" formulation should not be used.

• Current controlled phrasing:

Ken Feinstein's preserved blog reports that Robert Killigrew is explicitly mentioned in Henry Neville's will; the probate witness PROB 11/126/63 has now been located, and the v3 transcription reads Robert Killigrew as a plate-bequest recipient among Neville's "very good friends," not as executor.

3. Quoted Source Text

Will PDF / Visual Inspection

• “In dei nomine amen ... I Sr Henry Nevill knight ...”
• “freindes Sr Robert Killigrewe and Sr William Burlace to eache of them a peece / of plate of tenne poundes.”
• “and constitute my sayed wife and the sayed Sr Henry Savill Executors of this my last will”
• “H. Savill. Edward Nevill. / Willm Simonson William Hamond.”
• “D[omi]na Anna Relicta dicti defuncti et Henricus Savill miles executores in dicto Testam[en]to / nominat[i] oneri executionis eiusdem Testamenti expresse renuntiaverunt.”

Inquisition Cross-Witness

• “nono die Julij”
• “pro et duran termio viginti et unius annor”
• “ad et pro solucoe debitor suor et performacoe legacor suor et educacoe liberor suor”
• “my body I commit to the earth to be buried in the parish church of Wargrave”
• “my lovinge wiffe Dame Anne Nevill ... Sir Henry Savile ... Sir John Bourchier ... Thomas Windebanke”
• “tooke upon them the burthen of the execution”

4. Evidence Images

5. Citations

• Neville, Sir Henry. Will. Prerogative Court of Canterbury. The National Archives, PROB 11/126/63. Local PDF: [local source path removed].

• TNA Discovery, PROB 11/126/63, Will of Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere, Berkshire: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D906720.

• TNA Discovery, PROB 10/323, July-August 1615 proved-will bundle, cited by ODNB as the unnumbered original will packet: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5475786.

• ODNB source-list crosswalk note: odnb_source_list_crosswalk_2026_06_04.md.

• Local source-control note: [local source path removed].

• Preferred v3 working transcription: [local source path removed].

• Earlier clean working transcription: [local source path removed].

• Superseded rough AI transcription: [local source path removed].

• Inquisition Post Mortem for Sir Henry Neville. The National Archives, C 142/356/123. Local topic: neville_inquisition_1615.md.

• Redone inquisition transcription, C 142/356/123/005, added 2026-05-27: C_142_356_123_005.md.

• Feinstein, Ken. "William Killigrew's Holinshed's Chronicles, Henry Neville, and Shakespeare?" kenfeinstein.blogspot.com, 26 June 2019. Local preservation: [local source path removed].

6. Notes on Access

• The will is now local and does not require Gmail lookup for ordinary project use.

• The local PDF is a TNA image witness for the registered copy, not a machine-readable transcription and not yet the original will packet.

• The v3 transcription includes an Anne Crowche will beginning after Neville's Latin probate act. That is a separate register entry and should not be treated as part of Neville's will.

• Remaining hardening work:
• audit the v3 transcription against the images line by line
• retrieve or browse PROB 10/323 for the unnumbered original will cited by ODNB
• reconcile the probate-register will with the redone inquisition will recital, especially date, burial place, executor list, and renunciation/execution language
• extract all Neville beneficiaries into genealogy/person-control packets
• correct any book prose that calls Robert Killigrew an executor
• reconcile the will's granddaughter language with the Neville children and grandchildren packets

• Until the final image audit is complete, cite this as a strong working transcription rather than a final diplomatic edition.

Third-Batch Fact-Source Update, 2026-06-24

• The will packet needs archival reconciliation rather than more web discovery. The highest-value next source remains PROB 10/323, the unnumbered original will cited by ODNB, alongside the probate-register and redone inquisition witnesses.
• Keep the executor/renunciation language unresolved until the register, IPM recital, and original will are compared line by line.
• Book use: cite the current transcription as a strong working transcription only. Do not call Robert Killigrew an executor unless the final source audit supports it.