Wills: The Amusing and Bizarre
This post is supplied courtesy of Aedan Kiernan at aedan@reflectdigital.co.uk:
Wills are usually a pretty morbid and solemn subject and they are commonly not spoken about unless someone has passed away. Will are one of the most important documents you will ever fill out and leave behind when you pass. When you do pass it is the duties of a probate lawyers to follow your last will and testament on your behalf and help you distribute your estate. Probate lawyers like Thomson Snell and Passmore from Kent are use to a fair share of wills but we have found here some of the most will’s left behind by some famous and historical figures.
It is the duty of a probate lawyers to fulfil these last wishes of the deceased where ever possible. But sometimes these wishes cannot be carried out because there are disputes again the wills and this is known as a contentious probate and we will see some examples below.
Baur & Bowman
Fred Baur – who invented Pringles – asked for some of his body to be left in a tube of Pringles. It was buried with the rest of his body. John Bowman believed that he would be reincarnated with his family, so put $50,000 away for the maintenance of his mansion. A meal was to be cooked every day to ensure that they would have something to tuck into when they returned. This occurred until 1950 when the trust ran out of money.
Napoleon and Houdini
Meanwhile, Napoleon’s hair was shared out amongst his friends after he passed away and Harry Houdini asked his wife to hold a séance every Halloween, agreeing a word with her that he would use to prove his presence if he was able to visit her after his death. Houdini – who did not believe in séances – never appeared during one. Roman poet Virgil asked his friends to destroy his work-in-progress poem Aeneid after his death because it wasn’t complete. However, his friends begged him to remove this request from the will and it became one of the most cherished poems of all time.
Dickens and Franklin
Not all requests are honoured. Charles Dickens had asked for muted ceremony and that the details about it weren’t given to the public. However, a huge funeral took place and was a national event. Benjamin Franklin hated jewellery and called the wearing of jewels “expensive, vain and useless”. He had received a portrait of King Louis XVI which came come complete with 408 diamonds. His request was apparently prompted by a desire to prevent his daughter from removing the diamonds from the frame.
A Womanless Library
T M Zink – who apparently hated women – left $50,000 in order to create a womanless library. He hoped that the figure would have swelled to $3 million after 75 years, meaning that the library could be created. The Zink Womanless Library was to feature signs reading “No Women Admitted” and the library was to feature no artworks, books or decorations created by women. He said that his hatred for women was built on his experiences with and observations of them as well as his studies. The will was challenged by his family, who were victorious.
The Will of an Atheist
George Bernard Shaw was a renowned atheist and demanded that no religious service took place to mark his death. His will outlined his belief in the theories of Charles Darwin. Some funds he left behind were to be used to promote a new alphabet that he had designed, but a court overruled this, branding it “impossible”. Instead the funds were given to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The National Gallery of Ireland and The British Museum. A great number of famed historical figures have used wills to make strong statements about the way that they viewed the world.