Genealogy Chat

My gg-grandfather made a will in 1892 leaving everything to his wife (all property both real and personal).
The other bit of paper says his widow in 1919 is the only person named in the will and the gross value is 300pounds - no mention if that 300pounds is cash,value of goods or real estate etc...

If part of the value of the 300pounds had been a property would it have ben specified? Because it looks like they lived in the same place for 30 years (111 Clarendon St Notting Hill - Richard and Emma DONALD)

The real &personal property would mean ,,,
Real all contained in the house such as furniture etc,,personal would mean all his personal effects,rings.paintings shares,,, etc,,,,

Property value I would think in 1892 would have been greater excluding .... household& personal effects included .. more than £300. alone..

Ad-on,,Property even greater value in 1919,,,than a shared combined of £300..

It is unlikely that he owned a dwelling. The Law Of Property Act which enabled the purchase of land as we know it today, was not enacted until 1925.

However, in London then as now it was rare to be able to buy the freehold. Most properties are held on a lease.

Elsewhere in the country, ownership did not really start until the 1950's

1950s Peter?
There were alot of homeowners before that surely?
My parents bought in 1936 on what was a new estate of mostly bungalows.

Gwyn

Yes, there were but they were in the minority.

My ancestor owned houses all over south London back in 1870 right through to 1900ish so it did happen. I have the original paperwork which was passed down to me.

Thanks everybody, so I'll assume the house was leased.
Bit disappointed he willed it all to his missus, was hoping to glean more information from it than that.

Even if the property was bought on leasehold, the house would have 'belonged' to the family for as long as the lease lasted.
My g g grandfather bought a house in Southampton (leasehold from the church) in 1840. The house remined in the family for a further 99 years, being passed on to my g grandfather and then my grandfather. Ownership suddenly came to an end when the house was bombed in 1939, it was deemed uninhabitable. Grandad was given £6 compensation, the family evacuated to the New Forest and the church then rented the house out to other families 'bombed out' during the war!!

G g grandad wasn't a wealthy man either, he was a mariner!

maggie

For anyone interested in the statistics:-

In 1914, about 10% of people owned their own home, with the remaining 90% renting from private landlords. There were very few council owned properties..

By 1950, the number of owner occupiers had risen to about 30% with a further 20% now in council owned properties.

By 2000, almost 70% of people owned their own home, Council house occupation had fallen slightly from 1950 figures to less than 20%, having peaked at at around 35% in the 1970's.Only around 10% now rent from private landlords, with housing associations providing the remainder of housing stock.

Long lease properties, as found in and around London are included in the owner occupier figures.