A YEAR'S' WILLS IN ENGLAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume X, Issue 491, 28 December 1861, Page 4

A YEAR'S' WILLS IN ENGLAND.

[From the Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 12. J A calendar of the wills and administrations of the year 1858— dating from the 10th of January — has just been published, and.the Registrar- General has made some interesting calculations. founded upon it, making an estimate for the omitted ten days, so as to complete the year. 210,972 adults died in the twelvemonth, and 30,823, persons left, personal pro- | perty behind them ; 21,653 had mad#_ their wills ; the other 9,170 had made none, and letters of administration had to be taken out. 89 persons with more than £10,000 (one worth above £100,000) died without making a will. The aggregate amount of property left by all these persons is estimated at £71,860,792, averaging £2,331 each.. Distinguishing between the men and the women, we find that 102,049 adult men died in the year, and 21,454 left personal property— for .one who left any, four leaving none ; 108,923 adult women died, and 9,369 left personal property. The average amount left by the men was £2,751 ; by the women £1,371. Omitting now any estimate for the first ten days of the year, and dealing only with the actual wills and administrations of the rest of the twelvemonth, the personal property of those who died leaving any, 29,979 in number, amounted to £69,893,380, of which £57,396,350 was left by the men, and £12,497,030 by women. The stream of wealth flowed thus :— Persons. Dying worth. Left. 22,513. .Le5s than £1,000 £5,762,880 I 6,277.. £1,000, but less than £10,000 £20,010,500 1,020.. £10,000, " " £50,000 ..21, 960,000 102. .£50,000, " " £100,000.. 7,100,000 67.. Above 100,000.. 15,060,000 29,979 £69,893,380 Only one property was sworn so high as £900,000 and under £1,000,000; 1,935 were under £20. The property divides nearly equally at £20,000. About £35,000,000 belonged to 29,392 persons, none, having more than £20,000, and the other £35,000,000 belonged to 587 persons, fifty limes fewer than the former company. Of those who left above £loo,ooo, 37 were described as esquires, a term which would include men who. had made their fortunes by trade or commerce; ten were titled personages, five were bankers, four merchants, three clergyman, one cotton manufacturer, one corn merchant, one hotel keeper ; one was in the navy, one in the Indian army, one in the Indian-Civil service, one was a spinster. Three medical men left more than £50,000. A person describe when he made his will as a commercial clerk had above j£30,000 ; 17 "labourers and mechanics" above, £1,000. Of 75 lawyers 15 died without making their wills. The foiegoing statements, f which must be taken as approximations rather than absolute accuracy, re late to England alone. In the year ending March 31, 1859, legacy duty was paid in the United Kingdom on £65,441,611, but that does not include property passing from husband to wife, or the converse, no legacy duty being then payable ; succession duty on real property was paid upon £29,242,630, and estimating that to he taxed to the next successor at half its saleable value, it will amount to £58,485,260. On this assumption £123,926,871 passed by death to another generation of successors. It is certainly a remarkable fact that (upon an aye. rage) on every death, including alike men, women, and children, more than £100 of property paying legacy duty, and perhaps £187, of property of every | kind, is left for the benefit of successors jnthe Unit, ed Kingdom.