A will is a legal document by which a person expresses their wishes as to how their property is to be after they die. It is sometimes called a "last will and testament."
In 1638 John Harvard a clergyman and the teaching elder at Charlestown Church, Massachusetts died of tuberculosis. He bequeathed $3,500 together with his library of some 400 volumes to a recently founded and unnamed school in nearby Cambridge. The following year the school renamed itself Harvard College in his honor and from 1780 onwards it was referred to as Harvard University.
The original British Museum collection was 71,000 books, antiquities and natural specimens bequeathed to the nation by Sir Hans Sloane, the inventor of milk chocolate, in 1753.
The Thellusson v Woodford will case led to British legislation against the accumulation of money for later distribution. It was fictionalized as Jarndyce and Jarndyce in Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
The Nobel Prizes came about when a brother of Swedish arms manufacturer Alfred Nobel died and a French newspaper mistakenly printed Alfred's obituary under the headline: "The merchant of death is dead." Desperate to leave a positive legacy, he decided to bequeath his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.
Joseph Pulitzer was one of the most influential figures in the American journalism in the late 19th century. He left a bequest after dying in 1911 to found a journalism school at Columbia University. The Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism, was named in his honor.
All the proceeds earned from James M. Barrie's book Peter Pan were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for the Sick Children in London. Since that time, the hospital has received a royalty from every production of Peter Pan that hits the stage, in addition to sales of the book and all related products.
When Julius Caesar died, he left today's equivalent of about $270 to each and every Roman citizen.
William Shakespeare's will bequeathed most of his property to his daughter Susanna and his granddaughter. He left small mementoes to friends. He mentioned his wife only once, leaving her his "second best bed" with its furnishings.
At his death, Benjamin Franklin bequeathed £1000 (a huge amount at the time) to each of the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust for 200 years.
Robert Louis Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage in Vailima in Samoa, aged 44. In his will, he bequeathed his birthday to a little girl who had been born on Christmas Day.
Dorothy Parker, the American writer and wit, surprisingly but seriously bequeathed most of her estate to Martin Luther King.
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner tried to make sure his beneficiaries won’t blow through his money after his death. His will states that his children will be cut off “if the trustees reasonably believe that (the beneficiary) routinely or frequently uses or consumes any illegal substance".
When he died in 1987, Bob Fosse, the director behind Cabaret and Chicago, left a special gift to 66 friends in his will: £310 each to "go out and have dinner on me".
An estimated 1 million dogs in the U.S. have been named the primary beneficiary in their owner's will.
NOTABLE WILLS
In 1638 John Harvard a clergyman and the teaching elder at Charlestown Church, Massachusetts died of tuberculosis. He bequeathed $3,500 together with his library of some 400 volumes to a recently founded and unnamed school in nearby Cambridge. The following year the school renamed itself Harvard College in his honor and from 1780 onwards it was referred to as Harvard University.
The original British Museum collection was 71,000 books, antiquities and natural specimens bequeathed to the nation by Sir Hans Sloane, the inventor of milk chocolate, in 1753.
The Thellusson v Woodford will case led to British legislation against the accumulation of money for later distribution. It was fictionalized as Jarndyce and Jarndyce in Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
The Nobel Prizes came about when a brother of Swedish arms manufacturer Alfred Nobel died and a French newspaper mistakenly printed Alfred's obituary under the headline: "The merchant of death is dead." Desperate to leave a positive legacy, he decided to bequeath his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.
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| Alfred Nobel's will. |
Joseph Pulitzer was one of the most influential figures in the American journalism in the late 19th century. He left a bequest after dying in 1911 to found a journalism school at Columbia University. The Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism, was named in his honor.
All the proceeds earned from James M. Barrie's book Peter Pan were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for the Sick Children in London. Since that time, the hospital has received a royalty from every production of Peter Pan that hits the stage, in addition to sales of the book and all related products.
FAMOUS PEOPLE's WILLS
When Julius Caesar died, he left today's equivalent of about $270 to each and every Roman citizen.
William Shakespeare's will bequeathed most of his property to his daughter Susanna and his granddaughter. He left small mementoes to friends. He mentioned his wife only once, leaving her his "second best bed" with its furnishings.
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| Last page of the handwritten 1616 will of William Shakespeare |
At his death, Benjamin Franklin bequeathed £1000 (a huge amount at the time) to each of the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust for 200 years.
Robert Louis Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage in Vailima in Samoa, aged 44. In his will, he bequeathed his birthday to a little girl who had been born on Christmas Day.
Dorothy Parker, the American writer and wit, surprisingly but seriously bequeathed most of her estate to Martin Luther King.
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner tried to make sure his beneficiaries won’t blow through his money after his death. His will states that his children will be cut off “if the trustees reasonably believe that (the beneficiary) routinely or frequently uses or consumes any illegal substance".
When he died in 1987, Bob Fosse, the director behind Cabaret and Chicago, left a special gift to 66 friends in his will: £310 each to "go out and have dinner on me".
FUN WILL FACTS
An estimated 1 million dogs in the U.S. have been named the primary beneficiary in their owner's will.
The longest known legal will is that of Englishwoman Frederica Evelyn Stilwell Cook. The will was 1066 pages (95,940 words) and occupied four gilt-edged, leather-bound volumes; her estate was worth $100,000.
Bimla Rshi from India set a 1991 world record for the shortest will: ("All to son.") It was later equalled by Karl Tausch of Hesse, Germany, ("all to wife"). Both contain only two words in the language they were written in (Hindi and Czech, respectively).
When he was young, Francis Drake's father apprenticed his son to his neighbor, the master of a barque used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship master was so satisfied with Francis' conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, he bequeathed the barque to the youngster.
The 1919 will of bitter millionaire Wellington Burt stated that his riches couldn't be paid out until 21 years after his last grandkid died.
The will of Charles Vance Millar (1853–1926), a Toronto lawyer, financier, and practical joker was full of playful bequests. In it, he left three men who hated one another a join lifetime tenancy in a villa, some protestant ministers $700,000 in Catholic beer stock, and anti-horse racing advocates $25,000 in a Jockey club.
The final bequest of Millar's will was the strangest. It required that the balance of Millar's estate was to be converted to cash ten years after his death and given to whichever woman in Toronto bore the most children in the decade after his death. Four women tied at nine children and received $100,000 each.
On June 8, 1948 in Saskatchewan, Canada a farmer named Cecil George Harris was pinned under his tractor. He used his pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo Harris" onto the fender. Harris did die and the message was accepted in court. It has served as a precedent ever since for cases of holographic wills.
When the Polish composer and pianist Andre Tchaikowsky died in 1982, he bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company to be used as the skull of Yorick in Hamlet. The first actor to use that skull in a performance of Hamlet was David Tennant in 1988.
Bimla Rshi from India set a 1991 world record for the shortest will: ("All to son.") It was later equalled by Karl Tausch of Hesse, Germany, ("all to wife"). Both contain only two words in the language they were written in (Hindi and Czech, respectively).
When he was young, Francis Drake's father apprenticed his son to his neighbor, the master of a barque used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship master was so satisfied with Francis' conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, he bequeathed the barque to the youngster.
The 1919 will of bitter millionaire Wellington Burt stated that his riches couldn't be paid out until 21 years after his last grandkid died.
The will of Charles Vance Millar (1853–1926), a Toronto lawyer, financier, and practical joker was full of playful bequests. In it, he left three men who hated one another a join lifetime tenancy in a villa, some protestant ministers $700,000 in Catholic beer stock, and anti-horse racing advocates $25,000 in a Jockey club.
The final bequest of Millar's will was the strangest. It required that the balance of Millar's estate was to be converted to cash ten years after his death and given to whichever woman in Toronto bore the most children in the decade after his death. Four women tied at nine children and received $100,000 each.
On June 8, 1948 in Saskatchewan, Canada a farmer named Cecil George Harris was pinned under his tractor. He used his pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo Harris" onto the fender. Harris did die and the message was accepted in court. It has served as a precedent ever since for cases of holographic wills.
When the Polish composer and pianist Andre Tchaikowsky died in 1982, he bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company to be used as the skull of Yorick in Hamlet. The first actor to use that skull in a performance of Hamlet was David Tennant in 1988.
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