| Brother of James Eckford |
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Robert Eckford was the brother of James Eckford, and so the uncle of George Henry Eckford. Probate
LawsuitFrom Legal Notes about Haldane v. Eckford: "A testator [Robert Eckford ]by certain codicils to his will directed his trustees to accumulate the income of certain parts of his estate until the value of the accumulations amounted to £8000 or upwards and then to invest the accumulations in the purchase of land in Scotland to be settled under the fetters of a strict entail. Further accumulations were to be made until a figure of £8000 was again reached when a similar investment in and settlement of land in Scotland was to be made and the process was to be repeated until 31 December 1956 when the fund itself was to be invested in land in Scotland and settled under the fetters of a strict entail." The probate (see above) was proved in 1865, and the executors included Alexander Haldane and William James Eckford. Alexander Haldane was the brother of Robert's brother's wife (and in fact, also the brother of Robert's nephew's wife!) - see James Eckford and George Eckford. Alexander Haldane was also a barrister - see Wikipedia's article about Alexander Haldane. William James Eckford was the grandson of Robert Eckford. Lawsuit Haldane v. Eckford says Robert's "residence in Jersey attracted other members of his family to the island, and, in particular, his brother, General Eckford and his family; his sister, Mrs. Simpson, and her daughter; a nephew, and two grandsons, William James and Robert Eckford, whom the testator treated as his own children, making, and speaking of, his house as their home, and inducing them on his account to live in Jersey." In 1867, Robert's brother, General James Eckford also died in Jersey. This is described by the letters of Andrew Geddes, the husband of Robert's neice: "We saw the deaths of Emy's Grand-father, old General Eckford, at Jersey in last telegram. ... There is a great law suit going on relative to a lot of money left by his brother (Mr Eckford's uncle) the other day. I wish some legal puff of wind would blow it to Mr Eckford's way. It would be fine thing for him, something like £200,000 I believe." "Emy expects her papa and mama down soon to stay till we sail... They are in expectation of a decision in the Court of Chancery about the end of the year which if favourable will give Mr E. £10,000 - from the estate of his late uncle who died in Jersey some time ago. I hope they come in for it." The Lawsuit Haldane v. Eckford describes the judgement - it seems that George Eckford didn't get his money! It seems that this lawsuit was brought by Alexander Haldane, presumably on behalf of his brother-in-law George Eckford, but possibly on behalf of the sister of Robert Eckford as well (Mrs Simpson). It seems that Alexander Haldane wished to set aside the codicils about the acumulating fund. The grandson naturally wished the codicils to stand. The accumulating fund was illegal if Robert was domiciled in Scotland, but acceptable if he was domiciled in Jersey. He was certainly living in Jersey at the time of his death, but was this a permanent or temporary home? The lawsuit judgement (see above) goes into the matter in some detail, but ends by deciding that Robert was domiciled in jersey, so the accumulating fund was acceptable (although the judge does add, rather acidly I think, that "the soundness of that advice [the lawyer who advised Robert to set up this fund], in point of law, is not a matter for me to determine". The fund continued to cause trouble. There are various references here: Legal Notes about Haldane v. Eckford. © Jo Edkins 2022 - Return to Eckford index |
