hold goods, and household furniture, horses, carts and carriages, with the harness and tackling thereunto belonging, not hereinbefore otherwise bequeathed or disposed of (and subject to my wife’s having the use and enjoyment of such parts thereof as are hereinbefore specified, for the space of one year after my decease).”
Mr John Portal possessed the mills for fifty-five years, that is to say, until his death in 1848. He had succeeded to Laverstoke and Ash in 1846, on the death of his good and learned brother William, but he did not change his designation ; he made his will on 27th January 1848 as “John Portal of Freefolk Priors, in the County of Southampton, Esquire.” In 1843 he had taken power to bequeath the mills to whomsoever he pleased for the term of eighty years after the day of his decease. In the requisite parchment or indenture the mill property had been thus described:—
“All those Paper Mills called Laverstock Mills with the dwelling houses, cottages, gardens, yards, outlets, warehouses, drying rooms, and other buildings to the same belonging, together with all the millheads and the piece of ground lying between the two millheads, and the entire use of the rivers and streams of water for working the said mills — all which mills, dwelling houses, cottages, and premises contain 3 acres, 1 rood, and 18 perches, and are situated in the parish of Laverstock, on the north side of the turnpike road leading from Basingstoke to Andover. And also those several cottages or tenements, and gardens or plots of ground thereunto belonging, situate on the south side of the said turnpike road and immediately opposite the said mills and dwelling houses, containing together 3 roods and 24 perches, and then and now occupied by the workmen employed at the said mills, and lying in the respective parishes of Laverstock and Syfreewast.”
His Will accordingly declares:—
“Now I the said John Portal do by this my Will direct, limit, and appoint, give and devise all and singular the said mills called Laverstock Mills, &c, unto and to the use of my son Wyndham Spencer Portal, his executors, administrators, and assigns for the term of 80 years, to commence and be computed from the day of my decease [7 May 1848]. . . . I bequeath to my said son all that my business of a Paper-Maker by me carried on upon the said premises, and the good-will thereof, with all fixtures, machinery, articles, stock, and implements by me used and employed therein. I bequeath unto my said son all debts due and owing to me at the time of my decease from the Bank of England, or any person or persons whomsoever for or in respect of the said business of a paper manufacturer, subject to his paying thereout all debts whatsoever which shall be due and owing from me for or in respect of the same business.”
Under Mr. Wyndham Spencer Portal, the manufacture of the bank-note paper with the new water mark began, and the mills have been remodelled and enlarged in the most admirable manner, the only monument of refugee days, except the surname of Portal having been pictured thus:—
“The artizans and work-people live in neat and picturesque cottages adjoining the premises, and are occupants of the same dwellings formerly tenanted by their great-grand-fathers.”
This quotation is from the Illustrated London News; and from the Numbers of that journal for 30th December 1854 and 6th January 1855, I condense the following description:—
