Maria West Adds a Codicil

When Maria added a codicil to her will shortly before her death in 1846, she chose, for whatever reason, to remove George Wombwell senior as her executor, and made a number of other alterations in her dispensations. 

Maria may have had sound reasons for this. George senior was not getting any younger, and was still living an itinerant life on the road. Furthermore, both her daughters were now married, and the family was by in possession of a very reasonable independent income from their lands in County Down, Ireland. In this context, who was there left who would want to take on the all the highly demanding animal husbandry responsibilities generated by the Wombwell menagerie?   

In an abrupt turn-around, Maria decided to pass on many of the items in the livery stable business, such as the harnesses Hetty Jane Owen's direct ancestors with the menagerie business.and saddles, to John Webster, the proprietor of the Red Lion public house nearby. And that was the end of the involvement of Hetty Jane Owen's direct ancestors with the menagerie business.  

The Red  Lion