William Jennens

William Jennens (or Jennings) was a bachelor and a miser. He was born in 1701 and was a godson of William III. As a youth he was a page of King George I.

He was excessively rich but spent little of his money. Although the family apartments at Acton Place were furnished before his father's death, William lived in three poorly furnished rooms in the basement.

He frequented gaming houses in London, but not as a gambler. He would lend money to the unlucky for the evening. It is said that for every £1,000 he advanced at night he received 1,000 guineas (£1,050) in the morning. To enable him to pursue this profitable business he purchased a house in Grosvenor Square, London, where he occasionally lived up until his death.

On leaving either his town or country house, he personally drew up a list of articles left behind, including the tiniest ornament, and noted the exact position of each item in the house. On his return he would carefully check the list to see that everything was still there and nothing had been moved.

One thing in his favour was that he never oppressed his tenants. Although he would never assist them in any way, he never once increased their rents from the time he inherited the estate from his father, nor did he press them for payment if they were not punctual.

In fact, he took little interest in the estate or his fortune at all. For the last 20 years of his life he was losing up to £2,000 a year by the large sums of money he kept employed at his bankers.

At her death in 1761, his mother, Anne, left a large chest containing her family plate and other valuables. William never even opened it.

After his death, a search of the house revealed a chest containing £19,000 in bank notes and several thousand new guineas. He is reported to have always kept £50,000 at his bank for emergencies.

William Jennens died on 19th June 1798, aged 97, without leaving a will. At his death he was said to be the "richest commoner" in the UK and it was estimated that his estate amounted to almost £2 million.

Because of his immense wealth, many members of his family immediately put forward claims to his estate. Up to 1879, 80 years after his death, there had been seventeen claims put before the Courts and other claimants are still coming forward!