| RefNo | MDA/C/2/1 |
| AltRefNo | Fu/Br/1 |
| Previous numbers | C.1.1 |
| Level | File |
| Title | Correspondence and papers relating to the Browne Fund |
| Date | 1937-1939 |
| Description | Correspondence relating to the Royal Society's establishment of the Browne Fund, for marine expeditions or marine research work, with legal documents, including an epitome of the will of E.T. Browne.
Correspondents include Sir Henry Lyons; Stanley Wells Kemp - an executor of the will; Hardisty, Rhodes & Lindner solicitors; J Griffiths Davies; J & A Scrimgeour, stockbrokers; W B Keen & Company, chartered accountants; M G Hare for the Treasury Solicitor.
Includes discussion of: the disposal of Browne's personal effects which presented difficulties due to his intention, which was not fulfilled, to compile a list of those to whom he wished to give his possessions; the need for an accountants' assistance in view of the size of Browne's estate; the request of the excecutors to be given permission to purchase items of furniture at Probate valuation prior to any sale; the period of notice to be given to staff at Browne's house in Anglefield, Berkhamsted and how to respond to existing offers to purchase the estate's property; arrangements for accommodating the bequest of Browne's scientific books, instruments and apparatus in a research room at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, to be renamed the Browne Memorial Room, with negotiations between Kempe and the Society for the purchase and use of the oak furniture from Browne's laboratory; the insistence of Miss Sprague, Anglefield's housekeeper, that a skeleton staff would be insufficient due to the size of the house and the demands of Legatees staying whilst selecting items to which they are entitled in the will; consideration with the Society's solicitors and stock brokers of what securities should be used to provide the fund, with a list of trustees securities; settling the dispute concerning bequest of £1000 to the Society for the Preservation of Rural Oxford, claimed by both the Council for Preservation of Rural England and the Oxford Preservation Trust, with the Royal Society formally waiving all claims to allow the organisations to share the bequest.
In addition to the summary will, documents include: Kenneth Elphinstone's instructions to Counsel concerning the trusts of Browne's will (14 November 1938), and opinions concerning Browne's will (21 November 1938) and a disputed bequest of £1000 to the Society for the Preservation of Rural Oxford. |
| Extent | 1 folder |
| Format | Typescript |
| Typescript copy |
| Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | On paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA6939 | Lyons; Sir; Henry George (1864 - 1944); geologist and museum director | 1864 - 1944 |
| NA7262 | Kemp; Stanley Wells (1882 - 1945) | 1882 - 1945 |