Mary Foale Morry, widow of Dartmouth, Devon. Probate inventory, or declaration, of the estate of the same, deceased.
Exhibit: 1809/280. Granted on, or about, 20^th March 1809.
Prerogative Court of Canterbury Collection
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England.
[John Morry died in 1806 and his will was probated on June 15, 1807 with administration being granted to his wife and sole executrix, Mary Foale (Luke) Morry. However, John had many diverse business dealings, and it appears that before his esate matters could be settled, Mary herself passed away, less than two years later. She left behind their orphan son, John Morry, Jr., whose guardianship was legally signed over to his grandfather, Matthew Morry. Matthew Morry was a merchant of Dartmouth and Newfoundland. His Newfoundland fishing enterprise was headquartered at Caplin Bay (Calvert), where he later settled. It appears that Mary died without a will (intestate) and John Jr. (by default) became the beneficiary of his parent's estates. Since John was a minor, Matthew Morry, as his legal guardian, subsequently applied on his behalf for administration of both estates, with the settled proceeds to be held "in trust" by him for John's use until he reached the age of twenty-one.
We don't know the full value of the estates, but we can see from the declaration that in addition to the usual day to day possessions, John's estate held some Bank of England saving instruments totalling close to 1500 pounds. Chris Morry noted in his research of John:
"John Morry, though an adventurer in his daily life, making his fortune as a privateer, was nonetheless cautious with the investment of his prize money and converted it into these stable and secure government bonds, even though they realised a rather modest return of only 3%. The early 1800s in Britain was a period of rampant inflation with many day to day goods increasing in price by double digit percentage values. The fact that 3% government bonds were still being issued for 100 years from their initial release in 1780 is a testament to the fact that such brief periods of inflation were offset by many decades when the inflation rate was essentially zero (although some annual issues did pay out 4% to attract investment in the years of higher inflation). Thus an annuity of this kind, if held onto for a lifetime, as was their intent, would ultimately reward the holder with reasonable protection against inflation and even a small return on capital".
The transcribed document below is not an actual will, but a summary of what Matthew Morry believed to have been the status of the unsettled estate of his son John, and the perceived holdings and entitlements of his daughter-in-law Mary's estate at the time of her death.]

In the Goods of Mary Foale Morry     }
late of Dartmouth in the County of        }
Devon Widow deceased ......    }
Legal Seal
(B Crown C)
(TWO SHILLs)
(PrQUIRE)
A Declaration instead of a true full plain perfect and
particular Inventory of all and singular the Goods,
Chattels and Credits of Mary Foale Morry late of
Dartmouth in the County of Devon aforesaid deceased
made and given in by Virtue of the corporal Oath of
Matthew Morry the Grandfather and Curator or
Guardian lawfully assigned to John Morry a
Minor the natural lawful and only Child of the
said deceased and Administrator of the ^{said Goods}
Chattels and Credits for the Use and benefit of
the said Minor during his Minority and until
he shall attain the Age of Twenty one Years follows
to wit.
First, This Declarant declared that the deceased was at the Time of
her Death well entitled to the Capital Sum of One Thousand
Four Hundred & Ninety Eight Pounds Sixteen Shillings and
Nine Pence Stock three PCent. consolidated Annuities left her
in and by the last Will and Testament of John Morry her late
deceased Husband which was never transferred and is now
remaining in his Name in the Books of the Governor and
Company of the Bank of England.
Also the Deceased was possessed of various Articles of
Household Goods and Furniture together with trifling
Articles of Plate which were in her House at the Time of her
Death and worth about the Sum of Forty Two Pounds &
Ten Shillings, besides some Household Goods and Plate
which Mary Luke the Mother of the Deceased & who is
since also deceased carried away and appropriated to
her own use, as this Declarant hath heard and believes
he being then at Sea, the particulars or exact Value
of which he is unable to set forth, but believes the same
were worth about the Sum of Fifty Pounds.

Also of a Gold Watch Chain, and Seal and one Metal
Watch worth together about Twenty three Pounds.
Also the Deceased was possessed of sundry Articles
of wearing Apparel Linen and other Things which
after her Death were possessed and taken away by
her said Mother as the Declarant hath heard &
believes and appropriated to her own use.
Also this Declarant hath heard and been informed
and verily believes such Information to be true that
the Deceased Mary Foale Morry in Right of her
late deceased Husband John Morry was entitled
to certain Shares or proportions of Prize Money
for Prizes taken by the private Ship of War
Alexander of which he was Master or Commander
and payable by Mr. Joshua Rowe of Tor point
in the County of Cornwall Merchant but the Particulars
thereof or the Sum to be received he cannot set forth.
Lastly this Declarant declares that no Goods
Chattels or Credits of or belonging to the
Personal Estate of the said deceased have at
any Time either before or since the Death of
the said Deceased anyways come to his this
Declarant's Hands possession or Knowledge
Other than what are hereinbefore mentioned
and set forth.
Matthew Morry [his actual signature]
The Twentieth Day of March one ... }
Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine.  }
the said Matthew Morry was duly sworn}
to the Truth of this Declaration instead      }
of an Inventory                                         }
before me ...
John Charter Comn.

NOTES:

1/ The spelling, use of capitals, symbols, and punctuation (or lack thereof) mimics the original document as much as possible. Transcription notes are in square brackets, e.g. - [xx]. Line length is the same as in the original document. Any undecipherable or questionable words in the transcription are indicated by question marks.

2/ The double f (ff), used at the beginning of a word, was the way a capital F was written in earlier English and Colonial times.

3/ Some words in the original document may contain the 18^th century "long s". The "long s" looks much like a lower case letter f, and is frequently used in older documents. For example, a word such as "witness" looks like it is spelled as "witnefs". Words with this "long s" have been transcribed with a lower case s in this document.

4/ The "Crown" Legal Seal that was applied to the original document contains a reference to the cost of processing a document of this size and content. "Two Shill[ing]s P[e]r Quire. It seems a quire was a large sheet folded over to create four pages. The significance of the letters B and C on opposing sides of the Crown is undetermined.

5/ In regards to the Consolidated £3 Per Cent Annuities, Chris Morry's research determined that "these were first issued by the Bank of England in 1780 and were still being issued in much the same format one hundred years later in 1880 when they ceased to be issued. They can be thought of as the equivalent of Canada Savings Bonds and were initially issued to regularise the chaotic and troubled situation that pre-dated their issuance in which many investors were essentially defrauded by various banks in England by purchasing annuities of this kind only to have the bank become bankruptcy after the owners absconded with the funds. By permitting only the Bank of England to issue annuities of this kind, the risks of purchasing them were essentially eliminated because they were backed by the Crown. They benefited the Crown greatly by providing it with much needed capital.
The Annuity Museum website states:
In the years following the founding of the Bank of England, the national debt grew quite quickly. It soon became difficult to manage the confusing array of different annuities with their varying rates of interest. In 1751, Parliament passed an act which consolidated all existing British government stocks into a single issue, with a fixed interest rate of 3 percent per annum. These "Consolidated Annuities," also known as consols or perpetual bonds, had no maturity date, and instead were redeemable, on call, by the government. Regarded as a sound investment for providing income in old age, consolidated annuities, during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, made up more than half of the government's debt. As a result, these unique government-issued annuities were often used to gauge the state of national finances.