William Jennens (1701–1798), also known as the 'Acton miser' and 'William the Rich', was Britain's richest man at the time of his death.[1] His estate was said to be worth over £2,000,000 though it was probably closer to £1,100,000 producing an annual income of about £40,000[1] although The Times of 20 July 1798 published a tabulated list of the late Mr Jennens worth as a capital of £432,509 and an annual interest of £119,415.[2] Jennens died without leaving a will (intestate) and the subsequent legal proceedings took 130 years without reaching a conclusion; the legal costs exhausting the Jennens inheritance in the process.[3]

Charles Dickens based the fictional Jarndyce and Jarndyce court case in his Bleak House novel on the Jennens inheritance legal proceedings; Bleak House was published in twenty instalments between 1852 and 1853.[4]

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Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ a b Polden 2003a, p. 212.
  2. ^ "Mr. JENNEN'S PROPERTY", The Times, no. 4235, p. 2 col. D, 20 July 1798 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Polden 2003a, p. 247.
  4. ^ Polden 2003a, p. 211.

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