least tribute I can pay to the Memory of a good brother and kind relative in every respect to me and my family, and will ever be remembered by me with the greatest gratitude." She then bequeathed £20 to several distant relatives and small legacies to servants of the family.) She proceeded:- "I likewise give and bequeath to my dear daughter Cordelia Murray, my gold repeating Watch, to my daughter Mary Milward my single stone Diamond Ring, and to my daughter Jane Green, my Diamond Hoop Ring, and wish I had anything more of that sort for my other two daughters, but if after the payment of the several legacies before mentioned there should be an overplus, then it is my desire that my executor hereafter named should pay to my daughter Sarah Sayer, the sum of Twenty Pound as an acknowledgement for the tender regard she has always shown me, and it is likewise my request that my Grandson, Edward Milward, Junior, may have my dear Husband's Gold Watch now lying in my Closet. And Whereas my daughter Henrietta has advanced some money towards the repair of the Swan Inn in Hastings, which was at that time my property, my will and desire is she be paid by my Executor out of the arrears of rent as shall be due to me at the time of my death.
I also give and bequeath unto ten poor widows of each Parish of St. Clement and All Saints, Hastings, the sum of ten shillings a-piece to be given to such women as my Daughters shall think proper." Mrs. Collier gave the residue of her personal estate to her five daughters equally, and appointed John Cranston executor. (It appears from a Memorandum at the foot of the probate copy that Mr. Hall, Mr. William Cranston's former Clerk, had made an affidavit that the Will was throughout in Mrs. Collier's own handwriting.)
Hastings as a Health Resort.
11th September, 1768 -- General Murray, from Battle, to Mr. John Cranson. (It appears from this letter that it was in contemplation for General and Mrs. Murray to take the Mansion House now Old Hastings House paying the other daughters for their shares, but that General Murray had now a project of selling the stables, with "the little low garden adjoining," for £1,200. He says : " I am offered a thousand for them, and as the purchasers are a set of Gentlemen who have entered into a Subscription to make Hastings a Bathing Place, and think the Stables necessary for an Assembly Room, etc., I have little doubt of getting the sum I ask." The project came to nothing, but the fact that it was formed shows that Hastings was in 1768 beginning to be thought of as a watering-place.)
These interesting " Collier Letters " close with a letter of 17th August, 1780, from Mr. Milward to Mr. John Cranston.:- "I am at present very indifferent (here follows details) . . . I talk of going to Bath, to which place I am strongly advised."
(Mr. Milward, with whose letter this correspondence ends, died in 1811, in the 88th year of his age. Mrs. Milward predeceased him in 1783, aged 58. There is a monument to them both in St. Clement's Church, Hastings, but with only a brief inscription).
(Mr. Milward senior was, according to tradition, all-powerful at Hastings, as his father-in-law, Mr. Collier, had been before him. He was Mayor 26 times and from 1785 to 1802 he and his son filled that office alternately. After that time Mr. Milward retired, but during the rest of his life his son was elected alternately with Mr. John Goldsworthy Shorter, the grandfather of our esteemed townsman, Mr. Henry Goldsworthy Shorter. Editor.)
