Talk:Selous family

This is the will of George Slous/Selous, born in Jersey but moved to London and is the patriarch of the London family (available from the National Archives). George Slous Will. "In the Name of God Amen. I George Slous of the Parish of St Nicholas Deptford in the County of Kent do make this my last will and Testament and do appoint my dearly beloved wife Rachel Slous Executor of this my will and all such real and personal estate as I shall be possessed of or entitled unto at the time of my death. I give unto my said wife and her sons for ever subject to the payment of my just debts and also to pay to my sons George Joseph James and Gideon Slous and to my daughter Elizabeth Slous the sum of one pound each to be paid to them when my youngest son shall have attained the age of twenty one years. In witness whereof I have hereinto put my hand and seal this thirtieth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy two, George Slous LS Signed sealed and ??????? by the said testator as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence have subscribed our names as witnesses. Philip Legayt, Francis Le Roux, Eliza Scott. This Will was proved at London on the 8th Day of January in this year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty before the worshipful Thomas Brown Doctor of Laws Surrogate of his Right Worshipful Peter Calvert Doctor of Laws Master ?????? or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by the oath of Rachel Slous widow the relict of the deceased and sole Executrix named in the said will to whom widow was granted of all and singular the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased having been first sworn duly to administer." It can be seen that he lists his children, ending with Gideon the youngest son, and Elizabeth. The artistic (and wealthy) family line down from Gideon often seems to have claimed that they dropped the 'e' from Selous, but when George first shows up in London in the Land Tax Records in 1758 in Brook Street, (modern) Stepney, he is recorded as "Geo. Selous". That appears to be the version of the name used in Jersey for the baptism of his son George, the only one of their children born in Jersey. I have the images for the London baptism records for all the subsequent children, including Gideon, and they are all baptised 'Slous'. The image of the will shows that George signed it as "George Slous". Gideon seems to be the one who supposedly drops the 'e', but as well as being baptised "Gideon Slous", he also marries and dies with that spelling of his name. In general, the descendants of Gideon increasingly turn to using 'Selous', while the descendants of George & Rachel's other children tend to stick with 'Slous'. In 1799 when Rachel is trying to get her sister-in-law Anne admitted to the French Hospital (run by the Huguenots) they use the 'Selous' form, but are writing in French. I think 'Slous' is used as the Anglicized form of 'Selous', the wealthy Gideon line are more often able to speak French and maintain links to Jersey, but the other children of George & Rachel generally seem to have little further connection with Jersey or French speakers. A grandson of George & Rachel called Joseph Gideon Slous born 1795, son of Joseph [Springwell William] Slous does become wealthy, trading in tea it seems, but he and his wife have no children so their wealth ends up with the wife's family who are from Derbyshire.