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POWELL, Mansel (c.1696-1775), of Eardisley Park, Herefs.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1696, 1st s. of Rev. Roger Powell, rector of Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefs. by his w. Eleanor.1 m. Jan. 1734, Martha, da. of Henry Hoare of Stourhead, Wilts., s.p. suc. fa. 1728.
Offices Held
Sheriff, Herefs. 1733-4.
Biography
In 1738 Mansel Powell, a Hereford attorney, and others, acquired the property of a wealthy client, William Barnsley of Eardisley Park, by a forged will disinheriting Barnsley’s only son, a lunatic. He enjoyed the estates until 1749 when the will was proved a forgery and a decree of restitution to young Barnsley was made in Chancery by Lord Hardwicke, under which Powell and his co-defendants had to pay costs and refund all the rents and other money they had received from the estate.2 In the meantime, Powell had bought a controlling interest with Barnsley’s money at Weobley,3 where he was returned in 1747. Unseated on petition, he sold his interest to Lord Weymouth and did not stand again. He died 5 June 1775, aged 79.4