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- James's Father was John Heseltine. he had a brother Richard. He appears in the Land Tax records of the Upper Division of Castle Baynard in 1771-72 paying a land tax of six pounds a year, and in 1772-73 the tax had dropped to four pounds 10 shillings. In 1774-75 James appears in Thames Street, Castle Baynard untill 1784 where he rented two properties, one as a residence and the other as an office, paying two pounds twelve shillings and six pence exclusive of Hospital Rent, and one pound eight shillings for the office. He then appears in the Great Knight Street from 1785-86 untill 1804-05 where his rent changed from fifteen pounds in 1785 to seventeen pounds ten shillings in 1795 and down to Fourteen pounds seven shillings and sixpence in 1805 [?14 7s 6d] Whilst residing in Thames street, in the Parish of St Benet's Paul's Wharf he paid a poor tax to the church of 1/6 [1shilling & sixpence] a week . James was a Proctor at the Doctors Commons near St Pauls. The Doctors Commons consisted of five courts, which were, The Court of Arches, The Perogative Court, The Court of Faculties & Dispensation, The Consistory Court of the Bishop of London and the High Court of the Admiralty. He was initiated into the Freemasons LOdge #111 at the Queens Head, Grays Inn Road, Holdorn, London 1765, and he became the Grand Secretary of Freemasons 1769-1780. joint Grand Secretary 1780 to 1784, with William White. Grand Treasurer from 1785 untill his death in 1804. He was also the Senior Grand Warden in 1785. In 1781 James was a Founding member of the Toxophilite Society along with Sir Ashton Lever, as Presedent, and the few remaining Finsbury Archers, they met and shot in the grounds of Leicester House, Leicester Square untill 1784
Noted in the Lambeth Parish & Court records 1788 Proctor Arches, From the 17th May 1783 untill his death in 1804 he was the 9th Kings Proctor.
Occupation given in 1777 at the birth of his son James; Proctor in Doctors Commons.
In the 'Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 74, Jan - June 1804' under Obituary, with Anedotes, of Remarkable Persons, appeared this article;
In a fit of apoplexy, James Heseltine, Esq of Bedford Square, King's procurator, an office in war time worth from ?12 to ?20,000 per annum.
He is said to have died possessed of a fortune of ?200,000. His remains were interred, on the 14th, under Islington Church; where the pulpit has, in consequence, been covered with black, and adorned with an elegant funeral escocheon.
He had a house at Walthamstow, on which he had expended considerable sums of money. He is succeeded by Mr Charles Bishop (as King's Proctor).
The 'Oxford Dictionary' describes a Kings Proctor as "an official of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, who has the right to intervene in probate, divorce, and nullity cases, when collusion between the parties or suppression of material facts is alleged."
In 1818 on the 30th of June, Frances his wife went to court to claim her bequest from James' will. She lost the case.
Cases In Chancery, Heseltine v Heseltine.
James Heseltine, by his Will, dated the 2d day of September 1796, bequeathed "to my dear Wife, Frances Heseltine, exclusive of, over and above the provision made for her and under and by virtue of the Settlement made previous to our Marriage, all my Household Goods, Plate, Linen, and China; and also all the wine and other Liquors, Goods and Chattels whatsoever that shall be in or about my Dwelling Houses in Doctors Commons, and at Walthamstow, in the County of Essex, at the time of my decease; and also my Coach and other Carriages, with my Horses, and all my Live Stock at Walthamstow aforesaid, to and for her own use and benefit."
After the making of the Will, the Testator took a House in Bedford Square, and removed to it the greater part of the Furniture from his house in Doctors Commons.
The question was, Whether the Bequest in the Will passed the Furniture, &c removed to Bedford Square?
Mr. Bell, and Mr. Abercromby, in support of Exceptions.
Mr. Rouppa, contra.
The Vice-Chancellor:-
Probably, if the Testator had been asked, whether he meant to give his Wife the Furniture in Bedford Square, he would have answered in the affirmative; but a Gift of such Furniture as should be in his House at Doctors Commons, and at Walthamstow, at the time of his decease, cannot pass Furniture which at the time of his decease was in his house at Bedford Square.
Exceptions overruled.(a)
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1743 - 1804 (61 years)
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