Template:Did you know nominations/William Jennens

William Jennens

 * ... that William the Miser was described as the richest commoner in England when he died intestate, and his £2 million fortune was the subject of legal wrangles for 117 years until the entire estate had been swallowed by lawyers fees.
 * Reviewed: Magnates of Poland

Created/expanded by Chienlit (talk), Senra (talk). Nominated by Chienlit (talk) at 21:28, 11 December 2012 (UTC)




 * Alt 1... that William the Miser, the richest commoner in England, forgot to sign his will after leaving his spectacles at home when he went to his solicitor, thus leading to 117 years of legal wrangling?


 * Symbol question.svg Length, date verified. All paragraphs have refs.  All refs are RS. No apparent paraphrasing issues. QPQ done. ALT1 is interesting hook, but neither of the two sentences mentioning 117 years have an inline citation so haven't verified the hook's ref yet. --Rosiestep (talk) 23:44, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Striking the original hook; at 230 characters it is far beyond the maximum allowed. Agree that ALT1 is interesting; possibly "thus leading to" could be written "which led to". I do wonder why "William the Miser" is in italics (common names shouldn't be as a general rule). BlueMoonset (talk) 01:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Propose ALT2: ... that England's richest commoner, William the Miser, lost his fortune to lawyers' fees in 117 years of litigation over his estate?
 * Symbol possible vote.svg The article needs copyediting. I remember this case from law school, probably everyone who's been there does. It's a cautionary tale about which bad jokes are made: don't piss off your clients unless they're dead, etc., etc.. It was indeed the source for Dickens' tale, with others of a similar nature, unfortunately. Although it rarely happens anymore, when it does, it always makes the papers, and it's nearly always the client's fault. &mdash; Sctechlaw (talk) 06:06, 21 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg This article is new enough and long enough. ALT2 is properly sourced. I believe the prose is of acceptable standard and copyediting is not required. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:36, 22 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Mea culpa for being picky over phrasing. Sctechlaw (talk) 06:47, 22 December 2012 (UTC)