Plaintiffs: James St. John, esq., and Mary (Messer) St. John, his wife. Defendants: Anne (Mayo) Messer, widow of Mary's brother Robert; William Sheppard, witness to Robert's will; William Hodgkins, who drew up Robert's will.Edward Messer, esq., had a number of farms, etc. (details), including Little Bredy, Dorset.

Timeline of events: July 18, 1671: Edward married Anne [surname not given], making a marriage settlement (details).

1685: Act of Parliament to enable Edward to sell lands to pay debts.

1698: Edward died, leaving wife and two children:. Robert, and Mary (Robert not of age till February 1711). According to Mary, Robert was feeble-minded, and fell under the influence of Anthony Thomas, who cheated him of Little Bredy's advowson.

February 1711: Robert of age. Thomas got him to levy a fine and suffer a recovery of all the lands not in jointure to his mother and mortgage them to Gifford, and then got a conveyance of all his estate. His mother intervened through Chancery; Thomas again misled Robert; Chancery sent Thomas to the Fleet.

1712: Met Anne Mayo (according to her), According to Mary, he "gott acquainted with one Thomas Mayo who kept a little alehouse in Chenys [Chenies, Bucks]" who induced him to marry his daughter Ann the barmaid.

January 16, 1715: Robert makes marriage settlement, leaving a life interest in Little Bredy to Anne.

February 21, 1715: Robert marries Anne.

January 15, 1723: Robert executes a will, leaving all to Anne except £150 to her brother Sheppard's children.

April 3, 1724: Robert died.

June-July 1724: Trinity term. Anne proved Robert's will.

October-November 1725: Michaelmas term. Plaintiffs brought Bill of Complaint in Chancery against Anne, alleging that she had unduly influenced Robert; that he had become a hard drinker, and turned to brandy, and been helpless for a long time before his death; that Mary was his heir and his father's heir; that he was non compos or drunk and had not understood what he was signing. Defendants appeared, Ann denied that Robert was "an Ideott" or a hard drinker, but sober and following usual gentlemanly pursuits before- his-death (details on drawing up of will). Sheppard said he had no interest and should not have been called.

October 31, 1727: Cause heard before Lord Chancellor, who dismissed Sheppard; dismissed the Bill as to the personal estate; ordered that the rest should be tried by a jury in the Court of King's Court on the state of Robert's mind. After trial the parties to return to this Court.

July 19, 1728: Cause heard before Lord Chancellor Peter King who accepted the exemplification of the Verdict (for the Defendant); ordered the bill dismissed, and the rents paid by tenant William Harvey turned over to the Defendant.