Famous Last Will and Testament Mrs. George Bernard Shaw

About the last will and testament of famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw's wife.

WHERE THERE'S A WILL

CHARLOTTE PAYNE-TOWNSHEND SHAW

(Mrs. George Bernard Shaw), died 1943

Last Will: The Irish-born, eccentric wife of the iconoclastic playwright loved her native land but felt that her countrymen were in need of improvement. Consequently, she bequeathed $263,200 "to polish the manners of the Irish." Ireland viewed the gift with understandably mixed feelings. Actual application of the legacy bewildered the Dublin banker-trustees, and various cultural institutions were proposed as legatees. She also left land valued at pound 150,000 to her husband, who groused about paying an inheritance tax of pound 40,000 before he could receive the property.