His widow, Mary Fenner, carried on such business as was left and a bitter controversy, recalling the days of Thomas Buck, arose between her and her deceased husband's partners. The brothers James declared that they were £1000 out of pocket and had received not a penny in return; that Fenner had taken a grossly unfair advantage of the lease being in his name. Mrs Fenner, in reply, maintained that her husband had borne the brunt of many business difficulties alone and that his appeals to his partners for help and co-operation had been neglected.
In their complaints to the Vice-Chancellor Thomas and John James did not mince their words:
I humbly request (writes Thomas) that my Brother and I may be heard; that so the Scene of Iniquity carried on by Mr Fenner and now prosecuted by his Widow may be laid open ... for I do not find the change of Mrs Fenner's Religion has made any alteration in her morals.
As to what Fenner's wife (writes John) (who I fear is of as bad a principle as he was) may alledge, I can only say, she has no other cause of complaint, than that I refused to throw away all I had in ye world, for the Knave her husband to make Ducks and Drakes with.
TITLE-PAGE OF BENTLEY'S BOYLE LECTURES, 1735
The details of the controversy need not be examined here[101], but one short letter from Mrs Fenner to the Vice-Chancellor is worth preserving:
London 19 Jun. 1735