2. At home all day. Mr. Montgomerie Mr. Piper and Mr. Harrison came to dinner & staid all Night.
These gentlemen came to try to resolve the continuing problem of the annuities that Margaret Savage was supposed to receive from her husband, Dr. William Savage (see main entries for 22 Sept. 1769 and 17 April 1770). Harry Piper had replaced Thomas Montgomerie as Mrs. Savage’s legal representative in June 1771, but during the previous April her trustees, GW and Bryan Fairfax, had been obliged to settle with Montgomerie for her annuities through 1771, allowing him to receive the money on her behalf. Mr. Piper and the others were now faced with the task of forcing Montgomerie to relinquish those annuities, which he, who was also agent for Dr. Savage, had not sent her. At the same time they had to demand payment of this year’s annuity from him (GW to Margaret Savage, 5 Sept. 1771 and 20 Sept. 1772, DLC:GW). When no satisfactory settlement was reached during the next few days, GW and Fairfax directed Robert Hanson Harrison to bring suit against Dr. Savage. Before the end of the month, GW advanced £53 sterling to Mrs. Savage, who was now living apart from her husband in Dublin and was much in want of funds (GW to Margaret Savage, 27 Jan. 1772, DLC:GW).