Category: Persons – Surname beginning with W

Graham Waldron-Bradley of Upton Lovell, Warminster. Died suddenly but peacefully at Salisbury District Hospital, after a short but courageous fight against cancer, on March 9th 2012, aged 68. Devoted husband to Pam, a dearly loved father to Phaedra and Mark, and loving grandfather to Yasmin and Gemma. Funeral service at St. Augustine Church, Upton Lovell at 12.30pm on Tuesday 20th March 2012, followed by a private cremation at Semington. Family flowers only please, but donations, if desired, to Cancer Research c/o F Curtis & Son, 11 Portway, Warminster, BA12 8QG.

25th May 2008

Edith Joyce Webb was born on 5th January 1910. Her father had a drapery shop at the junction of The Close and the High Street, Warminster.

Joyce, as she was known, lived at Church Street, Warminster, with her parents, brothers Henry and Douglas, and older sister Gwen. The family owned the two houses next to Culverhouse builders’ yard. When Joyce’s father died in 1923, her mother continued the drapery business for a few more years.

During their teens, Gwen and Joyce were keen Girl Guides and ran two companies in Warminster. Joyce had many happy memories of those days. The two sisters were also members of the tennis club and the dramatic society.

Younger brother Douglas had learning difficulties and was epileptic, so Joyce worked in several private schools for children with learning difficulties before going to the Manor Hospital at Epsom to train. She gained her RMPA certificate and was admitted to the General Nursing Council Register.

From 1937 to 1942 Joyce ran her own residential school for children with special needs, under the Board of Control, at Northdown House, Church Street, Warminster. She had to relinquish this for health reasons. In 1943 Joyce moved to Frilsham House, near Newbury, a convalescent home for servicemen, where she worked as an occupational therapist.

When her mother’s health deteriorated, Joyce had to return home, so she then ran a nursery school until her mother’s death in 1952. From 1953 to 1966 Joyce was head teacher at Coxley Training Centre for children with special needs. This centre later moved to Glastonbury.

In 1966 Joyce returned to Warminster, to live at Plants Green with her brother Douglas, and until her retirement in 1971 she assisted at Sambourne School.

Joyce was far from idle. As well as caring for Douglas she organised handicrafts for the disabled with the Red Cross, and at the Lakeside Centre helped with the senior citizens’ luncheon club. For 22 years she was on the committee for the senior citizens’ annual competition and exhibition held at the Assembly Rooms.

Joyce’s family were Congregationalists at Common Close, Warminster, and when they joined with the Methodists, Douglas worshipped at George Street. When he died, Joyce started coming to the church at George Street. She said that she was not certain whether she should vote at a church meeting, but on Easter Sunday 2008, at the age of 98, she became a full church member so that she could vote.

Joyce was still active until her stroke, the day after Whit Sunday, making cards, soft toys and other handicrafts. Her design for knitted puppets was used to make puppets that go into the Christmas shoeboxes that are sent to poor children in eastern Europe.

In 2007 Joyce moved to Regal Court, at Weymouth Street, Warminster, where she was near the shops and the church. She was very happy and content there and enjoyed the company.

Joyce achieved so much in her long life. She cared for and helped many people, young and old, and there were many children she influenced and cared for, many with special needs. It takes a very special person to do this kind of work, often where there may be little response or a thank you in return. She had great patience and perseverance. Joyce touched the lives of many adults too, being always kind and generous. She joined in at the Friendship Club, playing scrabble and learning new games.

Miss Edith Joyce Webb passed away at Salisbury District Hospital on 15th May 2008. She was 98. A thanksgiving service for the life of Joyce was held at the United Church, George Street, Warminster, on Saturday 24th May. The service was conducted by the Rev. Heather Morgan.

Wednesday 1st March 2006:

Danny Howell writes –

In 2004 a box of books (mostly fiction) was handed in to the Warminster Lions’ Club secondhand bookshop at George Street, Warminster. The box was thought to have come from the house at Ash Walk, Warminster, where the last remaining sisters of St. Denys’ Convent had resided for a while after vacating (and selling) the former convent at Vicarage Street, Warminster.

Among the books was a typewritten manuscript (15 A4 pages) titled ‘The Wansey Family and Memoirs Of Childhood at Warminster by Louisa Colfox (nee Wansey).’ This title was handwritten in blue ink on the card cover for the manuscript, which was in fact the inside cover of the ‘Unilever report and accounts, 1971.’ This card and the manuscript pages had been punched with holes and through these was a length of green wool holding all together. The first page of the manuscript, had ‘PLEASE RETURN TO THE LIBRARY’ written in black biro across the top; but to which library this referred is not known. There were also nine or ten corrections or amendments, also in black biro, made occasionally to some of the information typed within.

Marcus Folker, of the Warminster Lions’ Club, and volunteer manager of the secondhand bookshop, handed the manuscript over to Warminster’s resident local historian Danny Howell. It is not known who had typed this particular manuscript. ‘Memoirs of Childhood at Warminster, by Louisa Colfox’ had been published in the Warminster and District Companion, Volume One, in April 2003, but although the account was the same, had come from another source.

The information from ‘The Wansey Family of Warminster’ manuscript is published below. The corrections and amendments, as referred to earlier, are reproduced within the text in italics:

THE WANSEY FAMILY OF WARMINSTER 

SIR HUGH DE WAUNCI came over with William the Conqueror from Normandy under Earl Warren, son-in-law to William. Their first residence was at Barshamin, Norfolk, from whence they branched out and settled in Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey and lastly in Wiltshire.

1199. RICARDUS DE WAUNCI signs as witness King John’s Charter to Amesbury Abbey.

1216. GEOFFRY DE WANCY holds a knight’s fee at Adhelmerton, also known as Clive Wancy, near Calne.

1228. RALPH DE WANCY holds a knight’s fee at Adhelmerton.

1275. RALPH DE WANCY holds a knight’s fee at Adhelmerton.

A Ralph de Wancy also held a military fee at Wadhill in N.Wilts., and at Hilmarton near Calne.

The notes of the history of the Wanseys of Norfolk were compiled by Mary Anne Wansey (1786 – 1868) in or after 1812. It is probable that she based them on the writings of Henry Wansey, F.S.A., and of WilliamWansey, F.S.A., both of whom made researches into family history and wrote about them. The whereabouts of their writings is unknown.

Mr Kite’s letter in the Devizes Museum says: “It seems not improbable that this early family of Waunsy may have emigrated from the neighbourhood of Salisbury along the Vale of Wylye and eventually settled in Warminster (20 miles distant). We often find the younger sons of good families embarking in the clothing business in its earlier and more prosperous days.”

1300. Sir WILLIAM and Sir GEOFFRY DE WANCY knights and owners under H.III and Ed.I.

1306. ROBERT DE WAUNSI is juror on Inquisition at Compton.

1329. JOHN WAUNSY at Wilton signs twice as witness of a post mortem Inquisition.

1331. JOHN WAUNSY at Salisbury signs twice as witness of a post mortem Inquisition.

1375. JOHN WAUNCY at Wilton signs twice as witness of a post mortem Inquisition.

(See Jackson & Aubrey’s Wilts Collections: Inquisitions of post mortem)

ADHELMERSTON was called Clyve Wancy after Radulfus (Ralph) de Wancy who held lands there c.1275. (Test. de Nevill, 137). Clyve Wancy, now CLEVANCY, is in the parish of Hilmarton on the road from Calne to Wootton Bassett, 3 miles N.E. from Calne. The land is 8 carucates and paid gold (tax) for 9 hides.

GEOFFRY DE WAUNCY held lands in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and other places in the reign of Edward I (1272 – 1307). His name, which is misprinted Waunci in Archaeologie Vol.XXXIX occurs as Gefrai de Waunci in St. George’s Roll of Arms – with the old coat of GULES, THREE GAUNTS, ARGENT, and the same coat of arms is given for “Ion (John) de Waunci” in the very ancient roll of the Society of Antiquaries, no.17.

Two branches of the family were in Wilts in the reign of Henry III, that of Geoffry and of Ralph de Wancy (see above), one at Hilmarton and Wadhill and one holding land at Clive Wancy.

A WANSEY FAMILY TREE

Henry, born c.1480, died 1546.

Henry, born between 1522 and 1532, married Katherine Stibbs, and died in 1592. Buried at the Minster.

John, born 1560, married Margaret Yockney. 9 children. He died 1626, aged 66. Buried at the Minster.

George, born 1627, married Elizabeth Rawlins. Born after father’s death. Quaker. 3 children. Died 1699, age 72. Buried at Bugley.

George, born 1649. Diarist. Married Joyce Short, Hester French. 3 children. Died 1707, age 58. Buried at the Minster.

Henry, born 1690. Married Elizabeth Farmer. 7 children. Died 1761, age 71. Buried at the Minster.

George, born 1713. Married Hester Green. 9 children. Died 1762, age 49. Buried at the Minster.

William, born 1746. Married Sarah Jeffries. 8 children. Died 1805, age 58. Buried at the Minster.

Henry, born 1774. Married Elizabeth Wansey (cousin). 15 children. Died 1855, age 80. Buried at Boreham Road.

Arthur Henry, born 1827. Married Blanche Wellsted. 8 children. Died 1900, age 73. Buried at Stoke Bishop, Bristol.

Henry Raymond, born 1873. Married Beatrice Margaretta Nottidge, Hilda Thomson. Their children: Paul, John, Peter, Mary, Joseph.

All these have lived some time in Warminster during a period of over 400 years.

There was also a Wansey living in 1500 who married a Margaret Wansey who died in 1560. Their son William Wansey died in 1545. He married Elizabeth Lyde or Hyde, being her 2nd husband.

John Wansey, Parish Clerk, died of the plague in 1564.

JOHN WANSEY AND MARGARET YOCKNEY

John Wansey, a skinner by trade (his father was a glover in Church St.) died in 1626, leaving his widow Margaret with a large family of six sons and three daughters. She was so much impoverished by the Civil Wars at one time that she could raise but £5 which she employed in making yarn for the market. It had a very quick trade and in a few weeks she doubled her stock. John and Margaret’s sons were John, Jehu, Henry, Thomas, John the younger, and George. John and Margaret’s daughters married:-

1). Humfry Buckler, whose father had seven sons: six sons carried him to the church and the seventh preached his funeral sermon.

Children of Humfry Buckler and John and Margaret’s first daughter:-

a). Humfry Buckler who lived at Rowde by Devizes.

b). Thomas Buckler, a woolsorter and maltster at Warminster, whose children were:-

(1) Mrs.Weeks of Bristol; her son Buckler was Sheriff of Bristol.

(2) William Buckler, who married Frances Wansey.

(3) Thomas Buckler, who married Frances Wansey’s sister.

(4) JohnBuckler.

c). John Buckler, a malter and dissenting minister. His sons were Humfry and John.

2). A daughter married to Mr. Shergold of Salisbury.

3). A daughter married at Shaftesbury to one named Clark.

THE SONS OF JOHN WANSEY AND MARGARET

1). Captain John Wansey (John the elder) was the eldest son and married a Wilton. He had 2 sons and 5 daughters.

a). Catherine, who married Vigour of Bristol, whose family was Edward Buckler and the High Sheriff’s wife.

b). Sylvester, who married Aldridge, the mother of Charles Aldridge.

c). Margaret, who married Silverthorn.

d). Sara, who married Yerburg, the grandmother of John Hawkins.

e). Mary, who married Harbottle, mother of Jos. Harbottle, who died 1739.

This John Wansey died young.

2). Jehu Wansey. Born 1612 or 1617. Mary Anne Wansey says he was in the army and went over to Ireland (1640) about the time of the massacre and was there shot, not in battle, but treacherously on account of an amour. Dewey’s papers say he was the soldier who challenged a Royalist trooper to single combat near Devizes and overpowered and killed him after a desperate struggle. Daniell says this Jehu was a son or near relative of Henry Wansey, the third brother. Dewey’s papers say that Jehu went to Ireland and was killed by a bullet in the Civil Wars there.

Jehu had three sons:-

a). Jehu, who left one son, Jehu.

b). Thomas Wansey, a bachelor.

c). James Wansey, who had many children, among them Thomas Wansey, a sea captain, father of Thomas who had an estate at Nevis, and John, a maltster at Tewkesbury.

(Section about sons has a query mark in the papers).

3). Major Henry Wansey. See Daniell, pp.65-70. Born 1618. He was apparently a member of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament and presented a petition from his townsmen to the Commons against the ill conduct of Woodward, Vicar of Warminster. Henry was a watchmaker in Warminster between 1640 and 1650. When the Civil Wars were over he set up in Cheapside. Soon after the Restoration, a crowd of people were passing along with a bear, and some of the rabble broke his shop window, whereupon, full of indignation, he ran out and said, “Is this your kingly government?” They then seized him as a rebel and carried him at once to prison. He ended up in the Gatehouse at Westminster, one of the most horrid and filthy prisons in London. A person who was confined with him and afterwards escaped reported that they could not stand upright on account of the lowness of the ceiling, nor lie down for the filth and nastiness of the place. They had no allowance of victuals or drink, nor were their wives allowed to visit them. He and his companion presented many petitions and none were attended to; it is supposed that he died in that prison. (This account conflicts with Daniell).

4). Lieutenant Thomas Wansey. Lieutenant of Hurst Castle. During the Civil Wars, he was Deputy Governor there when Charles I was a prisoner in the castle, so that he was apparently entrusted with the safe imprisonment of the King. He was a courteous and very gentlemanly man, who was also a Minister of the Gospel, and preached among the Baptists. He afterwards conformed to the Church and bought an estate and lived near Lymington in Hants., which afterwards Mr Buckler had.

Thomas had two daughters:-

a). Frances married William Buckler, a cousin (see John Wansey’s daughters). They had a son Thomas and a daughter Mary. Thomas Buckler lived at Boreham. His sons were William Buckler, counsellor at law, and Benjamin Buckler, Fellow of All Souls’College, Oxford. Mary married Mr Hawkins of Bristol. Their children were William Buckler and Frances.

b). The second daughter married Thomas Buckler, brother of William.

Lieutenant Thomas Wansey died in 1660.

5). John Wansey, the younger. It was not uncommon in these days for parents to have two sons of the same Christian name, one reason of which was that the leases or entails, in case of the death of one, might stand, still stand good for the other without having a new deed. This John was killed at the siege of Plymouth in 1643.

(There is a pencil note that the elder John died young. In this case it seems that the children ascribed to him might really belong to this John, but it is surmise. So is the following anecdote, which is also ascribed to the elder John, but it seems might really apply to this one).

During the Civil Wars two soldiers of the King’s army came into his house, insulted him and behaved very rudely to the family, on which sent to his barn for his thresher and they fell on these troopers and beat them soundly. When gone, John said to his thresher, “Two only are come now, next time they may be ten – it will not do to stay here and be murdered, it shall rather be abroad than at home.” Whereupon he mounted his horse and joined the Parliament army and afterwards became an officer.

6). George Wansey. Born 1627. Died 1699. George Wansey, the ninth child and born after his father’s death, was a man of peace. He was a”maltster and white clothier and lived at the Malthouse in Church Street.” He married Elizabeth Rawlins and had three children:-

a). Henry who died young.

b). George (older than Henry, see below).

c). Elizabeth who married Jesse of Beckington. They had three children:-

(i). John Jesse who died leaving one daughter – she married Mr Webb at Beckington and had three children:-

(a). Elizabeth who married Mr Crine, a clothier of Beckington and had several children.

(b). Mary who married Mr Wherrit, a clothier of Beckington and had a large family.

(c). Eliza who married Mr Long of London, a drawer, who is said to have died very rich.

George Wansey (1627 – 1699) became an overseer in 1671, Churchwarden of the Minster Church in 1677 and again overseer in 1683 and 1694. While in this position he suddenly gave up the Church and joined the Quakers. About 1683 William Penn came to Warminster and preached the Gospel in the Common Close, and George Wansey being at once convinced of the Truth as the Friends preached it, became a Quaker on the spot. His cousin John Buckler also became a Quaker with him, and together some of the Whittuck and Butler families they opened a small Meeting House for worship in the Common Close. George Wansey died in 1699 and was buried in a graveyard fifteen yards long and seven wide, at Laynes, near Bugley, beside the old packhorse track from Bugley to Cley Hill.

George Wansey, junior, his son (1651 – 1707). [The Diarist]. He built the house in Church Street, which still has a large capital “W’ over the front door [contradicted in another passage which states Ivy House built in 1796-8, Bristol architect] but it became a Missionary College for Women. He married:-

1). Joyce Short, daughter of a clothier. They had one daughter who married W. Ball, a gentleman of Mere. They had one son, William Ball, who died in 1713 of a fall from his horse. Joyce died in 1686.

2). Esther French (married 1687). She had two sons:-

a). George Wansey, who died young.

b). Henry Wansey (1690 – 1761). He was apparently a clothier, like his father. He married in 1712 Elizabeth Farmer, the youngest and only surviving child of fifteen children of William Farmer of Abingdon or Chipping Norton. Their children were George, Hester, Henry, William, John, besides which Henry, Susannah, Elizabeth and Josiah died young. Of these children only one, namely George Wansey, left issue. Elizabeth Wansey, the mother, died in 1750 or 1751.

There is an inscription on a tombstone in Brunswick Square Burial Ground in Bristol as follows:- 

“Ann Wansey, wife of William Wansey of this city, merchant, and daughter of William Barnes, Alderman, some time Father of this City, born 11 Sept. 1715, died 26 March, 1787.”

George Wansey, born 1713, died 1762. (Cannot find parentage). He married Esther Green, who died in 1794, aged 81. She was a distant cousin of Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John’s College, Oxford, and of Merchant Taylors’ School, London.They were married at St. Thomas’ Church, Bristol, in 1742. 

They had six sons and three daughters:-

1). Elizabeth was born in 1743, and became the second wife of William Temple, Esq., of Bishopstrow House, Warminster. She was married in 1773 and died in 1779 without any child. “Her body lies deposited in a vault under the chancel of Bishopstrow Church, of which I (HRW 1925) am now rector.” A large white marble monumental stone in memory of William Temple and his three wives is on the north wall of the nave of the Church.

2). Henry Wansey was born in 1744 and died in 1751 aged 6.

3). William Wansey was born in 1746 and died in 1805 aged 58. He married Sarah Jefferies and had eight children. These are set out in detail later. [He rebuilt Ivy House, having had a cottage pulled down to make room. Foundation stone laid 1796, built 1798. Moved in from across the road].

4). John Wansey was born in 1748 and died in 1820 aged 71. He was a clothier who went to London, lived at Lothbury and Camberwell and married Sarah Raymond in 1772. His picture is painted by Philips. John and his wife were well off. Their daughter Elizabeth married Henry Wansey, son of William, who was her cousin.

5). George Wansey was born in 1749 and died in 1751 aged 1.

6). Henry Wansey, F.S.A., was born in 1751 and died in 1827 aged 75. He lived a long and useful life and is famous as a writer, as an historian and as an antiquarian. He travelled in France, Italy and America. The following is an extract from the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” 1827, Part II, pp.373-4.

“Henry Wansey Esqre. F.S.A. This gentleman was formerly a clothier, but he had for a long period retired from his mercantile affairs. He was Vice-President of the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, in the concerns of which he for many years took an active part. Under that signature he published in 1780 “Letter to the Marquis of Lansdown” on the subject of the late tax on wool etc. pointing out the impolicy of such a tax, as well as the injurous consequences in general of commercial restrictions. In 1794 (aet.43) Mr. Wansey made a tour in the U.S.A., a journal of which he afterwards published, containing much useful information concerning a country then usually interesting from the recent changes in its Government, in illustration of which he gave a portrait of General Washington, and a view of the Senate House. While resident in Castle Street, Salisbury, he published “Thoughts on Poor Houses, particularly that of Salisbury, with a view to their “Reform” in which will be found some important facts and salutary hints relative to such establishments. Having interested himself in the Antiquities of Wiltshire, he was forming a collection for One Hundred, in aid of Modern History of that County, now in progress by Sr. R.C. Hoare Bart., (original MSS preserved in library of Museum at Devizes). He was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.) and communicated to the “ARCHAEOLOGIA” a “Description of the Poultry Cross at Salisbury”. (He says . . . “Among the friends of Wockliffe was an Earl of Salisbury, who for contempt noted in him towards the Sacrament, in carrying it home to his house, was enjoined by Ralph Engham, Bishop of Salisbury (1375 – 1388) to make in Salisbury a cross of stone, in which all the story of the matter should be written, and he, every Friday during his life, to come to the Cross barefooted and bareheaded in his shirt, and then upon his knees do penance for the fact.”) (Henry Wansey F.S.A. published 1795 a book “Practical Observations on wool and woollen manufacture price 2/-). Immediately on the Peace, Mr. Wansey visited France, and willing to give it the attention he had given America, published an octavo volume on his “Visit to Paris in June 1814”. Mr Wansey was a Dissenter, and invariably opposed whatever tended to restrict the rights of conscience. In 1825 he wrote a pamphlet against the Catholic Church entitled “A few remarks in defence of the Protestant Religion . . . ” In politics he was a Whig. “His powers both of body and mind continued with little abatement through the evening of his days. When nearly arrived at the prescribed age of humanity, he made a tour of Italy and visited Mount Vesuvius, and the staff which supported his steps to the summit of that burning mountain was to the last his constant companion in his early walks on the Wiltshire Downs. Having thus passed a life of activity and enjoyment till within a few days of his decease, he quitted it full of serenity and good hope, and his memory will long be cherished with respect.”

Entry in Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. IX, p.291:-“Henry Wansey (1751 – 1827) Antiquary, a Clothier of Warminster. F.S.A. 1789: made collections for the History of Warminster Hundred: published pamphlets,1780 – 1814.” He and his sister Ann lived at Ivy House from 1897 till death. He died of a paralysis and was buried in the new Dissenting Ground for Burials in Boreham Road, Warminster, which he had helped to secure. His wife’s name was Alice Gwynne.

7). Ann Wansey was born 1753 and died in 1822 aged 69.

8). Sarah Wansey was born in 1755 and died in 1760 aged 4.

9). George Wansey was born in 1757 and died in 1897 aged 50. He married about 1775 and founded the Wansey Charity at Warminster. (This is queried). After William’s death he lived in Ivy House and added handsome parlour and bedrooms above.

WILLIAM WANSEY (No.3 above), born 1746, died 1805. He married Sarah Jefferies of Trowbridge in 1773, “an amiable young lady with a genteel fortune”, in St. Mary Magdalen’s Church at Taunton. She died in 1833. Their children were:-

1). Henry Wansey, born 1774, died in 1855 aged 80. He was a Nonconformist and lived in Sambourne House. He needed such a large house for his large family and he possessed much of the adjoining ground, and had a large and well-kept garden. He married his cousin Elizabeth Wansey of Camberwell in 1800. His children were:-

(a). Emma born 1801 died Camberwell 1805 aged 3.

(b). William Raymond born 1803 died Clifton(?) 1809 aged 6.

(c). Henry born 1804 died Milan 1829 aged 24.

(d). Esther born 1805 died Warminster 1810 aged 5.

(e). Ellen born 1807 died Bridport 1889 aged 82.

(f). Margaret (Palmer) born 1808 died Clifton 1839 aged 30.

(g). Edward born 1809 died Sutton Veny 1864 aged 55.

(h). Charles born 1811 died Brislington 1877 aged 66.

(i). Harriet born 1812 died Warminster 1840 aged 27.

(j). John born 1814 died Warminster 1829 aged 15.

(k). Maria (Davis) born 1816 died Warminster 1863 aged 47.

(l). Catherine born 1818 died Warminster 1829 aged 11.

(m). Louisa (Colfox) born 1821 died Bridport 1899 aged 78.

(n). Anna Elizabeth (Colfox) born 1823 died Bridport 1892 aged 75.

(o). Arthur Henry born 1827 died Sambourne 1900 aged 72.

2). Elizabeth Wansey. Born 1776, died 1805 aged 29.

3). William Wansey. Born 1777, died 1779 aged 2.

4). Sarah Ann Wansey. Born 1779, died 1817 aged 38.

5). Anne Wansey. Born 1782, died 1848 aged 66. She married Edmund Lye of Bath, 1804.

6). William Wansey. Born 1784, died 1869 aged 85. He married Mary Toogood, who died in 1834 aged 48. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and twice prime Warden of the Fishmongers Company of London. He lived at Stamford Hill and died at Bognor. He had two sons:-

(i). William married Elizabeth Alsop and died at Florence in 1843 aged 32.

(ii). Francis married Catherine Toogood and had three children:-

(a). Katherine Hannah died aged 3.

(b). William lived at “The Orchards”, Winchelsea, Sussex, and had two daughters.

(c). Edmund married Frida Toogood, lived at Worthing, and left no male issue.

7). George Wansey. Born 1785, died 1858 aged 73. He married Jane Hubbard. Being the nephew of Henry Wansey, F.S.A., he was one of the executors of his will. He had 14 children, of whom one was Jessie Wansey, who married Francis William Bayly, an eminent Harley Street specialist. Their daughter Alice married Rev. Robert Ewing, who afterwards was Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge. George and Jane Wansey lived in the old house in Church Street,Warminster, and were buried in Boreham Cemetery.

(There is a note earlier, but queried, that the house in Church Street had been inhabited by Wanseys for 220 years, but rebuilt in 1775 [elsewhere 1755], partly of the old material. The note is undated but seems to date from the early 19th century, as it mentions Margaret Wansey had a lease of the former house in 1629.)

[The house in Church Street is elsewhere called the Malthouse and said to be Byne House in another place. In 1868 Ivy House belonged to Miss Seagram. Henry Wansey (1774 – 1855) having moved to Sambourne House because family so large.]

BYNE HOUSE was the home of the Wansey family who played a leading part in Warminster in the Civil War. At the beginning of the war, Edmund Ludlow of Hill Deverill was appointed by Parliament High Sheriff of Wiltshire in order to raise troops for Parliament. In 1643 he was joined by Henry Wansey, whom he appointed a Major. Wansey had seven sons, some of whom fought for the King, some for Parliament. “There is a tradition in the family that when on a certain occasion a Council of War was being secretly held in an underground chamber in Major Wansey’s house (probably the cellar), his little daughter was brought down so that the officers might see the beauty of the child; she afterwards constantly averred that “the soldiers gave her blood to drink.’ It was Port Wine, only then just introduced into England.

After the Battle of Lansdown, Jehu Wansey, a son or near relative of Henry, challenged a royalist trooper to single combat and after a desperate struggle, killed him.

In 1644, Major Wansey occupied Woodhouse(s), an old mansion near Longleat, where he was besieged by Sir F. Doddington. After some delay Ludlow came to his rescue with 280 men, but the Royalist Sir Ralph Hopton came to the support of Doddington, who chased Ludlow and his men down the Imber Road and over the Downs to Salisbury, where he arrived with only 30 men. He had ordered his men to kill their horses and hide in the corn and the villages, but many perished. Doddington returned with some canon to Woodhouse(s), which surrendered. Twelve were hanged by the Royalists. Woodhouse(s) is now destroyed. Wansey was taken prisoner, but soon released, probably in exchange.

In December 1644, a body of Royalists held Warminster and were levying heavy contributions when Wansey suddenly burst into the town. The Cavaliers fled towards Salisbury, closely followed by Ludlow. They tried to defend themselves in Prebend’s Close, then in two inns, the Angel at the Close Gate and the George at the Sand Gate, but Ludlow, vigorously supported by Wansey and other officers, took them prisoner, and secured 200 horses.

In 1645, Major Wansey was fighting for Parliament, apparently for some time in the regular army, as he fought at Donnington Castle, but was afterwards sent to look after Parliament’s interests in Wiltshire. He raised some troops, and when the Royalists were fortifying the Close at Salisbury, drove off the masons, burnt the gates and took 80 prisoners. Moving further south west, Lord Goring drove him out of Fonthill and West Knoyle and captured the Wansey standard, “For Lawful Laws and Liberty.”

Bad feeling was rising between Wansey and Ludlow. In Ludlow’s Memoirs we read such criticisms as, “My Major had secured his troop in the rear of all,” “I was not supported by my Major,” “My Major had more wit than courage or honesty,” “My Major, notwithstanding his artifices, was disappointed in his expectations.” At last he says, “My Major now openly pulled off the mask, and with about thirty of his troop and some strangers, under pretence of beating up a quarter of the enemy’s, went over to them, having sent his wife before, to give notice of his design.”

We believe that a meeting in which Wansey stated his intention of changing sides was held in Byne House cellar. [The house has been rebuilt, but probably cellar is the same.] Now he strenuously set about raising a troop of horse for the King, but while recruiting in the north of Wiltshire, he had a desperate hand to hand fight with some Parliamentary forces in which he was beaten, and while trying to escape, by leaping a ditch, fell with his horse and was so injured that he never spoke again.

Ludlow became one of the chief Parliamentary generals. At the Restoration he was exiled.

Warminster suffered from both sides in the Civil War, having to give food, hay, corn, and money to which ever side rode in and demanded them. King Charles I must often have been in Warminster on his journeys between Salisbury and Bath, but there is no record of a visit.

(The quotations and information are from Daniell’s “History Of Warminster’).

From Focus, the parish magazine for Bishopstrow and Boreham, September 1995:

From The Parish Registers
We pray for the soul of
Charles Gregory, laid to rest 28th July 1995.