William Wildish, Esq. & Jane Mercer - 2 x great-grandparents
William Wildish, Esq. (1830-1922) & Jane Mercer (1837-1929)
William and Jane married at Frittenden on 1 November 1858. It was a joint wedding with Jane's sister Sebinah and her husband Thomas Gillett.
In 1886, William suffered as a result of the downturn in the agricultural sector. He was particularly impacted by the low price of Sussex hops. On the evening of Wednesday 20 October, he attended the quarterly meeting of the trustees of the Faversham Public Charities at Faversham Town Hall. He applied for 20 per cent off his year's rent (£162) of Brook Farm, Sussex, in consideration of the poor state of the industry. Thankfully, William's request was granted. He perhaps benefited from the fact that the chairman of the trust, presiding over the meeting, was his brother-in-law Thomas Gillett.
On Wednesday 26 April 1893, William and Jane attended Kate's wedding to John Warwick at the Parish Church of St. Mary in Rye. William was described in the subsequent Hastings and St Leonards Observer report as "of Cadborough, Rye, who is well known in Hastings". The ceremony was fully choral, and Mabel and Jessie served as bridesmaids alongside Evelyn (Mercer's daughter) and Mary (Frances's daughter). John gifted the bridesmaids a gold initial brooch set with pearls, which they each wore to the ceremony. William gave his daughter away.
After the service William and Jane received about sixty guests at Cadborough House. The guests included family, friends from Tunbridge Wells, John's employees, and the ladies from Kate's visiting district. There were around a hundred wedding gifts. John and Kate left that evening for London, en route to the Continent for their honeymoon. The following night, Thursday 27 April, William hosted a dinner in honour of Kate's wedding for all his employees.
On Monday 24 September 1900, William and Jane attended the wedding of William's niece Julia Hickman to Joseph Parsons, held at Christ Church, Blacklands, Hastings. They gifted a mustard pot to the newlyweds.
William was a keen member of the Rye and East Guldeford Coursing Club. On Monday 21 January 1901, at the club's Rother Bridge meet, his greyhound Duchess enjoyed a clear win against Mr Fearn's entry, Romer. The club members then enjoyed lunch at Guldeford Farm, before the course continued on until concluding shortly after tea at Moneypenny Farm.
On Monday 18 February 1901, Duchess again secured a win, this time against Mr Henbrey's Conster. The meet was held at Beckett Farm, Brookland, on a fine sunny day despite the frost of the previous night.
On Tuesday 31 July 1901, the Rye Gardens' Society held a gala night on the grounds of "Magdala". William's gardener, G. Smith, won prizes for everlasting flowers, raspberries, marrows, and carnations. In 1904, William and Jane "retired" to St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. William continued to own and oversee substantial farming and grazing property in Kent and Sussex, but they decided to downsize and no longer live on a working property. They chose a home in Springfield Road in Silverhill, which had been developed as a middle class suburb of St. Leonards-on-Sea in the late Victorian era.
On Tuesday 8 February 1910, William and Jane sent a floral tribute to the funeral of Elizabeth Tendall, who had died aged 75 after a long illness. Mrs Tendall was the mother of their daughter-in-law Bessie. Her husband had been a journalist and newspaper proprietor. Sidney and Bessie attended the funeral alongside Mercer's wife Sarah and the Tendall family.
William and Jane were present at their Springfield Road home at the time of the 1911 census, together with a general domestic servant.
William signed his last will and testament on 13 December 1916. He nominated his brother-in-law Robert Mercer, and sons Mercer and Sidney, as his executors, and gifted them £5 each as "an acknowledgment for the trouble of executing my will". He then bequeathed "all the household furniture, plate, linen, china, glass, books, pictures, provisions and other household effects" to his "dear wife" Jane.
William then devised all real estate and residue of his personal estate to his executors on trust for "sale and conversion together or in parcels and either by public auction or private contract", with the proceeds to pay for funeral and testamentary expenses and then to be held on trust for the beneficiaries. However, William also empowered his executors to "carry on my grazing business for such period as they shall judge expedient". If they did opt to carry on his grazing business, then the income was to be held on trust for Jane during her life and after her death to be divided equally between their eight children. However, their inheritance was to be calculated having subtracted the amounts William had loaned them (at an interest rate of £4 per annum). He had loaned Sidney £250, Robert £200, Ranger £655, and Leslie £583 14s. The £100 loaned to son-in-law John Witham Warwick was to be likewise deducted from his wife Kate's share of the inheritance.
On 22 June 1917 William signed a codicil to his will. Since he had signed his will, he had loaned Mercer £50 and sought to have the same deduction apply to his inheritance. His brother-in-law Robert Mercer had died in February, following a very short illness, and William replaced him as executor with Ranger.
On 20 February 1919 William signed a second codicil to his will. Since his first codicil he had loaned Mercer £100 and sought for the deduction on the former terms to be updated to reflect this.
On 29 January 1920, William signed a third codicil to his will, revoking his previous direction in relation to Ranger's share of the inheritance. The new direction increased the deduction to £1255.
By the time of William's third codicil, he was in his ninetieth year, but clearly remained in strong control of his financial and legal affairs.
On the morning of Wednesday 7 December 1921, William and Jane attended the Rye Cattle Show. Their attendance was noted by the Sussex Agricultural Express, which described William as "an old exhibitor" who had exhibited at the Show for a great number of years, and reported that "he is 92 years of age, his wife is 85, they have been married 64 years, and have 11 children".
That was to be William's final cattle show. He died at home on 24 June 1922, in his 92nd year. He was buried in Hastings Cemetery.
Jane, well looked after by the income held on trust pursuant to William's will, remained at their Springfield Road residence. She died at home on Sunday 11 August 1929, aged 92. This was just three days before her son Sidney's annual garden party in aid of Emmanuel Church held at his home, Whitefriars. The garden party went ahead, a "great success" with ideal weather. Probate was granted to Sidney over Jane's estate in London on 15 November 1929. Her estate was valued at £284 12s. 8d.
Mercer Wildish (1859-1931)
Children:
Eveland Wildish (1885-1976)
Winifred Wildish (1891-1950)
Freda Wildish (1899-1996)
Frances Ellen Wildish (1861-1910)
Children:
Edward Gordon Bryant (1885-1956)
Margaret Bryant (1886-1886)
Ida Mary Bryant (1888-1970)
Kate Wildish (1863-1943)
Children:
John William Warwick (1894-1915)
Kathleen Amelia Warwick (1896-?)
Mildred Mabel Warwick (1899-1989)
Sidney Wildish (1865-1953)
Robert Wildish (1868-1944)
Robert Wildish was born on 13 January 1868 in Frittenden.
Children:
Agnes Murielle Wildish (1904-1997)
Florence Irene Wildish (1906-1992)
He worked as a drapery salesman and later as a commercial traveller in the drapery trade. In the 1930s his brother Leslie ran a ladies' outfitters and drapery firm in Surrey
Jane Wildish (1870-1870) & Frank Wildish (1870-1870)
Ranger Wildish (1872-1963)
Children:
Eileen Maud Wildish (1903-1996)
Marjorie Wildish (1904-1997)
William Ranger Noel Wildish (1906-1989)
Richard Conway Wildish (1909-2001)
Mabel Beatrice Wildish (1874-1972)
Children:
Rodney Fox Taylor (1902-1970)
Margaret Joyce Taylor (1905-1905)
Phyllis Mary Taylor (1907-?)
Jessie Maude Wildish (1879-1969)
Children:
Jessie Nellie Filmer (1903-2007)
Percy Vallance Filmer (1906-1929)
Lionel Cuthbert Filmer (1907-1991)
Keith Gerald Filmer (1910-1992)
Stella Edna Filmer (1914-2008)
William Leslie Wildish (1883-1963)
My great-grandfather - for his life story see here.