MICHAEL WILLIAMS (1839-1905)
& “RHW” – being ROBERT HENRY WILLIS (1857-1931)
Michael’s memorial plaque in Christ Church Epsom Common
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019
This brass wall plaque in the North Aisle of Christ Church Epsom Common is doubly puzzling. Why was this Cornishman remembered in Christ Church? And who was “his grateful servant R.H.W.” who erected the plaque? There are interesting but, as we shall see, rather less than straightforward answers to these questions.
Michael Williams’ family were prominent owners of mines and smelting works for several generations during the Cornish Industrial Revolution. The consequent family affluence enabled William Williams (1791-1870) – he was created Baronet (a hereditary Knighthood) in 1866, four years before his death – to build the imposing (now Grade II listed) Tregullow House, just outside Redruth. Amongst other things, he served as High Sheriff of Cornwall and Deputy Warden of the Stannaries – the court that exercised almost all legal powers over the Cornish mines.
William had married Caroline Eales in 1826, and they had seven children of whom Michael (1839 – 1905) was the youngest. The 1861 Census found the 22 year-old Michael at Oriel College, Oxford from which he graduated with an MA. He was later appointed a Justice of the Peace for Cornwall, but no subsequent Census finds him in that county – or at anything like a permanent address. He never married, and seems to have lived the life of an itinerant Victorian gentleman. He was rather more than comfortably off – on his death in 1905, he left the equivalent of about £ 12 million at current values.
The 1891 Census found the 52 year old Michael boarding at 6 Sackville Street, St James’s London with his valet, Alexander Henderson, also aged 52. The 1901 Census, four years before Michael’s death, found him as a visitor at the Digby Hotel in Sherborne, Dorset. There is no mention of a valet for him or any of the other guests – but one of the other residents was the single 43 year old Robert Henry Willis. The suspicion that he was Michael’s valet and the “R.H.W.” on our plaque was later confirmed by provisions in Michael’s will, of which more below.
So what is the connection with Epsom? As discussed below, there is a clear reason why the rather rootless Michael was buried in Epsom Cemetery. However, while the Cemetery’s records have him marked as a local resident, he is not listed in any of the local Kelly Directories of the time, as residents of his class were. Indeed, he was at 10 Burlington Street, London – yet another up-market lodging house – when he died (of a brain tumour and cardiac failure) in 1905.
The particular link with Christ Church must therefore be through Robert Willis, as the person who erected the memorial plaque. The first thought might be that, notwithstanding the gulf in social status, he was related to the upper class Willis family of nearby Horton Lodge. However, his Birth Certificate reveals that he was born on 19 April 1857 in the Kensington Workhouse to the unmarried Maria Willis, with no entry for the father.
His next appearance in the readily available records is in the 1861 Census as a 4 year old grandson of the 50-something John (a “Carpenter”) and Margaret Edwards on Epsom Common. (The Census records Robert as “Henry R Willis” – but there is no doubt that this is him.)
John and Margaret, née Haggard, had married in St Martin’s, Epsom on Christmas Day 1825. They are found in the 1841 Census (“the first modern census”) living on Clay Hill (now West Hill), Epsom with four children, the second youngest being the 4 year old Maria. Maria went into service, being found in the 1851 as the 14 year old servant in the household of 30 year old John Gilbert (a “Carpenter” and, like Maria, originally from Epsom) in Bell Street Marylebone. (In Q3 1841 and registered in Dorking, John had married Charlotte Vernon but she was not at home for the 1851 Census.) As John Gilbert’s middle name was Robert, there has at least to be a question whether he was the father of Robert Henry Willis, with Maria Edwards adopting the surname Willis on grounds of discretion.
Maria was still in service with the family at the time of the 1861 Census (while 4 year old Robert was with his grandparents in Epsom) but now as one of three servants at Holland Lodge, Portland Terrace, Marylebone. The Census return notes “Head of Family absent” and has, as the first resident at the address, the 66 year old Elizabeth Gilbert, described as “Sister in Law”.
Whatever all that was about, the 26 year old Maria married 25 year old George Eggleton in St Martin’s, Epsom on 22 June 1863. The 1871 Census records the now early-30s George (“a Carpenter”) and Maria living on Epsom Common. No record has been found of this couple having any children, but living with them was the 14 year old Robert H Willis listed as a “nephew”. (His birthplace is recorded here as “Epsom”, but there is no doubt that this is the right person – not least because the Kensington-registered Robert is the only Robert Henry Willis in the GRO’s birth records from 1855 to 1859!) Also living with the couple were two of Maria’s unmarried brothers: 21 year old Thomas (a “Gardener”) and 32 year old Henry (a “Carpenter”).
As an adult, Robert went into domestic service. The 1881 Census records him as a 24 year old “Footman” staying as a visitor in 4 Hereford Mews in London’s Belgravia, St George Hanover Square – doubtless while his Principal was staying in the grand house. By the time of the 1891 Census, Robert was the “Butler” at 14 Wilton Crescent, also in Belgravia. As noted above, Robert was clearly Michael William’s valet by the time of the 1901 Census, staying in Sherborne, Dorset. And he continued “in service” after Michael’s death, being found in the 1911 Census six years after that as the house steward, heading a staff of 12, for the upper class Mahon family at 33 Cadogan Square, Chelsea.)
Michael Williams’ last will (made a few months before his death) not only confirms that Robert was his valet, but also underlined Michael’s general rootlessness by specifying his address as “The Oxford and Cambridge Club” in London’s Pall Mall. (Michael’s general separation from Epsom is further reinforced by the bequest of £ 45 – about £ 5,000 today – to “William Cocks of Weymouth Mews, Portland Place, London, cabman, who has driven me throughout the year for several years”.)
The lead Executor appointed under the will was George Kendal Hext (also listed as the informant on the death certificate) who was not only a solicitor but, more importantly, married to Michael’s niece. At St Giles’ Ashtead in 1894, George had married Caroline Giberne (née Buller), the widowed daughter of Michael’s slightly older sister, Catherine Anne. Now, Catherine had lived in Epsom (in Down Hall on Burgh Heath Road) towards the end of her marriage to Major James Hornby Buller. But, as Catherine had died in 1874 and the Hexts lived in Berkhamsted, no Epsom connection remained here.
Michael seems to have been extremely fond of his older sister, and had doubtless stayed with her in Down Hall. Through land holdings in his native Cornwall, he was the Lay Rector (the person with Chancel Repair responsibilities) for the newly rebuilt Davidstow Parish Church and, shortly after her death, he set up a memorial for her there. He later installed some stained glass windows in memory of his wider family.
More to the point, the very first provision of Michael’s long will (made 30 years after Caroline’s death) is:
“I desire to be buried in the cemetery at Epsom as near as conveniently may be to the grave of my late sister Mrs James Hornby Buller”
And that is what George Hext secured. As illustrated below, Michael’s headstone on plot D513 is only a few feet from the Buller family plot in which Catherine is buried. In the base of his headstone is carved,
“IN MEMORY OF / MICHAEL WILLIAMS MA / ORIEL COLLEGE OXFORD / JP FOR CORNWALL / BORN 10TH JANUARY 1839 / DIED 24TH APRIL 1905 / REST IN THE LORD”.
Michael’s and Caroline’s headstones (M and C respectively) in Epsom Cemetery
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019
It would seem that Robert’s early years in Epsom led him to erect the memorial plaque in Christ Church. In any event, Michael’s will does illuminate the plaque’s final phrase about its being “erected by his grateful servant”: it provided for Robert to receive not only “all my wearing apparel furs rugs and shawls” (a fairly standard provision at the time by those with a personal servant which, given the quality of the upper classes’ clothing, would have been quite valuable) but also an immediate lump sum of £ 200 plus a year’s wages together with a lifelong annuity of £50 free of legacy duty. Those cash sums would, respectively, be about £22,000 and £5,500 today. (Michael could well afford this generosity: his estate was valued at £102,688 – over £12 million today.)
Robert appears to have made the most of his new-found wealth. He is found three more times in the readily available records. The first is as a 69 year old travelling first class (apparently unaccompanied and for pleasure) on Elders & Fyffes’ SS Carare which left Avonmouth on 11 October 1926 bound for Kingston, Jamaica. The passenger manifest lists: his address as 32 Cadogan House, Beaufort Street, Chelsea; his occupation as “None”; and his intention to return to the UK. The second is of his death, aged 74, on 27 November 1931 in St Luke’s Hospital, Chelsea (while still “of” 32 Cadogan House). The third is the probate record (of 11 February 1932) relating to his estate of £7,408 – about half a million pounds today. Those granted administration of the estate are listed as “William Henry Edwards esquire, William Ross secretary and Florence Louisa Edwards spinster” – William and Florence doubtless being another generation of the Edwards family with whom Robert spent his childhood in Epsom.
Robert’s body was brought back to Epsom for burial in St Martin’s churchyard, in the same grave (621) as his grandparents, John Edwards (who had died on 3 July 1870, aged 70) and Margaret Ruth Edwards (who had died on 3 January 1871, aged 69). The headstone is illustrated below, together with the detail of Robert’s inscription (the quotation in which is taken Romans 13:12).
The Edwards/Willis Grave in the churchyard of St Martin’s, Epsom
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019
Roger Morgan © 2019
With thanks to Hazel Ballan for finding Maria Edwards in 1851 & 1861