Henry St John and his Wigsell decendants,
possessors of the messuage which became known as The Hylands,
later Whitmores, Epsom, from 1747 to 1807
The genealogy is this case is complicated by connections to the Atwood family of Sanderstead and the re-use of personal names in different branches and generations of Wigsells.
Hylands/Whitmores
In an article on Whitmores, formerly known as Hylands (but not to be confused with The Hylands or Hylands House that lie further east on Dorking Road, Epsom), Henry St. John of Sanderstead, Surrey, Esq., is mentioned as having acquired the property on 14 July 1747 . He held it in 1755: a messuage, coach house, stables and other out-houses, a garden and two fields of meadow ground, with 7 acres, and 12 and a half acres in the common fields.
Outline descent of the Epsom house
In the simplest terms, following Henry St John’s death the messuage passed down to his widowed daughter Sussanah Wigsell, who had married Rev Atwood Wigsell of Sanderstead, and subsequently, in order of seniority, her sons, Atwood Wigsell (junior) and Rev Thomas Wigsell. After the latter’s demise, without issue, half shares in the premises descended to Susannah and Rev Atwood Wigsell’s daughter Susannah Wigsell (junior) and Ann Crowe, nee Buckle (daughter of Ann Buckle, formerly Wessell, nee St John, Henry’s other daughter).
The sequence of events
Mr Henry St John, the elder, married Mrs Sarah Buckle, both described as ‘of Banstead’, by licence at Sanderstead on 17 June 1708. Christopher Buckle, Esq. of Banstead who espoused Sarah, daughter of Jacob Forster, merchant, had a successor, Christopher Buckle, Esq. (b. in 1684, builder of Nork House, in the parish of Banstead, Surrey) also four younger sons and a daughter, Sarah, who became the wife of Henry St. John, Esq.
She was apparently the ‘Mrs. Sarah St. John’ who was buried at Sanderstead on 3rd June 1720. Her husband, Henry St. John, was the only resident gentleman in Sanderstead returned at the visitation of 1725, thought to have been living at Lymes Place.
Their daughter, Susannah St John (born 17 August 1711), was baptised at All Saints, Sanderstead, on 23 August 1711. She had married Atwood Wigsell, Clerk LLB, Rector of Sanderstead , 31 October 1735, at St George the Martyr, London, by licence. The Rev Atwood Wigsell, Rector of the Parish, was buried at Sanderstead 12 November 1757.
Henry St John, the younger (baptized at Sanderstead in 1716), and Joanna Wood, both of the parish of Sanderstead, were married there on 5 May 1746, by licence. A marriage settlement, 2-3 May 1746, of Henry St John of the Inner Temple, London, esq, and Joanna Wood of Sanderstead, widow, provided that after Joanna St John’s death, premises at Charlwood would be held for a term of 100 years by the Rev Thomas Wigsell in trust to attend her inheritance [Surrey History Centre 442/1/17]. Joanna, wife of Henry St John (the younger), from Epsom, was interred at Sanderstead on 13 February 1760. He came to be buried with her there in 1773.
‘Anne ye daughter of Hen. St. John Esq. born and baptizd. March 4th 1718’ is also to be found recorded in the Parish Registers at Sanderstead. Abraham Wessell married Ann, daughter of Henry St. John, Esq., both ‘of Epsom’, at Sanderstead, [Marriage Settlement, 10 December 1748, London Metropolitan Archives reference O/493/005] on 24 December 1748, by licence. Abraham Wessell, Esq., from Ewell was buried 26 April 1754 in his family vault at Merstham. The Will of Abraham Wesssell came to be proved in 1754 [PROB 11/808/203] His widow, then described as ‘of Ewell’, married secondly Christopher Buckle, Esq. by licence 28 July 1755.
Henry St John, widower, of the Parish of Sanderstead married Elizabeth Jacques of Richmond, widow, by licence at St George the Martyr, London, (following Atwood Wigsell as mentioned above) on 14 November 1736. Henry’s second wife, Mrs Elizabeth St John, was buried at Sanderstead, 19 January 1743/4.
Children of Susannah and Rev Atwood Wigsell
Seven offspring resulted from this this union, but only four survived both parents:-
- Susannah baptised at Sanderstead 10 September 1736,
- Atwood Wigsell, junior, baptised at Sanderstead 19 December 1742,
- St John Wessell Wigsell, born 26 June 1750, baptised 3 July 1750 at Sanderstead &
- Thomas Wigsell, born 20 March 1754, baptised at Sanderstead 25 March 1754.
The boys were sent to be educated at Eton.
Extracts from the Will of Henry St. John of Ebbisham otherwise Epsom, Surrey, Esq. , 1771 are to be found in the North Yorkshire County Record Office under reference ZBL I/2/2/2. Will dated: 11 May 1771 with additional bequest 31 Aug 1771 and codicil dated 29 Jan 1772: Probate granted 11 November 1773. Henry St John had been buried at Sanderstead ‘from Epsom, in Woollen, the eighth day of November, 1773′.
Henry St. John by his will dated 11 May 1771 entailed his messuage with 6 acres of land and his 12 and a half acres in the common fields at Epsom to his daughter Susanna Wigsell and her son Attwood Wigsell for their joint lives.
According to the late Hans Lehmann in The Residential Copyhold of Epsom [3B1 & 3C1], at Henry St. John’s death his daughter Susanna Wigsell of Epsom, widow, was admitted on 6 Jun. 1774.
The Thomas Wigsell of Sanderstead, Surrey, gent., of New Inn, Middx., attorney at law, mentioned in Henry St John’s Will was brother to Rev Atwood Wigsell, Rector of Sanderstead (died 1757). He died to be interred there on 11 July 1778. His Will, ‘Gentleman of Sanderstead’, which came to be proved on 22 July 1778 [PROB 1/1044/137] devised his estates to nephew Atwood Wigsell, junior.
Susannah Wigsell from Epsom was interred at Sanderstead on 20 April 1779 – Will, ‘Widow of Epsom’, proved 4 May 1779 [PROB 11/1053/26]. At her demise her son Attwood Wigsell of Sanderstead, Surrey, Esq., was admitted to the Epsom real estate on 14 June 1779.
Lehmann remarks this was to pass down to “Attwood Wigsell and his sons in order of seniority, failing these to his other grandson Thomas Wigsell and his sons in order of seniority, and failing these to his granddaughters Susanna Wigsell and Ann Buckle in equal shares as tenants in common.
[St John Wessell Wigsell had died in 1784 to be interred at Sanderstead on 9 July of that year]. Attwood Wigsell’s death was reported on 17 Jun. 1795 [he had been buried at Sanderstead, 19 May] ; on 23 May 1796 on the third unsuccessful proclamation for the heir the properties were declared forfeited to the lord of the manor, but on 24 Oct. 1796 the Revd. Thomas Wigsell of Sanderstead, clerk, was admitted in accordance with Henry St. John’s will, Attwood Wigsell having died without issue.
[Thomas Wigsell, son of Atwood, senior, from Sanderstead, Surrey, matriculated at St John’s College, Oxford, on 11 December, 1771, aged 17. He became a Bachelor of Civil Law Oxford, but entered the Church of England as a deacon, 15 June1777. Ordained priest,14 June 1778, he was inducted Rector of Sanderstead the following 1 August. Marriage to Jacobina Mary Ann Maria daughter of Sir John Henderson took place on 21 July 1792. – registered at Sanderstead as ‘Thomas Wigsell & Maria Henderson, both of S., by Licence; by Henry Peach, Rector of Cheam. Witnesses: John Henderson, Atwood Wigsell’. This Thomas died on 17 September 1805 to be buried at Sanderstead, Tuesday 24th, aged 51. Will proved 30 October 1805, PROB 11/1432/250 ]
At [Rev] Thomas Wigsell’s death, also without issue, Henry St. John’s two granddaughters were admitted in moieties, Susanna Wigsell of Sanderstead, spinster, on 1 Apl. 1806, Thomas George Knapp, of Haberdashers Hall, Maiden Lane, London, Esq. acting as her attorney, and Ann Buckle, now the wife of Robert Crowe of Kiplin in the County of York, Esq. on 23 Jun. 1806, by Thomas Williams of Clayton Street, Kennington, gen. as her attorney [Letter of appointment at North Yorkshire County Record Office, 6 June 1806, reference ZBL1/2/2/4].
[The latter Ann Buckle was in fact a great grand-daughter. Mrs. Ann Buckle, widow, mother of Anne Crowe the wife of Robert Crowe of Kiplin, Esq had died on 19 August 1792 in a mansion at Bolton on Swale, Yorkshire[ North Yorkshire County Record Office references ZBL I/1/1/426-427 & ZBL II/97-100]. On 8 October 1784, Robert Crowe, Esq., of Catterick, co. York, bach., & Ann Buckle of St. Michael’s, Bath, spinster had married by licence in Bath Abbey.]
They both negotiated the sale of the property to John Lewis Mackay of Bushey, Herts., but Susanna Wigsell died [25 December 1806 and buried at Sanderstead 2 January 1807] before this sale could be completed, and her executors, the Revd. Richard Smith of Edinor near Bakewell in the County of Derby, clerk, and Robert Snow of the Strand, Middx., banker, were admitted to her moiety on 3 Mar. 1807, and surrendered it to Durley Grazebrook [partner in Paine and Brettell, solicitors] of Chertsey for the completion of the sale. On the same day Robert Crowe and his wife Ann surrendered their moiety also to Durley Grazebrook, and Thomas Wigsell’s widow Jacobina Mary Ann Maria Wigsell of Sanderstead likewise surrendered her claim to the expectancy. After an action of recovery the messuage and 6 acres of land (but not the 12 and a half acres dispersed in the common fields) passed to John Lewis Mackay, who was admitted on the same day”. [Lehmann 3B1 & 3C1]
Surrey History Centre holds documents under reference 842/1/17, 29 November 1806, & 2145/4/1 a-b, 19/20 January 1807.
The Registers of St George, Hanover Square record that, on 10 July 1810, Richard Curran, Esq., B., of this parish, & Jacobina Maria Wigsell, W., of St Marylebone were married by licence.
Almost inevitably cases subsequently arose in Chancery including Wigsell v Smith, 1823, which involved both the St John and Wigsell estates.
Brian Bouchard 2020