The Hon. Col. John Wingfield-Stratford

John Wingfield Stratford Addington Place The second son of Richard and Amelia Wingfield was the Hon John Wingfield Stratford, born on 2 August 1772 at Powerscourt, co Wexford. He assumed the additional name of Stratford, his mother's maiden name, by Royal Sign Manual in 1802, in accordance with the will of his uncle, Edward Augustus, 2nd Earl of Aldborough. From 1777 (when John was just five years old), he and his brother, Edward, who was born that year, were in receipt of an annuity of £200 from the Irish Tontines. Who the provider of this bounty was is not known. Having joined the Coldstream Regiment of Guards, he eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Captain the Hon John Wingfield Stratford married firstly, on 25 April 1797, Frances, only child of Leonard Bartholomew of Addington Place, near Wrotham, Kent. John’s place of abode at the time of his marriage is listed in the Addington Parish Register as St James, Middlesex, which I take to be the parish of St James, Piccadilly. Witnesses to the marriage at Addington Church were Frances and Leonard Bartholomew, the bride's parents, John1 In fourteen and none, and Doro. Larking of Clare House, Christian Franklyn and Frances Davis. Dorothea Larking was actually a cousin of John Wingfield Stratford, being the daughter of his uncle and aunt, Sir Charles and Lady Isabella Style. Frances Wingfield Stratford died on 13 July 1829 aged 53 years. He married, secondly, on 1 August 1833, Harriette, daughter of Henry Grant, Esq., of The Knoll, Glamorganshire. John died at 12 Stratford Place, W1, London, on 3 August 1850 aged 78 years and Harriette remained alive until 28 March 1863, when she was aged 80. She was responsible for the restoration of Addington Church in 1856. The church dates from 1403:

John Wingfield Stratford’s will, signed on 20 March 1850

That he be buried at Addington Place “in such manner as my executors may approve avoiding as much as possible all ostentation and unnecessary exposure”, that a marble tablet to the memory of the late Mr & Mrs Bartholomew and their daughter (his late wife) be placed in the chancel of Addington Church and that “a suit of mourning be given to each such poor man and woman residing within the parish”, that all his just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses be paid without delay, and, according to his marriage settlement, that his present wife, Harriette, should have the house and property called St Vincent in Addington Park purchased from Mr William Groom except for land already entrusted to a tenant together with the fixtures, fittings and plate, for her life and later to revert to his daughter, Frances Amelia Hall and then to his son, John Wingfield Stratford. The following bequests were made:

in the presence of Charles and William Oakes, both of 13 John Street, Bedford Row, was proved in London on 26 September 1850 before the Worshipful James Varter Jeane and probate was granted.  The chief provisions of his will were  to Harriette Wingfield Stratford £500 stg to make additions to the furniture of St Vincent’s “as she may think proper”;  to Frances Amelia Hall, £400;  to his other daughter, Harriott, wife of John Malcolm of Lanorby Esq £300; to John Malcolm himself, £500;  to Isabella Malcolm, their daughter, “my little pony called Whisky”;  to his brother, the Honourable Edward Wingfield, £1,000 “and also my other cob pony and my gold repeating watch as a token of my sincere regard and esteem for him”;  to Miss Charlotte Style of The Vale, Addington, daughter of Robert Style, Sir Charles’s brother, £20 “as a small token of kind remembrance”  (she lived in Addington with her younger sister, Clara);  to the Revd Lambert Larking4

1 John Larking was a leader of the timber merchants’ cartel and with his partner, John Bowsher of Chepstow, made money from the awarding of contracts for the supply of timber for the Navy in spite of the efforts of Lord St Vincent, First Lord of the Admiralty, to clean up abuses in the system. John Larking in 1804 was Purveyor General of the Navy Board. Vicar of Ryarsh (and first Hon Secretary of the Kent Archeological Society) £100;

2 Inscribed on the wall of the church. 3 32/30/11/2120 Documents Online

to Charles George Bannister of John Street, Bedford Row in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, £100 to his butler, William Ipps, £100 “lent to him by me and I hereby do acquit and release him from the repayment thereof as a reward for his long and faithful services and care of me in many severe illnesses”; to his steward, William Brown, £30; to his housemaid at Addington, Jane Buss, “for her very loyal and faithful services”, £30; to his coachman, James Clarke, “as a faithful good servant”, £25; to his under-butler, William Chilton, “for his faithful services”, £20; to each of his other servants who, at the time of his decease, had been “in service twelve months and upwards, one year’s wages over and above what may be due to each of them respectively”; to the Treasurer for the time being of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, £50; to the Rector of Addington to be distributed “in such manner as he shall think expedient and beneficial”, £30; to his daughter, Frances Amelia Hall, in addition to the £7,000 already allocated to he though her marriage to the Venerable John Cecil Hall, Archdeacon of the Isle of Man (by then deceased) another £7,000 with interest at the rate of 4% for her own use to be financed through his estates in co Carlow, Ireland; to his other daughter, Isabella Harriott Malcolm and her husband the same to be likewise financed through his estates in co Wicklow, both bequests to be free of legacy duty which was to be paid out of his residuary personal estate; to his son, John Wingfield Stratford, his estates in Carlow, Wicklow Queen’s Count or elsewhere in Ireland and at Addington and the estate called the Stratford Place Estate partly held under the City of London and partly purchased by himself from the trustees of the Conduit Fields Estate as well as the remainder of his personal estate and effects after the payment of funeral and testamentary expenses; to each of his children an equal ⅓ share of the £3,000 bequeathed to him by his sister, the Honourable Amelia Spread and published in her last Will and Testament on 15 December 1831. The appointed joint Executors were set down as his son, John Wingfield Stratford, his son-in-law, John Malcolm, and his brother, Edward Wingfield. John Wingfield Stratford’s Addington landholdings totalled more than 330 acres, some arable and some wooded, together with 21 cottages, 2 houses, a farmhouse, the Addington Park mansion and St Vincent’s House, the church and the Angel Inn. Hops were extensively grown and there was an oast house5 “The Parish of Addington is not unpleasantly situated, being for the greatest part on high ground, adjacent to the northern side of the Maidstone Road at the twenty-seven mile stone, … hence the ground rises and at a mall distance above it is the mansion and garden of Addington Place, pleasantly situated on the side of a hill, having a lawn and avenue down to the road … , whose father owned the manor married Robert Watton, who thenceforward resided at Addington and was buried in the church. The property descended to Thomas Watton and finally to Edmund.” . 6 The chief monument in the Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Addington, is that of the Watton7 4 Lambert Blackwell Larking (1797-1868) was the son of John and Dorothea of Clare House. He married Frances, daughter of Sir Jervis Twysden, 5th Baronet (1760-1834) and Frances Wynch. family, erected in the second half of the 17th 5 1849 Tithe Apportionment 6 Institute of Historical Research: Historical and Topographical Survey of Kent, Vol 4 (1798