William Wavell

William Wavell, the son of John and Anna Wavell, was probably born in 1750. According to thepeerage.com, William was baptised on 20 December 1750 and graduated with a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.). The website familysearch.com gives two possible baptisms: on 20 January 1750 in St Thomas, Ryde, Hampshire, and on 20 January 1751 in Newchurch, Hampshire. St Thomas’ was just a chapel within the large parish of Newchurch in1750, so the two dissimilar names refer to the same parish.

William Wavell married Mary Garrett Smith in Edmonton, London, on Thursday 11 November 1779, three days after obtaining a marriage bond on 8 November. The General Post, a London Newspaper, reported at the time that “Mr William Wavell, surgeon in Grace-church-street, was this morning married to Miss Mary Smith of Edmonton”. The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser carried the same announcement the following day. William was twenty eight and Mary was eighteen.

Two years after the young couple were married, Mary’s mother Mary Smith died on Sunday 18 November 1781, just a year after the birth of her first grandchild. Announcements were put into the London Whitehall Evening Post and the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser on 22nd, 23rd and 24th November 1781: “Last Sunday, died at Edmonton, Middlesex, Mrs. Smith, mother of Mrs. Wavell, Gracechurch Street, and widow of William Smith Esq. late of Guildford, Surrey”. Mary Smith, widow, was buried at St Martin’s in the Field, London, on 27 November 1781. This is all that is known about Mary parents.

William and Mary had four children, all christened in St Benet’s Gracechurch in London. Their eldest child William, born on 19 October 1780, was christened on 28 December. Their infant daughter Mary Barston was born on 19 November 1782 and christened on 22 December 1782, but the non-conformist burial records for Bunhill Field’s Burial Ground in City Road, London show that Miss Mary Wavell from Gracechurch Street, denomination dissenter, was buried on 4 September 1783 in a vault, just nine months old. Their similarly named second daughter, Maria Barston, was born in the same year on 20 October 1783 and christened on 5 November 1783. Their youngest son Arthur Goodall was born in Edinburgh on 20 March 1785 and christened on 7 December 1785.

Mary Wavell sadly died on 26 July 1788.

William Wavell made his home in Barnstable, Devon, working as a physician in Harwood Parish, where he lived for another forty years until his death. Comfortably off, he seems to have had many interests. Described as F.R.S., Surgeon, Geologist and Botanist, he made several discoveries as a result of his researches. He discovered the mineral Wavellite, which in 1805 was named after him, and on 5 February 1824 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society.

There are several references to William in various newspapers such as The London Whitehall Evening Post for 4-6 October 1791 which reported: “A few days since was drowned in attempting to cross a river to shoot a bird, Samuel West, coachman to Dr Wavell of Barnstaple; he was a sober young man, and a very good servant”. In another article in the Morning Chronicle of 24 June 1823, William Wavell, M. D., of Devonshire attended a Coroner’s Inquest on the body of Francis Chichester, Esq., aged 21, found drowned. William stated, that “he was intimately acquainted with the family of deceased; his father now resided at Hall, in Devonshire, and was of very large fortune; the deceased had been sent to Trinity College, Oxford, and had been in London since Easter; deceased had for some time been laboring under bodily disease, which brought on a great despondency; …… James Taylor, waterman, found the body of the deceased on Sunday morning, in the river, near Westminster-bridge”.

The book ‘Memorials of Barnstaple’ by Joseph Bresley Gribble, printed in 1830, has the following reference on page 20: “The first important improvement made at the Castle House, was effected by William Wavell M.D. about 1790”. William went on to sell Castle House and the Sherbourne Mercury of 31 October 1796 has the following long description of his commodious accommodation: “On Friday the 4th day of November next, a Survey will be held at the Golden Lion Inn, in Barnstaple, at the hour of four in the afternoon, for SALE, of All that Dwelling-house, called CASTLE-HOUSE, with the newly erected coach-house, four stalled-stable, three gardens, lawn, shrubbery, and pleasure grounds, thereto adjoining and belonging, in the possession of William Wavell, Esq.. The house consists of a dining-room 26 feet by 19, a parlour 17 by 13, servants-hall, large cellars, and convenient offices, on the first floor; a drawing-room 26 feet by 19, and four lodging-rooms (to one of which there is a dressing-room) on the second floor; and three lodging-rooms for servants; and with the coach-house, stable, and one of the gardens, is held by lease for 99 years from September, 1764, determinable on the deaths of three persons. The remainder of the premises consists of the site of the ancient Castle of Barnstaple, the foss, the Castle-hill, the Castle-green (which forms the lawn before the house), the shrubbery, and two gardens, and is held in like manner from December, 1788. The premises are situated near the populous town of Barnstaple, at the confluence of the river Yeo, and the large navigable river Taw, of which and the adjacent country they command an extensive and a picturesque view, and form one of the most pleasant, healthful, and desirable residences in the north of Devon. The gardens are walled and stocked with the most choice fruit trees in full bearing, and with the lawn, shrubbery, and pleasure ground, contain between three and four acres. The leases contain a power of renewal for a certain fine during the whole of the several terms. Barnstaple is a sea-port, and for beauty of situation, far exceeds any in the west, and can perhaps be equalled by very few in any part of England, remarkable for a good market, in which all the conveniences of life (particularly salmon and other fish, with which the neighbouring rivers abound,) are to be procured on very low terms, and a very desirable situation for a sportsman, being in a fine sporting country, and the neighbourhood of stag-hounds, fox-hounds, and several packs of harriers. A servant of the house will shew the premises; and particulars may be had of Messrs. Cutcliffe and Williams, attornies, Barnstaple. Dated October 17, 1796”.

William Wavell made his will on 21 April 1827, appointing his son Arthur Goodall Wavell and his daughter Maria Barston Dene as his executors, and adding a codicil on 2 April 1829 shortly before his death. William Wavell, age seventy nine of abode Horwood, was buried in the Parish of Horwood, Devon on 21 May 1829.

The website thepeerage.com incorrectly says he died on 15 January 1829 aged seventy eight. Burke’s Peerage gives his date of death as 15 May 1829, showing that he was seventy eight. And the Bristol Mercury of 2 June 1829 says that he died at Horwood Parsonage in Barnstable aged seventy six. The 1829 Death Duty Register entry for William Wavell gives the executor as his son A G Wavell of Horwood House, Barnstable.