H/WS

Wilshere family of Welwyn

Hertfordshire Record Office. Also accession number 2148.

The collection consists of: 1) The title of the Shillington and Biggleswade estate of the Wilshere family in Bedfordshire acquired by William Wilshere and his successor between 1788 and 1864. 2) Papers of the Wilshere family as solicitors relating to various parts of SW and W Bedfordshire. 3) papers of William Wilshere as Chairman of Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions. The name Hanscombe appears here as in other collections of Shillington documents (HA, HE, H/DE). One was a lunatic who had a long struggle to convice the authorities that he was in fact sane, though perhaps cantankerous (H/WS787-797). He is first kept by his son in-law and guardian at a "mad house", but since he was ill treated there Chancery had him removed to the care of an apothecary at Hitchin and only after a year's petitioning was the grant of custody to the son-in-law revoked. Another Handcombe appears with Denton in H/WS753 where they convey part of some land which had formerly belonged to Ramsey Abbey and which they had acquired by Letters Patent from James I. They may have been speculating in land and buying up large amounts from the Crown and then dividing them up into smaller plots, or simply selling to the tenants. This is certainly what appears to be happening elsewhere: John Walker, gentleman, and Matthew Hare, yeoman, acquired part or all of the demesne of Shillington Bury Manor from the Crown and in 1648 and 1651 sold it piecemeal to various purchasers (H/WS209(V), 296, 512, 513). Two testamentary cases show some family squabbling in the 17th century. In 1608 (H/WS456) a Matthew Green purposely kept away from his brother Robert, who was bound to pay him a legacy, until after an appointed day, so that he could make a claim on copyhold bequeathed to Robert. In 1635 (H/WS466) this same Robert Green whose brother had tried to outwit him was making his will and was desired by his wife "to remember his kindred that they might not clamour against her...And he called her foole and bid her speake for herselfe for he said ther was none of his kindred did ever deserve anything at his hands, save only the said Martin Greene his wife was a little helpful to him when he kept house without a guide." There is a case of extreme old age in H/WS1004. The father of John Thompson of Cardington was 104 in 1802 - he had been born before the beiginning of the 18th century and outlived it. Some hazards in the survival of documents are well illustrated in H/WS269-295. The endorsement on H/WS293 show that those that are extant survive almost by accident, while others perished in a fire at Watton Woodhall, Herts, where they had been deposited with a mortgage (H/WS282) and are only known by an abstract (H/WS290)

Documents originally deposited by Captain G M G Wilshere in Hertfordshire county Record Office, and transferred to the Bedfordshire county Record Office in September 1949.

The deeds were in general in good order. The later deeds had been arranged by Wilshere in bundles, carefully labelled. The earlier deeds however, were often confused and a number of them have not been related to later properties (H/WS735-68). Endorsements on earlier deeds indicate early arrangements the most obvious of which survives in the purchases of Charles Nicholls (H/WS454-556) where all the deeds of one property have one number assigned to them. H/WS475-8 are all endorsed "No 2", whereas H/WS479, 483 are all endorsed "No 4" and so on.

Catalogued 1963.

Mic135

fonds

Wilshere, William,
Hanscombe,
Green, Matthew,
Green, Robert,
Thompson, John

SHILLINGTON, Quarter Sessions, mental health, BIGGLESWADE