William Rees Williams

“ WILDE or WYLDE, JOHN (1590–1669) , chief baron of the exchequer, was the son and heir of George Wylde of Kempsey, Worcestershire, serjeant-at-law, who represented Droitwich in parliament, by his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Edmund Huddleston of Sawston, Cambridgeshire. Born in 1590, he matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford, on 18 Jan. ”

“ VIVIAN, Sir HENRY HUSSEY, first Baron Swansea (1821–1894) , born at Singleton on 6 July 1821, was eldest son of John Henry Vivian of Singleton, Glamorganshire, a merchant engaged in copper smelting, who was M.P. for Swansea from 1832 till his death in 1855, by his wife Sarah, eldest daughter of Arthur Jones of the Priory, Reigate. Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, first baron Vivian [q. v.] , was his uncle. He was elected to Eton in 1835 (Stapylton, Eton Lists) , and in 1838 went to the continent, where he studied metallurgy for two years in Germany and France. ”

“ By successive votes these commissioners, notwithstanding the 'self-denying ordinance,' retained the custody of the seal for three years, when on 30 Oct. 1646 they surrendered it to the speakers of the two houses. Wilde was one of the managers on the part of the commons (where he still kept his seat) in the impeachment of Archbishop Laud, whose trial commenced on 12 March 1643-4. His speeches against the primate were more conspicuous for political and religious rancour than for argument and good taste. He served on most of the principal committees of the Long parliament. ”

“ The publication of these books brought Williams an extensive practice as a conveyancer and real property lawyer, and in March 1862 he was appointed by Lord Westbury, the lord chancellor, one of the four conveyancing counsel to the court of chancery. His health suffered from the strain of increasing work. ”

“ In Richard Cromwell's parliament, which lasted from January to April 1659, Wilde again served as member for Droitwich, and there presented a petition praying a restoration to his former office as chief baron, and for payment of the arrears of 1,300l. due to him for his salary. The former was refused, but the latter was granted (Burton, Diary, iv. 390) . On the return of the Rump parliament, on 7 May 1659, he resumed his place as a member, and on 16 June following the house ordered that Lord-chief-baron Wild (sic) and other justices go the circuit. ”

“ Williams is said to have been enormously rich. His landed possessions were extensive. In 1561 he had purchased lands in Ystradfellte and Devynock, and in 1600 he bought the Gwernyfed estate (Jones, History of Brecknockshire) . By grant or purchase he also acquired many manors in Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Berkshire, while it is probable that his second wife brought him the manors of Shifford and Golofers, and the Cokesthorpe estate in Oxfordshire. ”

“ He was restored by parliament to his former post of chief baron on 17 Jan. 1659-60 (Whitelocke, Memorials, ed. Henry Reeve, p. 673) ; but the king returned in May, and appointed Sir Orlando Bridgeman [q. v.] in his place. In consequence of his having assisted the lords in several committees of the Convention parliament, Wilde escaped further question, and, absolved by the Act of Indemnity, he retired to his house at Hampstead, where he died in 1669. ”

“ Being chosen one of the vice-presidents of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, at its meeting on 28 Feb. 1755, he supported the society during the rest of his life. Having inherited from his father, who was the first of his family to settle there, the estate of Leybourne Grange, near Town Malling, in Kent, Whitworth resided there until 1776, when, with his eldest son's consent, he obtained a private act of parliament which enabled him to sell Leybourne, and he thereupon removed to Stanmore. ”

“ An ordinance for making satisfaction to Serjeant Wilde and Sir William Strickland for losses they sustained by the king's forces was read and recommitted on 5 April 1643 (Cal. State Papers) , and five days later the same matter was referred to a committee to consider what reparation should be made to him (Commons' Journals, iii. 37) . The commons recommended him for appointment as a deputy-lieutenant of Worcestershire on 18 March 1641-2, and he was made a sequestration commissioner for that county in April 1643 (ib.) ”

“ Williams married twice: first, before 1579, Margaret, youngest daughter of John Games of Aberbran, Brecknockshire, a descendant of David Gam [q. v.] of Newton; by her he had nine sons and two daughters, of whom, however, only four survived him. ”

“ Wigram was the author of two legal works, his ‘Examination of the Rules of Law respecting the Admission of Extrinsic Evidence in aid of the Interpretation of Wills,’ first published in 1831, having run through four editions ”

“ A man of remarkable energy and business capacity, Vivian threw himself with ardour into the administration of the business of the county. He was the first chairman of the Glamorgan county council from 1889 till his death. ”

“ By deed, dated 1612, he gave the great tithes of Gwenddwr, which had been granted to him by the crown, to trustees to be spent in various charitable uses; the annual income is now 82l. He made his principal residence at Kingston House (now called Ham Court, Bampton, once the residence of the Empress Matilda) , on the side of the Thames, in Kingston Bagpuze, Berkshire, to the church of which he gave a new belltower (Davenport, Annals of Oxfordshire) . ”

“ Wigram, whose decrees were remarkable for the lucid exposition of the legal principles involved in the cases he had to adjudicate upon, was compelled by ill-health, resulting in the total loss of sight, to retire from the bench in Trinity vacation 1850, when he was granted a pension of 3,500l. ”

“ He was made first prothonotary of the common pleas in the county palatine of Lancaster in June 1804, and held the office until his death. From 27 Nov. 1808 to 10 Jan. 1810 Villiers was envoy to the court of Portugal. On the death of his eldest brother, Thomas, unmarried, on 7 March 1824, he succeeded him as third Earl of Clarendon and as a count of the kingdom of Prussia, but took little part afterwards in public life, devoting himself to religious and charitable works. ”

“ Wraxall also (Posthumous Memoirs) styles him the ‘Nereus’ of Pitt's forces, and mentions him as a staunch supporter of that minister, to whose friendship entirely he owed his appointment for life in February 1790 to the lucrative sinecure of warden and chief justice in eyre of all the royal forests, chaces, parks, and warrens north of Trent. ”

“ He was made a queen's counsel on 30 March 1865, and during Easter term, on 20 April following, was elected a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. As a queen's counsel he gained most reputation in connection with a series of cases relating to the establishment of rights of common, such as the ‘Commissioners of Sewers v. ”

“ He became a student, of the Inner Temple about November 1602, and was called to the bar in 1612, was elected a bencher in 1628, and created a serjeant-at- law in 1636. He was appointed under-steward of Kidderminster by the new charter for that borough on 4 Aug. ”

“ This edition, however, was found to be so full of errors and discrepancies that, at the suggestion of Lord Eldon, a new and far superior edition was brought out in 1806–7, ably edited by John Raithby [q. v.] ; and another edition appeared in 1828. ”