John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS: a BRONTE connection and an unsolved mystery
It was the research into the origins of a George Henry WILLIAMS and his bride, widow Mary BARTON (who married 1842 in the parish of Bromley St Leonard, London) that brought John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS to my attention.
The 1842 marriage certificate of George and Mary states George Henry WILLIAMS was a Mariner by occupation, of full age, and that his father was John WILLIAMS, a Gent.
The 1851 Census for Poplar, where George was located that year, gives more of a clue to his year and location of birth. Aged 32 years in 1851 George was therefore born circa 1819 and in Spetchley, Worcestershire.
George’s birth date can be found on his Mariners record on the online database FindMyPast. George was born on 3rd February 1819, and in Spetchley, Worcs. He had first gone to sea as an Apprentice in 1833, aged just fourteen.
As to George’s possible baptism, all the available online genealogical databases were checked and enquiries made at Worcester Record Office, there was no record of a George Henry WILLIAMS baptised in Spetchley c1819.
But there was a baptism of a George Henry WILLIAMS in nearby Worcester, at St. Michael Bedwardine Church, on 5th March 1819. Parents on the baptism record of this George Henry were John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS and his wife Caroline Matilda Ann. Occupation of the father given as Guard of the Mail Coach.
Was the George Henry WILLIAMS born in Spetchley, one and the same as the George Henry WILLIAMS baptised in St. Michael Bedwardine?? The Worcester baptism is only one month after George’s birth in Spetchley.
Following is a timeline of further information I used to try to discover more about John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS to help solve this mystery.
1797 March 19th
John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS was baptised in Penzance. Possible birth date 28th February 1797. Father’s name John WILLIAMS given only on the parish register entry.
It is probable John’s mother was Alice BRANWELL.
A John WILLIAMS married an Alice BRANWELL in Madron, Cornwall on 31st June 1795. Madron is less than two miles from Penzance. Madron and Penzance are closely connected to Maria BRANWELL who married Patrick BRONTE. Alice is reported on some online sites as the younger sister of Maria BRANWELL. It is more likely Alice was the aunt of Maria BRANWELL therefore making John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS a cousin to Maria.
A BRANWELL for a mother and a connection to the wider BRANWELL family started to suggest this John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS had links to the BRONTE family.
1816 May 9th
John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS married Caroline Matilda Ann DAVIES at St. George the Martyr Church, Middlesex. On the parish register entry John is listed as a Bachelor and a Minor, and consent for the marriage was given by John WILLIAMS “the natural Lawful Father of the said Minor”. Caroline was “of the parish of St. James, Westminster”
Caroline was six years older than her young husband John. She was baptised at St. James, Westminster on 27th March 1791, born 1st Feb 1791. Her parents were Thomas and Caroline DAVIES.
1819 March 5th
Baptism of George Henry, son of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS and his wife Caroline Matilda Ann at St. Michael Bedwardine Church, Worcester.
1820 July 2nd
Baptism of Maria, daughter of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS and Caroline Matilda Ann his wife, at the Temple Church, London.
1821 July 1st
Baptism of Augustus, son of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS and Caroline Matilda Ann his wife, born June 5th at the Temple Church, London.
1824 February 4th
Baptism of Thomas, son of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS and Caroline Matilda Ann his wife at the Temple Church, London.
1840 August 14th
Extract from a letter to Miss Ellen Nusey from Charlotte Bronte.
“…The freshest news in our house is that we had about a fortnight ago a visit from some of our South of England relations – John Branwell Williams and his wife and daughter. They have been staying about a month with Uncle Fennell at Crosstone. They reckon to be very grand folks indeed and talk largely-I thought assumingly. I cannot say I much admired them; to my eyes there seemed to be an attempt to play the great Mogul down in Yorkshire. Mr. Williams himself was much less assuming than the womenites.; he seemed a frank sagacious kind of man, very tall and vigorous, with a keen active look. The moment he saw me he explained that I was the very image of my Aunt Charlotte. Mrs Williams sets up for being a woman of great talents, tact, and accomplishment; I thought there was more noise than work. My cousin Eliza is a young lady intended by Nature to be a bouncing, good looking girl; Art has trained her to be a languishing, affected piece of goods. I would have been friendly to her, but I could get no talk, except about the Low Church Evangelical Clergy, the Millennium, Baptist Noel, botany and her own conversion. A mistaken education has utterly spoiled the lass; her face tells she is naturally good-natured, though perhaps indolent; in manner she is something of a sanctified Amelia Ringrose, affecting at times a saintly, childlike innocence so utterly out of keeping with her round rosy face and tall bouncing figure that I could hardly refrain from laughing as I watched her ……….”
1841 23rd December – Brighton Gazette
Fashionable Chronicle column: Mr and Mrs Williams have returned to their residence 12 Dorset Gardens from a tour of visits
Note: This information may well explain why the relevant John and Caroline WILLIAMS cannot be found on the 1841 Census (recorded in June 1841). They could have been on a tour of visits at the time of the census.
1845 Brighton Directory
12 Dorset Gardens – John Williams, Esq.
1846 Brighton Directory
12 Dorset Gardens – Captain John Williams
1847 January 14th Brighton Gazette- Death Notices
On the 12th inst. after a few hours illness, John Williams, Esq, of 12 Dorset Gardens
1847 January 15th London Daily News – Sussex Suicide
An inquest was held at the Globe Inn, Brighton on the body of John Williams, Esq. of the Inner Temple. Mary Collins said she was servant of the deceased and saw the deceased several times on Saturday evening; he went to bed about quarter to twelve and directed her to call him at nine the next morning. She did so, but no one answering, and the door being locked on the inside, she informed her mistress, who sent immediately for Mr Burrows. Mr John C Burrows deposed, he had seen the deceased for twelve months during which time he showed symptoms of insanity. About 18 months ago he lost a favourite daughter, which seemed deeply to afflict him. About six weeks since, he discovered that he had been taking laudanum, but not in such quantities to cause death. On Sunday morning he received a note from Mrs Williams, stating that she could not gain access to her husband’s room, nor make him hear. He broke open the bedroom door and found the deceased lying on his back in bed and breathing very heavily. After applying the usual remedies, in a few hours signs of sensibility began to return. By midnight he was out of immediate danger……………He gradually sank from exhaustion and died at eight o’clock on Tuesday night. Verdict “Insanity”. He has left a wife and three children.
Another newspaper, the Morning Advertiser reporting on the same event – 16th January 1847 records John WILLIAMS as a Butler of the Inner Temple
A verdict of insanity, rather than suicide, was recorded to enable John WILLIAMS to be buried in consecrated ground.
John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS left a Will, written on 13th April 1843 and proved in London 29th January 1847. John gives his address in 1843 as 12 Dorset Gardens, Brighton.
The Will is just fourteen lines long and John left everything to his wife Caroline. There is no mention of any of his children in his Will, and it is known from the Inquest details there were three surviving at the time of his death.
As to what happened to John’s wife Caroline after his death, a Mrs WILLIAMS is recorded in the 1848 Brighton Directory as still living at 12 Dorset Gardens, and in Folthorp’s Directory of Brighton 1850, a Mrs WILLIAMS is still at 12 Dorset Gardens. By 1852 Caroline is no longer at the Brighton address.
A Matilda Caroline WILLIAMS is recorded on the GRO Index as having died in Brighton in the June Quarter of 1850. This may well be the death certificate reference for John’s wife.
Summary
Five children for John and Caroline have been recorded in various documents, dated between 1819 and 1840, they were George Henry, Maria, Augustus, Thomas and Eliza. John and Caroline WILLIAMS may have had more children, but we do not know which three children were still living at the time of John’s death in 1847. Perhaps the Mariner George Henry born 1819 in Spetchley was one of them? This question was the reason for this piece of research. Mariner George Henry WILLIAMS had children and grandchildren, one of whom was a writer. Was Mariner George Henry the son of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS?
Spetchley, George’s birthplace, is a small hamlet with a now redundant church, but most of the hamlet is surrounded by Spetchley Park, the estate of the Berkeley family. There is no baptism for George in the Spetchley parish register c1819. His family may have been non-conformist of course, but the baptism of a George Henry WILLIAMS in Worcester just a month after the George born in Spetchley suggests a tantalising hypothesis that they could be the same person. Otherwise, it is a great coincidence to have two George Henry WILLIAMS with a father named John born three miles and possibly a few weeks apart.
And the name of the lost favourite daughter has been discovered as Eliza Caroline (died 1845), the daughter mentioned in Charlotte BRONTE’s letter of 1840. John and Caroline WILLIAMS, from local Directory information, had been in residence at 12 Dorset Gardens, Brighton since at least 1841 perhaps before. Some research via online burial databases revealed that John WILLIAMS, his wife Caroline and daughter Eliza are all buried in the same plot at All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green, London.
On All Souls Burial Register in 1845, Eliza Caroline is noted as resident at 19a Golden Square, London at the time of her death. Her age at death is given as 26 years. Estimated birth year for Eliza therefore c1818/1819. It is likely perhaps Eliza Caroline was John and Caroline’s first child, but no baptism found for her as yet.
The address given on All Souls Burial Register for both John and Caroline Williams is 12 Dorset Gardens, Brighton, so the correct couple and family. John’s age was given as 49 years which would be correct against his birth year. Caroline’s age at death was given as 62 years. Against her birth/baptism record this was a few years out, Caroline was only 59 (born 1791).
The occupation of John Thomas Branwell WILLIAMS also has some questions surrounding it. In 1819 he was a Guard of the Mail Coach. In the early 1820s his children were being baptised in the Temple Church, London: a suggestion perhaps to a possible link to an occupation in the legal profession for John.
The Inquest into John’s death in 1847 states he was a member of the Inner Temple, one newspaper states he was a Butler of the Inner Temple, again a link to the legal profession. But in the 1846 Brighton Directory he is referred to as a ‘Captain’: a sea captain, and army captain or something else?? It is known though that in the early nineteenth century, individuals would join the Inns of Temple for social network reasons but never actually complete a training in the law. In John’s case it appears, he became an employee there.
It did occur that there might be two couples in the ilk of John and Caroline WILLIAMS, but another couple living at the same time with the same shared set of six Christian names recorded in the same order seems very unlikely indeed!!
Copyright of this article belongs to Anne Holmes MSc, Professional Genealogist.
If you would like a further list of sources connected to this article, please contact me at my e-mail address: holmes.am@btinternet.com
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