William Wetherill (1711-1789), Elizabeth Clarke (????-1767) and Elizabeth Shorten (????-1794).
My 7th great-grand uncle and aunts.
William was baptised on 14 October 1711 at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to parents Thomas Witherill and Mary Corpe. He followed his father into teaching and left significant property on his death.
William married Elizabeth Clarke in Yarmouth on 31 March 1743 and for both it was their first marriage. Elizabeth died in 1767 and was buried on 9 April. William wed again, marrying widow Elizabeth Shorten at St Nicholas’s in Yarmouth on 8 January 1773. She was the widow of John Shorten, who she’d married at Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk, in 1759. He died in June 1772. Elizabeth’s maiden name was Noughton, Newton or similar and her age at death suggests she was born in around 1717, although I’ve yet to track down a record.
William was a schoolteacher. The Clergy of the Church of England Database showed that he was licensed to teach reading, writing and arithmetic within the diocese. He was appointed a schoolmaster at Great Yarmouth Grammar School on 5 July 1735 and was the proprietor of Wetherill’s School. Great Yarmouth local government records in the 18th century regularly mention applications by poorer residents or freemen for the admission of their sons to Wetherill’s School using ‘Dawson’s free scholarships’. If they were granted William was instructed to teach the relevant boys in reading, writing and arithmetic. The image shows one such successful petition from Ann Wilcock, widow of deceased freeman Edward, requesting that her son be admitted as a free scholar.
I’ve found no evidence that William and his wives had any children of their own.
Proof that he had done well in life was given in his will, in which he was described as a Gentleman, ie someone who was reasonably well off, a man of property and someone who didn’t need to work to survive. Early 19th century documents relating to Master’s Row confirm this, mentioning four fishhouses mortgaged in 1771 by Charles Pipe and his wife Sarah that were assigned in 1775 to William Wetherill, gentleman. These were subsequently sold by the executors of his widow Elizabeth Wetherill.
William’s will lists a number of buildings, yards and the like in Goat Street (or perhaps the nearby Gaol Street) that he occupied and that he’d recently purchased from John Iver Esq; a schoolroom, shop and other buildings near the Quay that he occupied along with a number of tenants; and four ‘tenements and dwelling houses’ in or near Well Row – Row 27 – that earned its nickname from the well used by a large number of local residents. The property was left to his wife Elizabeth on the assumption that she kept it all in good and tenantable repair. After her death the property was to go to his nephews William and James Wetherill, the sons of his late brother Thomas Wetherill, and a number of others including his sister Elizabeth Peterson‘s children. All of William’s other property, including money, plate and linens, were to go to his wife Elizabeth, who was made executor.
William was buried on the 9 October 1789 and the Gentleman’s Magazine noted that he had been “an eminent teacher of the mathematics. The joint term of his and his father keeping school in that town is 121 years.” It’s unclear what happened to his school but it seems that it died with him as there is no mention of any of his family taking his place. Indeed, references in Great Yarmouth documents refer to him relinquishing his post. This mentions his resignation and the appointment of a John Christmas to teach five sons of poor freemen arithmetic and the mathematics pursuant to the will of John Dawson for an allowance of £5 pa.
William’s second wife Elizabeth died in December 1794 and was buried on the 10th in the grave of her first husband in Ormesby St Margaret, as she requested in her will. She left her money, clothes and linen to various people including family members.
Sources: BMDs, census and other info at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk. Records at Norfolk Family History Society. Will and other records from Norfolk County Archives – Y/D 51/494-499 (Master’s Row). ANW administration bond, 1757, no. 60. ANW, will register, 1788-1789, (1789) fo. 103, no. 85. YANW, will register, 1794-1795, (1794) fo. 110, no. 76. Y/C 19/36 Yarmouth Assembly file 1785-90. C19/33 316 Yarmouth Assembly file. The Clergy Database.