Mary Cerjat then Postle (née Woodley)

Natural daughter and trustee of William Woodley of Eccles Norfolk (q.v.).

1. Daughter of W. Woodley, Esq., of Larling, Norfolk, and widow of George J. Cerjat, Esq. Second husband was The Reverend Gunton Postle, MA, late Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and Rector of Ringsfield, Suffolk for nearly 40 years who died 26 June 1829, aged 72. Mary was patron of his successor as Rector from 1829. Gunton Postle had a son, Edward (1810- ).

2. William Woodley was for 'many years lord of the manor who died March 30th 1807 aged 87 years'.

3. George Cerjat, formerly of Eccles but late of Thetford in Norfolk, wrote a brief will 31/05/1801 leaving everything to his wife Mary and naming her as sole executrix. The will was proved in London 12/12/1801. Mary Cerjat married Rev Gunton Postle 08/06/1807 in Weston, Suffolk.

4. William Woodley Frederick Cerzat[sic], son of George Cerzat and his wife Mary, late Mary Woodley, born 15/03/1800 and baptised privately 17/03/1800, recorded in the parish register of Eccles, Norfolk. William Woodley Cerjat, only son of George Cerjat of Thetford, Norfolk, matriculated Trinity College, Oxford, in 1819, aged 18, BA 1822, MA 1826. He married Maria Holmes in Berne, Switzerland, 08/04/1831. The will of William Woodley Frederick De Cerjat, formerly of Kingsfield in Suffolk, afterwards of Lauranne but late of Fantaisie near Lausanne in Switzerland, who died 21/03/1870 at Fantaisie was proved in 1870, effects under £14,000 in England.

5. A portrait of W. W. F. Cerjat, "little boy, turned towards the sinister with a bow and arrow; scenery below" from 1805, was recorded at Ixworth Abbey, Suffolk, in 1908, and identified as William Woodley Frederick Cerjat, son of George John Cerjat, Captain of the 1st Royal Dragoons, by Mary his wife, daughter of William Woodley, of Larling, Norfolk; born 15/03/1800, married Maria, daughter of Peter Holmes, of Peterfield, co. Tipperary. He had a daughter, Henrietta Mary, born at Beccles, 27/01/1832.

1. J. A. Venn (compiler), Alumni Cantabrigienses; a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900, Part II: From 1752 to 1900 (6 vols., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1940-1954), V; 'Ringsfield', The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: volume 1 (1846), pp. 67-71; http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75114 [accessed 03/05/2012].

2. Memorial inscription, St Ethelbert's, Larling, Norfolk: http://epitaphorigins.info/Zlarling.htm [accessed 03/05/2012]. There is also a memorial to George J. Cerjat.

3. PROB 11/1366/182; Findmypast.co.uk, Suffolk Marriage Index [database online].

4. indmypast.co.uk, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts Baptisms [database online]; Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online]; Ancestry.com, Switzerland, Select Marriages, 1532-1910 [database online]; National Probate Calendar 1870.

5. Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West) (1908) p. 235.

We are grateful to Patricia Usick for her assistance with compiling this entry.