Rev. William England Archdeacon of Dorset

William England was born at Blandford, Dorset, 24/08/1757. He was the son of John England MD (-1767), physician, and Mary Boult (1730-1766), of Bristol. He attended a school at Bristol; adm. pens. at St John’s, Cambridge University, 29/06/1774, and adm. Fell.-Com. 16/03/1787. Matriculated Michaelmas 1776; B.A. 1778; M.A. 1782; D.D. 1814.

William England was ordained deacon (London) 21/05/1780; priest (Exeter) 23/09/1781. He was curate of West Knighton, Dorset, 20 June 1780-; Curate of West Stafford, Dorset, 1 November 1790-; Rector of Great Yeldham, Essex, 19 January 1782-1804; Rector of Winterbourne Came, Dorset, 1804-1820, and with St Germaine and Ower Moigne, 1808-1820; Archdeacon of Dorset, 1815-1835; Rector of Ower Moigne and West Stafford with Frome Billet, 1820-1835.

William England's first wife Mary Estridge was the daughter and co-heir of John Estridge of Brislington Dorset and St Kitts (q.v.), and was entitled to £10,000 under her father's will. Encumbered estates in St Kitts were reportedly assigned to Rev. William England in the 1790s by virtue of his wife's inheritance.

He married Mary Estridge, daughter and co-heir of John Estridge (1732-1778), Esq., of Wick, on 10/06/1780 at Brislington. Mary died and was buried at Upwey Dorset on 01/06/1782, aged 23.

Mary Estridge was entitled to £10,000 under her father's will. Encumbered estates in St Kitts were reportedly assigned to Rev. William England in the 1790s by virtue of his wife's inheritance. The will and the St Kitts estates of John Estridge of Brislington became subject to extended litigation. The case of Ex parte Smith in 1834, arising from the bankruptcy of Manning & Anderdon, gives the background, from the 1774 deed of John Estridge of Brislington which mortgaged the estates to secure annuities of £1300 p.a. on them [and the enslaved people on them] onwards. It is clear from the case that the debt on the estates precluded the payment of many of the legacies. The estates were assigned subject to the debts secured on them in 1795 to Dr England, the husband of Mary Estridge, who had become entitled to her legacy of £10,000 under John Estridge's will.

William England married again: on 01/01/1787 at Shudy Camps to Miss Margaret Bridge (1760-1837), daughter of John Littell Bridge (1719-1776) and Margaret Hurrell (1721-1778), of Shudy Camps, Cambridgeshire. His children were Margaretta England (1790-1862), William England (1792-1846), and John England (12-16/10/1800).

William England died 13/11/1835 at West Stafford, Dorset. He will was proved 26/08/1836. West Stafford church has a memorial to William England, D.D., Archdeacon of Dorset, 1835, and Margaret his widow, 1837.

We are grateful to Rachel Hassall for assistance in compiling this entry.

Ancestry.com, Dorset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 for Mary England, Upwey [database online], the page of entries headed by 'Visitation at Dorchester June 14 1782'; Bath Journal, Monday 12 June 1780; Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Thursday 15 June 1780; Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Thursday 25 January 1787; Sherborne Mercury, March 1792; Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900 [database online]; Account written by the Rev. John Toogood (1742-1824), rector of Kington Magna, Dorset, of a speech he made at a meeting he had arranged of the Clergy of Dorset at the King’s Arms, Dorchester on 22 March 1792 for the purpose of signing a petition for Parliament to abolish the slave trade. The petition was agreed to by 111 clergymen of Dorset, and opposed by only one, the Rev. William England. This account of the speech given by the Rev. Toogood in response to a long speech given by the Rev. England was published as an appendix to the Rev. John Toogood’s Letters to the Gentlemen, Clergy and Freeholders of Dorset on the African Slave Trade, Sherborne: Goadby, Lerpiniere, and Langdon, 1800; PROB 11/1865/475.