Whatmore Family History

In the seventeenth century it was quite common for a man who was fortunate enough to be appointed as a rector to pay  a curate to look after his parish and go off and do something altogether more agreeable or remunerative. Such a man was William Watmer, Rector of Great Comberton in Worcestershire and as he led a very interesting life we should perhaps not judge the morality of the clergy of his time by our own contemporary ideas. Geoffrey Whatmore has researched the life of William Watmer in some detail and I am grateful for Geoffrey’s permission to reproduce here an abridgement of the account given in ‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’.

William’s baptism has not been traced, but a relevant manuscript tells us that he was of the family of ‘Watmeer of Salop’ and the dates of his university career enable us to place his birth in about 1654 – during the Commonwealth period when parish registers were often neglected.

The first reference to William Watmer is in the records of Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he matriculated in 1670 He had been awarded a sizar (an allowance paid by the College) the previous year. In 1673 he was awarded a B.A. and was ordained at Gloucester, becoming curate of St John Bedwardine, Worcester.

About 1680, William married a Margaret and they had three children all baptised at St John Bedwardine – Elizabeth 1681 and buried 13 September 1681, Elizabeth 1682 and Mary 1684.

 Great Comberton Church  Copyright: Bob Embleton  Photograph from www.geograph.org.uk and reproduced here in accordance with the licence which can be viewed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

It was in 1683 that William Watmer was appointed as Rector of Great Comberton, but he must at once have arranged for a vicar to look after the parish, as William continued  as curate at St John Bedwardine. Perhaps he found the payment of a vicar’s salary too great an expense for by 1687 when four new bells were hung, he was living in the rectory at Great Comberton. He remained  there until 1694 when his name disappears from the church records, reappearing in 1703.

Detective work by Geoffrey Whatmore eventually tracked down William as Chaplain to Colonel Richard Ingoldsby’s 23^rd Regiment of Foot which was quartered in Ludlow. By this time William had been awarded his Master’s Degree. By 1694 when William became Chaplain he seems that his wife and daughters had passed away, as no further trace of them has been found. We know that at this time such chaplains were paid 6s 8d a day plus an allowance for a servant. This would have been a very large sum at that time. The Chaplain’s duties were to hold regular services, to preach sermons, and in battle to succour the wounded and to bury the dead.

In 1692  Louis XIV of France had invaded Namur which was then part of the Spanish Netherlands, and annexed it. William III of England  sent an expeditionary force which included the 23^rd  Regiment of Foot, to support the Dutch and in 1695, during the War of the Grand Alliance., the Regiment, in a feat of arms, captured the citadel of Namur.

Namur Citadel   Copyright: www.eupedia.com  and reproduced here in accordance with the requirements shown on that website

The battle began on  3^rd  July 1695 with the 23^rd Regiment firing against the crest of the hill. A covered way extended to another bastion and the English began trenching towards the outer works  and by the 8^th of July they were ready to storm the covered way. The following is an extract from the regimental history:

‘The first covered way was quickly captured. The French stoutly resisted, but Guards being reinforced at this stage by the 14^th and 16^th   Regiments of Foot, which emerged from the trenches, carried everything before them, and not only won the second covered way but actually pursued the enemy among their own batteries, many of the French flying for refuge to some stone pits on their right.’

There was then a lull until the 15^th July  when the attack turned against the town gate. Five hundred grenadiers led an assault on the counterscarp, followed by two brigades including the 23^rd Regiment. The Regimental history states:

‘The grenadiers coolly marched up to the palisades and threw their grenades over them. The 23^rd  then advanced up the slope under a galling fire. On reaching the top, the French sprang some small mines which caused the assailants to lose a little ground. Again they gallantly pressed forward and commenced to lodge woolsacks and gabions upon the palisades adjoined the bastion of St Nicholas. Unfortunately the enemy managed to set fire to the woolsacks, which caused Colonel Ingoldsby’s Regiment to suffer very much, as they were exposed for a long time to the full fire of the besieged.’

The 23 Regiment held its ground and the French abandoned their position. From then on the battle was an artillery duel. On 24^th July the garrison hoisted the white flag. Chaplain William Watmer buried in all 92 of his comrades and tended to 123 wounded.

For some wonderful photographs of the citadel follow these links:

http://www.opacity.us/gallery131_off_limits.htm

http://jfbell20.fotopages.com/?entry=78009

In 1697 the peace of Ryswick ended the war and the 23^rd Regiment returned to England.  William returned with the soldiers but did not go back to Great Comberton. That year he accepted the curateship of Henfield in Sussex. Perhaps this was due to the influence of the Rev. William Hayley, who became Dean of Chichester and who was from Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire.

For pictures of St Peter’s, Henfield, follow this link: http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/WestSussex/Henfield/HenfieldStPeter2004.htm

William remarried  on 4^th February 1700 to Mary Collins, in St Mary’s Hospital in the parish of St Olave, Chichester. They settled down in Sussex for a while, but when her father died, Mary probably inherited the property which he had owned in Chichester and it may have been this which enabled William to return with his second wife to Great Comberton. They were there by 1703 and Mary died there in 1709. They do not appear to have had any children.

William Watmer was buried at Great Comberton on 31 May 1721. In  his will, made the previous year, William  established a charity. Each year a poor man and a poor woman of Chichester and a poor man and a poor woman of Comberton Magna were to be provided with clothing ‘of grey cloth, trimmed with black at two shillings and sixpence a yard or thereabouts’ which they were to wear each Sunday in the parish church. In default of any poor folk the charity was to give 6 new bibles yearly to the children of the two parishes.

It is interesting to note that William was not the first Watmer to be rector at Great Comberton. A plaque in the church records the appointment of Thomas Watmer in 1674. Thomas was buried at Great Comberton  on 10 October 1683, so he was William’s immediate predecessor as rector. Thomas’ wife Eleanor was buried on 18 August 1684 at Great Comberton. Thomas and Eleanor’s marriage has not been traced so who were they and did they have any connection with William Watmer? We shall probably never know.

‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’ by Geoffrey Whatmore is full of fascinating stories like the above.  It is available as a CD ROM. For details go to www.genfair.com and look for ‘Whatmore Family History’  under ‘Browse Suppliers.’