William Webster [we.12]

William Webster was the eighth known child of John Webster & Elizabeth Compton Hearne born c1817 at Burnham, Bucks.

In 1841 William was living with his parents at High St, Burnham.

William married Elizabeth Winder on March 4th, 1850 in the parish church of Saint Sepulchre, London. They were both described as ‘of age’. William was a corn factor at the time of his marriage. Elizabeth was the second child of William Winder & Mary Austin christened May 19th, 1827 at Burnham, Bucks. Witnesses at the wedding were James Austin, Elizabeth’s uncle & Emily Shekel.

In 1851 William & Elizabeth were living at High St, Burnham with their 5 month old daughter Elizabeth Compton Webster. William was described as a corn dealer & seedsman, & farmer holding 130 acres employing 9 men. The Post Office directory of 1854 lists William as a seedsman & corn dealer.

By 1861 they had moved to Dorney Wood Farm, Bucks where William was now a seedsman & farmer of 340 acres employing 16 men & 7 boys. Their family now had grown to include Mary Emma (7), Kate (5), Harriett (3), Alice Marion (1) & visiting was Elizabeth’s sister Harriett Ann Winder (31).

They were still living at Dorney Wood Farm in 1871, now described as a farmer of 360 acres employing 11 men & 3 boys. At home were Kate, Alice, Rose (8), Florence (5), Ellinor (3) & Madeline (1) – they had now 9 daughters in all! Daughter Harriett was a pupil at Wycombe End School in Beaconsfield, Bucks at this time & daughter Mary was visiting wine merchant Henry Gold & family at Wooburn Common, Wooburn, Bucks.

At age 64 William was still farming as above at the time of the 1881 census. Still living at home were Harriett (23), Florence (15) & Madeline (11). Indeed he was still classified as a farmer & seedsman in 1891 & still living at Dorney Wood with wife Elizabeth & daughters Ellinor & Madeline.

Elizabeth died on February 4th, 1900 at Burnham.

By 1901 William had retired & was living at the High St, Burnham. With him at the time of the census was daughter Alice (41), now married to John Bradford, & granddaughter Maud E Bayley (25), daughter of Elizabeth Webster who had married Maurice Bayley.

William died in March 15th, 1904 aged 87 at Burnham.

The children of Elizabeth Winder & William Webster were:

we.12.1 Elizabeth Compton Webster christened December 15th, 1850 at Burnham
we.12.2 Mary Emma Webster christened February 5th, 1854 at Burnham
we.12.3 Kate Webster born October 13th, 1855 at Dorney, christened November 11th, 1855 at Burnham; died March 11th, 1941
we.12.4 Harriett Webster born September 21st, 1857 at Dorney, christened November 8th, 1857 at Burnham, died November 1931
we.12.5 Alice Marion Webster born August 22nd, 1859 at Dorney, christened September 18th, 1859 at Burnham
we.12.6 Rose Webster born April-June 1862 at Dorney; died April-June1879 at Burnham
we.12.7 Florence Webster born September 2nd, 1865 at Dorney, christened October 29th, 1865 at Burnham
we.12.8 Ellinor Webster christened December 8th, 1867 at Burnham, died 1952
we.12.9 Madeline Webster born January 16th, 1870 at Dorney; died April-June 1923 at Eton, Bucks