Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/300

Rh in the Convention Parliament, but soon retired from political life, and he died on the 10th of September 1668.

See Wood's Athenae Oxonienses, ed. Bliss, iii. 812; and two partial autobiographies, “Recollections by General Sir William Waller” (printed in The Poetry of Anna Matilda, 1788), and Vindication of the Character, &c. (1797).

Sir William Waller's cousin, (c. 1604–1666) was also a parliamentarian of note. Knighted by Charles I. in 1629, he gained military experience in serving against the rebels in Ireland; then from 1645 to the conclusion of the Civil War he was in England commanding a regiment in the new model army. He was Colonel Pride's chief assistant when the latter “purged” the House of Commons in 1648, and he was one of the king's judges and one of those who signed the death warrant. During the next few years Waller served in Ireland, finally returning to England in 1660. After the restoration he fled to France, but soon surrendered himself to the authorities as a regicide, his life being spared owing to the efforts of his friends. He was, however, kept in prison and was still a captive when he died.

 WALLINGFORD, a township of New Haven county, Connecticut, U.S.A., S.W. of the centre of the state, in the valley of the Quinnipiac river. It contains the villages of East Wallingford, Tracy and Yalesville, and the borough of Wallingford. Pop. of the township (1900) 9001, (1910) 11,155; of the borough (1900) 6737, of whom 1796 were foreign-born and 21 were negroes, (1910) 8690. Area of the township, about 38 sq. m. The borough is 12 m. N.E. of New Haven, on a hill about 1½ m. long, and is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway (which has stations also at East Wallingford and Yalesville) and by an interurban electric line connecting with Meriden and New Haven. The borough has a public library (1881), a Masonic Home, the Gaylord Farm Sanatorium of the New Haven County Anti-Tuberculosis Association, the Phelps School (for girls) and the Choate School (1896, for boys). Among the manufactures of the borough are sterling silver articles, plated and britannia ware, brass ware, rubber goods, cutlery and edge tools. The township of Wallingford was settled in 1670. At a meeting held in January 1766, in protest against the Stamp Act, it was declared, that “Whereas it appears from ancient Records and other Memorials of Incontestible Validity that our Ancestors with a great Sum Purchased said township, with great Peril possessed and Defended the Same, we are Born free (having never been in bondage to any), an inheritance of Inestimable Value,” and a penalty of 20s. was imposed upon any one who should introduce or use stamped paper or parchment. During the War of Independence patriotic sentiment here was strong and Loyalists were sometimes exiled to Wallingford, where they could have no effective influence. The borough of Wallingford was incorporated in 1853 and re-incorporated in 1868. From 1851 to 1880 there was a communistic settlement, a branch of the Oneida Community, here; its property was bought by the Masonic Order and made into the Masonic Home.

 WALLINGFORD, a market town and municipal borough in the Abingdon parliamentary division of Berkshire, England, 51 m. W. by N. of London by the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 2808. It is pleasantly situated in the flat valley of the Thames, on the west (right) bank. The railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Cholsey. Of the churches only St Leonard's, retaining some Norman work and rebuilt approximately on its original plan, with an eastern apse, is of interest. The ancient castle has left only its mound and earthworks, and other works may be traced surrounding the town on the landward side. The town hall raised on arches, dates from 1670. The large grammar school was founded in 1659. The trade of the town is principally agricultural, and malting is carried on. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 380 acres.

The site of Wallingford (Warengeford, Walynford, Walyngforth) was occupied by a Romano-British settlement, though the imposing earthworks are of uncertain date—they may be of post-Roman British origin. Wallingford was a fortified town before

the Conquest, and, though burned by Sweyn in 1006, was much the largest and most important borough in Berkshire at the time of the Domesday Survey. The new castle was so extensive that eight houses had been demolished to make room for it; the market was already in existence, and perhaps also the gild merchant, which in a charter of Henry II. is said to date back to the reign of the Confessor. In the reign of Henry I. the beginning of decay is marked by the inability of the town “through poverty” to pay its aid. It is said to have suffered greatly from the Black Death, and its decline was accelerated by the building, in the early 15th century, of two bridges near Abingdon, which diverted the main road between London and Gloucester from Wallingford. Periodical reductions in the fee farm show the gradual impoverishment of the town, and in 1636 its assessment for ship-money was only £20, while that of Reading was £220. Wallingford was a royal borough held in the reign of Henry III. by Richard, king of the Romans. Edward III. granted the fee farm to the Black Prince and his successors in the duchy of Cornwall. The earliest charters were given by Henry I. and Henry II., the latter confirming the ancient privileges of the borough, which were to be held as the citizens of Winchester held theirs, and granting to the burgesses freedom from toll throughout his dominions. These charters were confirmed and enlarged by Henry III. in 1267 and by Philip and Mary in 1557–1558. In 1648 the corporation consisted of a mayor, three aldermen, a chamberlain and sixteen burgesses. This constitution was remodelled in 1650 by a charter from Cromwell, but the governing charter until the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 was that given by Charles II. in 1663, incorporating the town under the style of a mayor, recorder, town clerk, six aldermen, two burgesses, a chamberlain and eighteen assistants of the better sort of the inhabitants. In 1571 Elizabeth issued letters patent empowering the burgesses of Wallingford to take toll of all carts passing over their bridge, in order to provide for its repair and maintenance. Wallingford sent two members to parliament from 1295 to 1832, and one from 1832 to 1885, when its representation was merged in that of the county: before 1832 the franchise was vested in the inhabitants paying scot and lot. The empress Maud took refuge at Wallingford after her escape from Oxford Castle (1142), and here peace was made between her and Stephen (1153). Wallingford Castle was one of the last fortresses to hold out for Charles I., and during the Commonwealth it was demolished by order of the government. In 1205 the king commanded the sheriff of Oxford to cause a fair to be held at Wallingford at Whitsun for four days, to be continued for three years. In 1227 Swyncombe fair was transferred from the feast of St Botolph to the feast of St Mark in order not to interfere with Wallingford fair. Fairs on the days of St Nicholas and of St John the Baptist were granted by Henry VII. in 1500, and the charter of 1663 provided for two markets and four annual fairs. All the latter have fallen into disuse except the Michaelmas fair, which is principally for hiring servants. During the 18th century the town was fairly prosperous and had a good trade in grain and malt.

See Victoria County History, Berks; T. K. Hedges, The History of Wallingford (London, 1881).  WALLIS, JOHN (1616–1703), English mathematician, logician and grammarian, was born on the 23rd of November 1616 at Ashford, in Kent, of which parish his father. Rev. John Wallis (1567–1622), was incumbent. After being at school at Ashford, Tenterden and Felsted, and being instructed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he was in 1632 sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and afterwards was chosen fellow of Queens' College. Having been admitted to holy orders, he left the university in 1641 to act as chaplain to Sir William Darley, and in the following year accepted a similar appointment from the widow of Sir Horatio Vere. It was about this period that he displayed surprising talents in deciphering the intercepted letters and papers of the Royalists. His adherence to the parliamentary party was in 1643 rewarded by the living of St Gabriel, Fenchurch Street, London. In 1644 he was appointed one of the scribes or secretaries of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. During the same year he married Susanna Glyde, and thus