Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/31

 11 S. I. JAN. 8, 1910.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Any reader desiring further particulars relating to the collection will, on written application, receive a willing response from

G. A. JACKSON.

32, Harrington Road, South Kensington, S.W.

JOHN WILSON PATTEN, LORD WINMARLEIGH.

IN the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' first edition, are some errors relating to Lrod Winmarleigh.

John Wilson Patten (b. 1802) was the younger son of Thomas Wilson, formerly Patten, and eventually Wilson Patten of Bank Hall, Warrington. Thomas, the elder son, died at Naples, 28 Oct., 1819, aged eighteen.

The father did not, as alleged in books of reference, assume the additional name of Wilson in 1800. On inheriting certain property in Cheshire, i.e., the Manor of Woodchurch, Hundred of Wirral, he took the name of Wilson in lieu of Patten, and the arms and crest of Wilson in lieu of those of Patten, according to a drastic clause in the will (which I have examined at Somerset House) of Thomas Wilson, D.D., Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, and of St. Mar- garet's, Westminster, Prebendary of West- minster, son of Thomas Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Sodor and Man, who had married a sister of Thomas Patten's great-grand- father. Dr. Wilson of St. Stephen's, Wal- brook, married his cousin, who was a cousin of Thomas Patten's grandfather.

In or about 1800 this Thomas Patten became Thomas Wilson. His two sons Thomas and John (Lord Winmarleigh) were at Eton in 1817 as Wilson major and minor (see Stapylton's ' Eton School Lists from 1791 to 1850,' 2nd ed., 1864, pp. 90, 91).

On 14 March, 1821 (the elder son Thomas having died in 1819), John went to Mag- dalen College, Oxford.

At this time Peter Patten Bold was in possession of Bank Hall, and Thomas Wilson, his younger and only surviving brother, lived at Wotton Park, or, as it has been for many years called, Wooton Lodge, near Ellaston, Staffordshire. The latter was M.P. for Stafford Borough 1812-18, bearing the surname Wilson only.

The entry in the Matriculation Register of the University is :

" 1821. March 14. Johannes Wilson, 18, Johannis de Wotton Park in Com. Staffordiae. arm. fil. unic."

That in the Subscription Book of the University is :

" 1821. March 14. Johannes Wilson e Coll, Magd. arm. fil. unicus."

These extracts I have obtained from the Registrar.

The name John attributed to the father should be Thomas. This error is naturally repeated in Foster's ' Alumni Oxonienses.'

The following is an extract from a letter, dated 9 Jan., 1909, from the Rev. W. D. Macray of Ducklington Rectory, Witney :

" I was able to go to Oxford yesterday, and in our College [i.e. Magdalen] MS. Room I looked at a vol. of Dr. Bloxam's valuable collections relating to all members of the College, at a list of Gentleman Commoners, and his entry at the year 1821 is : ' Wilson, John [Patten], only son of Thomas Wilson, of Wotton Park, co. Staff matric. 14 Feb., 1821, aged 18.' "

As to the difference in date, i.e., between February and March, the Registrar suggests that perhaps John Wilson was admitted as a member of Magdalen College on 14 February, but not presented to the Vice Chancellor and matriculated until 14 March.

In 1823, or possibly 1824, Thomas Wilson resumed the name of Patten. There is a tablet in the old Protestant Cemetery at Naples, in memory of his elder son, having the following inscription : " Thomas Patten Wilson died October 28, 1819. Aged 18 years.* 2

In the Patten Chapel in the old parish church, Warrington, is a tablet in memory of the same. In this he is called Thomas Wilson Patten. Being a somewhat elaborate work of art, presenting in bas-relief two male figures and two female, as well as an urn and torch, it was probably not put up until a considerable time after the death - if before 1823, no doubt Thomas Wilson had already determined to resume his old name, and to call himself Wilson Patten, when the opportunity came. This change, without loss of the Wilson (Cheshire) estate, was feasible in 1823, when John (after- wards Lord Winmarleigh) came of age.

The following is from William Williams Mortimer's ' History of the Hundred of Wirral,' 1847, p. 283, s.v. 'Woodchurch':

" Dr. Wilson, who died the 15th April, 1784, by his will, dated at Bath, 1779, bequeathed his property in this parish to Thomas Macklin of Derby, Esq., with remainder, in default of male issue, to Thomas, second son of Thomas Patten of Bank Hall in the county of Lancaster, Esq., upon condition of assuming the name, arms, and crest of Wilson only. On the entail being barred in the year 1823, Mr. Wilson resumed the surname and arms of Wilson after Patten [sic] and his eldest son and heir, John Wilson Patten of Bank