Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/80

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. JD.V 22, une.

Montagu family with Manchester. Is any connexion necessary ?

Concerning the Wellington title MR. W. G. WILLIS WATSON wrote (11 S. x. 132) :

" There is nothing extraordinary in the fact of a man adopting a territorial title from some place with which he has little acquaintance. The peerage is full of the names of families, the re- presentative members of which bear titles which iiave been selected for reasons of euphony only."

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

ENGLISH PRELATES AT THE COUNCIL OF BALE (12 S. ii. 28). May not those " words italicized not clear " stand for " tempore joncilii Basiliensis," or " Constantinensis " ? On p. 154 of the ' Libre segon dels Miracles,' by the Dominican Friar Michel Llot (Perpignan, 1589), will be found: "No faltaren los embaixadors del Rey de Ingla- terra, lo Bisbe de Vncestre, y dos doctors f amosos " ; i.e., "There were not wanting the Ambassadors of the King of England, the Bishop of Worcester, and two famous Doctors," among the actors in the Council of Constance who came to Perpignan in 1415 to hear St. Vincent Ferrer preach.

In a letter printed in The Academy ior April 27, 1895, referring to this interesting statement, I asked if Winchester was meant by " Vncestre." I saw it was an evident misprint on the part of a Catalan compositor ; and it did occur to me that it stood for Worcester. There is, it seems, no record of Cardinal Beaufort's presence either at Con- stance or at Perpignan in 1415. Does the register of the diocese of Worcester mention Bishop Thomas Polton as going from Con- etance to Perpignan ? He was one of the ambassadors of King Henry V. at that Council of Constance of which Llot was writing ; but he was then Dean of York. He became Bishop of Hereford on July 21, 1420, and of Worcester in 1426, according to the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' But Llot, writing 174 years afterwards, may easily have fallen into the inaccuracy of describing the prelate under the title which was conferred upon him eleven jears later. EDWARD S. DODGSON. Oxford Union Society.

1. Thomas Polton, Bishop of Hereford 1420, Chichester 1422, Worcester 1426-33, bore Argent, three six-pointed pierced molets -sable.

2. Robert Fitzhugh, Bishop of London 1431-6, who is undoubtedly intended, bore Azure, three chevrons interlaced, and a chief or. S. A. GRUNDY-NEWMAN.

Walsall.

GUNFIRE AND RAIN (12 S. i. 10, 56, 96, 170, 337 ; ii. 38). In reply to your corre- spondent MR. ROBERT PIERPOINT as to rainfall, it may interest him to know that I have registered the rainfall in this immediate neighbourhood for thirty-three years, and in that time I have registered a total of 30 ins. and over on four occasions, viz. : 1891, 30-09 in. ; 1903, 39'34 in. ; 1912, 31-65 in. ; 1915, 30'5o in.

G. H. PALMER.

Heywood Park, White Waltham, Berks.

RICHARD WILSON (12 S. i. 90, 158, 213, 277, 437, 516; ii. 34, 55). In 'A Topo- graphical and Historical Description of the County of Suffolk,' a book printed by J. Munro (of Woodbridge) in 1829, mention is made, at p. 498, of " a neat cottage, the seat of Richard Wilson, esquire, at Bildeston." This Richard Wilson died at Bildeston in his 75th year on June 7, 1834 (The Times of June 11, 1834, p. 7), and was identical with the attorney-at-law who appears in the ' Law List ' of 1834 (for the last time), being then in partnership, at 35 Lincoln's Inn Fields, with Alfred Bell and Samuel Steward. The firm acted as solicitors to the Lambeth Waterworks Company.

In his will, dated June 22, 1833, and proved on Sept. 4, 1834 (P.C.C. Teignmouth, 542), Wilson was content to be described as of Bildeston. But clues to his identity with the attorney are not lacking. Alfred Bell was one of the executors ; and two out of the three witnesses to the will were " S. Steward " and " George Thos. Tyne," both of " 35 Lin- coln's Inn Fields."

The testator was a widower, with three children : an only son, Richard Percy Wilson, for whom special provision had to be made on account of his " ill-health," and two daughters Sarah, wife of the Rev. John Honywood Randolph, and Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. Montagu Oxenden. The testator seemingly combined a love of horses with a love of books, for there were " thorough- breds " to be sold at Tattersall's ; and he gave careful directions about his library. He disposed of estates in Suffolk, Wiltshire, and Northumberland, without saying (apart from Bildeston) in what parishes they lay. The executors and trustees were to be Samuel Harwood, Alfred Bell, and Francis Mascall ; but Mascall renounced probate of the will.

The careers of the sons-in-law are indicated Foster's ' Alumni Oxonienses.' Ran- dolph, who married Sarah Wilson in 1814 (Gentleman's Magazine, Ixxxiv. ii. 288), was