Edward Weller (1843-1890) and family

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On 10 December 1872 in Chesham Parish Church, Edward Weller of Amersham married Edith Emma Aylward.

Edward Weller was the second son of a large family. His forebears had lived and died in Amersham for several generations as the gravestones in the churchyard testify. His father had owned a brewery in the little town and had also acquired many acres of property in the district. On the death of the father the brewery became the joint possession of the three oldest sons - William, Edward and George. William was not blessed with great ability and became "a sleeping partner" of the firm. He lived an easy life at "Springfield lodge" a few miles from High Wycombe. The youngest of the three, George, seems to have become responsible for the management of the brewery. He, together with his eldest son Gerard, in later years made a great success of the business and became wealthy men. Edward devoted his time and attention to the management of the property and farms. That the farms were extensive is evident from the fact that on the day of the above mentioned marriage there was a meal provided for the farm workers and seventy men shared in the feast. At the time of the wedding Edward was 28 years of age.

Edith Emma Aylward was the daughter of the late Adolphus Frederic Aylward who had been vicar of Chesham for 25 years (1846-1871). He died the victim of a typhus fever epidemic. His widow and two daughters, Gertrude Mary and Edith Emma continued to live in Chesham. Some fifteen months after the death of their father the two daughters were married at a double wedding. The edler daughter married John Foote Churchill, a doctor who had come to Chesham at the time of the fever outbreak. The younger daughter married Edward Weller, 2^nd son of the late William Weller of Amersham. The mother of the two brides, Julia Aylward was previous to her marriage, one of several sisters - the Misses Morton. Her father had been an army doctor. During the Napolionic wars he had been stationed at Portchester Castle being medical officer to the French prisoners confined there. His daughter was born at Portchester in the year 1808.

The newspaper report of the double wedding on December 10 1872 records what a stir the event made in the little town and says that the church was filled to overflowing an hour before the commencement of the service.

Before recording the events concerning Edward Weller and his bride, it may be well to provide a brief note concerning the other couple, John Churchill and his wife Gertrude. After a honeymoon in Paris they returned to Chesham where he was destined to carry out the duties of a general practitioner for half a century. Two children were born, a son and a daughter. However the promise of a long and happy marriage life was not fulfilled for the mother died at the early age of thirty-one. The son, John, in due course followed his father into the medical profession but he died in China while still a young man. His death was caused by poison from a dog bite. The daughter, Mabel, was the devoted companion of her father during his long life at Chesham and in his subsequent years of retirement at Malvern. Now (1948) she lives at Bornemouth.

We turn to trace the events in store for the other couple, Edward Weller and Edith. They settled in Amersham in a house opposite the family brewery. The White House. There in rapid succession were born three sons and three daughters; Fred, Mary, Margaret, Morton, Dorothy and Christopher, the compiler of these notes. When the sixth child had arrived it was realised that a large house was called for. So in 1879 a move was made to Blackwell Hall, Three miles from Amersham, a little less from Chesham. The family continued to increase and six more children were born during the next seven years. Two of these did not outlive the day of their birth. The others were Jack, Dick, Arthur and Frank.

During the ten years at Blackwell Hall the early education of the children was provided by a nursery governess. Her task could not have been easy as the children were at different stages of development. The time came when it was necessary for the older ones to go away to school. Fred, Mary and Morton were sent to schools in Brighton. But each year the educational difficulties increased and in 1889 it was decided to move the whole family to Brighton. A house was secured (34 St. Michael’s Place) and schools were selected for the various members though by that time Fred and Morton had been set as borders to Crewkerne Grammar school, of which their uncle Fred Weller was headmaster. The father began to divide his time between the care of is property in Buckinghamshire and residence in Brighton. This arrangement did not continue for long as he contracted pneumonia and died on 10 June 1890. He was then only 46 years of age. His widow was left with th task of caring for the large family, the eldest of whom was seventeen and the youngest was two and a half. For some two years longer the family continued to live in Brighton. The household was increased by "Grannie" Aylward. She and her maid came to share the house soon after the death of Edward. Grannie was then over eighty years of age and quite bedridden till her death in 1896. After about five years at Brighton there came the move to Bedford (1894). The move was undertake primarily because of the educational advantages the town had to offer. All five sons from Chris downwards were to become day scholars of what was then known as Bedford Grammar School. Later it abandoned the word "Grammar" and is now known as Bedford School. The house at Bedford was to be the last family home. From it Fred and Morton set out to Canada (later to make their homes in the States). From the home two daughters were to be married - Dorothy in 1902 to a parson - school master, Harry Gill and a year later Mary (from about this time generally called Mollie) was married to Keith Mitchell, a son of Archdeacon Mitchell, a near neighbour. From this home too, Chris went to Cambridge in 1898 and Jack set out on his first sea trip - to Ceylon. During the Bedford period the family connection with Aberdovey (N. Wales) commenced. Each August, so soon as the school term was over, a large party of Wellers, reinforced with school friends set out for what was then a tiny fishing village. There for six weeks or more they "took possession" of the place. There was bathing, sometimes three times a day. Some of us became expert divers from the jetty. A number of the village folk would assemble to admire our exploits. Jack was pre-eminent but most of us were able to show enough skill to please the onlookers. In the afternoon there were cricket matches. Home and away contests against Towyn, Machynlleth, Dolgelly and Aberystwyth. Several games were played too against the great cricketing family of Fosters, the Worcestershire Fosters. On the village. On the village wicket our party was able to hold its own against this notable family. Also there were amateur theatricals. The national schoolroom was packed out each year on two or three nights to watch our performances on behalf of local charities. Altogether the doings of the Weller family were such that when the writer of these notes visited Abudovey forty years later a tremendous welcome was extended to him and his two elder sons.

The Bedford days lasted till 1904. When they closed the members of what had been a very happy family were scattered far and wide. The following notes will tell the outstanding events of each in turn.

Edith Emma Weller.

We have recorded the fact that the bride of the year 1872 found herself a widow with ten children eighteen years later, 1890. From the moment her husband died she just gave herself to meet the needs of her children. A less brave woman would have been daunted by the task - "Mother" was never daunted. A deeply religious woman she met every difficulty (and there were plenty of difficulties during the next thirty years) with a calm serenity that never faltered. Her motto was "live one day at a time". Her method, an ever growing reliance on God. Seldom during those years was there adequate domestic help. Always only just sufficient income to pay the expenses of educating her large family. Time after time she was compelled to draw upon her capital in order to meet some family emergency. Through the early days of widowhood at Brighton and later during the still more difficult days at Bedford she met each problem when it arose and refused to anticipate trouble.. Both at Brighton and at Bedford she found time to be a "district visitor". At least one afternoon a week was give to what used to be called "church work" in one of the poorer parts of town. Every Sunday she attended an early service, 8 o’clock communion and continued to do so till her death. When the family home at Bedford ceased to be needed in 1904 she went to make a home for me (Chris) in the not over-attractive Derbyshire town of Heanor. Accustomed as she had been all her life to the more genial conditions of the southern counties, she did not take very readily to life in a midland colliery and factory town. For some time after she had joined me I was distressed to sense her dislike of life as she found it in my first parish. It was only as she became more and more interested in the district of Marlpool where we were given the task of raising funds for building the Church of All Saints that she lost the feeling of being in an alien environment. Once she had settled down she found happiness in our task, particularly in her association with a very vigorous band of woman workers. As it was at Heanor and Marlpool, so in subsequent years it was to be in the slums of Nottingham, in our second colliery parish of Dordon (Warwickshire) and again at Longstone in Derbyshire. In each of these parishes we shared a home and a task. In each of them she did magnificent work, particularly for the branch of the Mothers Union. In each she won the deep respect of those whose lives she touched. It was not till the time of my marriage in 1924 that we ceased our long partnership. Despite the breaking up of a partnership which had lasted almost continuously from my birth and the disruption it meant to her own life she accepted the change with serenity. She secured a little house in the neighbouring village of Ashford only two miles away and found a new joy in the coming of her three grandchildren at Longstone. There, with her faithful maid Gertrude, she passed her last months. In December 1929, when she had reached her 79th year, she passed to her rest. By her own wish she was buried in the churchyard at the foot of Longstone Edge. Upon her gravestone are carved the words she uttered more than once in her last hours - "O Lord in Thee have I trusted". That phrase from the Te Deum gives the secret of her life - devout, unshakable trust in God. Perhaps the fact that gave her greatest happiness in her latter years was that she had lived to see four of her sons enter the ministry of the church of which she was such a devoted member.

Frederic Aylward Weller

Born September 22 1873
At school (1) Preparatory at Brighton.
Crewkerne Grammar School.

On leaving school (about 1891) he was for a short time an assistant school master. Then followed a period at Edinburgh University reading medicine. Making little of this he decided to "go out west". In 1894 he and Morton went to farm in Canada. They began with work for an emigrant from Chesham. After a year or two Fred went to Texas. There he purchased land. On two occasions he came to England for brief visits. He married Minnie Fordyce - an American. There were no children. His last few years were spent in California where he tried his hand at fruit farming and died in 1926 at the age of 52.

N.B. According to Frank the wife’s name should be Faulkner not Fordyce.

Catherine Mary

Born 17 November 1874
At school, Brighton High school for girls.
15 April 1903; married Keith H. Michell at St. Paul’s church Bedford.
Died 5 November 1944

Early married life passed at St. Albans. Her husband being a chartered accountant with business in London. Six children were born; Keith, Edith, Iris, Basil and Myrtle (twins).

Her husband served with distinction in the 1914 war starting in the ranks he attained the rank of Major. During the war the family lived at Aberdovey. After the war a house was purchased at Romford. This continued to be the home till the second world war caused a removal to Newport Pagnell. There she lived with her two daughters Iris and Myrtle who built up a school which is still functioning (1948). The latter years of her life were clouded by separation from her husband and by her own loss of mental grip. She passed away at Newport Pagnell on November 5. 1944 aged 69.

Edith Margaret

Born December 4. 1875.
At school; Brighton High School for Girls.

After the home at Bedford broke up she was ever ready to extend a helping hand to any member of the family who needed assistance. To the Michells she became a second mother; during their mothers illness she devoted herself to caring for them. She lived for several years at Aberdovey then went to Hastings. There she became interested in spiritualism and was an enthusiastic supporter of the local Spiritualist Church. She received a legacy from some friend. This she used for the purchase of a Spiritualist Healing Home. She herself now suffers from a very painful type of arthritis and is cared for in the home she had purchased at Hastings.

She died in Hastings Nov 29. 1953 aged 77.

Edward William Morton Weller.

Born Nov 16. 1876.
Married Myrtle McNally about the year 1901.
Died at Schenectady, New York State, July 25. 1947 aged 70.

Soon after the family move to Bedford in 1894, Morton who had had his education at Crewkerne, Somerset, set out with Fred to Canada. For a short time he was engaged in farming. Then he crossed the border to the state of Maine. For some years he was employed in a timber business in Fort Fairfield. While there he married Myrtle McNally in the year 1901. There were three daughters of the marriage; Edith, Gertrude and Dorothy.

During his period at Fort Fairfield he was the ‘right hand man’ of the local clergyman of the Episopal Church. Finding he had a vocation to the ministry he applied for and obtained a place at a Theological College in New York. After due training he was ordained and served the church in two places in the State of Maine and also at Blandon in the State of Vermont. His final charge was the Episcopal Church at Schenectady, N.Y. Failing health necessitated his retirement in 1945. He died July 25. 1947 aged 70 at Schenectady. All three daughters are now married.

Dorothy Hester

Born December 12. 1877 at Amersham.
Married May 1. 1902 to the Rev. H. E. Gill
She died at Hastings September 14. 1949 aged 71.

Most of her schooldays were passed at Brighton High School. She was for a brief period at school in Bognor and in her late ‘teens’ she and her sister Margaret spent a period of eighteen months at Geneva. From the close of that time till she was to be married, she acted as ‘Mothers Help’ in one or two families. In 1902 she was married at St. Paul’s Church, Bedford to the Reverend Henry Edmund Gill, a parson schoolmaster. Harry Gill had first made contact with our family when he came to us in Brighton days to coach our brother Fred for the London Matriculation Examination. He was at that time an assistant master at Crewkerne. At the time of the marriage he was assistant master at Wolverhampton Grammar School. In that town Dorothy found the first home of her married life. There in 1903 their daughter Mollie was born. Soon there was the appointment to the headship of Brewood school (Staffs). A few strenuous years there, then Harry’s health gave way. For the rest of his life he was unable to undertake permanent work, though in the 1914 war period he acted as supply teacher at Christ’s Hospital - the Bluecoat School. During that time Dorothy made a hard earned living by maintaining a boarding house at St. Annes-on-sea. Harry became a bed-ridden cripple and for a few years Dorothy nursed him in addition to her work for the residents of the boarding house - Some task!. After his death in 1920 Dorothy continued her work at St. Annes for a time. About the year 1924 she left St. Annes and went south to Hastings. There she spent some four years in the town itself and then procured her unpretentious bungalow at the delightful Sussex hamlet of Fairlight. At the time this is written she is making daily visits to Hastings to do what she can for Margaret who is a total cripple. Dorothy is a great worker for Holy Trinity Church, Hastings. In spite of living several miles from it she is a devoted supporter of its activities. Her daughter, Mollie was for some years co-warden of the Battersea College Hostel for Teachers. One thing my older children will remember with admiration is the way ‘Auntie Doll’ was able to play cricket with them. When John and Jim were up to the level of their preparatory school eleven they found Auntie Doll quite able to hold her own both with bat and ball. On the lawns at Gedling Rectory and at Finchampstead, where she joined us for a summer holiday, she showed again the cricket skill which had earned her fame at Aberdovey many years previously.

Christopher Harold Weller.

Born April 18. 1879
Married Jan 3. 1924: Margaret Goldschmidt.

After graduating at Cambridge (Selwyn College) in June 1901 he became assistant school master at Crewkerne Grammar School. After two years he was ordained by the first Bishop of Southwell to a curacy at Heanor, Derbyshire (then in the Southwell Diocese). From 1903-1910 he served under the Rector Claude Corfirld. During the greater part of that period he was curate in charge of Marlpool. In his period ‘All Saints’ Marlpool was built. In Dec 1910 he became senior curate to Bishop Hamilton Baynes at St. Mary’s Nottingham. Then followed a period of seven years 1913-1920 as Priest in Charge at Dordon - an offshoot of the parish of Polesworth. During the first world war he saw service as chaplain in France, obtaining the Military Cross in 1916.

In 1920 he became vicar of Longstone, Derbyshire. There in 1924 he married Margaret Goldschmidt of Rusholme, Manchester and Longstone Hall. At Longstone three of their children were born; John, James and Mary. In 1928 he was appointed vicar of All Saints, Nottingham. Ruth and Richard being born 1931 and 1933.

In 1937 he succeeded Archdeacon Hales as Rector of Gedling. He held that position for eleven years. During that period he was also Rural Dean of the Gedling Deanery for nine years and became Canon of Southwell in 1947. The following year he became Rector of Upper Broughton, a small parish at the extreme south of Nottinghamshire.

In December 1952 I retired from active work and settled in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham. A few months later came anxiety concerning my wife’s health. Within a year there developed definite signs of cancer and the disease took rapid hold and after a few weeks serious illness Margaret died on March 2^nd 1954 aged 61, surrounded by her much loved family. After the funeral service at Gelding she was interred at Upper Broughton.

John Reginald Weller.

Born October 6^th 1880
Married 1916 Alexina Caley (d:1934)
1938 Frances Butler.

After the days at Bedford, Jack, who had not been able to pass the medical test for a Navy cadetship owing to some defect of sight, went to Ceylon to learn tea-planting in 1899. The South African war brought him back to volunteer for military service. After a short training he went to South Africa with the Imperial Yeomanny but did not see much service as the war was drawing to a close. On his discharge he crossed the Atlantic as his brothers had done before him. For seven years he roamed about the States doing all sorts of tasks. His delight seems to have been to test various occupations to obtain a few dollars, to move on to some other work. In 1910 he was near Concord in New Hampshire serving on a poultry farm. He made contact with the vicar of St. Paul’s Concord, who after a short time suggested that Jack’s real work was in the ministry of the church. He came to England in time for the October term at Cambridge, Selwyn College. There, for three years he read for his degree. Each long vacation he returned to the States to take charge of a lad’s summer camp. On obtaining his degree at Cambridge (1914) he was ordained by the Bishop of Ely to work for the Cambridge mission to Delhi. His first wife Alexina went out to join him in 1916 but their early married life was broken by the needs of the services for chaplains. With an Indian regiment he saw service in Mesopotania, Egypt and Palestine. He was with General Allenby on his famous entry into Jerusalem in 1918. Soon after the conclusion of the first world war he and his wife returned to England. He served two brief periods as assistant priest in English parishes (Dordon and Blackheath) but in 1923 he was commissioned to take charge of the important work carried on by the missions to seamen at south Melbourne. He and his wife were there for a period of five years. On his return to England in 1929 he did deputation work for the Missions to Seamen and was appointed head of the Mursey Mission in 1933. While there he suffered the loss of his first wife, who for seventeen years had been a most able assistant in all his activities. Three years later the Arch Bishop of Cantebury asked him to become Bishop of the Falkland Isles, a post which included responsibility for the work of the Anglican Church on the Western Seaboard of the South American continent. During this period he visited the whaling stations of South Georgia and traveled as far south as any bishop has ever gone. Three years later he became bishop in the Argentine with supervision of the Falkland Isles Diocese. This meant he had responsibility for the work of the Anglican church throughout almost the whole of the continent. While he was in England in 1938 he became engaged to and married Frances Butler, a lady he had met in his time at Liverpool with the Mersey Mission. He continued his work (of which he has written an account) till 1946 when he resigned and came to England. He was then appointed assistant bishop in the Southwell Diocese, a position he held as vicar of Edwalton near Nottingham and subsequently vicar of Holme Pierpoint. Two children have been born, Elisabeth Aylward in 1941 and John Paget in 1945.

Richard Dudley Weller.

Born at Blackwell Hall Jan 12. 1883.
At school in Brighton and Bedford.
Assistant Master at Clevedon College 1903-1906.
At Selwyn College, Cambridge 1906-1909.
Captain of the Selwyn Boat 1909.
Ordained in Southwell Minister, Trinity Sunday 1910.
Curate at St. Giles, West Bridgford 1910-1913.
Curate at Marlpool (Heanor Parish) 1913-1916.
Vicar of Selston, Nottinghamshire 1916-1924.
Vicar of Ruddington 1924-1931.
Rural Dean, West Bingham 1926-1931.
Rector of Finchampstead 1931-1952.
Married: Jessie Edith, daughter of Dr. Enoch and Mrs. Snell of Nottingham September 2^nd 1913.
Children: Edward David born at Heanor December 6. 1914 and died at Selston on Jan 11. 1917.

William Richard born at Selston November 3^rd 1916. Educated at Brackley and Haileybury (played for the school at rugby and cricket). Sandhurst 1936. Commission in West York regiment 1937. Killed in action outside Jerusalem on October 20^th 1938.

John Eric born at Selston on June 24^th 1918. Educated at Blackley: a scholar of Hailebury, Woolwich and Jesus College Cambridge. Commissioned in Royal Engineers 1938. Egypt 1939. Tobruk (mentioned in despatches), Palestine, Syria. War office. Normandy as Major on D.day, through France and Belgium. Military Cross. Staff College 1947. Staff Major H.Q. Rhine Army 1948. Married April 1951 to Barbara Campbell. Age 33

Joan Mary born at Selston on October 4^th 1922. Educated at St. Mary’s school, Calne and Reading University. Joined the W.A.A.F in 1941 (ranks) Commission in 1942. Section Officer. Oxford Ophthalmic Hospital 1946. Royal Westminster Eye Hospital 1947.

In 1952 Dick retired from Finchampstead after over 20 years service. He had been bequeathed a house in Bornemouth together with a substantial legacy. These came from the widow of our cousin Gerard who was son of our uncle George. Thus some of the money made in Amersham has come back to a member of the Edward Weller branch.

Arthur Julius Weller.

Born August 17^th 1884 at Blackwell Hall Buckinghamshire.
Educated: Bedford Grammar school. Scholar of Worcester College Oxford.
Married Marjorie Hume Spry December 21^st 1909.
Children: Arthur and Margaret (Peggy). Also another son who died in infancy (Alec).
Assistant school master at St. Edwards, Oxford and Shewsbury.
He went to the Malay Peninsular as Director of Education and died there October 4^th 1922 aged 38.

Frank Gilbert Weller.

Born 1887

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