Wilks Family Part III

The Wilks Family – Part III

 

 

Joseph Wilks (c1761-pre-1844) was described in his brother Robert’s will written in 1817 as “now of The Royal Mint”.[1] His wife was called Elizabeth and the couple had at least four children, including a pair of twins:

Joseph (1791-1870)[2]

Maria  (1804-1871)[3]

William (1819-?)[4]

James (1891-?)[5]

Joseph junior was born in Pimlico in 1791[6] and became involved in the cotton and wool yarn business, both as a manufacturer of sewing cotton and an importer of woollen yarn.[7] He married Maria Makins at St Mary-le-Bone on 3 June 1824[8] and had three children

Ellen Maria Wilks (1825-1868)[9]

Mary Henrietta Wilks (1828-1893)[10]

William Charles Wilks (1829-1874) who became a clergyman.[11]

Joseph, a member of The Worshipful Company of Loriners, was made a freeman of the City of London in 1818[12] and a few months after his marriage, took his wife’s younger brother Robert Jesse Makins as an apprentice.[13] In the 1820s, his business was based at 202 Strand[14] but by the 1830s he had moved to 186 Regent Street and held a Royal Appointment to the Queen.[15] He died on 2 April 1870.[16]

The twins William and James were born on 3 October 1819 and baptised at St Mary-le-bone 13 days later.[17] No other records can be found, but William, like his sister Maria, was mentioned in the 1838 will of their uncle Matthias.[18]

Maria was born in about 1804 in Bruges (then in The Netherlands),[19] and married twice. Her first husband was Thomas Senior[20] who died in 1835[21], a year after he and Maria had married. When she married Thomas Dickinson in 1844, her brother Joseph and his three children were all witnesses.[22] Another witness was George A Browne, possibly a relation of her mother. Maria’s marriage certificate referred to her father as deceased, which is the only indication that he had died before that date.

Thomas Dickinson died in 1854[23] and Maria herself died on 6 July 1871[24] in Greenwich where she had been living since at least 1851.[25]

She had one child, by her first husband. John Senior (1835-1889)[26] was baptised after his father had died.

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[1] National Archives: Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1603. Cresswell Quire No 157-208 (1818) (Ancestry.com England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 images 826-830)

[2] National Archives: General Register Office; 1861 Census of England and Wales: Class: RG 9; Piece: 83; Folio: 134; Page: 47; GSU roll: 542570. (Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census St Marylebone, Christchurch, District 16 image 48); FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q2 1870 Marylebone Vol  1a p371; Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1870  W Wi image 34)

[3] National Archives: General Register Office; 1851 Census of England and Wales: Class HO107; Piece: 1587; Folio: 415; Page: 3; GSU roll: 174824. (Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census: Greenwich. Greenwich East, Greenwich Hospital image 4); FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q3 1871 Greenwich Vol  1d  p505; Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1871  D Di image 11)

[4] London Metropolitan Archives, St Marylebone, Register of Baptism, p89/mry1, Item 020. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 St Marylebone 1819 image 144)

[5]  ibid

[6] National Archives: General Register Office; 1861 Census of England and Wales: Class: RG 9; Piece: 83; Folio: 134; Page: 47; GSU roll: 542570. (Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census St Marylebone, Christchurch, District 16 image 48)

[7] Ancestry.com: Pigot & Co’s Commercial Directory of London 1825-6 image 223; The Post Office London Director 1829 W image 21 ; Pigot & Co’s Commercial Directory of London 1839 image 113

[8] London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Marylebone, Register of marriages, P89/MRY1, Item 194. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 St Marylebone 1824 image 75)

[9] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q3 1868 Marylebone Vol 1a p389

[10] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q1 1893 Hastings Vol 2b p34; Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1894  W Wi image 17

[11] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q4 1874 Ormskirk Vol 8b p674; Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1875  W Wi image 38

[12] London Metropolitan Archive; Reference Number: COL/CHD/FR/02/1442-1447. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925 1800-1820, 1818  Sep-1819 Feb image 1512)

[13] London Metropolitan Archive; Reference Number: COL/CHD/FR/02/1604-1609. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925 1820-1840 1832 Oct-1833 Mar image 261)

[14] Ancestry.com: Pigot & Co’s Commercial Directory of London 1825-6 image 223; The Post Office London Director 1829 W image 21

[15] Ancestry.com Pigot & Co’s Commercial Directory of London 1839 image 113

[16] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q2 1870 Marylebone Vol 1a p371; Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. (Ancestry.com: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1870 W Wi image 34)

[17] London Metropolitan Archives, St Marylebone, Register of Baptism, p89/mry1, Item 020. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 St Marylebone 1819 image 144)

[18] National Archives: Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1948. Cresswell Quire No 501-550 (1839-41) (Ancestry.com England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 images 537-543)

[19] National Archives: General Register Office; 1851 Census of England and Wales: Class HO107; Piece: 1587; Folio: 415; Page: 3; GSU roll: 174824. (Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census: Greenwich. Greenwich East, Greenwich Hospital image 4)

[20] London Metropolitan Archives: Surrey Marriage Bonds and Allegations MS 10091/212 (Ancestry.com. London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921 1834 June-Sep image 52)

[21] National Archives: Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1946. Gloster Quire No 251-300 (1839-41) (Ancestry.com England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 image 115)

[22] London Metropolitan Archives, Christ Church, Saint Marylebone, Register of marriages, P89/CTC, Item 065. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754 St Marylebone Christ Church 1844 image 60)

[23] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q3 1854 Greenwich Vol 1d p935

[24] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q3 1871 Greenwich Vol 1d p505; Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. (Ancestry.com: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1871 D Di image 11)

[25] National Archives: General Register Office; 1851 Census of England and Wales: Class HO107; Piece: 1587; Folio: 415; Page: 3; GSU roll: 174824. (Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census: Greenwich. Greenwich East, Greenwich Hospital image 4)

[26] London Metropolitan Archives, St Marylebone, Register of Baptism, p89/mry1, Item 037. (Ancestry.com. London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 St Marylebone 1836 image 11); FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 Q1 1889 Thanet Vol 2a p498; Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. (Ancestry.com: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 1889 S Se image 21)