Edward_Brydges_Williams

Edward Brydges Willyams

Edward Brydges Willyams

British politician (1834–1916)

Edward William Brydges Willyams (5 November 1834 – 10 October 1916) was a Liberal MP, successively for three Cornish constituencies.[1] In 1892, he was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall.[2]

Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1885.

Life

Willyams was born 6 November 1834, the son of Humphry Willyams,[3] a banker, land-owner and Liberal elector of Truro[4] and Ellen Frances Brydges Neynoe, his wife. She was the daughter of Colonel William Brydges Neynoe of Castle Neynoe, County Sligo.[5]

His older brother, James Willyams died aged 38 in 1861.[5]

His aunt by marriage Sarah Brydges Willyams, was an heiress, who married his father's elder brother James and had no children. However, when she died in 1863, she gave three-quarters of her fortune to Benjamin Disraeli, a great friend of hers and she was interred next to him in the Disraeli vault at Hughenden, Buckinghamshire.[1][6]

Willyams was educated at Merton College, Oxford.[1]

He was married twice, first to Jane, youngest daughter of Sir Trevor Wheler, Bt. on 26 June 1856[7] and then on 5 June 1882 to Emily, a daughter of Sir Joseph Moses Levy, the proprietor of The Daily Telegraph, which then supported the Liberal Party.[1] Emily Brydges Willyams died 5 February 1902.

He died on Tuesday, 10 October 1916, at his seat, Carnanton House, St Columb Major.

Parliamentary service

He stood for election at St Austell in 1887, as a Liberal Unionist but was defeated by the Gladstonian candidate,[9] and at the Truro by-election in 1878 he lost to the Conservative candidate Arthur Tremayne.

Interests

He was a keen supporter of the old Cornish sport of hurling.[1] Racing reports in The Times from 1884 to 1910 show his ownership of several race-horses, during this period.

Difficulties

He was the co-respondent in a divorce in 1871/72, having carried on an affair with Lady Jolliffe, the wife of Captain Jolliffe, MP for Wells. He did not stand at the General Election in 1874.[4]: Jaggard p.183–189 [10]

Olive Willyams, the wife of his heir, Arthur Hugh Vivien Willyams, tried to obtain £4,000 from him, using promissory notes that he claimed were forged by her. She was committed to prison for three years and "was afterwards declared to have become insane.[1][11][12]

Notes and references

  1. [1]
    Obituary in The Times, Thursday, 12 October 1916
  2. [2]
    The Times, Wednesday, 27 January 1892; pg. 9; Issue 33545; col F Appointment of E. B. Willyams in the Court Circular.
  3. [3]
    Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain 1838, page 38: Willyams of Carnanton, on Google Books.
  4. [4]
    Edwin Jaggard Cornwall politics in the age of reform
  5. [5]
    The Gentleman's Magazine, July–December 1861, p334 Notice of the death of James Willyams on Google Books.
  6. [6]
    ODNB article by M. G. Wiebe, 'Willyams, Sarah Brydges (d. 1863)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 , accessed 26 April 2008.
  7. [7]
    Probably Sir Trevor Wheler, 11th Baronet (1828–1900). The marriage is reported in The Times, Monday, 30 June 1856; pg. 1; Issue 22407; col A
  8. [8]
    The Times, Monday, 16 March 1857; p.12; Issue 22629; col E: "Election Intelligence: Truro", indicates that Willyams will stand and his views.
  9. [9]
    The Times, Friday, 20 May 1887; pg. 5; Issue 32077; col F: "Election Intelligence. Cornwall, St. Austell Division." -G L M'Arthur – 3,540 ;Brydges Willyams – 3329.
  10. [10]
    The Times, Friday, 8 March 1872; pg. 11; Issue 27319; col D: "Court of Probate and Divorce, March 7".
  11. [11]
    The Times, Friday, 4 February 1910; pg. 4; Issue 39187; col A: "The Assizes. Western Circuit., Claim on Promissory Notes."
  12. [12]
    The Times, Saturday, 1 October 1910; pg. 3; Issue 39392; col A: "Charge of Forgery".

Sources

  • Obituary of Edward Brydges Willyams in The Times, Thursday, 12 Oct 1916; pg. 11; Issue 41296; column E.
  • Edwin Jaggard Cornwall Politics in the Age of Reform 1790–1855, Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press, (1999), ISBN 0-86193-243-9, Chapter 6–8.
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