WATHEN FAMILY GENEALOGY
(version 1/27/12)
Please email corrections to Mike Clark

 

The Wathen Family comes from the Frome River (Stroudwater) Valley in the Cotswolds---a range of low hills in Gloucestershire County that some call the "Heart of England". These hills became famous in the Middle Ages for a high-quality wool from the Cotswold Lion, a local breed of sheep, and Cotswold shepherds made England the largest exporter of raw wool in all of medieval Europe. However, as water-driven mills in the Frome Valley were slowly converted from grinding wheat to running spinning wheels and weaving looms, all of the wool was used locally to make cloth, as more money was to be made exporting the cloth than from selling the wool itself. As a consequence, Stroud became the center of the British cloth industry, Cotswold wool being all but forgotten, and the local broadcloth brought huge fortunes to the mill owners, allowing them to build stately houses and marry into the nobility.

The parishes of Kings Stanley, Stroud and Painswick all had waterwheel-powered mills that supplied the Gloucestershire woolens trade, which during the 1603-1625 reign of King James I came to rival that of Flanders. Although Painswick was the largest town of the three, having had a thriving outdoor market since the 13th century, Stroud was more conveniently located for the water mills, having a better availability of fullers earth with which to shrinken, thicken and dye the cloth. As such, Stroud at an early date became the center of the of the English clothing industry, and the Wathen family became wealthy by running woolen mills on the outskirts of town that employed legions of workers.

 

Branch I

  1. Jonathan Wathen (c.1570-1630) is the patriarch of the Wathen family of Bolwick Hall (formerly Beckenham Lodge), as listed in Burke's Landed Gentry. There are some genealogies that show Jonathan as the son of a William? Wathen (Wathern, Wothen), and others that show him as the son of Philip?, but Jonathan is the earliest ancester of whom there is certainty. He was born about 1570 in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, according to Burke's, married a woman named Sarah (d. 1637), and died in 1630. Although his trade is not known, he must have been prominent, which makes it likely that he played some sort of role in the Gloucestershire cloth trade, as it rose to prominence during his lifetime.

    children - WATHEN

    Thomas Wathen (1627-1685), who follows:

    Elizabeth Wathen was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on July 4, 1624.

     

  2. Thomas Wathen (1627-1685), the son of Jonathan Wathen, was born June 6, 1627 in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on June 29, 1627. He is said to have married Elizabeth (Mary) Jones on Oct. 31, in Kings Stanley. However, no marriages are recorded in the King's Stanley parish register from March of 1642 until September of 1655, as this was a period of English Civil War under Oliver Cromwell, and this is the time when we anticipate the marriage took place. Burke's Landed Gentry records that Thomas died in 1685.

    children - WATHEN

    Jonathan Wathen (b. 1657), who follows:

     

  3. Jonathan Wathen (b. 1657), the son of Thomas Wathen, was born Sept. 6, 1657 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. He married Sarah Barnfield on July 17, 1681 in the Woodchester, Gloucestershire parish church. He had several children, but it is his sons Jonathan and Samuel of whom we need to make make special mention, as they are the sires of the two main branches of the Wathen family in the Frome Valley.

    children - WATHEN

    Elizabeth Wathen was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on May 6, 1682.

    Jonathan Wathen (1684-1749), who follows in this branch:

    James Wathen was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Aug. 24, 1687. A James Wathen shows up as witness on the 1761 marriage record of nephew Jonathan Wathen, but this could be a member of the next generation, as James Wathen of Kings Stanley, if still alive, would be 75 or so years old by this time.

    Thomas Wathen was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Sept. 16, 1690.

    Anselm Wathen was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on June 28, 1694.

    Samuel Wathen (c.1699-1730), who follows in Branch II:

     

  4. Jonathan Wathen (1684-1749), the son of Jonathan Wathen, was born in 1684 in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Oct. 23, 1684. He married Sarah Watkins on Oct. 25, 1708 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. Jonathan at some point leased the old Sewell's Mill, on the Frome River at the village of Far Thrupp, from Jeremiah Davis. This mill, which probably dates from the late 14th century, had first been known as the Huckvale mill, but became known as the Sewell Mill in the late 1600s, and evenutally the Thrupp mill in the late 1700s. Jonathan died in 1749, and when Jeremiah's son Dennis Davis inherited the mill in 1752, the lease remained with the Wathen family.

    children - WATHEN

    Mary Wathen was born in Stroud Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Nov. 2, 1709. She married Christopher Ellis on June 2, 1736 at Fleet London.

    John Wathen was born in Stroud Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on June 11, 1711.

    Nathaniel Wathen was born in Stroud Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Jan. 8, 1712.

    William Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Feb. 20, 1714. He died in 1789 in Gloucestershire County and left a will that is in the collection of the British Society of Genealogists.

    Joseph Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Feb. 5, 1715. He must died before the 1726 birth of his younger brother and namesake, also named Joseph.

    Anne Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Nov. 2, 1717.

    Christian Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on March 30, 1719. She married Joseph Ellis on April 25, 1748 at St. Andrew Undershaft Church in the Aldgate Ward of the City of London, the same church where brother Samuel married Mary Scott a year later. She died in 1776 and was buried on March 21, 1776 in Stepney, London.

    Samuel Wathen was born in Stroud Gloucestershire, and baptized there on June 21, 1720 in the parish church. He is discussed in more detail in Branch III of this lineage.

    Sarah Wathen was born in Stroud Gloucestershire, and baptized there on May 25, 1722 in the parish church.

    Thomas Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Jan. 30, 1724.

    Joseph Wathen (1726-1786), who follows:

    Jonathan Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on May 24, 1728. He is discussed in more detail in Branch III of this lineage.

     

  5. Joseph Wathen (1726-1786), the son of Jonathan Wathen, was born in 1726, probably in Stroud, Gloucestershire, or one of the surrounding villages. Although we have not found a christening record that links Jonathan and Joseph Wathen as father and son, Joseph is listed in Burke's Landed Gentry as the 6th son of Jonathan. Also, Joseph inherited the Thrupp Mill from Jonathan, and followed in his footsteps as a Stroud clothier.

    Joseph married his first wife Elizabeth Ellis on May 10, 1756 in Stroud. Elizabeth came from a family of Gloucestershire clothiers, two other members of which married into Joseph's immediate family - his sister Mary marrying Christopher Ellis, and another sister Christian marrying Joseph Ellis. Joseph and Elizabeth do not appear to have had any children, as she died after a short marriage and was buried on Oct. 14, 1758 in the St. Mary Magdalene churchyard in Rodborough, Gloucestershire. He then married his second wife Anne Iles (c.1739-1803) on April 17, 1760 in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.

    Although it is conjecture, Ann Iles may have been born in the village of Hanham Abbotts, which is adjacent to Winterbourne, as at least two Ann Iles were baptized there in 1739 and 1740. This parish is significant because the Rev. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist faith, preached his first outdoor sermons at Hanham Mount in 1739. These sermons are sometimes likened to Jesus' sermon on the mount, in that the Hanham Mount sermons won many converts and represent a major turning point in Wesley's life. One can imagine Ann's parents attending these sermons, becoming friends, then followers of Wesley, and Ann continuing that friendship and faith into adulthood. In any event, Ann Iles Wathen became a very close friend of John Wesley, apparently having the Reverend over to dinner more than once, and both Joseph and Ann Wathen are mentioned in several of Wesley's letters and journal entries.

    Ann's husband Joseph came from a family of prominent Gloucestershire clothiers. Joseph's father Jonathan in the 1740s or earlier leased the Thrupp mill on the Frome River, and Joseph at some point took over operation of the mill, finally buying it outright, from Dennis Davis or his heirs, in 1770. Joseph around this time also became the owner of a mansion known at the time as New House, which was located a short distance from the mill at Far Trupp on the southern outskirts of the village of Thrupp. Joseph was living at New House by 1769, and by the time of his death in 1786 he was clearly the owner, as his will specified that the house was to be left to his widow Ann.

    Joseph is said to have become the most successful clothier in Gloucestershire. He and three partners also founded in 1779 Stroud's first financial institution, the Stroud Bank, which in 1838 became part of the Gloucestershire Banking Co. He died at the age of 63 on May 28, 1786 in Stroud, and at one time there was a tablet memorializing him and his wife Ann under the tower of the Stroud parish church. When he died, Ann inherited both the Thrupp Mill and New House. She then gave the mill on to her son Samuel upon his marriage in 1792. Ann died at the age of 64 on March 10, 1803, most likely at Stroud, as at one time there was a memorial to her in the Stroud parish church. Although Samuel ultimately became the owner of New House, it is not known whether Ann gave it to him in 1792 or whether he inherited it in 1803. In any event, he rebuilt the house around 1800, possibly in 1803 after Ann died, and renamed it Brimscombe Court, which is how the house is known today. Although Joseph and his first wife Elizabeth were childless, Joseph and second wife Ann had several children, who are listed below.

    children - WATHEN

    Joseph Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire and baptized there in the parish church on June 2, 1761. He must have died before the 1765 birth of his younger brother of the same name.

    Jonathan Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire and baptized there in the parish church on April 15, 1762. He died a child in Stroud on June 17, 1768.

    Ann Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire and baptized there in the parish church on Jan. 5, 1764. She died an infant in Stroud on April 11, 1764.

    Joseph Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire and baptized there in the parish church on May 17, 1765.

    Samuel Wathen was born on April 13, 1767 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on May 13, 1767. He became a clothier like his father and in the early days worked in partnership with his younger brother Nathaniel. He married Elizabeth Sheppard on July 24, 1792, and acquired the family Thrupp Mill as a wedding present from his mother. He worked the mill until his death on Jan. 6, 1818 at New House, the mansion he had acquired from this mother and rebuilt as Brimscombe Court. At the time of his death, he was one of the magistrates for the county of Gloucester. His widow Ann continued to work the mill until 1828 when she leased it to iron founder John Ferrabee, who bought it outright in 1851 and converted it to the Phoenix Iron Works. Ferrabee had formed a partnership in the 1830s with Stroud inventor Edwin Budding and the two are famed today as the manufacturers of the first lawn mowers, at least some of which were probably produced at the old Wathen mill. Samuel's son Hulbert Wathen (1802-1880) married into the nobility, and became a wealthy tea merchant whose lineage is profiled in Burke's Landed Gentry.

    Josiah Iles Wathen was born on Oct. 5, 1769 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Nov. 8, 1769. He became a type lawyer known as a barrister, and was granted admission on Oct 6, 1785 to the Lincoln's Inn Society, one of four professional societies called 'Inns of Court' that every barrister in England and Wales must belong to. He may be the same as one J.I. Wathen who served on the committee of the British Foreign Bible Society from 1831 to 1848. However, it seems more likely that this individual is his nephew and namesake, the son of his brother Nathaniel Wathen.

    Elizabeth Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Aug. 22, 1771.

    Nathaniel Wathen (1772-1856), who follows:

    Ann Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Sept. 12, 1774.

    Maria Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on May 25, 1777.


    Brimscombe Court - Formerly New House.
    Originally the home of Joseph and Ann Wathen,
    before their son Samuel rebuilt and renamed it.

     

  6. Nathaniel Wathen (1772-1856), the son of Joseph Wathen and Anne Iles, was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire 1772, and baptized there on Oct. 13, 1772 in the parish church. He was probably born at his father's house, New House at Far Thrupp, and he most likely lived out his childhood there. Rev. John Wesley mentions in a letter dated March 8, 1782 how on the Tuesday hence he had promised to dine with the Wathens at New House. Most likely a young Nathaniel sat at that dinner table. Although New House still stands, it was rebuilt by Nathaniel's brother Samuel around 1800, and subsequently renamed to Brimscombe Court. The rebuilt house is shown above.

    Nathaniel married Mary Beardmore, the daughter of a wealthy London hosier, on March 19, 1804 at St. Mary's Church in Islington, London. He became a clothier, like his father, and he and his older brother Samuel leased the Hope Mill, near the village of Brimscombe, from Catherine Gough. When she died, sometime around 1805, she left the mill to the Wathen brothers. Not long afterwards Nathaniel was working the mill alone, and about 1812 he built a new mill on the site. He became quite wealthy and was highly respected throughout England as a clothier. He sold the operation to Robert Bamford in 1829, and supposedly part of the old stone mill was still standing in 1973.

    It would appear that Nathaniel profited nicely from his sale of the Hope Mill, as he appears to be more a gentleman of London from 1830 on, than a Stroud clothier. He became a member of the British Foreign Bible Society, and served on the governing committee of that organization from 1832 to 1848. Another committee member was Josiah Iles Wathen, either his brother or his son, who served from 1831 to 1848. A prominent member of the society was the well-known Thomas Thompson, a wealthy member of the London stock exchange whose younger brother Theophilus married Nathaniel's daughter Eliza Anna. Nathaniel outlived his wife Mary and died at the age of 83 on April 23, 1856. He was buried in Norwood Cemetery on Lambeth Road in Lambeth, Surrey. He is often confused with his distant cousin Nathaniel Peach Wathen, who was born the same year, in the same part of the Frome Valley, and also married a woman named Mary.

    children - WATHEN

    Josiah Iles Wathen was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on March 3, 1805. He was obviously named after his uncle, and it seems likely that his uncle was no longer living at the time. The younger Josiah followed in his uncle's footsteps as a lawyer, and he was working in 1829 as a conveyancing clerk for a solicitor firm called Messrs. Brooks, Grane & Cooper, for whom he prepared legal abstracts. He also may have been on the governing committee of the British Foreign Bible Society, but because of the identical names it is difficult to know whether it was uncle or nephew who is listed in the society records. However, it is almost certainly the younger Josiah who married Caroline Thornton on may 5, 1831 at Lambeth on the outskirts of London, with his father Nathaniel as witness to the wedding. Sometime before 1842 the younger Josiah became a full solicitor, and he appears to have been fairly well-known in that capacity in London. He died April 6, 1881 at Croyden in Greater Surrey.

    Frances Mary Wathen was born on Feb. 20, 1806 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church in Jan. 1808. There is also a record of her being baptized at St. Benet Paul's Wharf in the City of London on the the date of her birthday, but this is probably an error and represents a second christening at a later date. She married James Gardner on April 4, 1850 at the St. George Church in the Bloomsbury Parish of Camden, London.

    Elizabeth Anna Maria Wathen (1807-1867), who follows:

    John Beardmore Wathen was born about 1812 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and married Emma Gale on Aug. 5, 1859 at St. Mary the Virgin Church in the Norwood Green Parish of Ealing, London. He died in 1862.

    Sophia Anne Wathen was born Sept. 15, 1813 in Stroud Gloucestershore, and married William Henry Dickson on April 28, 1836 at St. Pancras Church in Camden, London.

    Nathaniel Arthur Wathen was born Feb. 10, 1815, somewhere in England, and baptized March 5, 1817 at St. Benet Paul's Wharf in the City of London.

    George Henry Wathen was born Nov. 21, 1816 in Surrey, England, and baptized March 5, 1817 at St. Benet Paul's Wharf in the City of London. Although trained as an architect, he never practiced as such, but wrote and illustrated two books, 'Arts, Antiquities, and Chronology of Ancient Egypt from observations in 1839', and 'The Golden Colony, or, Victoria in 1854'. The latter work, in which he described the gold fields of Australia, earned him the epithet of geologist, and he was elected a fellow in the Royal Geological Society, despite his lack of geologic training.

    Starting in 1850 he also published a quarterly magazine titled the 'Australasian', which he printed out of Geelong, the second largest city of Victoria, Australia. This project reprinted the best articles from the leading English magazines of the day, many of which were not available to Australian readers. George Henry's brother-in-law Dr. Theophilus Thompson, who acted as his London agent, sent two copies of the Australasian to Charles Dickens, who politely wrote back to Dr. Thompson in a letter dated June 27, 1851 that though the journal was a "creditable production", it would be more encouraging if the articles were "honestly purchased, rather than pirated". Nonetheless 8 volumes of 600 pages total were printed over the two years the magazine was in press.

    He next took up sheepherding in Natal, South Africa in 1857, and became a member in 1862 of Natal's Legislative Council, before returning to England in 1867. His subsequent winters were spent in southern France and Italy, and while travelling through Italy in 1879 he died in the parish of Viareggio, Lucca in the Toscanna (Tuscany) province.

     

  7. Elizabeth Anna Maria Wathen (1807-1867), the daughter of Nathaniel Wathen and Mary Beardmore, was born Nov. 4, 1807 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and baptized there in the parish church on Jan. 3, 1808. Her early years were spent at Stroud and the nearby village of Brimscombe where her father ran woolen mills to make cotton clothing, but when she was a little girl, her parents moved from this rural setting to central London, and there she grew up. When she was 23-years old, she married Theophilus Thompson (1807-1860), an eminent London physician, on Jan. 25, 1831 at St. Pancras Church in the Camden parish of the City of London. The marriage was probably arranged by her father and Theophilus' older brother Thomas Thompson. Given that both Nathaniel and Thomas were prominent members of the British Foreign Bible Society, and that both men were famed for their piety, as well as their philanthropy, they no doubt shared similar views, and were probably good friends.

    There is no question that Elizabeth and her husband Theophilus both came from wealthy families, and as Theophilus was one of London's most respected doctors, they must have lived in great comfort. Elizabeth lived the rest of her life in London, and after raising a family of several children, she died on Nov. 14, 1867, a few days after her 60th birthday. The photo on the right, though not formally identified as Elizabeth Wathen Thompson, came from a small brass locket that also contained a very well-known photo from the National Portrait Gallery (London) of her husband Theophilus Thompson, and it is believed that this locket was carried by their son Theophilus Wathen Thompson, which makes it likely that the photo is indeed of Elizabeth. Please see the Thompson Genealogy for the children of Elizabeth and Theophilus.

     

Branch II

  1. Samuel Wathen (c.1699-1730), the son of Jonathan Wathen, was born in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on May 28, 1699 in the parish church . He married Sarah Burns on April 7, 1724 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, and died in 1730.

    children - WATHEN

    Samuel Wathen (1723-1786), who follows:

     

  2. Samuel Wathen (1723-1786), the son of Samuel Wathen and Sarah Burns, was born in 1723, and married Elizabeth Paul on Sept. 3, 1745 in Gloucestershire. He died Jan 28, 1786 in Whaddon, Gloucestershire where his tombstone is to be found in St. Margaret's churchyard.
    children - WATHEN

    Elizabeth Wathen was born June 8, 1746.

    Samuel Wathen (1748-1835), who follows:

     

  3. Samuel Wathen (1748-1835), the son of Samuel Wathen and Elizabeth Paul, was born in March 15, 1748 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on March 24, 1748 in the parish church. He married Margaret Peach (c.1742-1826) on Oct. 23, 1769. Many years later later in 1803, he became the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, for which he was knighted on March 13. It is recorded that he was for "many years in the commission of the Peace for that county." Lady Margaret died in Kings Stanley on Sept. 17, 1826, and Sir Samuel died May 19, 1835 in Pas de Calais in the Nord arrondisement of France. His remains were returned to the family vault at Kings Stanley for burial, and there is a memorial inscription to him and his wife inside the Church of St. George in the Kings Stanley parish.

    children - WATHEN

    Paul Wathen (1770-1838) was born Dec. 13, 1770 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and married Ann Wathen (b. 1769) at Kings Stanley in Gloucestershire on Dec. 15, 1791. Ann was the daughter of Thomas Wathen of Pickled Elm Farm (in Kings Stanley), and the grandaughter of the Rev. Thomas Baghott, who had a distinguished ancestry. Paul bought the manor house of Lypiatt Park in 1801 or 1802, and proceeded at great expense to increase the land holdings of the estate. He then followed in his father's footsteps to become High sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1810. He was knighted as Sir Paul Wathen that same year, so that he could stand in for the Viscount Lord Strangford, but he subsequently took his mother-in-law's maiden name to become Sir Paul Baghott. He became notorious for his unsuccessfull business ventures and extravagant lifestyle, until he was forced into bankruptcy in 1819 during the financial turmoil that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Finally, he was forced to sell Lypiatt Park in 1824, and retired to Nash Park in the parish of Stonehouse. His wife Ann died Nov. 20, 1826, and he died Nov. 30, 1838. There is a memorial inscription to both of them in the Kings Stanley Church.

    Nathaniel Peach Wathen (1772-1846), was born June 16, 1772 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized July 23, 1772 in the nearby parish church of Rodborough. He married Mary Carruthers (1773-1817) on April 19, 1791. Mary died on April 9, 1817 at the age of 44 in Woodchester, and Nathaniel died there on Dec. 18, 1846. There is a monumental inscription to them both inside the Church of St. George in the Kings Stanley parish. This Nathaniel and his wife are frequently confused in the literature with his distant cousin, the Nathaniel Wathen who appears with his wife Mary Beardmore in Branch I of this lineage. The facts that they were contemporaries born within a few miles of each other, both were clothiers, and each married a woman named Mary, all adds to this confusion.

    Charles Wathen was born on Oct. 14, 1774 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire.

    Onesiphorous Paul Wathen was born on March 6, 1776 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on June 12, 1776 in the parish church.

    Elizabeth Wathen was born on Dec. 16, 1777 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire. She died July 20, 1808 in nearby Kings Stanley.

    Joseph Wathen was born on Dec. 29, 1779 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on June 12, 1780 in the parish church.

    Obadiah Paul Wathen was born on May 17, 1783 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on July 29, 1783 in the parish church. He married Margaret Bateman on Oct. 7, 1806.

    Margaret Peach Wathen was born Feb. 3, 1789 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and was baptized there on April 26, 1786 in the parish chutch. She died Oct. 3, 1813 in nearby Kings Stanley

    Anne Maria Wathen was born on Oct. 27, 1785 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and baptized there on May 8, 1789 in the parish church.

     


(From L to R) Sir Samuel Wathen, Sir Paul Baghott (Wathen), Obadiah Paul Wathen, and Margaret Peach Wathen

 

Branch III

    The relationship of Samuel Wathen, M.D. (d. 1787) of Dorking, Surrey to the Wathen families of Stroud and Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire is tentative, but a connection is highly likely for the reasons listed below. We are reasonably certain at his point in our research that this Samuel Wathen is an older brother of Joseph Wathen (1726-1786) in Branch 1. What we lack is some sort of documentation, such as baptism records for both Samuel and Joseph showing them to be the sons of Jonathan Wathen (1684-1749) of Far Thrupp in Gloucestershire.
    1. Elizabeth Watkins, the wife of Edmund-Symes Thompson, writes in her Memories of Edmund Symes-Thompson (1908, p.8) that among her husband's ancestors "was Dr. Samuel Wathen, M.D. of Aberdeen, 1752, who practised in London during the latter part the the eighteenth century." Edmund's mother was Elizabeth Anna Maria Wathen, whose grandfather was the aforementioned Joseph Wathen. Although we know that Samuel Wathen can not be an ancestor of Edmund Symes-Thompson, as his wife believed, he may still be a relative.
    2. Samuel Wathen, M.D. as a young man apparently lived in Bristol, a city in Gloucestershire County that sits only a few miles from the homes of the Wathen families of Stroud and Kings Stanley. In particular, Bristol sits only a few miles from the birthplace and home of the aforementioned Joseph Wathen.
    3. Some of Edmund Symes-Thompson's ancestors are associated with the town of Dorking in Surrey, as is Samuel Wathen M.D. In particular, Joseph Wathen's son Nathaniel married Mary Beadrmore, whose family owned the manor house of Juniper Hall in Dorking. Juniper Hall sits a very short distance north of Burford Hall where Samuel Wathen M.D. probably lived. However, to be honest the timing is not quite right, as Samuel Wathen M.D. lived in Dorking from about 1779-1786, whereas the Beardmore family did not move to Dorking until after 1800. Nonetheless, the Dorking connection is an unusual coincidence.
    4. Some of Edmund Symes-Thompson's ancestors, in particular Joseph and Ann Wathen, as well as the Beardmore family, were close friends of the Rev. John Wesley, as was Samuel Wathen M.D.
    5. Samuel Wathen, M.D. had a younger brother named Jonathan who died in his 80th year in East Acton, Middlesex on Jan. 17. 1808, which means 1728 is the latest year Jonathan could have been born. coincidently, Joseph Wathen had a younger brother who was also named Jonathan, and who was baptized in Stroud, Gloucestershire on May 24, 1728. The timing is such that the two Jonathans could in fact be the same man.
    6. A will exists for Jonathan Wathen, the younger brother of Samuel Wathen, M.D. This will mentions "my nephew Nathaniel Wathen", and names Nathaniel's brother Samuel as a nephew also. Nathaniels's wife Mary, and Samuel's wife Elizabeth are also mentioned. Nathaniel of course is Nathaniel Wathen (1772-1856), the clothier of Stroud, and this makes Nathaniel's father Joseph Wathen (1726-1786) the brother of both Samuel Wathen, M.D. and the aforementioned Jonathan. (more on the will of Jonathan Wathen)

     

  1. Samuel Wathen (c.1720-1787) was probably born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, as he was baptized there on June 21, 1720 in the parish church. The next mention we have of him is a letter dated April 9, 1737 in which the Rev. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, writes from Bristol, Gloucestershire that on April 4 a young Samuel Wathen was one of four men that the good Reverend led to Christ, in fact the first ever in Wesley's career as a preacher. There seems to be no doubt among Wesley scholars that this Samuel Wathen went on to become a surgeon. Wesley also informs us as that Samuel was a young man at the time, and we would in fact put his age at probably just 16 or 17 years old. Then in another letter dated April 26, 1739 we learn from Wesley that Samuel Wathen's mistress accepted Christ as well. Presumably, this woman, whose name is not revealed, was his girlfriend and never became his wife, as when Samuel Wathen married Martha Allanson 7 years later, he is listed as a bachelor.

    Samuel next appears in 1745, when we find him practicing as a physician in London, where he is called upon to testify at a trial (#230 of 1745) at the 'Old Bailey' courthouse. He also becomes John Wesley's personal physician, and is mentioned several times in Wesley's journal and letters, as well as in the writings of Wesley's younger brother Charles. Samuel's brother Jonathan also testifies at a trial (#341 of 1749) at the 'Old Bailey' in 1749 that for the last 4 years he had been serving as Samuel's apprentice in the medical profession. Jonathan Wathen (1729-1808) went on to become a successful London surgeon in his own right, as well as an eye doctor who is sometimes referred to as one of the founding fathers of ophthalmalogy. Jonathan was also the step-grandfather of the celebrated Sir Jonathan Wathen-Waller (1769-1853), who was Royal Physician to Kings George III and William IV.

    As noted already, we do not know what became of the early "mistress of Samuel Wathen" mentioned by John Wesley, but Samuel married Martha Allanson on April 29, 1746 at St. Katherine Coleman Church in London. Martha, who was the posthumous daughter of Capt. Edward Allanson and his wife Susannah Gammon, lived only a short while and died at the age of 23 on August 13, 1747 in London, where there is a memorial table for her at St. Mary's Church in the parish of Stoke Newington.

    Less than two years later, Samuel married again, this time to Mary Scott, the daughter of a salter named Thomas Scott, who is mentioned many years later in Samuel Wathen's will. The marriage took place on March 30, 1749 at St. Andrew Undershaft Church in the Aldgate ward of the City of London, where his sister Christian had married the year before. Mary gave birth to one daughter, Mary Scott Wathen, afterwhich she disappears, presumably becoming the second wife of Samuel Wathen to die prematurely. The timing is such that Mary Scott may have died in childbirth, but this is speculation. Her death left Samuel as the single parent of their daughter, who at most was no more than a few months old, if not a newborn.

    Samuel remarried very quickly, choosing for his next wife Elizabeth Malthus on March 19, 1750 at St. Mary's Hill, London, only six weeks after the baptism of his baby daughter Mary, and less than a year after his marriage to Mary Scott. This new wife Elizabeth was from a very prominent family, being the daughter of barrister (a type of lawyer) Sydenham Malthus (c.1678-1757), but she is perhaps best remembered as the aunt of the celebrated economist Rev. Thomas Robert "Population" Malthus (1766-1834), who was one of the first to write on the dangers of mankind overpopulating the earth.

    Although he appears to have been a practicing physician for some time, Samuel Wathen was admitted to the King's College in Aberdeen, Scotland on the recommendation of Dr. Nicholas Munckley (c.1721-1770), a physician at Guy's Hospital in London and a member of the Royal Society. Samuel graduated a doctor of Medicine on Sept. 28, 1752, and he was subsequently admitted to the Royal College of Physicians on Sept. 30, 1756, going on to became one of London's best-known physicians. In addition to being a surgeon and personal physician, he also was one of the governors of the City of London Lying-in Hospital on City Road where he was a man-midwife extraordinary. He was in fact listed on the Royal Kalendar of 1766 as man-widwife to the Queen, which must have been Sophia, wife of George III. This makes it likely that he attended Queen Sophia when William IV, the heir to the throne was born.

    For many years Dr. Wathen had a house on Great Cumberland Street in St. Marylebone, London, near the northeast corner of Hyde Park, but prior to 1779 he moved to Dorking, Surrey. There exists today a Wathen Road that some say is named after him. However, it seems more likely that this road is named after the Lady Elizabeth Jane Wathen, who married Samuel's grandson Augustus Wathen and lived at Shrub Hill, very close to where Wathen Road joins Rothe Road on the northest side of town. Wathen Road today is best known as the birthplace of the actor Sir Laurence Oliver. Charles Dickens also wrote most of the 'Pickwick Papers' while staying in a house at No. 35 Wathen Road. Samuel Wathen's Dorking residence was probably a short distance north of Wathen Road at Burford Hall, which had been built in 1774 by his son-in-law John Eckersall near the base of Box Hill, on the road between Dorking and Mickleham.

    After the 1786 marriage of their youngest daughter Anna, Samuel and Elizabeth Wathen moved to Wrington, Somersetshire, where they probably lived at the Old Rectory on Broad Street with Anna and her new husband the Rev. William Leeves (1748-1840). Samuel Wathen died at Wrington shortly thereafter on July 26, 1787, and his wife Elizabeth died at the Rectory in 1807. Most likely both are buried in the All Saints Church in Wrington, as there were monuments of the Leeves family that were removed from the church interior during an 1859 restoration, then moved again in 1960. Some sort of monument is believed today to sit just outside the church near the southeast corner. William's body is interred under the high altar. Apparently there is still a window to the Leeves family in the south wall of the chancel. Most likely, the parish register and associated church records that reside at the Somerset Records Office contain the names of Samuel Wathen and his wife. He did leave a will, of which the British Society of Genealogists has a copy.

    Samuel Wathen had several children. The six we know about are listed below, but there may have been more. The eldest daughter is from his marriage with Mary Scott, and the other children are from his marriage with Elizabeth Malthus. There is a picture painted by George Knapton in 1755 of Samuel and Elizabeth Wathen with their daughters that hangs in Aston Hall, an auxiliary building of the Birmingham City Art Gallery, with prints available for purchase on the museum website.

    children - WATHEN

    Mary Scott Wathen, the daughter of Samuel Wathen and Mary Scott, was baptized Feb. 2, 1750 at St. Botolph's Church in Bishopsgate, London, only six weeks before her widowed father married Elizabeth Malthus. The younger Mary married Henry Christopher Wise (1738-1805) of the Priory in 1766 in Warwick. Henry went on in his later years to serve as High Sheriff of Warwickshire. Henry and Mary had two sons, Matthew (1767-1810), who like his father became High Sheriff of Warwickshire (1807), and Henry (c.1773-1850), who became the Vicar of Offchurch and Rector of Charlwood, Surrey. A portrait of Mary Wathen painted by Thomas Hickey, signed and dated 1794, was sold at Christies in London 1n 1991.

    Katherine Wathen was born in London, and baptized on Feb. 8, 1753 at St. Botolphs Church in Bishopsgate, London. She married her cousin John Eckersall (1748-1837) on Dec. 1, 1774 at St. Marylebone, London, and from 1774 on lived at Burford Lodge in Box Hill Surrey, which was built by her husband. She and John had eleven children, of whom the Eldest daughter Harriet Eckersall (1777-1864), married the economist Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) who has already been mentioned.

    Anna Wathen was born in London and baptized on June 13, 1754 at St. Botolphs Church in Bishopsgate, London. She is said to have been a talented violinist. She married the Rev. William Leeves (1748-1840) on May 14, 1786, and resided with him for 48 years at the Old Rectory in Wrington, Somersetshire where they had five children. William is best known for composing the music for the ballad 'Auld Robin Gray'. Anna died suddenly at Wrington on Feb. 14, 1826, and William died in 1848 and is buried beneath the High Altar of the All Saints Church in Wrington.

    Samuel Wathen was born March 1, 1758 in London, and baptized Aptil 2, 1758 at Saint Faith under Paul in the City of London.

    Daniel Samuel Wathen was born Oct. 22, 1759 in London, and baptized Nov. 22, 1759 at Saint Faith under Paul in the City of London.

    George Wathen was born March 2, 1762 in London, and baptized March 27 of that year at Saint Faith under Paul Church in the City of London. He served with disinction as a junior army officer in the Siege of Gibraltar (1782), and then in Jamaica. He married, presumably in England, in 1787 Marianne Norford, the daughter of Dr. William Norford (1715-1793) of Bury in Suffolk, probably a physician friend of his father's. George and Marianne's daughter Marianne was born in 1788 while they were living in Jamaica in the West Indies. He left the military, probably around 1789, with the rank of brevet Major, which meant that he left before the promotion had been finalized. He went on to become a well-known actor, singer and theater manager, performing under the the stage name of 'Captain Wathen', it is said to the derision of his fellow actors. Among his early acting partners was the famous Lord Barrymore (1769-1793). George's military carrer, together with his fame as an actor and stage manager, enabled him to receive an appointment in 1841 as a Military Knight of Windsor, which is an honorary body guard of the king, and presumably around this time he became 'Major Wathen'. He died in 1849, and was buried as Major Wathen in Windsor Castle. He had three children.

    Marianne Wathen (1788-1831) married Alexander Baillie, and as Marianne Baillie she wrote four books, two being collections of verse, and the others being descriptions of her travels in Europe. Marianne and Alexander have many descendants alive today.

    George Samuel Wathen (b. 1790), appears to have died young.

    Augustus Wathen (1796-1844) was the only surviving son. He served at the Battle of Waterloo, and then in India, where he aroused the enmity of his commanding officer. His resulting court martial and subsequent acquittal as Captain Wathen in 1834, was a much chronicled military scandal. He was promoted to Major after the trial concluded, which results in confusion with his father as both appear in literature as Major Wathen. Prior to his service in India he married Elizabeth Jane Leslie, the daughter of the Earl of Rothe, and resided at Shrub Hill in Dorking, Surrey. He died while on his way from Norwich to visit his mother-in-law in Dorking on May 3, 1843, predeceasing his father. He was buried in his wife's family vault.

 

 

Jonathan Wathen - A few words are in order for Jonathan Wathen (b. c.1728-1808), the surgeon, who is the younger brother of Samuel Wathen, M.D., and also appears to be the younger brother of Joseph Wathen, clothier of Stroud. He was born in 1727 or 1728, not 1729 as is often reported, and apprenticed as a physician in London under his brother Samuel - the term of that apprenticeship beginning about 1745. Their association appears to have lasted 15 or more years, and it would seem likely that at some point Jonathan graduated from apprentice to partner. When Samuel was studying medicine at the King's College in Aberdeen from 1752-1756, Jonathan was located at Devonshire Square in London, and one might assume that he carried out most, if not all of the responsibilities of their practice, if the partnership still existed at that time. The two also practiced side by side at the City of London Lying-in Hospital, where Samuel for many years was a man midwife extraordinary.

Jonathan at some point, possibly around 1760, established his own practice at Bond-court, in Wallbrook, London, with has brother at Great Cumberland Street in St. Marylebone. About this same time, Jonathan married a widow named Ann Allen in the parish of St. Botolph Bishopsgate in London, the actual date of the wedding being June 8, 1761. One James Wathen, possibly Jonathan's uncle James (b. c.1687) but more likely a younger relative, was one of the witnesses at the wedding.

Jonathan apparently also had a wife named Anne Waller, who was the widow of Thomas Waller. This Anne Waller, besides besides being a widow like Ann Allen, had a daughter, named Anne from her previous marriage. Thus, with three women named Ann or Anne all associated with Jonathan, the relationships are confusing. It is also possible that Ann Allen is the maiden name of Anne Waller, which would make the two one and the same. There is no evidence that Jonathan had any children of his own. However, his step-daughter Anne Waller, the biological daughter of Thomas Waller, did marry one Joshua Phipps and had an only son named Jonathan Phipps, who is often identified as the grandson of Jonathan, whereas he is actually a step grandson.

Although Jonathan never received any formal medical training, as did his brother, he published widely, and became very well known. He always referred to himself as a surgeon, but he actually specialized in diseases of the eye and throat, and he is at times referred to as the father of Ophthalmology. However, that term is bestowed more often on a physician named James Ware (1756-1815), who Jonathan took on as an assistant at Bond-court in Wallbrook, London in 1777. The next year the two entered into a formal partnership, with Ware holding a one-fourth interest, that lasted until 1791 when Ware started his own practice. Although Ware ultimately became the better known of the two, and was even admitted as a fellow to the Royal Society, he always acknowledged in print his debt to his mentor and former partner Jonathan Wathen.

When Wathen and Ware dissolved their partnerhip in 1791, Jonathan took on his step grandson Jonathan Phipps as an apprentice. The younger Jonathan, who upon being knighted in 1814 took the name Sir Jonathan Wathen-Waller (1769-1853), utlimately became the Groom of the Bedchamber to King William IV, and was much celebrated as an eye doctor to both George III and William IV. Naturally, there is confusion between the two Jonathan's in the literature. For example, the younger Jonathan is usually credited as being the founder in 1804 of the Royal Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, whereas in fact the Infirmary was more likely founded due to the efforts of the elder Jonathan, with his step-grandson Jonathan Phipps (later to be Wathen-Waller) as the active surgeon. The elder Jonathan, having achieved reknown equal to that of his brother Samuel Wathen, M.D., died on Jan. 17, 1808 at East Acton, Middlesex in his 80th year.

Jonathan Wathen left a will that is available in the Public records office of the British National Archives. This will, which was proved Feb. 1, 1808 in London, mentions Jonathan's nephew George Wathen (probably the son of Samuel Wathen, M.D.) and George's wife Marianne. It also mentions another nephew Samuel Wathen (probably the son of Joseph Wathen) and Samuels's wife Elizabeth. Most important to this lineage is the following mention at the bottom of the 11th page of the will and continuing onto the 12th page where Jonathan leaves a bequest "unto my nephew Nathaniel Wathen (if now living) ... [and] unto Mary Wathen his present wife". Because Nathaniel is also a son of Joseph Wathen, this links Jonathan Wathen, surgeon of London, Samuel Wathen, M.D. and doctor to Rev. John Wesley, and Joseph Wathen, clothier of Stroud as brothers.

 

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