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Explore your connections with a great man ......
Sir Samuel WAY - his ancestors and descendants
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 1832 - 1885 (52 years)
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| Name |
John Richard WILLIS |
| Born |
10 Jun 1832 |
Gravesend  [1] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Migration |
To Victoria (Collingwood) |
| Notes for biography |
* John Richard Willis (1832 - 1885)
* John was the second son of John and Mary, born on 10 June 1832 in Gravesend.
* Emigrated to Collingwood, now one of the inner suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia
* On 4 October 1855, at the age of 23 he married Eliza Robinson from Cambridge. (ref : John and Eliza?s marriage details have been provided by Joan Williams, an Australian Willis researcher, in an e-mail dated 14 June 1999)
* Eliza was born in 1834, the daughter of William Robinson, a farrier, and Ann Larner. Both William and Ann were born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire; William in 1789 and Ann in 1813.
* Eliza, 18 years old at the time and travelling on her own, is thought to have emigrated to Australia on the 'Childe Harold', arriving in Melbourne in June 1853, possibly a 'bride' ship. * Eliza was employed as a cook at the time of her marriage. (ref : additional information on John Richard & his descendants has been provided by Geoffrey Willis, his Great Grandson.)
* John William, their first child was born in 1855 in Collingwood, unfortunately John died in infancy at the age of 16 months, in 1857.
* The family moved to Ballarat, a large country town, famous as the scene of some big gold finds,
* Elizabeth Ann was born in 1858 in Ballarat,
* Mary Ann in 1860 in Ballarat
* (ref : birth information for the children born in Australia was provided by Jillian in an E-mail dated 3 May 1999. Contact being made thru? the Kent RSL mailing list.)
* John, Eliza and their two daughters returned to England sometime during the following 12 months, there being a strong possibility that the family returned to England on the 'Yorkshire', which left Australia in March 1861 (ref : Victoria PRO Records, researched by Terry March).
* Their third daughter, Emma, was born in Gravesend in December 1861.
* Two sons were added to the family, Harry Larner in 1864 and Edward in 1866.
* By now the family had moved to Erith where, in 1881, John was a Carpenter and Builder and his two sons were both employed as Carpenters, whilst his daughter, Emma, was employed as a Milliner (ref : young girls were sometimes trained as a milliner prior to going into service as a Ladies Maid. 'Not in Front of the Servants' by Frank Victor Dawes) .
* John fell on hard times, as in December 1869 he was declared Bankrupt, agreeing to pay his Creditors 10 shillings in the pound (ref : The London Gazette 4 January 1870 page 73).
* By November 1883 John had been released from his Bankruptcy and was in a position to buy and devlope a parcel of land, just over an acre in size, in Erith, part of an area known as Bull Banks, for £380 (ref : about £27,000 in 2007 money values). The land was purchased from the trustees of the estate of the late John Parish. A condition of the purchase was that he should build a road on the North Eastern boundary, (known as Battle Road) and that he should develop the land with residential housing, with a material and labour cost of not less than £110 (ref : about £8,000 in 2007 money values). During the following few months John sold on small plots fronting Battle road, it is not known whether these were houses that he had built, or plots of land. To the North West of the site John built Willis Road, named after him (ref : taken from the original Indenture conveying the land to John).
* Emma married into the Thorp family
* Mary Ann married Edward March.
* It is probable that Elizabeth Ann died before 1898, as her mother's Will bequeaths jewellery formerly belonging to Elizabeth, and also does not include her as a beneficiary.
* Although John was left a number of cottages in Erith by his father, the leasehold was sold to his brother Henry in 1869, for £500.
* Presumably, as his mother had a lifetime interest in the income derived from the properties, John wanted his inheritance earlier, and therefore was prepared to sell to raise cash.
* John died from Stomach Cancer, at the age of 52 years, on 11 April 1885.
* By 1891 Eliza was living alone at her home in The Avenue, with her youngest, as yet unmarried son, Edward Gerrard, who was employed as a Florist. (see footnote under Edward's entry below)
* Eliza died on 24 April 1901 of Pleurisy and Chronic Bronchitis. In her Will, Eliza made a number of small bequests to her children of jewellery etc., who also benefitted from the residual value of her estate, which was divided equally between them
* A descendant of Harry (who married Henrietta Joyner on 2 February 1889), Geoffrey, lives in Gloucester.
* According to Geoffrey John died a wealthy man and Harry lived off his inheritance, which was 'topped up' with further inheritances following the deaths of his maiden aunts, Mary Ann, Emma and Martha.(ref : Clive Challis met Geoffrey, and his wife Joyce, on 24 May 2001). [1] |
| Died |
11 Apr 1885 |
| Person ID |
I86 |
Samuel WAY |
| Last Modified |
27 Aug 2016 |
| Family |
Eliza ROBINSON, b. 1834, d. 24 Apr 1901 (Age 67 years) |
| Children |
| | 1. John WILLIS, b. 1855, Collingwood , d. 1857 (Age 2 years) |
| | 2. Elizabeth Ann WILLIS, b. 1858, Ballarat, Vic |
| | 3. Mary Ann WILLIS, b. 1860, Ballarat, Vic |
| | 4. Emma WILLIS, b. Dec 1861, Gravesend, UK |
| | 5. Harry Larner WILLIS, b. 1864, Erith, UK |
| | 6. Edward WILLIS, b. 1866, Erith, UK |
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| Last Modified |
27 Aug 2016 |
| Family ID |
F27 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Sources |
- [S7] Clive Challis - UK - ID 351 on this website - more details are on his website on ancestry.com.
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