William was born on the 5 Feb 1783 and Christened at the cathedral on 1 Oct 1784.
LLB Cambridge University Alumni (law degree or Bachelor of Laws)
He was ordained on 9 Aug 1807 at Salisbury Cathedral (see Wren House),
His patron was the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral, he was made Curate of Linford at his ordination (like his brother Charles) and then Perpetual Curate of St Thomas’, Salisbury in 1814 (church record).
William was married in Stockton Wiltshire on the 2 Nov 1813 to Cooth Anna Austen from Ensbury, Dorset.
Cooth Anna Austen (Jane thought no relation)came from a family of goldsmiths in London.
Her ancestor John Austen was in 1667-1668, the prime warden of the Goldsmiths Company
There was a report from a newspaper :-
‘Married, at Stockton, by the Rev.Henry Good, the Rev.Wm.Wapshare, of the Close, to Cooth Anna, daughter of the late Wm.Austin, Esq. of Ensbury, in the county of Dorset.’
Then in 1817 William became Vicar of Chitterne, St Mary.
(Confusingly in her Cooth mentions three ‘Good’ brothers,- childhood friends perhaps or were they step brothers?
William and Cooth Anna had 6 children.
William Henry b 10 Mar 1814 was the first and he was the one who went to India and much more about that later.
Charles John born 1815 and died when he was 20.-
Mary born 1817, married Rev John Wyndham in 1840 and died before she was 35. Mary was the first wife of Rev John Wyndham whose brother, George went to New South Wales in 1827 and founded the Wyndham Wineries. John had 4 wives 3 predeceased him and he died in 1897 age 84.
John and Mary’s son, Edward Sandford Wyndham, was sponsored by his Uncle George to come out to Australia. He married Edith Wright in Australia and became a well known surveyor of the Mt Wilson area (west of Sydney).
The Wyndham family had been friends of the Wapshares and some were interred close to Wapshare memorials in the cathedral.
Anna born 1818 and died when she was 25.-must have stayed with Frances, no records this child.-
Catherine Eleanor was born in 1819, (and spent most of her life with her Aunt Frances). Then much later in 1852 she married Henry Robertson, Aunt Frances died and Catherine had a son who died and was buried with Aunt Frances.
Property- from Wilts records Poll Book) refers to property in the Coombe District and also Probate Rectory and/or Parsonage of Eastrop and Westrop, Highworth in 1813.( origin of grandfather William) Then in 1818, Freehold House in Chitterne when the family moved there.
(St Thomas Church, Salisbury- Whapshare spelt with an ‘h’ in error. (my family made the same mistake and we were stuck with the ‘h’)
The doomsday painting in St Thomas Church was discovered when William was there. It is the finest example in the country. Probably painted in the mid fifteenth century it was covered in a white solution when Oliver Cromwell was tearing them all down. Almost every church had one and 99% were destroyed.
The image is almost always above an arch in the church and shows people rising from their graves on the left to the sound of the trump. Christ is almost always on a rainbow or throne with Mary on our left and John the Baptist on the right. The apostles are in front and somewhere is St Michael often with scales. On our right people are going down but those on the left will continue to heaven, in this case a city. All of the doomsday paintings have the same general theme and more good examples can be found in Europe
For some reason William decided to leave this magnificent church in Salisbury and go to the village of Chitterne to the west and near to Bishopstrow.
He kept his relationship with Sr Thomas, being the perpetual curate. Sadly only a small section of the St Mary’s church remains today, The chancel on the right.
From ‘History of Chitterne’ – ‘ The benefices of Chitterne All Saints and Chitterne St Mary were united in a deed dated Oct 16 1819; and it was provided that upon one of them becoming vacant the incumbent of the other should hold both’. William Macdonald, Vicar of Chitterne-All saints thus became, on the death of W S Wapshare(1819) the vicar of both parishes.
The foundation stone of the new church for the united parishes of All Saints and St Mary was laid by the Venerable Archdeacon Macdonald, Vicar, on Aug 13 1861. The new church was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury on Nov 4 1862.
In the porch of the new church is a list of St Mary vicars with William being the last sole incumbent. .
William died in November 1821 leaving his wife with 6 children. In his will dated 1814 leaves 500 pounds to his sisters and 1000 pounds to his younger brother James. a codicil written in 1821 refers to his two sons.
Obituary in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal on Monday 26 Nov 1821.- ‘On Monday last, died, after a long illness. Lamented by all who knew him. Aged 38, the Rev William Sandford Wapshare, Vicar of Chitterne St Mary’s in this county, and Perpetual Curate of St Thomas’ in this city’.
Sadly Cooth Anna then died in Dec 1824 leaving the 10 year old William Henry and the other five children to be looked after by Aunt Frances Charlotte.
Uncle Charles would look after their financial welfare.
)
Next and final child of Charles William will be James Wapshare who led a long and different kind of life. But it will be William Henry, the eldest son of William and Cooth who will seek a life in India and found a magnificent dynasty which will eventually lead to the branch of the family name almost coming to an end.
Continue with James or on to William Henry