...William HUNT was baptised on the 29th of November 1818 at St Mary's Church, Luton, in the county of Bedfordshire. Who was this William HUNT?
William was Henry Graham PIERCY's great grandfather. We don't know his date of birth but we do know when he was baptised - one hundred and ninety five years ago today. His parents were named as William HUNT and Elizabeth.
Want to know where the family forename Wingrave came from? Well, in 1842 William married Harriet WINGRAVE, daughter of Thomas WINGRAVE and Ann, again at St Mary's, Luton. As well as HUNTs there are lots of WINGRAVEs in the registers there, the surname probably coming from the nearby village of Wingrave about fifteen miles from Luton as the crow flies. So Alice Wingrave PIERCY, Averil Wingrave PIERCY and Caroline Wingrave PIERCY have a name which can be traced back in the family for over three hundred years to William WINGRAVE, baptised in 1678, Averils' 6th great grandfather.
 |
| Click on any illustration to view full-size |
So what did William HUNT do? At the time of his marriage he was described as 'age 23, bachelor, warehouseman of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, Middlesex, father William Hunt, steward'. It may seem rather odd that he was away in Middlesex, but perhaps he had business connections there. A warehouseman in those days was someone who owned a warehouse, not as these days someone who drives a fork-lift truck!
His two first daughters, Sarah and Harriett, were born in Middlesex before the 1851 census. By 1849 he appears to have returned to Luton as his next two daughters were born there and in the 1851 census he and his family were living at 22 George Street, Luton. Again he was described as a 'warehouseman, straw plait'.
 |
| William Hunt's family in the 1851 census |
Luton was the centre of the very profitable straw plait industry, mainly used for straw hats which were so popular because of their lightness and coolness as summer wear for both sexes. The straw boater is still part of some schools' uniform and is symbolic of late nineteenth century leisure times. George Street itself was at the very centre of Luton; the Town Hall had been built there in 1846 suggesting that William was prospering in Luton.
 |
| Drays loaded with hat crates in George Street, c.1905. Acknowledgements to The Luton News |
His daughter Alice Maude, Henry Graham PIERCY's maternal grandmother, was born in 1854 at George Street. Her father William was now described as 'straw hat manufacturer'. As an aside, I was told by my aunt Kathleen that one of William's daughters 'was governess to Russian Royalty ("only one of the
lesser princes")'. There's name-dropping for you!
 |
| Alice Maude Richardson née Hunt |
By the time of the next census, 1861, he had moved with his wife and by now eight daughters from Luton to Dunstable High Street about five miles away, as a 'straw manufacturer'.
 |
| William Hunt's family in the 1861 census |
He was still in Dunstable at the time of the 1871 census, living at The Priory [House] on High Street South and described as a 'manufacturer'.
 |
| William Hunt's family in the 1871 census |
A description of Priory House says of it:
'This 18th century building stands on the site of the Priory guesthouse and incorporates part of an original 13th century vaulted chamber within. The front of the property dates from the 13th century, making it the oldest secular building in the county.
It was built as a 'hospitium' (guest house) for travellers to Priory Church and stood on the perimeter of its Great Courtyard adjacent to one of two gated entrances. Pilgrims would have been regular guests.
 |
| Dunstable Priory Church |
Ownership of the site passed to the Crown in 1539 when the Priory was dissolved and Priory House was leased to private individuals. By 1694, the property was in the ownership of the Crawley family. Three subsequent generations of the Crawleys owned the house and, as medical practitioners, made use of it as a private asylum for the mentally ill. In 1743, the family greatly expanded the house and built a two storey brick building on what is now the car park. It seems likely that this extension was to house their patients. A magnificent mahogany staircase and a fine marble fireplace were added and these have survived to the present day.
 |
Priory House and Munt & Brown hat factory in 1859
The factory has now been demolished though Priory House still stands |
In 1859, Priory House was purchased by Munt and Brown, straw hat manufacturers. Part of the house itself was used as the manager's residence. A third storey was added to the extension for the factory premises. The firm went into liquidation and the house passed to Arthur Munt who demolished the factory but retained part of the front wall, including the outline of two windows which today remain hidden behind a bus shelter.
The property has been in various office uses since 1947. Today it houses Dunstable's Heritage centre'.
 |
| Priory House on Google Street View today - the two windows mentioned above can be seen on the right |
William was listed in a Bedfordshire directory for 1877 as 'Manager to Mount [sic], Brown and Co' at The Priory.
By the time of the 1881 census he had left Dunstable for the capital, living at 58 Seven Sisters Road in Islington. He had left the straw business - perhaps he had seen which way the wind was blowing for the industry as the Bedfordshire products became threatened by foreign imports - and was now described as a 'Keeper Of Registry Office For Servants'. Perhaps his daughter became a 'governess to Russian Royalty' through the contacts he made while running this employment agency.
 |
| William Hunt's family in the 1881 census |
He died in 1882 leaving over £1,600, a tidy sum worth today between £152,000 and £1,960,000 according to how you make the calculation - it was in any case the second highest value will on the page.
 |
| Link to William HUNT's will in the National Probate Calendar |
Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON, one of the two executors, was William's son-in-law, the husband of Alice Maude Richardson née Hunt. He is shown in the ancestors chart below; William and his descendants are connected to Henry Graham PIERCY by the thick line.
 |
Ancestors of Henry Graham PIERCY for three generations back to William HUNT
|
|
'Cock your hat - angles are attitudes.'
Frank Sinatra
