Author: Fletcher, William
Biography:
FLETCHER, William (1794-1852: findmypast.com)
He was a native of Suffolk--probably the William Fletcher, son of Alice and William Fletcher, who was baptised at Mildenhall on 9 Mar. 1794. He was admitted to St. John's, Cambridge, in 1821 and went on to take orders at Norwich (deacon 1824, priest 1826). Although ACAD does not record a BA, he was granted an MA in 1832. From 1822 to 1832 he was headmaster of Woodbridge School in Suffolk, a charity Church of England school founded in 1577. He married Mary Studd at Whitton, Suffolk, on 7 Jul. 1818. They had at least four children, three of whom aged from 21 to 27 were recorded in the 1851 Census as living with them at the vicarage of Harwell, Berks., and one of whom, the eldest, William Mellor Fletcher, also became a clergyman (and married in 1859). Most of Fletcher's publications are educational books for children such as The Little Grammarian (1828) and The Young Astronomer (1837) but he also took on social and political issues with advice about the education of the deaf (1836) and a pamphlet Peace, not Party (1838, 1840). He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the Royal Geographical Society. The family left Suffolk in 1832 when he was appointed vicar of Stone, Bucks.; later he added Foxcote (or Foscott), Bucks. (1839-43), and Harwell, Berks. (1843-52). He was chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham 1843-52 and a county magistrate for both Bucks. and Berks. at the time of his death, which occurred on 24 Mar. 1852 at Malmesbury, Wilts. He was buried at his own church, St. John the Baptist, Stone. (findmypast.com 23 Sept. 2021; ancestry.com 23 Sept. 2021; ACAD; CCEd 23 Sept. 2021; Morning Post 1 Apr. 1852) HJ
Other Names:
- the Rev. W. Fletcher
- W. Fletcher