Author: SMITH MARRIOTT, William Marriott
Biography:
SMITH MARRIOTT, William Marriott (1801-64: Foster)
He was descended from a line of baronets (originally named Smith) with a family seat at Down House, Sydling St. Nicholas, Dorset. His father, Sir John Wyldbore (1750-1852), was the second baronet; his elder brother became the third; he himself succeeded to the title only in 1862. Born in London on 31 Aug. 1801 to Sir John and his first wife Elizabeth Anne Marriott of Horsmonden, Kent, and baptised on 25 Nov. 1801 at Sydling St. Nicholas, he took the additional surname and arms of Marriott in 1811 in accordance with the will of his maternal grandfather. (The surname is sometimes hyphenated but his own practice was not to hyphenate.) He was educated at Sevenoaks School and at Trinity College, Cambridge (matric. 1819, BA 1825, MA 1829), took orders in 1825, and served for the rest of his life as Rector of Horsmonden. With his first wife Julia Elizabeth Hodges, whom he married on 29 Dec. 1825, he had six children. After her death in 1842 he married, on 11 Apr. 1844, Frances Radclyffe, previously of Hyde Manor House, Dorset, in the church of Blandford St. Mary near Down House—the ceremony being presided over by her brother Rev. Frederic Radclyffe. Smith Marriott, rather unusually, did not publish sermons or polemical divinity, but two collections of poetry testify to his love of literature, the first from 1831 in this bibliography but the second, The Ancient and Modern Times, and Other Poems (1859), too late for it. A further testament to his poetic enthusiasms was the large tower that he constructed on the grounds of the rectory at Horsmonden in 1858, a shrine to Sir Walter Scott (q.v.) furnished with copies of his works, pictures, and Scottish knickknacks. Images and postcards survive but the tower itself became increasingly dilapidated and was demolished some time after 1953. Smith Marriott died at his rectory on 4 Oct. 1864 and was buried at Horsmorden. (Joseph Foster, Baronetage and Knightage [1881], 572-3; ACAD; ancestry.com 22 Mar. 2023; findmypast.com 22 Mar. 2023; thefollyflaneuse.com/scotts-tower-horsmorden-kent; Sherborne Mercury 20 Apr. 1844) HJ
Other Names:
- W. M. Smith-Marriott