Thomas Wyncoll
(J)
(1749 - 1816)
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Thomas Wyncoll (J) was
the second son of Thomas Wyncoll (I). His elder
brother, William, died without issue, as already shewn. He was baptised
at Langham, August, 1749, and resided there until his marriage to Sarah,
daughter of Samuel Rudkin, of Langham at Mile End church, Colchester, on
7th October, 1779, after which event he removed to and took a farm at Mile
End, of which he continued in occupation until his death.
He also farmed 108 acres at Mile End, as tenant
of the Colchester free burgesses. It will he noticed that the Mile End
registers ( The church register appears to have been kept in a very careless manner, our name being spelt in three different ways in making entries of the same people. We can hear nothing of a boy, "Thomas," born at this time, and as we know that one was born six years later in 1785, it is probable that the entry in the church register is incorrect, and that the account book is the true record. The baptism was a private one taking place at the house, and it is possible that the clerk was told of it, and remembering that the child was named after one of its parents, entering it as a boy "Thomas" instead of a girl "Sarah." The girl Sarah is mentioned in the old account book as receiving her sbare at the settlement of the estate, and my father and uncles remember her as the wife of Mr. James Watts of Colchester. The account book is therefore doubtless right. It is a matter of great regret that one is not able to write this generation more fully, and that my father and uncles did not know more about their grandparents. My uncle, Mr. Thomas Wyncoll of Colchester, who succeeded my grandfather, William Wyncoll, at Mile End farm, tells us some little. He says Thomas Wyncoll (J), his grandfather, lived at Langham at the time he married (1779), and he mentions an old labourer (John Nevard) telling him all about the wedding. Both bride and bridegroom rode to Mile End church on horseback, a fact that caused some comment at the time, as the lady gave birth to a child within two or three weeks. He says that his grandfather was lame, and not a bit shy of his liquor. I am unable to fix the exact time that Thomas Wyncoll came to live at Mile End. He is shewn in the register of his marriage as "of Langham," and the Colchester authorities, from whom he hired some of his land, are unfortunately unable to say when he first took it as it was sublet for some years. But as he was married at Michaelmas, and that is the customary time for hiring a farm, it is probable he came at that time. The baptisms of all his children are registered at Mile End. I have in my possession a facsimile of an old hand-bill which was published by the Colchester Free Burgesses describing their "extensive and valuable estates," they being claimants to the whole of the Colchester Corporation land, some 1,199 acres. In it they give a list of the tenants and rentals of the land they held in the year 1786, and this entry appears :-- "A Farm and Land. Thomas Wyncoln. 108 acres. Rental 6l. 8s. 0d." From the old account book it appears that in 1805 the two sons, Thomas and William, were working for their father and regularly receiving wages, also that at Michaelmas, 1807, the eldest, Thomas, was started on a small farm on his own account, as a long entry appears where he, Thomas (J), made over to "Thomas Wyncoll, (junr.) a number of farm implements, stock and cash, to the value of 92l. 1s. 0d." This was at Norps farm, Mile End, adjoining his father's occupation. Thomas was unfortunately a chip of the old block as far as alcohol went, and soon came to grief. He went bankrupt and then became a labourer on the Home farm, and the old account book shews that he drew 12s. a week till the end of the lease in September, 1822. He married Elizabeth . . . . and had two sons, John and Thomas, and three daughters who married Messrs. Flemming, Tampion and Metcalf respectively. John had eight children and Thomas nine, and these the senior branch are still farm labourers, etc., near Colchester (in the neighbourhood of Layer-de-la-Haye). Thomas Wyncoll (J) evidently considered that he had given his eldest son Thomas his sbare during his lifetime, as he does not mention him in his will. It is interesting to note that he contributed
2l. 2s. to the "list of subscribers of the inhabitants of
Colchester and its vicinity for the purpose of forming a fund for the clothing
and other expense of the Corps of loyal Colchester volunteers," raised
in consequence of the fears of invasion by Napoleon in July, 1803. The
total amount raised by this subscription was 1392l., the parish
of St. Michael, Mile End, contributing 32l. thereto, there being
seven subscribers, of which he was the third.
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| Thomas Wyncoll (J) died May 18th,
1816, aged 67, and was buried at Langham. This is proved by the account
book. He apparently left 37l. in cash, and it cost 28l. 7s.
6d. to administer the will1 and 1s. for
the stamp, 2l. 2s. was paid for the hearse at the funeral,
and 15s. to the parson and clerk at Langham, and 4s. to the
clerk at Mile End, evidently for tolling the bell. His wife died before
him and is not mentioned in his will, of which he constituted his friend
Samuel Cooper of Colchester, farmer, and his son William, his executors.
He leaves his executors everything he possesses to work the farms, he has
or will have at the time of his death, till the end of the leases, for
the benefit of his children to inherit and sbare alike. His son John's
sbare to be used towards his education and maintenance till twenty-one
years of age and handed to him. There are numerous entries in the old account
book of monies spent for this John, but who died at the age of nineteen,
and is buried in Langham churchyard where there is a tombstone to his memory.
Thomas Wyncoll had eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom our grandfather William was the sixth. |
