William Berners 1709 – 1783

In 1646, Oliver Cromwell’s eldest and favourite daughter, Bridget, married Cromwell’s old friend, close confident and fellow Republican, Henry Ireton, Commissary-General to Sir Thomas Fairfax.

Bridget had a daughter with Ireton, also called Bridget, who was born about 1649. She married Sir Thomas Bendysh of Gray’s Inn in 1669 who resided in Southtown, Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he owned a saltworks. Bridget and Thomas had two sons and one daughter. 

The youngest son, Henry, married Martha Shute and were the parents of Mary Bendysh as well as a son, also a Henry, and a daughter, Elizabeth. Henry senior was owner of Wagwater estate, on St Mary, Jamaica, which he would pass down to his son on his death in 1740.

Mary, apart from a generous legacy in later years, also brought some interesting artefacts with her to the marriage, descended through the family from the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell himself. They included: Cromwell’s personal lock; a pamphlet entitled “Killing no Murder”, written in 1657; a watch Cromwell had on his person at the battle of Edgehill in 1642; a copy of the death warrant of Charles 1; an old oak chest; and, “Ye Leathern bottle”. There were also some coins, portraits and miniatures. In years to come these would be displayed by the Berners family in glass cabinets for guests to admire on special occasions.  

William’s first son and heir, Charles, was probably born in 1734/5, not 1740 as in some genealogies; his brother, Henry, 1736; and  sister Martha, 1738. Both boys attended Westminster School. 

William reached his age of majority in 1730. From this time on, he was able to plan for the development of the small farm Newlands his great grandfather, Josias, had purchased in 1658. It was a piece of land in an up and coming area of London, with frontage along the old Tyburn Road. This road had recently been renamed Oxford Street. The development of Newlands would become The Berners Estate.

By 1738, William and Mary Berners were living at Newman Hall, Essex. The Hall was named after Thomas Newman, who built a gabled timber house in a half-H plan in the mid C16. This association would eventually give its name to Newman Street on the Berners Estate. The current mansion on the site is called Quendon Hall. 

As a wealthy gentleman landowner, William needed to show his interests publicly. In the same year, 1738, William was recorded as a subscriber to a book “A Natural History of Birds” by Eleazer Alban. His step-father, Charles Gostlin, was also a subscriber. Gostlin was a positive influence on William, in the absence of his father, as he had known him for most of the time he was growing up and there was clearly affection between the two.

After a brief stay at Newman Hall, Essex, William leased the substantial estate at Woolverstone Park, Suffolk, after the death of Knox Ward, the then occupier, in 1741. Most likely, William lived at Woolverstone from late 1742 after the sale of Knox Ward’s personal effects. He was certainly living at Woolverstone by 1745 when he is mentioned as a beneficiary of Charles Gostlin’s will. In June 1758, William Berners’ daughter, Martha, died at Woolverstone after a “short illness” and was buried in St Andrew’s Church, Much Hadham.

In 1767, William’s stepfather, Charles Gostlin, died without issue and the burgeoning fortunes of the Berners brothers grew even larger. William and Henry raised a monument to Charles in Morningthorpe Church, Norfolk.

Memorial raised by William and Henry Berners to Charles Gostlin in Morningthorpe churhc, Norfolk.

Under his will written in 1745, he left to his wife Elizabeth (Pitt), his second wife by that name whom he married in 1741, his dwelling house and its contents in Russell Square and messuages in Cornhill and Bellier Square, together with an annuity of £100. The first Elizabeth Berners, mother of William and Henry had died June 1724, just a year after her first born, Robert.

All his interest in the New River Company and one moiety (half) of all his real estate in Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex & Bucks to Henry Berners of St. Paul’s, Convent Garden; the other moiety to William Berners of Woolverstone Park, Suffolk. This land included 256 acres of Hanwell Park and the Hellesdon estate in Norwich. Henry Berners resided at Hanwell Park until his death in 1782.

This inheritance was a piece of extraordinary good fortune for the Berners brothers. Charles was the son of Sir William Gostlin, who was an alderman and Sheriff of the City of London. William had married Margaret Garneys who was sister and coheiress of the Wentworth Garneys. William and Henry’s grandmother was Martha Garneys. When Elizabeth Berners married Charles Gostlin, Charles became their stepfather. Through a combination of failure to produce children or remaining unmarried, Martha and Margaret held the fortune. Catherine, Charles’ sister, died in 1738. She died intestate and her estate was administered to her brother on 20 March 1738/39 as next of kin. The Wentworth Garney’s fortune fell to Charles Gostlin and then to the Berners. Henry Bernes died without issue in 1782, and the whole estate was inherited by William.