The Pauper Viscountess

John Willis 1781 - 1845 was a son of our ancestors, James Willis and Elizabeth Tebb. He became an apothecary and surgeon. 

Elizabeth Edmead 1781 - 1847 was the daughter of Thomas and Prudence Edmead and was born in Staines, Middlesex.

John Willis and Elizabeth Edmead were married at St John’s Church, Egham on the 5th of May 1803. One of the witnesses to the marriage was Frances Collett. She was the half-sister of our ancestor, Mary Bartholomew. Mary Bartholomew had married John’s brother, William Willis at Egham in 1797. 

Julia Willis 1804 - 1890

John and Elizabeth had eight children, the eldest of whom was Julia, born 1804. The family was living in Lambeth from the 1810s onward. On the 2nd of December 1819, two months before her sixteenth birthday, Julia married Matthew Barnewall, Viscount Kingsland at St Mary’s Church, Lambeth. The wedding was witnessed by Julia’s parents. Julia was Viscount Kingsland’s third wife. 

Matthew Barnewall was born in about 1763 in Dublin, Ireland. He was a descendant of the 1st Viscount Kingsland, Nicholas Barnewall, for whom the title was created in 1646. Matthew became the 6th Viscount in 1814 when the 5th Viscount died without an heir. His claim to the title went back to his great-grandfather, who was one of the first Viscount’s younger sons. He also inherited the title Baron Turvey. In the normal course of events he wouldn’t have been expected to inherit - there was just a lack of male heirs. It was an Irish title. Viscount Kingsland had been living in Lambeth since at least 1810, probably before. He and Julia didn’t have children and there were no surviving heirs from his previous marriages. 

Viscount Kingsland died at Walcot Place, Lambeth (home of the Willis family) in November 1833. He was buried at St Mary’s Church, Lambeth on the 22nd of November 1833. He doesn’t appear to have left a will, I don’t think that he had any money to speak of. There were no more Barnewall heirs to inherit and his titles became extinct. 

There’s an interesting article about Matthew Barnewall here. It’s quite entertaining and worth a read but takes ages to load for some reason, so be patient. 

Julia was still living at Walcot Place with her parents in 1841. Her father died in 1845 and left a will appointing his son William George (potential villain!) and daughter Julia executor and executrix of his will. Joseph Keates of Egham was appointed as a trustee with William.

Julia didn’t remarry. She worked as a needlewoman and died at the age of eighty six in 1890. 

Her death was reported in The Times as follows:-

"Viscountess Kingsland died at Francis-street on Friday last in the 86th year of her age. When only in middle life she had been reduced to extreme poverty through the dishonesty of a trustee, until at last she was forced to earn her living by needlework. In 1878 she received £100 from the Royal Bounty, and has since been in receipt of a small pension. She was the widow of the sixth Viscount Kingsland, whose title became extinct in 1833".

There’s a bit more detail here. Go to the section titled “Royal Bounty.

This is a quote from another website, which has stopped working!

“"......Viscount Kingsland (a peerage which became dormant when its holder died in the Southwark Workhouse having married 'a woman'; when the woman died a public subscription was raised to provide a suitable monument to her in St Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, because she was a Viscountess)."  

Queen Victoria's Veterinary Surgeon

 

Mary Ann Willis 1807 - 1875  (Mary Alice Willis’s 2 X great-aunt)

William Joseph Goodwin 1799 - 1869

Mary Ann Willis was the eldest daughter of our ancestors William Willis and Mary (maiden name Bartholomew). She was the sister of our ancestor Charles Willis and the second cousin of Charles’ wife, Juliana (maiden name Goodwin). I’ve written about our prospective black sheep ancestor, Charles William Willis - Mary Ann Willis was his aunt. 

Mary Ann Willis married William Joseph Goodwin on the 12th of August 1826 by licence at St Paul’s Church Hammersmith. At that time William Joseph was living in the parish of St George, Hanover Square, London and Mary Ann was said to be living in Hammersmith. The witnesses were Ann Goodwin (William Joseph’s mother), Sophia Goodwin (Juliana’s sister), William Willis (Mary Ann’s father) and George Willis (Mary Ann’s brother, who would soon marry Sophia Goodwin).

By 1830 the couple would probably have been living at Hampton Court. A daughter, Mary Ann, was born in about 1835. She isn’t mentioned in either of her parents’ wills. I think that she must have died sometime between 1851 and 1869. 

In the 1841 census William, Mary Ann and their daughter were living in Hampton Court Green with three servants, two of whom may have previously worked for the Willis family (Bella and Eunice Willan).

In the 1851 census the family is recorded at Hampton Court Mews. They had two visitors - 

1. Sophia Dolby, who was Mary Ann’s cousin on her mother’s side of the family. I’ll come back to her a bit later. 

2. Emily Willis, who was Mary Ann’s niece.

There was also a cook and a housemaid. 

The 1861 census for Hampton Court seems to have been lost. We know that William and Mary Ann were still there, living in a large apartment. Click here to see what the Royal Mews looks like nowadays. We don’t know whether their daughter was still with them, nor whether there were any visitors or servants. 

William Joseph died in 1869. At the time of the 1871 census Mary Ann was living at Eltham Road, Lee, Kent with her niece and nephew Mary Fisher and Ashley Fisher, a visitor (illegible!), and three servants. 

William Joseph Goodwin was born in Oxford in about 1799. His parents were Joseph Goodwin and Ann (maiden name Austin). William had two sisters and a brother. I’ll mention them later. Both William and his father Joseph were veterinary surgeons. I don’t think that this line of Goodwins was related to our Goodwin ancestors. 

Joseph Goodwin had been veterinary surgeon to both George lll and George IV. He seems to have retired by 1824 when he published a second edition of a book.

Click on the picture for a link to the book.

Joseph also invented a probang for dosing horses, which enabled horses to be medicated without biting the vet.  There’s an example at the Science Museum - it used to be on show on the fifth floor. I don’t know whether it’s still there, we saw it quite a few years ago now.

Science Museum Group. Balling gun. A163721 Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed 3 August 2025. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co143985/balling-gun.

William IV ascended to the throne in 1830. Victoria became Queen in 1837. William Joseph Goodwin was appointed Veterinary Surgeon and Inspector of the Stables at Hampton Court on the 5th of May 1830. A couple of articles in the newspapers, a blog on the Royal Palaces website and a couple of entries in Queen Victoria’s diary give us a small insight into his life. 

Queen Victoria

If you’ve ever watched the tv series “Victoria” with Jenna Coleman as Victoria and Rufus Sewell as her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, you’ll know that Queen Victoria thought highly of Lord Melbourne and accepted his advice in all sorts of matters. She referred to him as “Lord M”. Here are a couple of her diary entries mentioning William Joseph Goodwin.

Journal Entry:Saturday 1st December 1838

Talked of Tartar having gone so well; of his legs; of Lord M.'s horse which he wants to clip and which I much opposed; of the black mare, who he says, Field says, he'll cure; she spiked her foot once, and that's what lamed her; he says she has been staked and spiked and terribly knocked about. Talked of Goodwin being our Veterinary Surgeon, who, he says, is a very clever man; he was bred to Surgery and then took this turn for horses; “it's just the same; horses are made just the same with some slight difference”; which made me die with laughing. Talked of Albermarle and Goodwin, &c.

Journal Entry:Tuesday 15th January 1839

Talked of the high wind; of the pony Lord M.'s groom was riding, and which he sometimes rides himself; he has had it 3 years; talked of horses for some time; of Alfred's saying all my horses were bought from 2 dealers, Ellmore and another; whereas they ought to be looking out for horses at all the horse dealers; Lord M. said he observed a great many were bought of Ellmore, and that it was possible Quintin might have some understanding with him; Albemarle, he said, was above anything of that kind. Talked of Goodwin's being made to decide always, if the horse was sound or not, &c., and of the possibility of his often not saying quite honestly what they were &c.

Lord Albemarle was Master of the Horse, a key figure in the Royal Household responsible for the management of horses, carriages and other horse-related affairs. 

I had wondered whether William’s duties extended to Horse Racing. According to The Racing Post, Queen Victoria wasn’t a great fan of the sport. She dispersed the Royal Stud at Hampton Court when she came to the throne, though it was re-established in the 1850s. 

The Newspapers

Windsor and Eton Express 18/11/1837. The Earl of Albemarle and William Joseph Goodwin were reported to have attended an inquest into the death of Henry Freaker, aged 56, who was found suspended by a silk handkerchief from a peg on the wall of one of the harness rooms at the Royal Mews, Hampton Court. 

Henry Freaker was a coachman. Mr Goodwin told the coroner that Henry had been coachman to William IV, was second coachman in the establishment and was highly respected. He had suffered from “lowness of spirit” in the past but lately had been cheerful as usual. Nothing had happened which could have upset him. The Earl and Mr Goodwin were anxious to deny rumours that Mr Freaker had been disappointed in obtaining a promotion. 

The jury returned a verdict of temporary insanity. 

Pictorial Times 9/11/1844. Police. Bow Street. The Secretary to the Hammersmith Bridge Company appeared to answer a complaint from the secretary to the Earl of Jersey, Master of the Horse. 

On the 21st of October a toll collector had “unlawfully demanded and taken of and from Mr William Joseph Goodwin, of Hampton Court, inspector of stables and veterinary surgeon to the Queen, a toll of 6d for one pair of horses then drawing a carriage over Hammersmith Bridge, he being exempt from the payment of such toll by reason of Her Majesty not being liable to the payment thereof.”

The complaint was made to “put a stop in future to the daily annoyances the royal servants were liable to, and to remove the impression that they were subject to pay the toll.”

Mr Goodwin had been driving a pair of horses in a carriage with a crown on it and was accompanied by a servant wearing the royal livery. He was in the habit of crossing the bridge several times a week with the Queen’s horses and carriages and had been doing so for the past five years. The toll keeper knew him well. The bridge company and toll keeper were both fined. 

The Times Newspaper 9th September 1856. p. 9, column b.  

A STUD FARM.—A joint-stock company of a novel character is in course of formation at Newmarket—a company for the breed of horses. It boasts of high and honourable names among its committee—the -Duke of Wellington, Lord W. Powlett, Mr. C.C. Greville, and Mr. W. J. Goodwin, of Hampton-court, for instance, besides many leading gentlemen of the neighbourhood; and it has the great advantage of the Hon.E. T. Yorke, M.P., as auditor. The manager secured is that excellent judge, Mr. Alfred Dyson, of 'Hambledon, near Horndean, Hants. For such an undertaking Newmarket presents itself naturally to one's mind, is the very best spot in the world. "The soil and climate," says the prospectus, " are most favourable to blood stock. It is the fountain source of racing. The best horses in the world are to be found there and it is the regular resort many times in the year of that class most interested in promoting and eccouraging the breeding of thorough-bred horses. It is also easy of access by rail  to foreigners and colonists who visit England for the purpose of purchasing blood stock" ;-We wish this undertaking success ; judiciously managed, it will be remunerative to the proprietors and advantageous to the public -Cambridge Chronicle. 

The Historic Royal Palaces website has a story about William Joseph Goodwin click here for the full story. On the 21st of January 1861 he applied for permission to construct a Turkish bath in part of an unoccupied stable in the Royal Mews “to test the effects of Turkish Baths on horses”. Permission was quickly granted providing the work was done at Goodwin’s expense and subject to provisos. The results of the test don’t appear to have been recorded. 

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Until the mid 1800s veterinary surgeons received the same training as surgeons on the assumption that if you knew about human anatomy, that was good enough to treat animals. They were originally known as farriers and were named veterinary surgeons by the British Army’s Board of General Officers in 1796 to distinguish them from human surgeons on the battlefield. Both Joseph Goodwin and William Joseph Goodwin were members of the Royal College of Surgeons and subsequently went into veterinary practice. 

Here are some excerpts from "The British Veterinary Profession 1791 -1948 by Iain Pattison". 

“In 1824, Joseph Goodwin, veterinary surgeon to George IV, asked at the annual meeting of subscribers to the school (Royal Veterinary College) that veterinary surgeons be included in the Examining Board. His motion was haughtily dismissed by the Governors as not in the interests of the pupils. Goodwin, himself medically trained, (a contemporary of Coleman & Cooper at Guy's Hospital), deeply resented this snub and from that moment pioneered a movement to reform the school. (At that time it was under the control of Astley Cooper & Edward Coleman). He teamed up with Army Veterinary Surgeon Frederick Clifford Cherry, another tough character, a veteran of Waterloo, and seized every opportunity to criticise the existing regime & to press for improvements.  

By March 1827 these two had succeeded in persuading an unwilling Coleman to sign a document setting out such revolutionary changes as veterinary examiners, instruction on diseases of dogs & farm animals, (only horses were previously covered), experimental measurement of the effects of medicines, & payment for the extra expenditure involved by deduction of 5 guineas from the fee paid to Coleman by each pupil.   Coleman did nothing to implement the document. As always he had support from the ruling clique .  

It was now plain not only to Goodwin & Cherry, but also to the many who supported them, that only a frontal attack could force reforms upon the school  The attack was launched in 1828 " (Page 9.)    

Two journals were started on 1/1/1828, "The Farrier & Naturalist" (later "The Hippiatrist") & "The Veterinarian". The Farrier was envisaged as a journal for the whole profession but both attacked Coleman. 

By 1840 there was steady progress to a Royal Charter. William Joseph Goodwin was chosen as a signatory to the document when the Charter was achieved in 1844.”     

"Another link with the earliest RCVS days was lost in the following year (1869) when William Joseph Goodwin died. His signature was on the Charter, for which he and his father fought valiantly.”

William Joseph Goodwin was a member of the council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons from 1844 - 1861. He was president from 1853 - 1854. He was a major force in acquiring 10, Red Lion Square as the RCVS’s first permanent home.

Wills. 

Joseph Goodwin died in 1844. He left a very long and detailed will including numerous items of jewellery, watches, silver, linen, china etc.etc. Of particular interest are a diamond ring sent to him by Alexander, Tsar of Russia, a figure of a Russian peasant playing a guitar on a plinth of malachite, and a gold seal from a Mr Lewis of St Petersburg - interesting!

William Joseph Goodwin died at Hampton Court in 1869 and was buried at Kingston upon Thames. After his wife and executors, the first people to be mentioned in his will were Mary Alford and her daughter, another Mary Alford. We’ll talk about them later. 

The remainder of the will provides for his wife during her lifetime and after her death substantial bequests were left to the families of William’s two sisters and also to the brothers and sisters of his wife, Mary Ann. Our ancestor Juliana was left the sum of £1500 - a considerable amount. 

Mary Ann Goodwin (formerly Willis) died in Eltham Kent in 1875. She was buried at Kingston upon Thames with her husband.  William Joseph had dealt with the financial side of things in his will but Mary Ann had numerous treasures to leave to members of her family. Charles and Juliana Willis’s sons were to receive five oil paintings of horses. Nieces Juliana Willis and Edith Makin were left jewellery

Connections

William Joseph Goodwin’s sisters and brother.

• Catherine married Charles Castleman of Longparish, Hampshire. He seems to have been a gentleman farmer.

• Frederick died, probably unmarried, in 1837 at the home of his parents.

• Olivia married Augustus Frederick Gerding. He was born in Hanover Germany in 1800 and from 1821 was a Page of the Backstairs to George IV, William IV and Victoria. 

   Gerding warranted three entries in Queen Victoria’s diaries

Journal Entry:Sunday 19th January 1840

I told Lord M. I was very much pleased at all my Pages having begged (when they heard I meant to make the footmen serve Albert to save them the trouble) to be allowed to serve Albert, and that Gerding (the German) had offered to do extra duty. Lord M. was touched to tears by this.

            Journal Entry:Friday 22nd March 1872

Cold & snowing, but ceased a little, ………….. — The snow cleared off & I drove with Beatrice in the phaeton & stopped at old Gerding's to visit him & his wife, in a nice little house they have built themselves near Slough. 

Journal Entry:Friday 2nd April 1875

A fine morning. — Heard that good old Gerding died this morning, after only 3 days illness. I am to sorry I did not see him again. He left me some years ago & was with my Uncles, before he came to me. He was a most respectable good servant, the last of the old Pages. 

Atkinson Morley

Atkinson Morley trained as a doctor at St George’s Hospital, London but later became a wealthy hotelier and landowner. He donated the sum of £100,000 for the building of the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon. He was a friend of William Joseph Goodwin and appointed him as an executor of his will. 

Sophia Dolby and the Alfords

William Joseph left annuities in his will for both Mary Alford senior and her daughter, also called Mary Alford. Mary Alford senior may have had the maiden surname Goodwin - I don’t know whether that’s relevant. She married William Alford, a footman, and their daughter Mary was born in 1834 in Wimbledon. 

I mentioned Sophia Dolby at the beginning of this story. She was the cousin of  Mary Ann Goodwin (Willis) and was visiting William Joseph & Mary Ann at Hampton Court in the 1851 census. In subsequent censuses she was to be found living with the younger Mary Alford and her family.

Mary Alford the younger was the mistress of William Powell Frith RA, a popular Victorian artist, who was very distantly related to us by marriage. He lived with his wife and twelve children in Kensington and maintained a second household with Mary Alford a mile down the road. Frith and Mary had seven children together. Frith eventually married Mary in 1881 after the death of his first wife. The Alford family moved to Frith’s first house, resulting in two of his daughters by his first marriage leaving home! In the 1891 census the Alford children are referred to as step-children. 

Frith often used family and friends as models in his paintings and it is believed that Mary Alford appears in some pictures. One such picture is possibly Railway Station, which also features Frith and his first wife. 

You can see the Railway Station painting here and more paintings here .

THE END

Time for a cup of tea now, I think.