John Willis Goodwin 1815 - 1863
John Willis Goodwin was the son of John Goodwin and his wife Mary (maiden name Willis, daughter of Michael Willis), of Datchet, Buckinghamshire. He had four older sisters and one younger brother. Two of his sisters, Mary Ann (1807 - 1818) and Eliza (1812 -1829), died at an early age. His other two sisters, Sophia (1808 -1889) and Juliana (1814 - 1887) married their second cousins, brothers George Willis (1803 - 1877) and Charles Willis (1811 - 1867). Juliana and Charles Willis were Mary Alice Willis's great-grandparents. I've already written about John Willis Goodwin's brother, Ralph Willis Goodwin (1820 - 1863), in my story "A Murder at Burnham Abbey" .
Datchet is in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire nowadays, but in the Goodwins' era it was in Buckinghamshire. It's on the north side of the River Thames, opposite the Royal Estate at Windsor.
John Willis Goodwin married Sophia Cock (1811 - 1874) on the 11th of November 1841 by licence at The Old Church, St. Pancras, London. She was the daughter of a former military surgeon. Sophia's brother, Thomas Cock, would become John Willis Goodwin's business partner.
John Willis Goodwin's father died in June 1844, without leaving a will. Probate was granted to his widow, Mary Ann Goodwin, in July 1844. It seems likely that the Goodwin family sold farmland to the London and South Western Railway at that time. Datchet railway station opened on the 1st December 1849, just down the road from Goodwyn House, the former family home.
In 1851, the widowed Mary Ann Goodwin and Ralph Willis Goodwin were still living in Datchet and Ralph was described as a farmer of 400 acres. I'll write more about the Goodwins going back in time in future stories and there will be more to come about the Piper and Ive families. In the meantime, Janet Kennish has written a very interesting article about the Goodwins on her Datchet History website
In 1851, John Willis Goodwin and family were living in High Cross Street, Leicester. His occupation was brewer, employing twenty men. The brewery was All Saints Brewery. It seems that John's brother-in-law, Thomas Cock was in business at the brewery from about 1846 and that John Willis Goodwin and a Stephen Hobson joined him soon afterward. It's all rather confusing but it seems that Goodwin, Cock and Hobson were running the brewery and a couple of pubs, describing themselves as brewers, maltsters, wine & spirit merchants. I don't imagine that John's experience as a gentleman farmer was particularly relevant to his new venture.
The brewery dates back to about 1795 with a number of different owners. It finally closed down in 1954. By 1863 the brewery was trading as John Willis Goodwin & Company brewers, maltsters, wine & spirit merchants at 97 High Cross Street.
This came to an abrupt end when John died unexpectedly on the 28th of December 1863. John died at Burnham Abbey, where his brother Ralph had farmed prior to his death a few months before. Presumably he had taken over the running of the farm or was in the process of selling it.
There's a large memorial stone in Datchet churchyard to the memory of John, his wife and one of his daughters. John's inscription reads as follows:-
"In memory of John Willis Goodwin esq who was born in Datchet August 8th 1815 and died at Burnham, Bucks Dec 28 1863. Watch for ye know not the hour. “
John's widow and daughters moved to Upton cum Chalvey, close to Datchet, after his death. John's brother-in-law, Thomas Cock, took over the running of the brewery and, as mentioned below, John's son, Walter Hugh, was involved with the business until his death in 1916. There's a long and complicated history of All Saints Brewery here.
John Willis Goodwin made a will in 1848, when he was first involved in the brewery business. He appointed his brother, Ralph Willis Goodwin and his cousin, John Goodwin Ive, as executors of the will. At the time of John's death Ralph had pre-deceased him and probate was granted to John Goodwin Ive on the 22nd of January 1864. The estate was valued at less than £20,000.
£20,000 would amount to £3.2 million today, so presumably John left a tidy sum of money. The basic terms of the will were that everything went to his children. A court case ensued, Ive versus Goodwin, in the High Court of Chancery. I haven't been able to find out what that was about yet. Someone, somewhere obviously thought that they were owed something.
John Willis Goodwin's Children
John and Sophia had seven children, two boys and five girls. The eldest boy, another John (1845-1911), married and continued to live in the Leicester area, but doesn't seem to have been involved in the brewery business. He was a coal agent, and later on, a farmer.
The second son, Walter Hugh (1847-1916), also remained in the Leicester area and continued to work in the brewery business, after a spell working as a coal agent with his brother. He didn't marry but seems to have played a part in local affairs, including becoming a Freemason. Most men from our Willis and associated families seem to have been Freemasons during the 1800s. On Walter's death in 1916 The Leicester Evening Mail printed a lengthy account of Walter's funeral:-
"FUNERAL OF MR. W. H. GOODWIN
A most impressive funeral service was conducted at St Andrew's Church, Leicester, this morning, by the Rev. L. A. Matthew (vicar), when there was a large assemblage to evince their respect to the late Mr. Walter Hugh Goodwin, of Turner Street, who was for many years associated with the All Saints Brewery Company, his father having been one of the original founders of the firm..........."
The article goes on to list a number of cousins, nieces and nephews, who were present, together with representatives from the brewery, and a large number of freemasons and friends. He had been a member of the Freemason for about 40 years.
Sophia Agnes (1843-1912) didn't marry. From the 1890s, she was living in St Leonards-on-Sea.
Alice (1844-1896) married John Finlay Finlayson. He died in 1891, after which time she appears to have lived with her sister, Sophia Agnes, in St Leonards.
Clara Louisa 1848-1923 married her cousin, Walter Willis. He was a son of our ancestors Charles and Juliana Willis. Clara and Walter had nine children. Clara outlived Walter by about sixteen years and died in Worthing.
Julia (1850-1880) married Augustus George Bridge, an army officer. They had four children and Julia died when she was only about 30 years old. Augustus Bridge subsequently remarried.
Bertha Ann Goodwin (1852-1885) married Alexander Mitchell Taylor, another army officer. They had five children and died within a few months of one another in 1885, when their youngest child was only five years old. Alexander died in Cairo, Egypt, Bertha died in Bedford.
The Goodwin family's time living in Datchet comes to an end here and the Willis line continues through Juliana and Charles. We'll look at previous generations of Goodwins in another story.
