Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

THE WADDINGHAMS OF HAFOD It is one of the ironies of Hafod's history that the period of ownership by the Waddingham family, 1872-1940, though so recent, should be the least known and understood. In consequence, the picture of the estate's decay with which Richard Moore-Colyer ended his article on Hafod and the lurid impression of the dereliction of the Salvin block in Peacocks in Paradise is in danger of being accepted as fact. The neglect of the Waddinghams is due not only to the glamour of Hafod's earlier history but also to absence of documentation. There is no doubt that the destruction of estate papers after James Waddingham's death and the ruthless disposal by the solicitors concerned of all papers relating to the Waddingham Trusts makes assessment of John Waddingham and his son difficult. Fortunately, some papers survived among those of the Guiting estate4 which, together with other sources, make it possible to reassess the aims and achievements of John Waddingham and his son. The Waddinghams were a Lincolnshire family of farming stock, the main branch of which had lived in South Ferriby from 1590. John Waddingham's friend, Thomas Stansfeld, drew his attention to the fact that in his genealogical researches he 'had found frequent mention of a family of "de Wadingham" in Lincolnshire which must have been one of distinction in the 12th and 13th centuries' Presumably as a result of this remark of Thomas Stansfeld, the family came to believe in this descent. When John Waddingham's elder son, John Waddingham, made a codicil to his will on 30 May 1903, he enjoined his distant cousin and heir to assume the surname and arms of Waddingham and 'endeavour to purchase or otherwise lawfully to become possessed of the Grange and lands of Waddingham formerly owned by my ancestors in and near the village of Waddingham in South Lincolnshire'. John Waddingham was born in South Ferriby, where he was baptized on 15 December 1799. In the Waddingham pedigree, John's parents are given as Thomas and Ann, the daughter of Mark Husband. Although his brothers are not listed in the pedigree, there were at least three. John was the eldest and his brother Thomas must have inherited the fortune of the Tombleson family, for he changed his name to Tombleson and in 1873 owned 1,852 acres at Barton-in-Humber, with a rent roll of £ 3,422 per annum. Nothing more is known of John Waddingham's parents or his brothers save that his brother William's children were in the Hafod estate entail and his brother Thomas's children in that of the Guiting estate. His brother James was left a small legacy in John's will and died in Salford in 1896.