Introduction
Andrew Ramsey Wilmot Seton was born into privilege and seemed destined for advancement in the Church of England. However, in his mid-forties, he ruined his career and never recovered.
Childhood
Andrew was born on 25 June 1852 at Wyllie near Cuckfield, the son of Wilmot and Maria Ramsey.[1] He had a sister, Maria Wilmot, who was seven years older, never married, and always lived with close family.
Andrew was born into an affluent family, well-connected with the higher reaches of the law on his father’s side. His father served as the Principal Clerk for Legal and Criminal business at the Treasury, and his grandfather, James Garden Seton, was a solicitor and Deputy Clerk of the Hanaper and Receiver of the Fines in Chancery. His great-uncle, Sir Henry Wilmot Seton, practised in Chancery before serving as a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Bengal from 1838 until 1848.[2] His mother, Maria, was the daughter of Andrew Sandford Ramsey of Charlbury, Oxfordshire, who left a considerable fortune when he died in 1837.[3]
Andrew’s upbringing was disrupted when his father died in Paris in 1860, aged just 47. He had recently been a member of a commission investigating the state of several public departments in Ireland.[4] He may have over-exerted himself and gone to Paris to recuperate.
He left an estate valued at “under £4,000,” which he bequeathed to his wife, Maria, asking her to divide it between their son and daughter. After his death, Maria and Andrew lived for a time at Cottisford House in Oxfordshire, the home of Edward Rousby, a cousin.[5] In 1869, Maria sailed to Quebec to marry Eustace Fane Bourchier, a colonel in the Royal Engineers, later returning to Edinburgh and then Brighton.
Andrew received a first-class education. After attending Rugby School, he worked briefly as a clerk in the census office before enrolling at Pembroke College, Oxford, in October 1871. He graduated with a BA in 1877 and an MA in 1878.[6]
Early clerical career
After leaving university, Andrew began a career in the established church, spending the first three years in the Diocese of Manchester. On 17 March 1878, he was ordained as a deacon at Manchester University and licensed to St James’s Church, Haslingden.[7] The following year, on 21 September, he was ordained as a priest.[8] When he left Haslingden in June 1880, about 400 people attended a farewell tea party, where he was presented with a clock, two vases and an address thanking him for his work, particularly his efforts to build a new church and school at Stonefield.[9]
His next appointment was as curate of Holy Trinity, Brompton, where he served from 1880 to 1883.[10] Although he may have calculated that this move to central London would advance his career, there is no evidence that it did so. One reason is that he was unmarried and lived in a lodging house at 20 South Street with his sister, Maria. Another was that his early time there coincided with the terminal illness of his mother, who lived with her second husband at 19 Eaton Place, Brighton. She died there on 6 February 1882 from cancer of the breast and liver at the age of 62.[11]
Andrew administered her will and was the residuary beneficiary. She left a personal estate valued at £981 7s 1d, although it is impossible to determine how much he received, since she bequeathed pecuniary legacies of fifty guineas to her daughter and others, gifts of jewellery, and the balance of her bank accounts to her husband.[12]
Stowupland
After administering her estate, Andrew secured a position in East Anglia. In March 1883, he was licensed to the vicarage or perpetual curacy of Holy Trinity, Stowupland, Suffolk, a living, worth £100 a year, in the gift of the vicar of nearby Stowmarket.[13] The parish church was built in 1843, and the vicarage house in 1874.[14]
While serving there, he married Emily Georgina Walker at Doddington, Lincolnshire, on 14 February 1884.[15] Andrew was 31 and Emily was 24. He probably met Emily through her brother, Charles, who was a curate at Holy Trinity, Brompton from 1879-1883— dates that almost exactly coincide with Andrew’s tenure.[16] Emily was probably visiting her brother when the 1881 census recorded her staying at a lodging house at 8 Alfred Place, St Mary Abbotts.
The wedding was a grand affair. The chancel was decorated with ivy wreaths and snowdrops, and arches of evergreens spanned the entrance to the church and rectory. Emily, dressed in brocaded satin, was attended by six bridesmaids and given away by her father. Her brother, Charles, conducted the ceremony, assisted by another brother, George. After hosting a reception for more than fifty guests at the rectory, the couple caught the 3.30 train for London en route to the South of France.[17]
Emily came from a wealthy family. Her paternal grandfather had been the Deputy Lieutenant of Worcester before his death in 1880, and her maternal grandmother was a member of the Worthington brewing family. Her father, George Edmund Walker, was rector of Doddington from 1869 until his death in 1886. Before his appointment, the living had been reputedly the richest in England, worth more than £8,000 a year, but after the death of the previous rector, it was subdivided, and Walker’s portion was worth £1,700 a year.[18] Emily’s marriage settlement was £4,000.[19]
After a two-and-a-half-month honeymoon, Andrew and Emily returned to Stowupland, where they were welcomed by flags, banners and two triumphal arches erected by parishioners.[20] Their first child, Elsie Ramsey, was born on 6 September 1884, “prematurely, through a carriage accident.”[21] Another daughter, Violet Georgina Wilmot, followed on 12 June 1886.[22]
Their time in the parish appears to have been happy. Andrew became the president of the Cottagers’ Show and supported the local cricket team by entertaining the players with luncheon and tea on the vicarage lawn.[23] He and Emily were members of the Bosmere Tennis Club, where each won a prize for the highest scores during the 1885 season.[24]
In February 1886, several newspapers announced that Andrew had bought the advowson of Chulmleigh in Devon. The announcement, which he probably drafted himself, boasted of his Scottish heritage, claiming descent from Sir Thomas Seton of Haddingtonshire and from Mary Seton, one of the “four maids” attending Mary Queen of Scots.[25] One version referred to him as the nephew of Hugh Childers, the Home Secretary, which was an exaggeration since Childers had merely been married to Emily’s aunt.[26] The episode does not reflect well on Andrew, suggesting both vanity and poor judgment. If he intended to present himself when the living became vacant, he faced a long wait as the incumbent, Rev. George Cuddington Bethune, did not resign for another eight years.[27] By that time, Andrew had sold the advowson to T. G. Gibson of Lesbury Hall, Northumberland.[28]
In March 1887, it was announced that Andrew had been appointed to an “important living in the south of England.”[29] On 6 July 1887, many of his parishioners presented him with a marble library clock and a silver hot-water jug as tokens of appreciation.[30]
Elsted
His new appointment was as rector of Elsted with Treford and Didling on the South Downs— a living he had purchased for £2,800.[31] It had an average tithe rent charge of £333, 60 acres of glebe and a net yearly value of £275. Compared to Stowupland, the duties were lighter, as the population of Elsted in 1881 was only 208.[32]
On the surface, all was well. He and Emily engaged in local politics, attending meetings of the local Primrose League, which promoted the Conservative Party.[33] Andrew became a Poor Law Guardian, joined a committee to organise an industrial exhibition at Midhurst, farmed his sixty acres of glebe and joined the Sussex Herd Book Society.[34] He also bred and exhibited Gordon Setters, winning a prize for the best Gordon Setter at the Crystal Palace Kennel Club Show in October 1893.[35] His sister, Maria, lived in a house next to the rectory.
These pursuits cost money, and they also had a growing family with four more children born between 1888 and 1893. Their first son, Claud Ramsey Wilmot, was born on 30 June 1888, followed by Guy Edmund Montagu Wilmot on 31 October 1889, Clarence Bourchier Wilmot on 31 July 1891, and Irene Muriel Wilmot on 30 April 1893.[36] His net income from the living at Elsted was £250, supplemented by about £500 from house property and £160 from his wife’s marriage settlement.[37] His total income of roughly £910 placed him among the comfortable professional middle class, but it was not enough to sustain the lifestyle he aspired to.
By the summer of 1895, Andrew decided to leave Elsted and move to London. He advertised his dogs for sale in July, his horses and carriages in early August and held a sale of his glebe farm live and dead stock on 27 August 1895.[38] On 12 September, his parishioners presented him with farewell gifts, including an illuminated address and a plated revolving soup tureen.[39] In October 1895, he sold his living for £4,000; by November 1895, he was living in London.[40]
London
His reasons for moving to London are unclear. He and Emily may have wished to join London society, perhaps encouraged by reports from her brother Arthur, a solicitor living in Kensington. Alternatively, Andrew may have hoped to improve his prospects in the church. They lived at 63 Cornwall Gardens, and he took a curacy at St Stephen’s, South Kennington.[41] His income was probably similar to what it had been at Elsted, but moving in London society was costly, and he now faced the expense of privately educating three sons.[42]
Under this financial pressure, Andrew began speculating on the London Stock Exchange in November 1895. After initial success, he incurred mounting losses, forcing him to mortgage his property for £4,000 and borrow even more funds. By November 1896, he had lost £2,500. During that month or the following one, he responded to an advertisement by a trader named Coward, offering a partnership in a South African catering and general contractor’s business. He found £1,000 in capital and travelled to South Africa, where Coward swindled him out of his money.[43]
While he was abroad, a firm of stockbrokers filed a bankruptcy petition against him at the High Court of Justice.[44] At the initial hearing, the court attributed his insolvency to “extravagance in living and losses by speculation on the Stock Exchange.”[45]
In June 1897, he returned to England at the expense of the South African government and appeared at the London Bankruptcy Court on 25 August 1897.[46] His statement of affairs listed assets of £1,440 and liabilities of £4,506, of which £1,948 was unsecured.[47] In January 1898, he was discharged, and the order was suspended for two years.[48]
This experience was humiliating and severely impacted his clerical career. However, he soon resumed his ministry. Before moving to Hardington, he officiated at a wedding at East Peckham in January 1898 and served as curate of Highcliffe, Hampshire, from 1899 to 1901.[49]
Hardington Mandeville
After leaving Highcliffe, Andrew accepted the curacy at Hardington. One of his first duties was assisting the rector at the Harvest Thanksgiving services on Sunday, 15 September 1901.[50] Two months later, his appointment was officially announced.[51]
On 25 April 1902, he assisted the rector at the funeral of George Genge.[52] On 23 May 1902, he attended a meeting of the Coronation Committee, and on Sunday, 8 June 1902, he preached sermons at the thanksgiving services for peace following the end of the Second Boer War.[53]
He probably found it difficult to adjust to his reduced status. In July 1902, he wrote a lengthy letter to the Yeovil Board of Guardians complaining about being kept waiting three-quarters of an hour for a pauper’s hearse. The Guardians mocked his description of himself as “priest-in-charge,” but they agreed to apologise.[54] At the rector’s audit dinner on 24 November 1902, he gave a short speech in which he tactlessly remarked that farming was a pleasant occupation but far less profitable than town industries.[55]
His appointment lasted into spring 1903. On 21 March, he chaired a meeting of the cricket club, and on 14 April, officiated at the marriage of John Rendell and Florence Delamont.[56]
The period 1903 to 1911
After leaving Hardington, he held a succession of short curacies. In June 1903, he was licensed as curate of St Athan near Cardiff, and by September 1905, he was the curate-in-charge at Amport near Andover.[57] In March 1906, he was the curate of Bitterne, Hampshire, and during the winter months of 1906/07, he took charge of the parish of Wilden, Bedfordshire.[58]
Andrew’s bankruptcy probably strained his relationship with Emily. She appears to have received support from her own family, particularly her brother Arthur, who bought 20 Oxford Gardens around 1900 as a home for himself and potentially for Emily and her children. In 1903, he replaced it with the larger thirteen-room 70 Gardens, which, upon his marriage in 1909, he sold to his sister Augusta Harriet Walker.[59]
The 1901 census recorded Arthur living at 20 Oxford Gardens with Violet, Irene, and Andrew’s sister Maria. The 1911 census recorded Augusta living at 70 Oxford Gardens with Claud and Irene.[60] Harriet Walker, the mother of Arthur, Emily and Augusta, also lived at 70 Oxford Gardens for a time before her death in May 1910.[61]
It is unclear how Andrew and Emily fitted into this arrangement. The 1901 census recorded Emily living with her brother George in Birmingham, although this may have been temporary. Andrew has not been traced in the 1901 census. In November 1901, while at Hardington, he advertised for a good plain cook, giving his address as Hardington Rectory, which suggests he lodged there alone rather than renting a home with his wife.[62]
In April 1908, the family came together for Violet’s wedding to Reginald John Luffman, a Yeovil glove manufacturer, at St Mark’s Church, Notting Hill.[63] Andrew gave his daughter away, Irene was a bridesmaid, and Emily’s brother, George, officiated. Elsie, Claud, Guy and Irene gave presents, and the reception was held at 70 Oxford Gardens. [64] Clarence did not attend because he had emigrated to New Zealand in 1904.[65]
By this point, Andrew was effectively retired. Crockford’s Clerical Directory of 1908 gave his address as 20 Bloomsbury Square— then a hotel — perhaps as a postal address. The 1911 census recorded him and Emily occupying two rooms at 6 Cambridge Gardens, though Emily may have been listed there merely for appearances, with her real home being with her sister at nearby 70 Oxford Gardens.
By the spring of 1910, Andrew’s health was failing. He suffered from diabetic kidney disease and died at 6 Cambridge Gardens on 1 September 1911 from diabetes, nephritis and ascites. His daughter, Elsie, registered his death.[66]
The family’s later life
Following Andrew’s death, his family left London. In October 1911, his son, Guy, sailed to Australia.[67] In 1912 or 1913, Emily and Augusta bought a house together at 27 Montpelier Terrace, Cheltenham, where they lived with Emily’s unmarried daughters, Elsie and Irene.[68] In October 1913, Elsie married Arthur Michael Burberry, a son of Thomas Burberry, founder of the clothing firm.[69]
During the First World War, Claud served in the Yeomanry, Irene in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and Clarence as chaplain to the New Zealand forces, winning the Military Cross in September 1918.[70] After the war, Claud pursued a distinguished legal career, becoming Puisne Judge of Jamaica, the Chief Justice of Nyasaland, and Chief Justice of Fiji and the Western Pacific.[71] He was knighted in 1944.[72]
Irene never married, remained at home until after the Second World War; she died in a Norfolk nursing home in 1973. Emily lived to see the Second World War, contributing a pound to the mayor’s fund to buy a Hurricane fighter in August 1940.[73] She died on 20 November 1944 at the age 85, leaving an estate valued at £2,094 12s.[74] Her sister, Augusta, died eleven years later, leaving an estate valued at £5,177 2s 4d.[75]
Conclusion
Andrew Seton’s life is a morality tale of overreaching pride and ambition, but it also contains important lessons about personal resilience and family unity. It illustrates the difficulty of advancing in the nineteenth-century Church of England without resorting to what was essentially simony.
References
[1] Morning Post 29 June 1852, p.8; London Evening Standard, 29 June 1852, p.4.
[2] Cambridge University Alumni.
[3] The will of Andrew Sandford Ramsey, dated 19 March 1834, proved at London on 20 January 1838. His pecuniary legacies alone totalled £6,200.
[4] Belfast News, 3 October 1860, p.4.
[5] The whereabouts of Maria Wilmot Seton at this time are unknown.
[6] Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886.
[7] Preston Herald, 30 March 1878, p.11.
[8] Manchester Courier, 22 September 1879, p.6.
[9] Preston Herald, 30 June 1880, p.7.
[10] London Evening Standard, 15 November 1880, p.2.
[11] Death certificate of Maria Bourchier.
[12] The will of Mary Bourchier, dated 28 May 1881, proved at the Principal Registry on 1 December 1882.
[13] Norwich Mercury, 17 March 1883, p.5.
[14] History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk, 1891-92. p.663.
[15] Doddington marriage register; Pall Mall Gazette, 16 February 1884, p.6.
[16] Crockford’s Clerical Directory, 1908, p. 1478.
[17] Ipswich Journal, 23 February 1884, p.5.
[18] Post Office Directory of Cambridgeshire, 1879, p.51.
[19] The will of George Edmund Walker, dated 13 August 1885, proved at the Principal Registry on 30 November 1886.
[20] Ipswich Journal, 3 May 1884, p.8.
[21] Morning Post, 10 September 1884, p.1.
[22] Home News for India, China and the Colonies,12 September 1884, p.28; Morning Post, 17 June 1886, p.1.
[23] Suffolk Mercury, 13 August 1886, p.7; Ipswich Journal, 10 June 1884, p.3.
[24] Ipswich Journal, 26 September 1885, p.5.
[25] Western Times, 12 February 1886, p.7; Crediton Gazette, 13 February 1886, p.5; Tiverton Gazette (Mid-Devon Gazette), 16 February 1886, p.7
[26] Church in the West, 27 February 1886, p.2.
[27] North Devon Journal, 29 March 1894, p.2.
[28] Kelly’s Directory of Devon & Cornwall, 1893, p113.
[29] Even Star, 16 March 1887, p.3; East Anglia Daily Times, 16 March 1887, p.5; Bury Free Press, 19 March 1887, p.9.
[30] Bury and Norwich Post, 12 July 1887, p.8.
[31] Evening Mail, 22 April 1887, p.7; Sheffield Independent, 27 August 1897, p.2.
[32] Kelly’s Directory of Sussex, 1890, p.2174.
[33] West Sussex County Times, 17 August 1889, p.13; Morning Post, 26 February 1890, p.2; Morning Post, 18 August 1890, p.3.
[34] Sussex Express, 21 April 1891, p.2; 12 April 1890, p.5; Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, 18 March 1893, p.4.
[35] Norwood News, 28 October 1893, p.3.
[36] London Evening Standard, 4 July 1888, p.1; Morning Post, 2 November 1889, p.1; Epsom Journal, 11 August 1891, p.2; Sussex Express, 5 May 1893, p.4.
[37] London Evening Standard, 26 August 1897, p.6; marriage settlement income calculated as £4,000 x 4%.
[38] Financial News, 31 July 1895, p.7; Morning Post, 12 August 1895, p.7; Hants and Sussex News, 14 August 1895, p.4.
[39] Hants and Sussex News, 18 September 1895, p.8.
[40] London Evening Standard, 26 August 1897, p.6; Morning Post, 6 November 1895, p.7.
[41] Morning Post, 18 June 1896, p.10; Crockford’s Clerical Directory, 1908, p1281.
[42] London Evening Standard, 26 August 1897, p.6.
[43] London Evening Standard, 26 August 1897, p.6.
[44] Morning Post, 15 March 1897, p.4.
[45] London Evening Standard, 16 April 1897, p.2.
[46] Sheffield Independent, 27 August 1897, p.2.
[47] London Evening Standard, 26 August 1897, p.6.
[48] Pall Mall Gazette, 12 January 1898, p.2.
[49] Morning Post, 15 January 1898, p.1; Crockford’s Clerical Directory, 1908, p.1281.
[50] Western Chronicle, 20 September 1901, p. 5.
[51] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 7 November 1901, p. 6.
[52] Western Chronicle, 2 May 1902, p.7.
[53] Western Chronicle, 30 May 1902, p.5; 13 June 1902, p. 5.
[54] Western Chronicle, 11 July 1902, p. 4.
[55] Western Chronicle, 28 November 1902, p. 7.
[56] Western Chronicle, 27 March 1903, p.7; 17 April 1903, p.5.
[57] Western Daily Press, 22 June 1903, p.3; The Salisbury Times, 8 September 1905, p.2.
[58] Hampshire Advertiser, 31 March 1906, p.11; Bedfordshire Times and Independent, 26 October 1906, p.2; Bedfordshire Times and Independent, 12 April 1907, p.5.
[59] Voters’ lists.
[60] The 1911 census recorded Andrew’s sister living in one room at Paddington.
[61] The will of Harriet Walker, dated 26 February 1909, proved at London on 14 October 1910.
[62] Western Gazette, 1 November 1901, p.4.
[63] Western Gazette, 1 May 1908, p.12.
[64] Western Chronicle, 1 May 1908, p.4.
[65] Passenger lists.
[66] Death certificate of Andrew Ramsey Wilmot Seton.
[67] Passenger lists.
[68] The will of Emily Georgina Seton, dated 19 December 1935, proved at Llandudno on 15 February 1945.
[69] Cheltenham Chronicle, 25 October 1913, p.2.
[70] Morning Post, 24 September 1918, p.3; Cheltenham Chronicle, 27 December 1930, p.8; University of London Student Records, 1836-1945; World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
[71] Nottingham Journal, 11 July 1941, p.3; The Scotsman, 19 October 1944, p.5.
[72] The Scotsman, 8 June 1944, p.6.
[73] Gloucestershire Echo, 23 August 1940, p.3.
[74] The will of Emily Georgina Seton, dated 19 December 1935, proved at Llandudno on 15 February 1945.
[75] National Probate Calendar.
