**COMPLETED** London place names on William Innell Clement's will

[helvissa]

Hi there,

I'm trying to work out what these place names are on a will drawn up in 1844. I was hoping it might give me a clue for browsing on the 1841 census!

It's the will of William Innell Clement, who owned The Observer, The Morning Chronicle, Bell's Life in London, etc.

At the time of his will being drawn up, three of his sons were surviving: William, George William and Charles. William seems to be the only legitimate son. He left his media empire to be divided between the three sons:


It looks like William was at Sutherland Square:


George William and Charles are at Cowley Place:


Or Gowley Place. Or Crowley Place? Or somewhere else entirely?!

I've tried searching by address on Find My Past. Cowley and Gowley Place yields nothing. There's a Crowley Place in Tonbridge in Kent, and that's it (I haven't looked it up yet as I don't have the ref for it). Sutherland Square doesn't come up either, so I thought I would ask you lovely people if you think I've read it properly!

And lastly:
I think the first part says "To my two sons Charles and George William in trust for their mother."
(which seems to add extra grist to the idea that they were illegitimate - surely if they were legitimate, this would be "to my wife").


But the second bit:
"To ? Joseph Worrad (Worral?) of Walsall in trust for his sister Mary Ann."
I can't work out what that second word is after 'to' ('sir'?). Or indeed what his surname is!

Anyone have any ideas?

(PS: I've found 170 Strand on a few censuses and none of the Clements live there. It's usually empty or in one case someone does live there, a man with his wife and a servant, and he's a printer compositor. When I googled the address, it kept coming up with some of William's newspapers and then it came up with engravings from books published from the same address - so I do wonder if it wasn't actually a house and was in fact newspaper/publishing offices. When William was buried, it has two addresses - one in Hackney and the Strand address. Another Clement tree has his death in 1852 at the address in Hackney but when I looked it up on the 1851 census, he wasn't living there. He did die suddenly though so maybe he was visiting someone who lived there.... anyway, that's all a side issue...!)

[avm228]

I know this isn't what you're asking for, but do you already have details of William Innell CLEMENT's two reputed marriages (to Jemima JONES in 1800 and to Maria Isabella JONES in 1811) and/or the double marriage of his twin daughters Maria and Jane in 1830 (they are together as widows in 1881)?

[helvissa]

I've picked some things up from trees on Ancestry, so I've seen the Jemima and Maria Isabella marriages.

If you google William Innell Clement, you get a link to The Lady's Magazine of 1830 which reports the marriage of his twin daughters! I was quite excited by that because it shows you a fashion plate, which gives you an idea of what they probably wore on the day. Here you go!

I've been in touch with The Observer - they have William's portrait on display in their offices, and when it was deposited by Percy Innel Clement in 1966, some research was done on the family at the same time. I have no idea if this is what now appears on Ancestry.

I've just found William, the legitimate son, on the 1841 census:

Spencer St, Clerkenwell
William Clement, 30. Bookseller.
William, 8.
Thomas, 3.
Frederick, 1.
Mary, 20.

Next door it looks like John and Sarah Hartwell, aged 60. Sarah appears on the 1851 census living with William, as well as Samuel Hartwell, brother in law (Mary's brother? Or the other Hartwell's brother? I looked at his Chelsea Pensioner papers anyway - he lost his hand in Afghanistan in the 1830s).

There seems to be a fad in this family for marrying women with the same names! If it's not William snr marrying Joneses, it's William jnr marrying Hartwells.

This is my stepdad's family - he's descended from Thomas. He knew the family were newspaper owners, but had no idea he was descended from some kind of Regency media magnate.

[Little Nell]

It is Mr Joseph Worrad - the M is quite florid in this style of handwriting.

And it looks like Coroley Place in the larger extracts but looking at the first one, it looks more like Cowley.  There is a Cowley Place in Hendon.  Sutherland Square is in the Kennington area.

Nell

[helvissa]

Hello Nell,

Thank you for that! I shall have to investigate Joseph, I think - what was William doing leaving money to his sister? (not another girlfriend?)

Those places sound like possibles: Kennington does pop up in a couple of other records. I shall have to look at Hendon - I've ordered a birth certificate for one of them who had a child in 1841 - that might help to confirm things. Gawd I'm nosey...! (but then, isn't that why we're here?)

[FosseWay]

I'd definitely go with Cowley Place.

Could it be the name of an individual dwelling rather than a street? Often in the Probate Calendar it will give a house name with no street or even village if the house is big enough to be known by itself and its county. If so, it may be in Cowley Street, London (where the HQ of the Lib Dems is, and not far from Westminster -- a good location I'd have thought for someone connected to the media).

[helvissa]

Oh yes! I had wondered that but wasn't sure if that would apply in London. I shall definitely investigate and see if that turns anything up.

[helvissa]

In case anyone else is researching this family, George William Clement and wife Susanna lived at 10 Princes Square in 1841 - both on the census and the address on the birth certificate of their first child, Percy Innel. I'm quite tempted to get a certificate from the birth of their son in 1844, if only to shed some light on the address in the will!

[Clem1967]

If you are still looking for information on William Innel Clement I can help somewhat.

My grandfather was Percy George Innel Clement and he loaned the portrait of William Innel Clement to the Observer.  I believe ownership of the portrait passed to my father as the eldest son and has now passed down to me / my brother.  I contacted the Observer after my father passed away in 2013 and they still have the portrait.  Going through my father's effects, I found some further family tree research that had been done with my grandfather which I could share.