Wake, William Robert

Submitted by edpope on

Wake 11.3.1798 at Losh's, Bath / 3.11.1802 Wakes call / 5.11.1802 dine at Rev Wake's Portland St adv Careless / 8.11.1802 Wakes call / 19.11.1802 Wakes dine / 1.12.1802 meet Wake / 19.12.1802 Wakes call / 9.1.1803 call on Wake (not in) / 24.1.1803 Wake adv at theatre / 26.2.1803 Wake calls / 4.3.1803 dine at Wake's / 20.3.1803 Wake calls / 24.3.1803 write to Wake / 25.3.1803 W R Wake replied to Godwin Abinger c8 f15-16 / 31.3.1803 call on mrs Wake / 3.4.1803 Wake calls / 10.4.1803 Wakes call / 1.5.1803 meet Wake / 7.6.1803 call on Wakes (not in) / 21.6.1803 meet Wake / 2.4.1804 Wakes call / 9.4.1804 call on Wake (not in) / 12.7.1804 meet Wake / 21.7.1804 dine at Wake's with Carles's / 25.7.1804 theatre, meet mrs Wake &c / 1.8.1804 Wakes call / 4.11.1804 Wake calls / 9.11.1804 call on Wake / 25.11.1804 Wakes call / 27.11.1804 sup at Wake's / 30.11.1804 Wake calls / 1.12.1804 theatre with mrs Carles & mrs Wake / 2.12.1804 Wake calls / 3.12.1804 Wake adv at theatre / 14.12.1804 callon Wake / 23.12.1804 Wakes adv at dinner / 7.1.1805 sup at Wake's / 11.1.1805 meet Wake / 27.1.1805 callon Wake adv mrs Carles / 28.1.1805 meet Wake / 1.2.1805 Wake ad at dinner / 3.2.1805 Wakes call / 7.2.1805 dine at Wake's / 16.2.1805 call on Wake (not in) / 8.3.1805 again / 13.3.1805 call on Wke (not in) / 15.3.1805 Wakes call (not in) / 18.3.1805 call on Wake / 19.3.1805 Wke calls (not in) / 22.3.1805 Wake calls (not in) call on Wake /  24.3.1805 sup at Wake's / 25.3.1805 Wake calls / 29.3.1805 Wakes at tea / 9.4.1805 Wakes call / 25.4.1805 Wakes at tea & supper / 6.5.1805 call on Wake (not in) / 16.5.1805 tea at Wake's / 22.6.1805 Wakes call / 10.7.1805 meet Wakes / 20.7.1805 call on Wake (not in) / 11.8.1805 Wakes call / 13.8.1805 Wakes sup / 21.11.1805 Wakes call / 8.12.1805 call on Wake (not in) / 17.12.1805 meet mrs Wake / 6.11.1806 meet Wakes / 24.8.1808 Wake calls / 23.2.1815 Wake adv at theatre / 7.5.1819 Wake calls / 8.12.1819 Wake adv at theatre / 17.2.1821 meet Wake / 29.9.1821 Wakes call / 9.10.1821 meet Wakes / 12.10.1821 Wakes at tea / 30.10.1821 Wakes adv at Valpy's / 27.10.1824 Wake adv at dinner / 9.10.1828 meet Wake / 7.12.1828 Wake at tea

William Robert Wake widower married 20.4.1802 at St Marylebone Elizabeth Ann Carles spinster witnesses C D Willaume, J H Carles (this is the clearest identifying evidence). She was 2nd dau of Joseph Carles of Lichfield & Brown's Green Birmingham his will PCC 1801(dated 10.5.1796 wife Elizabeth daus Elizabeth Ann & Maria Barbara son John Henry clerk to the Privy Seal). Basil Wake apothecary of Bath his will PCC 1800 dated 21.12.1794 mentioned his daughter Frances and his son Rev Wm Robt Wake. Basil Wake of St James Bath bachelor married 2.7.1751 at St Anne & St Agnes London, Elizabeth Dunstan of St Margaret Rochester spinster. Basil Wake married 1779 St James Bath, Lady Camilla Fleming widow of Gilbert Fane Fleming (will PCC 1777) who had married 14.1.1754 Lady Camilla Bennet sister to the Earl of Tankerville. William Robert Wake married 23.6.1780 at Dartford Kent, Elizabeth Bills (not certain if this was him). St Pauls School, 1776 BA Trinity College Oxford, 1781 ensign in 52nd foot, 1787 vicar of Backwell Somerset, by 1793 chaplain to Earl of Bristol, and curate of St Michael Bath, sometime rector of Gt Bromley Essex, 1810-1814 curate of Maidstone, Kent, died 26.12.1830 age 75. Involved in controversy over the demoniac George Lukins, known to W R Wake's uncle Matthew Wake, the vicar of Yatton who died 1783. W R Wake was decribed by Samuel Norman, a sceptical surgeon, as a Methodist preacher. He published Sermons 1793 (for relief of emigrant French clergy),a  liberal translation of the Psalms 1793, a Letter to HM Solicitor General on the subject of a recent trial in the court of King's Bench 1805, printed for Edmund Lloyd of Harley St, publication delayed for legal reasons till Feb 1806, (can find no copy or review of this to throw light on which trial), A Week's Tour in France 1814 (which I read online at Gallica and much enjoyed) scathingly reviewed in Quarterly Review. He was dismissed from stipendiary curacy of Maidstone and published letter to the perpetual curate Rev James Reeve (died 1841) whose reply and Wake's further reply, and a travesty of "A Week's Tour" by "Roderick O'Rhyme" were all published by T Wickham at Maidstone 1814 and all now in British Library. I cannot find the source of the reference to Wake in St Clair p449-50, to which Dep c 524 in the old Abinger catalogue was perhaps referred in the notes. The diary entries don't give the impression that Wake was ever a debtor and on 25.3.1803 (see above) Wake replied warmly to Godwin's request for financial help. He may have been the Rev Wake that Richard Carlile wrote letters to from Dorchester gaol denouncing the Christian religion (Morning Post 9.7.1822) but there were other Rev Wake's around. W R Wake had children Robert Charles born 1804, Charles Thompson born 1806, Basil & probably others. His widow may have been the Eliza Ann Wake of Southampton St buried at St Giles i t Fields 18.10.1847 age 70

Hi Ed, I'd be interested to learn the source of your comment 'in place of  Wake' (possibly Basil) in your Tyson entry. Thank you.

my reply 24.7.2013

hello d brunning
right now i'm in wales and don't have remote access to my usual Bodleian Library subscribed databases to check the reference but i'm pretty sure it was a newspaper article of 1784 which i would have found by searching on tyson and/or wake in Gale Databases' British Newspapers 1600-1900. "vice Wake" would have been the phrase they used for in place of. if you look at my entry on Wake, William Robert there's some stuff about his father Basil but it was only that newspaper article which suggested to me that Basil Wake had been MC at Bath, but it fits with his aristocratic wife and profession of apothecary. when i return to oxford in a couple of weeks i can look up the date and name of the paper for you

d brunning 25.7.2013

Thank you Ed that would be really appreciated. I don't seem able to access this particular resource with any of my library cards. I have tried the British Newspaper Archive but can't find this. Via the Bath Georgian Newspaper Project I did find in the Bath Chronicle, 27th Oct 1785,  that RT was elected unanimously as MC of New (Upper) Assembly Rooms 'in room of Mr Dawson' . I have been researching the Wakes for several years and almost completed a biography of William Robert so the information you found if correct would be very valuable. I plan to visit the Bath Archives in the next few days to see whether I can discover more. Is there anything I can do to help your research while I'm there?(please use my email address) DB

my reply 25.7.2013

hello D Brunning. I don't have your e-mail address. That's exciting that you're doing a book on Wake, I hope you've closely studied all his mentions in Godwin's diary and the identities of his guests. Have you found a copy of his Letter to HMSolicitor General 1805 or do you know which recent trial it concerned? And do you think he was the Rev Wake that Richard Carlile addressed from Dorchester gaol?  (I'm happy to wait till you're published to know the answers, just suggesting lines of research). I can't think offhand of anything I need searching in Bath, but all the entries on my website from 4.3.1798 to 14.3.1798 and from 5.6.1798 to 10.6.1798, when Godwin was in Bath, are of interest to me, I think S Laney was the one I found hardest to get any info on, just in case the name pops up, as it were. As I said I'll try to find that reference for you once I'm back in Oxford 5th August. Ed Pope

d brunning 26.7.2013

Hi Ed

The only record Bath Archives hold for the Assembly Rooms doesn't cover that dates we are interested in. I checked several old books in the library and although there are some details about the people who stood for election as MC there is no mention of Wake. I will therfore wait with interest for the information you found.

The Godwin diary and papers have been an invaluable part of  my reseach into the facinating personal story of William Robert Wake. I did supply Mark Philp with a brief biography of WRW back in January - I thought he must have passed it on to you when I saw your post. I mentioned to him at the time that I think that it wasn't WRW who was involved with the Carlise trials. Although one publication uses his name I think it was a typo. All other sources (the Times and also a pamphlet published by Carlisle) refer to a Rev William Wait of an address in Bristol. Further research confirmed there was a clergyman of this name in Bristol at the time.

I have tried to track down WR Wake's pamphlet - A letter to the Solicitor Gen. but without sucess. However I do know which trial it related to and that the pamphlet would have been a defence against the unpleasant comments The Solic Gen made about WRW during the trial in which he was a witness.

With regard to S Laney - I've not come across her name in the course of my research but having had a quick search I think she may have been Sarah Laney daughter of John Laney of Shorwell Isle of Wight.According to a Knivett family tree I found she maried William Knyvett on 28/12/1801. He was composer for George III. You will no doubt recognise the name as you have his father Charles Knyvett on your list too. Sarah Laney's sister Jane was married (1/9/1795 gents mag) to William Knivett's brother Charles! Hope that helps. DB

my reply 31.7.1813

thanks DB, no Mark didn't mention Wake to me, all I have on him I worked out for myself. Mark Philp was a bit snowed under trying to make all the corrections to the Godwin Diary website I sent him which is why I set up my own website. Thanks very much for the tip on S Laney, very helpful indeed Ed Pope

my reply 22.8.2013

sorry i didn't reply sooner DB, i can't find the article where i saw Tyson vice Wake. if i didn't imagine it then it was probably a mistake for Wade who had held the office before Dawson, so i've no reason to believe Basil Wake was ever MC at Bath. ed pope

d brunning 5.9.2013

A belated thank you for checking for me Ed. It was probaly another typo as Wade and Wake are so similar, or possibly a digitisation error? Happy to be of any further help with other entries anytime. I'm local to  Bath and Bristol should you ever need any records to be checked in those locations. D

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