dine with mrs Cotton at mrs Wilford's, (mr Mangles) Hurley Bottom 29.11.1799 / 4.12.1801 Wilford at Northmore's
Public Advertiser 4.10.1787 reported on the private theatricals at his house in Faringdon, Berks of Henry James Pye DNB 1745-1813 then MP for Berkshire and later poet laureate. The play The Padlock was performed by Pye, his two daughters, and Mrs & Miss Wilford. Mrs Wilford's performance as Mungo was praised, her accent being "quite in the Negro style". There was a family of Wilfords who were theatre servants but came up in the world when Priscilla Wilford married the theatre manager John Rich 1692-1761 in 1744. She died in 1783 and her brother Edward Wilford's will PCC 1789 mentioned no wife but his son Richard Rich Wilford, will PCC 1823, who was born about 1754, became a general and at St Pancras 19.7.1802 married married Ann Crause who died 22.10.1842 in her 90th year. Highfill, Burnim & Langhans mention a Michael Bulkley a descendant who gave them some family information about the Wilfords, maybe he could help identify the mrs Wilford of Hurley Bottom. She was mentioned in Mrs Cotton's letter to Godwin (Abinger c5 f95-6) addressed from Langton Cottage and dated 18.3.1800. See also Mangles