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William KAY, Tring Park, 1823-1838 September, 2010 |
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Sandra Beaumont (sandra.beaumont @t virgin.net) of Shipston on Stour writes: I am trying to find out whether William Kay, who bought Tring Park in 1823 is related to our family. My mother had this information passed down to her and so have several other members of the family.
My great grandmother was called Rachel Kay and her father was Joseph Golding Kay who was born in Manchester. It is believed that Joseph's father owned a silk mill in Manchester but I have drawn a blank on obtaining further details.
Research has shown that William Kay of Tring Park was a textile magnate from Manchester and he had Tring silk mill built around 1823 although his brother from Macclesfield, Cheshire ran it for a while.
My great grandfather Joseph Golding Kay was, in his earlier years just a sizer but in later years he is shown on the censuses as a private gentleman and landowner which would indicate that he came into money later in life. Whilst I don't think he is a direct descendant of William Kay, his father could have been one of William's brothers or cousins. Whilst there is no money left now it is still intriguing.
I have discovered that William had at least two sons, Richard Smith Kay (the eldest son) who went to Oxford and died in 1857 and another William Kay (who inherited Tring Park for life) and who died in 1865.
If you could give me any further information on William Kay or his sons which would aid my research then I would be very grateful indeed.
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Tring Park Mansion (William Kay lived elsewahere and let the house) |
There is a short biography of William Kay in More Tring Personalities (unfortunately now out of print) and the following paragraph outlines his origins, which confirms what you have found.
William Kay was born at The Mains, Wigton, Cumberland, son of a yeoman farmer, and from whom he inherited £100, and property and land in Wigton. This small town was heavily engaged in the weaving trade, using workers recruited from within a ten-mile radius. The spinning factories here used imported cotton, locally-produced wool, and linen from flax grown on the Solway Plain. William and his brother, Joseph, obviously used the knowledge gained in their area to good effect, for it is recorded that they established themselves in the textile industry in Manchester. A trade directory of 1804 lists William Kay as a cotton manufacturer with a mill in Watling Street, Manchester. His elder son, Richard Smith Kay, was baptised in a city centre church. (It may have been that during this period he first met Nathan Rothschild, who lived in Manchester on his arrival in England, and whose immense middle-age he was sufficiently affluent to buy the Tring Park estate.
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William Kay Memorial, Tring Church from Tring Silk Mill |
More relevant to your query could be what happened on his death.
After firmly making his mark in Tring, William Kay died in 1838. By then a man of considerable means, he resided in London at York Terrace, Regents Park. His end was sad, for the contemporary Carlisle Journal reported that William died of a head injury after being knocked down near his house by a horse and cart. He left a 26-page detailed and convoluted will, written by a lawyer's clerk in a looping copper-plate hand, and quite worthy of anything to be found in the legal novels of Dickens. He settled on his wife Helen a yearly sum of £1,600 for life - providing she did not re-marry. His older son, Richard, was left £500 a year for life, but the entire estate, including the mill, was bequeathed in Trust for his younger son, William. At the time of his father's death William junior was still a minor, and accordingly, for the purpose of the inheritance, was made a ward of the Court of Chancery. He died in 1865 as the result of a fall whilst hunting. He and his wife were childless, and the Court ordered the estate to be sold. After much legal wrangling, it was eventually offered for auction in 1872.
You mention that Joseph Golding Kay seemed to have come into money later in life so there may be clues in William Kay's will and records of the Court of Chancery, particularly if the money "appeared" after 1868. If the money came from William Kay's estate there should be a mention of Joseph somewhere in the paperwork. I am afraid I have no experience of Court of Chancery records.
While William Kay is mentioned in the book Tring Silk Mill, which includes a picture of his memorial, there is no additional information relevant to your enquiry.