The Rev. Wetenhall SNEYD ³

  General Notes:

Vicar of Newchurch, Isle of Wight

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Death notice in The Times, Saturday, 28 Nov 1840, p.7, reads: At Merston, Isle of Wight, on the 24th inst., in the 89th year of his age, the Rev. Wetenhall Sneyd, rector of Bletchlagley, Surrey, and for upwards of 40 years curate and vicar of New Church, Isle of Wight. This worthy and excellent man lived and died beloved and respected by all who knew him, and his memory will ever be cherished by those who knew his worth and had the happiness to live within the influence of his truly Christian benevolence.
Death notice in The Gentleman's Magazine, January 1841, p. 103, reads: Nov. 24. At Merston, Isle of Wight, aged 88, the Rev. Wetenhall Sneyd, Rector of Bletchingley, Surrey, and for more than forty years Curate and Vicar of Newchurch, Isle of Wight. He was collated to the vicarage of Newchurch in 1816 by Dr. Mansel, then Bp. of Bristol; and presented to Bletchingley in 1838, on the death of the Rev. Jarvis Kenrick.

THE REV. WETENHALL SNEYD , was born c1752 at Willisborough, and died in 1840 at Merston, Isle of Wight. His school and university have not yet been established, there was a recurring problem in recording his correct forename, but he must have taken Holy Orders in the early 1770's, although the information is sketchy. All Saints Parish Church in Newchurch, Isle of Wight, has a memorial on the wall, and a large gravestone by the altar in his memory.

He married Margaret Cullen in July 1777 in Dublin, she was the daughter of Patrick Cullen of Skreeny, by Manor Hamilton, and a former High Sheriff of Co. Leitrim. Her mother was Margaret Nesbitt, daughter of Cairncross Nesbitt of Aughamore, Co. Longford, also a former High Sheriff of Co. Leitrim. There are summaries on both Cullen of Skreeny and the Nesbitt family. There were seven surviving children, and the eldest was Frances, born In Dublin in 1778.

There were seven surviving children of the marriage, four sons, Ralph Henry, Edward Cairncross, William Thomas, and Nathaniel, who all went to India, and two other daughters both of whom made good marriages. Marianne married a Major Arthur Brooke of Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh, of the 40^th (Essex) Regiment who distinguished himself after promotions in the American Campaign of 1814-1815, setting fire to the main government buildings in Washington D.C. He later became a Lt. General.

In India, Harriet married Major Turner Macan, 16^th Light Hussars, Aide and Interpreter to the Governor-General of Bengal, of the Macan's of Carriff, co. Armagh, in Calcutta, and a daughter, Jane Emma Hannah, became Countess of Antrim in 1855; her husband, a naval captain, unexpectedly succeeded to the title. The Earl's of Lichfield and Home are among her descendants. Her son and his wife were appointed to the Court of Queen Victoria and the family remained in Court service during the reign of King Edward VI.

After several years as a widow, Harriet married a childhood friend, William Henry Whitbread, then head of the brewing family. In the 1851 Census she is recorded at Lowndes Square in London. There is a large stained glass memorial window in the Parish Church at Southill, near Bedford.

Margaret died in Bristol Hotwells in 1797, perhaps under the treatment of Dr. Beddoes, who was married to an Edgeworth daughter of a Sneyd, (see DNB), a friend of Coleridge, mentor of Michael Faraday and Sir Humphrey Davy. By 1800 Wetenhall had settled in England, perhaps as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the Earl of Belmore, to whom he was Chaplain and the disturbed condition of Ireland in 1798.

Probably he had the help of his uncle, Jeremy Sneyd, who lived at Testwood House, Eling now Totton, near The Solent. Jeremy had risen to become the Private Secretary of Prime Ministers, and Head of the Northern Department, in effect being head of the then Civil Service, which at that time had a very different basis to that of the late 19^th Century and later.

In 1800 Wetenhall became Curate of Newchurch, Isle of Wight, and in 1816, the Vicar of the Parish. In 1801 he married Harriet Cleader, a local widow of property, born Atrill of a local family, and raised a second family. There were three children of the marriage. Emma Sophia, who married John Russell Colvin, a major figure in the HEICS; Caroline, who married a local landowner, Francis Worsley and Clement who died circa 1841 unmarried but with a natural child, Clement by a Brimson local girl. ¹

Wetenhall married Margaret CULLEN in Jul 1777 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland..¹

Wetenhall next married Harriet CLEADER on 24 Sep 1801 in Newchurch, Hampshire, England.² (Harriet CLEADER was born about 1769 and died on 16 Aug 1854.)