William Richard Stretton b1858

Summary:

The eldest son of Samuel and Kate, we know little of William’s history. There are not many records to be found but the few records in this archive show him to have been a solicitor working both from an office in Gracechurch Street and also from his family home in Tottenham. Shortly after 1920 he emigrated to South Africa, where he died in 1923.

More information can be found below.

Bio:

Working professionally in London, like many of his peers, Richard sought to become a Freemason joining both the newly-formed Anglo American Lodge in 1888 and the Eleanor Lodge of the Freemasons in 1889; both in London. Incidentally, he gave his uncle Joseph Harris Stretton’s address as his address for joining the Anglo American Lodge. Joseph Harris Stretton was a very successful solicitor with Stretton, Hilliard, Dale and Newman. Anecdotally, William liked to be in the company of successful and well-connected people, which is likely how he came to meet Rebecca Power. Solicitors and bankers often work hand in hand by the very nature of their business. Rebecca’s father was Michael Joseph Power; as a young man a Manager of the newly-formed National Bank in Ireland, working his way up to become the Secretary to the Bank at their Old Broad Street headquarters, in London at the time Rebecca and William became acquainted. A very prestigious position. We know that Rebecca’s father was not approving of the union of his daughter with William and subsequently Rebecca was ‘cast out with just one servant and a small pony trap’ as an elderly relative noted. It should be said, that the issue could well be in part down to the polar opposites of both their business and religious positions. The religious divide is shown by their children being baptised both in Kidderminster and also at Rebecca’s local Catholic Church in Leytonstone.
As is mentioned elsewhere in this archive about someone else, most generations seem to give us an individual who could be considered the ‘black sheep’ of their particular arm of the family tree; and thus it is highly likely that William assumed that role here. At times an ‘absent father’ to use a modern expression, he eventually left Rebecca and took up with Ella Maud Mary Dyer, whom he married in 1895 at Hastings Register Office. He took over the George Inn in Winchcombe and then variously described himself as a Solicitor or an Hotelier. William had two more children by Ella. Eventually this marriage ended too; they divorced in 1920 and shortly after, he emigrated to South Africa. He lived another couple of years before becoming ill and he died on 31 December 1923 at Wynberg, South Africa. A letter in our possession from a local Magistrate indicates that he had no Estate and that his brother, John Lionel, had been sending out money for some time to help William. Gwladys, his daughter by Ella, also went to the authorities in Cape Town and was shown that there was indeed no estate; no possibility of an inheritance. On the obverse of the one picture currently in the Portraits section of this article there is reference to William being an “inveterate better” – a gambler. A sad epitaph, coming from such a high achieving family.