Nat Gould

Thomas Wooddisse 1810-1890

Thomas Wooddisse was born on 21 July 1810 at Alstonefield in Staffordshire, the son of Ralph Wooddisse 1780-1855 and his wife née Hannah Bagshaw 1783-1842.

Farm at Hope

He married Judith Bonsall on 21 July 1834 at Alstonefield. She was born in 1811 at Warslow in Staffordshire.

When the Census was taken in 1841 they were farming at Alstonefield. In 1861 they were recorded as farming 128 acres at Hope in Alstonefield parish. Thomas Wooddisse was also then a coal, slate, stone and "flag" [flagstone] merchant (1).

Judith Wooddisse née Bonsall died on 7 April 1862 aged 50 years, and was buried at Alstonefield where there is a monumental inscription to her memory (2).

Her widower Thomas Wooddisse married Anne Leese in 1863. She was born on 8 September 1827 at Alstonefield, the daughter of George and Sarah Leese. They had the following children:

Wooddisse family 1875

Wooddisse brothers 1888

Thomas Wooddisse. He was born in 1865 at Alstonefield. He married Mary Beardmore 1863-1949, the daughter of Ralph Beardmore 1833-1910 of Stanshope Hall in Alstonefield and his wife née Mary Elizabeth Waterhouse 1837-1915. He died in 1890 at Sandybrook, Ashbourne.

William Wooddisse 1866-1926. He was born in 1866 at Alstonefield. In 1909 he married Kate Howell, the daughter of John Howell. They lived in Ashbourne and had a daughter Katherine Mary Wooddisse, born in 1911. William Wooddisse died on 14 December 1926 at Alstonefield.

Ralph Benjamin Wooddisse. Born in 1868, he married Amy Annie Hardwick in 1908 and was a dairy and grazing farmer at the family home at Hope in Alstonefield parish. He died on 15 May 1949 at Bishopsworth near Bristol.

Frank Bagshaw Wooddisse. He was born in 1870 and became a chemist in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. He was twice married, first to Alice Patchitt 1865-1928 and secondly to Marjorie Garwood 1898-1980. He died in 1960 at Ampleforth in Yorkshire.

All four boys were taught at home by their mother Anne Wooddisse née Leese before going to Trent College (3).

Their father Thomas Wooddisse died on 18 May 1890, and was buried at Alstonefield where there is a monumental inscription to his memory.
His Will was proved on 24 June 1890 (4).

The family farm at Hope was taken over by his son Ralph Benjamin Wooddisse, who was there when the Census was taken in 1901, aged 33 and unmarried. With his was his widowed mother and nephew Thomas Wooddisse then aged eight, together with housekeeper Sarah Ann Lowndes, a carter and farm boy.

Anne Wooddisse née Leese died on 19 November 1907, and was buried at Alstonefield where there is a monumental inscription to her memory.

All the photographs on this page are included by kind permission of Col. John Wooddisse. In that of the family group taken in about 1875 Thomas Wooddisse 1810-1890 and his wife née Anne Leese 1828-1907 are shown right and left respectively with their sons William Wooddisse 1866-1926, Frank Bagshaw Wooddisse 1870-1960 and Thomas Wooddisse 1865-1933 standing left to right between them, with Ralph Benjamin Wooddisse 1868-1949 seated in front. In the photograph taken in about 1888 seated in front is Thomas Wooddisse 1865-1933, and behind him from left to right are William Wooddisse 1866-1926, Frank Bagshaw Wooddisse 1870-1960 and Ralph Benjamin Wooddisse 1868-1949.

(1) With the family was his nephew Ralph Wooddisse aged nineteen born in Alstonefield and single employed as a shepherd, and also a dairymaid and a cow herd.
(2) The monumental inscription gives her date of birth, as do those of her husband Thomas Wooddisse and his second wife Anne Wooddisse née Leese.
(3) A Derbyshire Family John Wooddisse (2010) page 26.
(4) "The Will of Thomas Wooddisse late of Alstonfield in the County of Stafford Farmer who died 18 May 1890 at Alstonfield was proved at Lichfield by Benjamin Leese Gentleman and Thomas Wooddisse Farmer the Son both of Alstonfield the Executors. Personal Estate £2,635 15s 3d." England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1966 (1890) page 386.