Nat Gould

William Wooddisse 1866-1926

Market Place, Ashbourne

William Wooddisse was born in 1866 at Alstonefield in Staffordshire, the son of Thomas Wooddisse 1810-1890 and his wife née Anne Leese 1828-1907.

When the Census was taken in 1881 he was living at home in Alstonefield on the family farm with his parents and two younger brothers.

In May 1897 William Wooddisse with his brother Thomas Wooddisse 1865-1933 and George Desborough formed a partnership as agricultural engineers and ironmongers. They had a shop in the Market Place in Ashbourne, and another in Derby (1).

In 1909 he married Kate Howell at Ashbourne in Derbyshire, the daughter of John Howell 1835-1915 a grocer born in Ashbourne and his wife Elizabeth (born in Ashbourne in 1836), of St Oswald's House, Church Street in Ashbourne (2).

William Wooddisse and his wife lived at Hill Crest, Belle Vue Road in Ashbourne, a wedding present from the bride's father (3).

They had a daughter Katherine Mary Wooddisse who was two months old when the Census was taken on 2 April 1911.

Signature on 1911 Census Return

William Wooddisse sent a letter of condolence to Margaret Mary Gould 1881-1970 on 15 October 1922 on the occasion of the death of his second cousin, her mother Martha Gould née Wooddisse.

He died on 14 December 1926 in Ashbourne.
His Will was proved on 1 July 1927 (4).

His wife Kate Wooddisse née Howell died on 22 April 1932, and was buried with her husband at Alstonefield, where there is a gravestone inscribed to their memory.

(1) His brother Thomas Wooddisse 1865-1933 left Alstonefield for Ashbourne in May 1897, and presumably so did William Wooddisse: A Derbyshire Family by John Wooddisse (2010) page 28. They entered into partnership with George Desborough as agricultural engineers and ironmongers, trading as Wooddisse and Desborough in both Ashbourne and Derby. However from 31 October 1918 the two businesses were separated. The Wooddisse brothers thereafter traded as Wooddisse & Co in Ashbourne and George Desborough as G. Desborough & Son in Derby: London Gazette 21 March 1919 page 3782.
(2) John Howell was in partnership with Thomas Marsden and James Henry Anderson as Howell, Marsden and Anderson until 1869 when Anderson retired and the firm continued trading as Howell and Marsden: London Gazette 30 March 1860 page 2017. John Howell had also retired by the time the 1901 Census was taken. He died on 2 November 1915.
(3) A Derbyshire Family by John Wooddisse (2010) page 35. The house is now the Vicarage.
(4) "WOODDISSE William of Hill Crest Ashborne Derbyshire died 14 December 1926 Probate Derby 1 July to Kate Wooddisse widow and Frederick John Howell bank official. Effects £4314 11s 10d." England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1966 (1927) page 470.