John Willett Adye

John Willett Adye (1745–1815), in later life John Willett Willett, was an English plantation owner and politician.

John Willett Adye, portrait c.1785 by George Romney

Life

He was the second son of Stephen Adye of St Kitts and his wife Clara Payne, born 1 January 1745. He was adopted while still young by Ralph Willett, a first cousin of his mother. After education at Lincoln's Inn, he took to the gentlemanly life of a collector, following the example of his adoptive father Willett.[1]

Willett died in 1795. Adye was his principal heir, to plantations in St Kitts, and under a condition of the will took Willett as his surname. The following year he was elected as Member of Parliament for New Romney. A supporter of William Pitt the younger, he did not stand in the 1806 United Kingdom general election after Pitt's death.[1]

In later life Willett had financial troubles, and during 1813 sold collections from Merley House. He died on 26 September 1815.[1] He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries of London. A monument to him was placed in the church of Canford Magna.[2]

Family
Catherine Adye, first wife of John Willett Adye, portrait by George Romney

Adye married:[1]

  1. In 1780, Catherine Brouncker (died 1798), daughter of Henry Brouncker of St Kitts; and
  2. In 1805, Frances Wilson.

Sons of the first marriage included the eldest, John Willett Willett Jr., (1784–1839), declared a lunatic, and Henry Ralph Willett, a barrister, to whom the estate passed.[3][4][5]

Notes
  1. "Willett, John Willett (1745–1815), of Merley, Dorset., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. 'Poole', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, South east (London, 1970), pp. 189-240. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol2/pp189-240 [accessed 29 April 2018].
  3. "Summary of Individual John Willett Willett 25th Apr 1784 – 13th Dec 1839, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. "Summary of Individual Henry Ralph Willett 27th Apr 1786 – 9th Dec 1857, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. "British Museum - Ralph Willett (collector; British; Male; 1719 - 1795)". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
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