Person:William Snelling (2)

William Snelling was baptised on 17th September 1767 at Crawley in Sussex, son of Sarah Snelling, formerly Patching, and her husband James Snelling, a yeoman, shopkeeper and tallow chandler.

On 28th November 1791, aged 24, William married Sarah Razell at Worth, just east of Crawley. They went on to have a son, Thomas, baptised at Worth a couple of months later, but sadly he died as a baby.

William and Sarah then returned to Crawley, where they had another ten children baptised between 1793 and 1815. William worked as a tallow chandler, following one of his father’s trades.

William’s uncle, who was also called William Snelling, died in 1808, leaving William £20 in his will.

William’s eldest daughter married in 1811, and his first known grandchild was born the following year.

William’s father died in 1814. He also left a will, which shows that he owned a house and land in Crawley. The house was initially left to William’s mother for her lifetime, but was then to pass to William for his lifetime, on condition that he paid a rent of twenty shillings a year to his brother James. After both William and James had died, their father’s will directed that the property was to be sold and the proceeds split between William’s and James’s children.

William’s mother died in 1816.

William’s youngest daughter died at the age of three in 1819.

William died in 1830, aged 63. He was buried at Crawley on 30th December 1830. He and Sarah had been married for 39 years. Sarah survived him by nearly 39 years.

1. ↑ Crawley, Sussex: Bishop’s Transcripts (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   A Copy of Crawley Register, from Midsummer 1767 to Midsummer 1768
   Sept[ember] 17th William Son of James & Sarah Snelling

   The original Parish Register is missing a number of pages around the 1760s-1770s. This baptism has been linked to the William Snelling who married Sarah Razell on the basis that it is in the same parish that they lived in for most of their married life and at around the time implied by the age given when he died. William is also named in both his uncle William Snelling’s will written in 1807 and his father James’s will written in 1813.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Crawley, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Crawley in the County of Sussex in the Year 1830
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   102	William Snelling	Crawley	December 30	63 years [1766/7]	S.J. Lewin