So many people have ridiculed the diary of Arthur MUNBY, QC when he stated that his lowly born wife Hannah CULLWICK of Shifnal was a distant relation of Lords Truro and Penzance. But all the other points he made about his wife's lineage have proved to be correct, so I had this sneaky feeling that there was substance to the claim.

When MUNBY (1828-1910) commenced at the Inner Temple about 1852 the head of his Court was Lord Truro, and he was always on friendly terms with his nephew Penzance.

At the Inquisition taken after the death of Thomas Wylde in 1599 the jurors stated that a certain Edward Corbett, Esq, was seised in his demesne as of fee of the manors or farms of Glaseley and Wadeley with their rights and members , messuages and lands, etc, thereto belonging and of the advowson of the parish church of Glaseley; and being so seised on 9 Jan 21 Eliz. [1579] by his Deed Edward Corbett enfeoffed Francis Gatacre and others of the said premises to the use of himself and his wife Eleanor and the longer liver of them with remainder to Thomas Wylde and his assigns forever. Eleanor died and Edward survived. By Deed dated 1 Mar 32 Eliz [1590] the said Thomas Wylde on his marriage with Elizabeth only daughter of Richard Cooke, Esq granted the said reversion to Antony Rooper, Esq, George Wylde, Esq [his brother] and Thomas Ive, gent, to the use of his wife. Afterwards Edward Corbett died at Glaseley, and Thomas Wylde and Elizabeth entered into the said premises and were seised thereof. The jurors do not know of whom the farms or manors of Glaseley and Wadeley were held.

The said Thomas Wylde died 21 June 41 Eliz at Glaseley, and Edmund Wylde is his son and heir, aged 9 years and 10 months. His wife survives him and dwells at Glaseley. > In 1611 livery was given to Edmund Wylde, son and heir of Thomas Wylde, for lands in Glaseley, he being of age.

The Wyldes made their fortune as clothiers in Worcester. Thomas Wylde of the Commandery in that city (d. 1558) by his second wife Eleanor, daughter of George WALL of Droitwich, was father of Thomas Wylde who purchased the Glazeley estate. His son Sir Edmund Wylde held the Rectorial Manor of Kemsey (Co. Worc.) of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, and was living there in 1620, when he was serving the office of Sheriff of the County. He died the same year, while in office, and was buried in the chancel of Kemsey church, where a handsome monument marks his grave and that of his infant son Walter. He married Dorothy, daughter and heir of Sir Francis Clarke of Houghton Conquest, and left an only surviving son Edmund Wylde, who was a child at the time of his father's death; and John Wylde, his cousin, (son of George Wylde of Droitwich, mentioned in the above Inquisition) and Walter BLOUNT (whose wife was sister of John Wylde) appear to have acted for him during his minority.

John Wylde, who was a Chief Baron of the Exchequer, presented to the Rectory of Glazeley in 1637. Edmund Wylde of the Inner Temple is said to have been a man of pleasure, one of the professed admirers of Venetia Digby. He was not living at Glazeley in 1663 when George Cole of Glazeley Hall entered his pedigree at the Heralds Visitation. The only entry in the register relating to the Cole family records the burial of Richard , son of George Cole, gent. Later on however Wylde may have lived at Glazeley, where he was buried in 1695, aged 77. He was the last male of this branch, and his estates at Glazeley and Eudon Burnell passed to his kinsmen the Wyldes of the Commandery, Worcester, descended from Thomas Wylde (d. 1558) by his first wife Alice, daughter of Robert Ludington.

Thomas Wyldes of the Commandery and Glazeley (1670-17-) presented to the Rectory of Glazeley in 1713. His grandson Thomas Wylde married for his first wife, Sarah, daughter of William PURTON of Eudon Burnell, by whom he had a son Thomas Rouse Wylde, who built the mansion called "The Woodlands" in the grounds of which there is (or was) a monumental urn with an inscription relating to him. This became the residence of the family, who left the old Hall or Manor-house, which still stands west of the Church and is now a farm-house. Thomas Rouse Wylde married Anne, daughter of William Russell of Powick but had no children. He was buried at Glazeley in 1795 and his estates passed to his half-brother Ralph Browne Wylde, son of Thomas Wylde by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Browne of Caughley. He assumed the additional name of Browne and died in 1810. His son Thomas Whitmore Wylde-Browne died in 1878 and the Glazeley estate was sold to Thomas Martin Southwell of Bridgnorth.

Hannah CULLWICK - Lord Truro -