William Francis Hessey 4a 1868-1939
He was the son of Major General Hessey, of whom Alice Lynch has a watercolour, painted circa 1840, before he went out to India. He was in India, and may have had duties in the area of supplies.
He had a sister Kitty and a brother Cosh. Kitty Fraser is best remembered by her great nieces because she was nearly blind and looked rather strange. But they remember her as being kind too.
Cosh's real name was Harold Cazenove Hessey, and he was an officer in one of the Hussars regiments. When they were boys he and William both went to Wellington. We don't know if they both also went to the same prep school. Cosh wrote home from school saying,"There are 40 boys here, and they are all beasts."
Cosh married Ursula Colthurst, which is an Irish name. She looked handsome and arrogant. They had one child, Carmian, who says that her mother was "horrid" to her. Carmian was married first to Walter Strickland; this was annulled. Her second husband died soon after they were married, and she had no children.
His mother's maiden name was Louisa Cazenove. They were connected with the Chevalier family and were Hugenots. Half of the family went to Switzerland and half to England. They lived at "The Towers", Melton.
William was given a prize at his prep school by Charlotte M.Young. He met the Lady when he came to Dublin as a young officer in the Inniskilling Fusiliers. He had typhoid fever on his wedding day. He and the Lady went out to Cyprus together after the wedding and used to ride along the beach. He and the Lady were always very fond of one another and used to call each other "Dear Heart".He was the son of Major General Hessey, of whom Alice Lynch has a watercolour, painted circa 1840, before he went out to India. He was in India, and may have had duties in the area of supplies.
He had a sister Kitty and a brother Cosh. Kitty Fraser is best remembered by her great nieces because she was nearly blind and looked rather strange. But they remember her as being kind too.
Cosh's real name was Harold Cazenove Hessey, and he was an officer in one of the Hussars regiments. When they were boys he and William both went to Wellington. We don't know if they both also went to the same prep school. Cosh wrote home from school saying,"There are 40 boys here, and they are all beasts."
Cosh married Ursula Colthurst, which is an Irish name. She looked handsome and arrogant. They had one child, Carmian, who says that her mother was "horrid" to her. Carmian was married first to Walter Strickland; this was annulled. Her second husband died soon after they were married, and she had no children.
His mother's maiden name was Louisa Cazenove. They were connected with the Chevalier family and were Hugenots. Half of the family went to Switzerland and half to England. They lived at "The Towers", Melton.
He retired just before WW1, but went into the army again and raised a battalion for his old regiment. Pippa says that it was a good thing that he did retire as the officers of his old battalion, 1st or 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers, were nearly all killed on the Somme. The new battalion that he created was the 11th battalion of Inniskilling Fusiliers.
He was very shy with young children, but less so with older ones. Pippa remembers him as a 'good friend'; both she and her father were very interested in birds. Wilma remembers that this shyness really affected their relationship, and lasted into Wilma's adult years. She remembers how, when she was so involved in so many of the farm operations as a child, she was sent into a shed so that she would not witness a bull serving a cow. Now she realises that her father would not have felt able to answer the questions that she might have asked.
He had a small dog that was looked after for (2?) years by a (footman or a groom? and who did not recognise Grandad on his return. But the dog was outside his bedroom door the next day, having obviously remembered after all. He used to feed dogs surreptitiously under the table at mealtimes. His name, "The Master" came initially from his relationship with his dogs, and then became used more widely, being especially useful to sons in law.
Philippa Burne can remember him putting nuts into the folds of bark of a big oak tree in the back garden. I think they were put there for birds or squirrels, but Emily, the dalmatian, stood up on her hind paws and took them out.
The family's 3 most remembered homes were Winkenhurst, Edwardston and Sheepcote.
Of Sheepcote Philippa Burne remembers "the smell in the dining room, perhaps linoleum mixed with food, that I can still remember but not describe. There was a bell on the floor which Gran pushed with her foot to call the maid to take away the plates etc..
Gran used to play "A life on the ocean wave" and we grandchildren danced about and when she stopped playing, we had to rush behind heavy velvet curtains and hide. Out we came again to dance around when the music started again. Hester and Awly had a raft on the river made with drums and planks, which I went on and found frightening. Mounce and I stayed with Gran in the war, during doodlebug time, just before Gran sold Sheepcote. There were lots of big bangs, but I was more frightened of a small kitten that got into my bed and chewed my toes!
